As you’ve probably gathered by now, your “domain name” is simply the name of your website (i.e. “Google.com” is Google’s domain name.) So, in order to create your affiliate marketing website, your very first step is choosing and registering your domain name.

Choosing a Domain Name

When choosing a domain name, it’s a good idea, where possible, to select a name which relates to your affiliate product. For example, if you are promoting an Ebook on dog grooming and want to build an affiliate marketing site around it, you might want to register a domain name like “DogGroomingTips.com” or “DogGroomer.com” (good choices) as opposed to “BobsMufflerShop.com” (bad choice!).

Although it’s not always critical, it can also help if your name is catchy, somewhat easy to remember and doesn’t include too many words. For instance, if “DogGroomingTips.com” was already taken (and I can pretty much guarantee it is), then it would be better to come up with something like “DogGrooming4U.com” (still short and catchy) rather than something like “MyOnlineExpertDogGroomingTips.com” (too long and cumbersome).

If you don’t plan on offering general information or advice on a topic and instead intend to build a site solely to discuss or review one particular affiliate product, then consider including the name of the affiliate product right in your domain name.  For example, if you are promoting a software program called “StockMarketGuru” and the only purpose of your site is to review, discuss or provide information on that particular software program, then you might choose a domain name like “StockMarketGuruReview.com” or StockMarketGuruSite.com”.

When selecting a name, don’t get discouraged if your first (or second, or third) choice is not available. If you haven’t tried to register a domain name before, you will be excited about name ideas that you think are really unique and imaginative only to find out that they’ve already been registered by other people. For that reason, it’s good to have some alternative names in mind before you start the registration process.

Also, stick to “.com” names (or “.net” if you absolutely must) and don’t choose a country specific domain extension (like .”de” for Denmark) unless you are specifically targeting customers in that country and not elsewhere.

Registering Your Domain Name

To register your domain name, you will need to set up an account with a domain registrar service. Here are a few of the most popular and highest rated ones:

GoDaddy.com
Sedo.com
NameCheap.com

We personally use GoDaddy.com because they have good prices and great technical support.  However, your choice of domain registrar is really not all that important in the big scheme of things. If you already have a registrar that you are happy with, stick with them so that you can keep track of all your domains in one account.

Once you’ve thought of a few potential names and are ready to register, watch the following video if you want to be taken step-by-step through the domain name registration process. (The video demonstrates registration through GoDaddy.com so the process will obviously be a little different if you are using another registrar.)

====> step-by-step domain name registration video <=====

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