Choosing a home for your website (and an address)

As an addition to our Starting a Business series, we take a look at websites…

Choosing an address aka a Domain Name

Your websites domain name says a lot about your business. Most often you can simply choose one with the same name as your business, but, at other times you may have to settle for something close or a variation, especially if your business name is long or your preferred domain name is taken.

Along with your domain name, you need to think about location.

In Australia, having a .au is always a good idea. You can use a .com as well but you wouldn’t use a .uk if you are primarily operating down under.

Choosing a home aka hosting for your website.

A web host is a computer, actually, a very big computer called a server, that stores your website data.

Depending on the platform your website will be on, can change the requirements for hosting.

For example, if you’ll be running a small eCommerce website on Shopify, then your hosting is covered by your subscription.  If, however, you will be running a WordPress or Magento site, then you will need to look at hosting too.

If you require hosting, your next question to ask is:

Where should I host?

For most sites we recommend hosting in the country you operating in. Getting an Australian host is a good idea if your business is located here.

The benefits are primarily speed related and there are some suggestions that a local host can help with SEO rankings too.

We would recommend looking around for hosts, but Crazy Domains is a good choice (and you can buy your domain from them too).

Conclusion

Well we hope this is helpful. If you need any further help, reach out.