How to Make a Website With a Personalized URL

A personalized URL address for a website is called a domain name. Domain names are usually purchased a year at a time, and give a user the sole right to create and host a website under that address. A domain name is essentially your website's personal address on the Internet. Even if you have never created a website before, it is very easy to get started with one of the many web hosting companies out there. Registering your own personalized URL and creating a website is a simple process for most web hosts.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Find a hosting company that offers both domain name registration and web hosting packages. GoDaddy.com and Yahoo! Web hosting (smallbusiness.yahoo.com) are both popular web hosts and domain registrars.

2. Carefully research the types of hosting packages the company offers. Yahoo includes a free personalized URL (domain name) for a year with the creation of a web hosting account. GoDaddy offers extensive web hosting space, tools and domain names for a very affordable price. Select the web hosting package that best suits the needs of your new website.

3. Select your domain name or personalized URL address for your website. Be sure to select a name that is easy to remember and accurately expresses the idea behind your website.

4. Register your domain name with your web hosting company. You may want to consider purchasing multiple domain names that are a variation on your chosen address. For example, if you are purchasing yourdomainname.com, you may also want to register yourdomainname.org, yourdomainname.us, or any other variation to prevent other people from obtaining rights to use your personalized URL.

5. Decide whether you want your domain registration to be public or private. By law, contact information for the person who registers a domain name is available publicly for anyone to look up. For a small fee, you can purchase a private registration, which hides your personal contact information.

6. Create your web site using the site builder tools provided by your web hosting company. Most web hosts will provide basic templates to get you started. If you want a more complex and customized site, you can hire a professional web designer to create your site for you.

7. Your domain name with your personalized URL address should automatically point directly to your new website.

Resources

• Yahoo! Web Hosting
• GoDaddy Domain Registrar and Web Hosting