Your next step is to plan out your website. You must ask yourself the following questions:

1. What is the main purpose of my website?
   It seems a simple question, do you want to:
   • To sell something, or
   • To generate sales leads, or
   • To make friends (then join Facebook!)
2. What Type of website do I need ?
   
   • Brochure type website (5-10 pages with text, images & contact form)
   • Gallery type website (5-10 pages with text, images, product/portfolio listing  & contact form)
   • eCommerce type website (Full ecommerce website with facilities for categories, products & credit card payment facilities)
   • Community website (you manage community business listings, forums, advertising)
   • Bespoke website (Doesn't fit neatly into any of the other categories listed previously - Requires custom design, layout & functionality - needs to be built to be flexible for future growth, if any!)
3. What Web software should I use ?
   
   • Open Source (no license fee) / PHP.
   • Project with strong and active community support & development.
   • One that's easy to install, customise & understand!
   • Friendly SEO urls - always a help!
   • Flexible, templates ready.
   • automatic paths to upgrade code, security patches etc.
   • One with lots of "free" plugins, modules.

When choosing Hosting, here is a quick checklist to follow:

• Support
  In our opinion, support is the top quality of any hosting provider you choose. Speak with friends who have a good experience with their hosting company. Many hosting companies rave about their customer support, but you can only really test this once you have an urgent request. Be wise to the fact that, choosing a cheaper hosting provider in the US may involve trying to contact them outside of their hours of business based on timezone differences. Look for 24/7 support where available.There are a number of highly professional companies based in Ireland which offer great support - www.hosting365.com | www.blacknight.ie | www.letshost.ie to name our current favourites!
• Price
  Price is a deciding factor for many decisions in life. Today, the price gap has closed, especially across the shared hosting environment. Make sure you choose a hosting package which meets your needs and that you are not paying over the odds for a whole load of extra space you will never use.
• Location of Server
  Some "gurus" in the web business continue to tell us that server location is important for online marketing to global specific markets - do we believe them? No.
  Why do we question their knowledge - basically it's because of this research from Interleado.
• Control Panel
  One of our greatest efficiencies comes from knowing our way around CPanel. It's our top choice because it is user friendly. Try using bespoke hosting control panels and it will wreck your head, endlessly...
  There are other good control panels out there but cpanel with fantastico for easy installation of programs wins our approval every time.

Research Domain Names

Your first step is to choose a domain name

My personal preference is to use www.name.com/name as it allows you search for a domain, keyword or phrase. Once you enter your name and press search it will return all extensions available as well as suggested alternative domain names.

For "Top Level Domain" or TLD there are 3 main choices:

• .com is the most popular registration choice. .com is the chosen TLD for commercial sites because users are accustomed to hearing and typing .com
• .net is the second most popular registration. Originally intended for network providers, the .net is an unrestricted domain name extension.
• .org domain typically implies the associated website is a non-profit organization, non-governmental agency (NGO), or a grass roots campaign focused on activism and/or education

For Country Specific Domains you will need to find the country internet registrant see the full list at: Wikipedia.org

Mistakes to avoid when choosing a domain name.

• Keep the domain name as short as possible.
  Remember your domain name should brandable, catchy and memorable
• Don't choose names with more than one meaning.
  e.g. Experts-Exchange.com is a hugely popular website for solving computer problems, but their original domain name. ExpertsExchange.com could have been embarrasingly read as ExpertSexChange.com!
• Make it as easy to spell as possible.
  You can always use initials instead of the full business name if it is too long.
• Watch out for Similar Sites
  There's lots of websites online with similar domain names. If you are already in a competitive market make sure your domain name does not resemble other competitors in the market to avoid confusing your audience and lose business.

Ok I found a Domain Name and it is available. What Do I Do now?

Register it now... before it is taken!

For Top Level Domain names (.com, .net, .org) I suggest using GoDaddy.com to register your domain name

Why them?

• Price - They are among the most competitive in the world on price.
• You stay in Control - They allow you full access to controlling the administration, technical and contact details - some registrants make it very difficult for you to change these details.
• Service - Changes you will make to your domain DNS are propogated around the world in 15 mins. Not 2 days like some registrants I could mention!
• Add on Services - Parking (not using your domain name right now) They allow you make money by showing advertising on your domain name.

The IEDR (www.domainregistry.ie) is the registry for .ie Internet Domain Names

To find a full list of resellers go to: http://www.domainregistry.ie/ListResellers.php any of the domain providers listed should offer a good service.