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Information Technology News Use open source to build your own top-class online presence for nothing, part one
Information Technology News Use open source to build your own top-class online presence for nothing, part one | Use open source to build your own top-class online presence for nothing, part one |
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| Written by David M Williams | |
| Sunday, 11 November 2007 | |
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Page 1 of 4 PART TWO here Ok, not really nothing: it’ll cost you $9.99 for a domain name. But once you’ve got that, here’s how to build a dynamic and high-class online presence with free web hosting and the powerful open source blogging and content management system WordPress. We’ll add content and features, bring it to Google’s attention and also try and see if it can bring some money back in. First, what’s your site about? You need to choose a domain name that is meaningful and not so cumbersome that your potential visitors will find it hard to type or tell others about. Begin by visiting a domain name registrar. We’ll use GoDaddy in this article, simply because it’s well known and has an easy name to remember. You should certainly shop around; you may find registrars that suit you better due to their mix of price and features. Whichever one you opt to use, you should find a spot on their home page which lets you search on the availability of domain names. Put in a keyword, that you’d envision being sandwiched between ‘www.’ and ‘.com’. Perhaps your site is all about that delicious Antipodean comestible, vegemite toast. So, you might think vegemitetoast.com is a good name for a domain. Search for that domain: as things so happen, vegemitetoast.com is already taken. The registrar should offer some alternatives however. In this case, GoDaddy tells us vegemitetoast.org and vegemitetoast.net are both available, as are some other, more obscure top-level domains (like vegemitetoast.mobi – perhaps for ordering a breakfast snack via mobile phone.) GoDaddy also tries to help out by playing with additional keywords to see if it can find some acceptable alternatives. This gives a couple of good ones: yourvegemitetoast.com is available. So is easyvegemitetoast.com – perhaps you could make your own instructional video on the best way to make this salty snack. For the advanced chef, vegemitetoastpro.com is obtainable, and so is vegemitetoaststore.com for all your retail needs. There’s even vegemitetoastblog.com, bestvegemitetoast.com and more. So, even if your very first choice is taken not all is lost: you might find something better. (Vegemite toast lovers note: although these domain names mentioned were free at the time of writing, it may well be that someone has claimed them by the time you read this. Sorry – there can only be one officialvegemitetoast.com!) For the purpose of this article, I’m going to make a discussion site to help open source projects and open source developers meet each other. A quick search reveals opensourcerecruitment.com and opensourcerecruitment.net are available. At GoDaddy.Com it’s $9.99 for a new .com name and $9.99 for a new .net name but if we buy both together they’ll offer a small discount. If, like me, you’ve sold something on eBay recently, you should have funds sitting in your PayPal account and you can use these. Don’t forget, .com isn’t necessarily the best domain name for you. If your site is for a non-profit organisation then .org is more appropriate. Other top-level domains include .net and .mobi and country-specific domains like .com.au, .co.uk and more. |
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