Online identity affecting branding, SEO, credibility.
10 steps across 1 sections
1. Steps Guide
- Brainstorm names — Short, memorable, spellable
- Check availability — Multiple registrars, social handles
- Verify trademarks — USPTO database
- Choose extension — .com preferred
- Select registrar — ICANN-accredited: Cloudflare, Namecheap
- Compare pricing — Registration AND renewal
- WHOIS privacy — Shields personal info
- Multi-year registration — Discounts
- Auto-renewal — Prevents expiration
- Register variations — Misspellings, extensions
Common Mistakes
- Long/hard domain
- No trademark check
- No auto-renewal
- No WHOIS privacy
- Only first-year pricing
Pro Tips
- Cloudflare at-cost no markup
- Check history at web.archive.org
- Avoid hyphens and numbers
- Register .com even if using other
- Transfers are simple