Home Wedding Planning Websites + Apps Creating A WordPress Wedding Blog, Domain Names

Creating A WordPress Wedding Blog is a series from DIYBride.com. See Part 1 here that explains the basics and gives an overview of the series.

What should be the easiest part of starting a blog - deciding on a domain name - is oftentimes the hardest. The domain name - the URL of your site (like diybride.com) - should be short, unique, and easy to remember to help your guests find your site. As you brainstorm domain names, you'll discover that a lot of "good" ones have already been taken so it may take some creativity to find something that works best for you.

BASIC RULES OF DOMAIN NAMES:

1. Domain registries allow only letters, numbers, and hyphen ("-") in the domain name.

2. Domains cannot begin or end with a hyphen.

3. Domains must have less than 63 characters, not including the extension (.COM, .NET and .ORG).

4. Shorter is always better with personal wedding site domain names. TinaandMark.com is easier to remember than, say, TinaAndMarkAreGettingMarried.com.

5. Domain extensions have meaning and purpose.

• .COM is the most common extension and it's intended for commercial and personal sites.
• .NET is recommended for companies involved in Internet infrastructure.
• .ORG is intended for non-profit organizations.

There are other extensions you can register such as .biz, .me, and .us. Though these are becoming increasingly popular options, most people still go for .com domains by default. The newer extensions like .me can be fun options (too bad marry.me is already taken!); you'll just need to remind your guests that your URL isn't a .com.

6. For personal wedding sites, using your first names in the domain is a great place to start your domain search. You can, however, use any available names/words you want as long as the domain isn't already in use.

HOW TO REGISTER A DOMAIN NAME

There are many places to search for and register a domain name; I've used GoDaddy for 10+ years now and have never had a problem with their registry services. For the purpose of this tutorial, we'll GoDaddy as the registrar of choice.

Other recommended registrars:

1. Go to GoDaddy.com. On their front page, they have a marvelous search tool to see if your chosen domain name is available. Simply type in the domain and hit search domain...

Boom! Instant gratification:

If your domain is available, simply click the +Add button and follow the prompts to create an account and buy your domain. { SPECIAL FOR DIY BRIDE READERS: Get 35% off your first GoDaddy order. Use referral code: WOWDIYBRID at checkout } (ed note: Yes, that's "brid" not "bride" at the end.)

If your domain is unavailable, GoDaddy will give you some similar options to register. These are merely suggestions. You are not obligated to buy them. Just keep searching until you find something you love and that's available.

Feeling uninspired by your domain name choices? Don't sweat it. Here are some neat tools to help you brainstorm domain names:

Next up, finding a web host and setting up a hosting account.