Domain for Website

Sarah M

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I've looked on several domain sites, and apparently my author name is very popular so I'm having trouble finding a good domain that is close to my author name.

Is it okay to go with a .net version for my website or do I need to stick with a .com?
 

AW Admin

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.net is fine.

Make sure you aren't going to change your author name. Don't pay more than 15.00 or so for a year of registration, and think about paying the extra ten bucks or so to make it private, other wise your name address will be publicly listed in the domain registry.
 

Sarah M

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.net is fine.

Make sure you aren't going to change your author name. Don't pay more than 15.00 or so for a year of registration, and think about paying the extra ten bucks or so to make it private, other wise your name address will be publicly listed in the domain registry.

Okay, thanks. :) Is there always an option to do that when you buy? And is there a better site to go with (i.e. Name, CheapName, GoDaddy etc.)?
 

Laer Carroll

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You can also do NicknameLastname.com, which is what I did to create LaerCarroll.com. For decades all my friends called me Lair, two syllables of verbal effort being too important to waste on me. Luckily I found that Laer is one if the spellings of the Gaelic dialects for Ler, God of the Sea. And meaning "wise" in another dialect. Being Irish I seized on that spelling for my nickname.

IndianaJones is another example.

You may want to use a middle name or initial instead of your first name, or in addition to it. Examples include PhillipJoseFarmer.com and PhilipKDick.com.

I'd suggest you find a domain name which you can also use as a pen name. This avoids confusing your readers, business partners, and libraries.
 

CharlieChap

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Namesilo, namecheap, godaddy.... they are all pretty much the same! Domains are pretty much a commodity at this point.
 

lonestarlibrarian

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Just as a side note, on the subject, don't let your webhost register your domain name for you. I've had friends whose webhosts have gone under, and they had no way to retrieve their domain names, since they hadn't been the ones to buy them in the first place. Buy your domain name yourself, and get another entity to be your webhost, so that if you run into problems with one, the problem is isolated and easily fixed.