Buying a Domain Name

The first thing you need is a domain name. We find Godaddy the best place to get one (cheap, reliable, and really easy to do things over the phone). Only take care! Godaddy will try to convince you to buy everything else under the sun when you go through the checkout (hosting, privacy, certificates, protection, etc etc). Don’t fall for it – all you need is the domain name, which should cost around $10.

If you want ‘extra protection’, you can register your name for multiple years – three, four or five years into the future. But this is something you can think about later on.

If YourName.com is taken, other acceptable options include:

• Your-Name.com, YourName.net, YourName.org, YourName.info.
• Your home country equivalent – such as YourName.co.uk, YourName.com.au, YourName.de.
• Just your surname, or your initials, such as JCitizen.com, JRCitizen.com.
• Other people have used YourNameArtwork.com, YourNameArt.com, YourNameStudio.com, YourNameWorksop.com, YourNameOnline.com.
• Others use poetic or work titles – such as OurDayOut.org, StereoPresence.com, HiHowAreYou.com – that suits your practice.

-

Setting Up Your Domain Name

In order for us to put a website on your domain name, you need to “Adjust the DNS”. This is what tells a computer where to send people after they go to your domain name.

There are three ways to do this:

Call the Registrar

This is the easiest method. If you have used a company like Godaddy (above), that offers good customer support, just call them up (the phone number should be on their home page), and ask them to do this for you.

The information you need to give them is: “Hi, I’d like to change the DNS for my domain name. The new DNS is …” And tell them the DNS numbers (email us for the current DNS numbers – they are different for everyone).

Log in and Do It Yourself

This video is a little outdated, but it is the best one I’ve found online to explain what to do for registrars like Godaddy. Please note – the numbers you type in are the ones we give you, not the ones mentioned in the video!

Let Us Do It

Failing that, you can always change your password to something easy (eg. artistwebsite111) temporarily, and send us your login/password. We can go in and change this information for you. Once we’re done, simply change your password back to your more secure version.