Congratulations! you are at first and very important step of learning how to build a website.

1) What is domain name?

A domain name is the web address of your website , for example, yourname.com , youraddress.com etc... and you could choose domains with different extensions such as .com , .net, .org, .info, .biz, .eu, .asia etc...

After you have registered a domain name , you will need a web hosting provider which will give you webspace where you could save your webpages. If someone comes and visits at your website or web address, the web hosting provider will show the visitor your webpages.

2) How do I choose suitable domain name?

Firstly I like to tell you that .com domain names are most well known extension and I would suggest you to find a domain name with .com extension. This website www.howtobuildawebsite.com is a .com domain. If a .com domain is not available, you might then consider .net, .org or your country extension. I do not suggest domains with .biz (meaning is business but looks BIZarre) , .info (which is accepted as poor quality domain extension)

If you like to target people in some particular countries, you might use the country domain extensions. For example, you may use .co.uk if you are targeting UK (United Kingdom) etc....

3) Domains and keywords

To include keywords in domain also helps you with search engine optimization. Look at the name of this site . I include the keywords "how to build a website" in my domain name. Another example is www.webhostingsites.com where I include " web hosting sites " in the domain name.

4) Length of domains

Another important factor is the length of the domain. The general rule is the shorter, the better. Not many will remember your domain name is it is too long.

5) Start with these.

If you struggle to find the domain with the keywords you like, you may try to start the domain with "e" (e.g ehomebasedbusinesses.com ) , with "i" ( e.g. www.ipersonalloan.com ) , with "my" (e.g myspace.com, mycheek.com ) or with "best" (e.g. bestwebhostreview.com ) etc...

6) Secure domains with other extensions

If you grab a domain, consider other extensions especially if your first domain is your country extension domain name. Example: Google owns google.co.uk , google.com and many others.

7) Look at the domain brokers

There are people who bought domains and resell them. They might have got the domains you are looking for.

Visit >> Quality Domain Names

8) You may use hypen.

It is said that search engine likes domains with hypens especially if the domain is long. e.g. www.web-hosting-news.com .

9) Protect your privacy

You may protect your identity by buying privacy at domain registrars.