The week before last I asked you what you needed to know about building a website for your freelance business. If those who responded (by e-mail and on the blog) are representative of Freelance Parent readers as a whole, you’re looking for easy-to-follow instructions for creating a simple website and blog.
In light of that goal, I’ve put together a “Build Your Own Freelancing Website” series that I hope you will find helpful.
Each post in the series will cover one step in the process of building your own website, and I’ll be available to answer your questions about that step in the comments.
Please keep in mind that “building a website” is a huge topic and there’s no way I can cover everything. Maybe it’s better that way, since I got the impression that many of you are suffering from information overload on the subject of websites.
So we’re going to keep it simple. My plan is to just take you through the steps I followed to create my site. If that sounds good to you, read on!
Step 1: Choose and Reserve Your Domain Name.
The first thing you have to do is choose a domain name for your website. You can search for available domain names at Instant Domain Search, Go Daddy, 1 and 1, or elsewhere (there are a lot of services that sell domain names). In most cases your first choice for a domain name will be the name of your business, but you may find that someone else has already taken that name. What to do then?
You can use your own name (this is what I did), a name that describes what you do, or an abbreviated version of your business name. Whatever you do, just make sure that potential clients won’t accidentally end up on a competitor’s site when they’re looking for you.
If you’re having trouble finding a good domain name, try www.bustaname.com. You can enter a bunch of words that you would like to include, and it will give you a list of different options based on what’s available.
Once you find a domain name that you like AND that’s available, purchase it. It should cost you less than $10/year.
What else do you need to know about domain names? Please share your question(s) in the comments! To make sure you don’t miss a post in the series, subscribe to the Freelance Parent blog.
photo credit: KristianD
COMING WEDNESDAY: Step 2: Choose and Purchase a Web Hosting Service.
Traci Feit Love is a freelance writer, editor & communications consultant for businesses that need smart, impressive content. To learn more or to sign up for her free e-course, “How to Get More High-Paying Clients,” visit her website at http://tracifeitlove.com.
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Christina Lemmey is the mother of two school-aged girls, a wife, and the owner of 
True,very true. I’m glad someone pointed this out.