Welcome back! In Part 1 of this article, we covered how crucial it is to have a website if you want to sell/educate/entertain/enlighten/etc. just about anything to anyone in the world in the current century. We also discussed HOW to actually get a FREE, performing website up & running quickly.

Having a free website is great! You get to put some content up for the world to see. You start to learn how to add images, videos, etc. to your site. You can get people to add comments to your site. And you can quickly gain confidence on how all this internet “stuff” works.

This is particularly an attractive option IF you don’t run a “real” business, or if you’re only concerned with sharing your thoughts or ideas with the world. So if you’re happy with that, great! You can stop reading now.

However, if you DO run a legitimate business, or if you’re interested in making money or being perceived as legitimate… or if you want to learn how a true website is made these days, then keep reading!

How To Set Up a Legitimate Business Website (DIY Option)

This section is for those of you who want to set up/improve a real business website – one that will get you money, credibility, and respect. If you’re in real estate and you buy or sell houses – or are looking for private lenders, this is where you need to start paying attention.

Here’s a Quick Rundown of What We’re About to Cover:

Domain Name. Hosting. Site Design. Content. Traffic. Conversion. X-Factor.

1. Domain Name (a.k.a. “URL”)

To begin, you’ll need to get your own Domain Name. This is the name of your website, e.g. “yourwebsite.com”. It really should be short, benefit-laden, and relative to WHAT you do. Many people make the classic mistake of trying to brand their business before anyone knows who they are or why they should care. In other words, if you’re just starting out, don’t name your website after your name or your company name (unless your company name is short, benefit-laden & is relative to what you do!).

For example, if your Business/Company name is “We Buy Houses Atlanta,” then it would be perfect and appropriate to choose your domain/website name to be WeBuyHousesAtlanta.com! So you would try to buy that domain name… IF it’s available.

But if your business name is “Real Holdings, LLC”, you might want to consider choosing another name to buy for now. NOTE: I’m NOT saying it’s a bad idea to buy your own company domain name for your website. In fact, it’s a GOOD idea to do so. But what you’d put on that website will be more for credibility and branding, rather than for sales & marketing – so just keep that in mind, ok?

FYI: Another term for ‘Domain Name’ is a “URL,” which is techno-geekspeak for ‘Uniform Resource Locator.’ So when someone asks you what your URL is, they mean domain name.

A good place to start is by going to a Domain Name Registrar, such as SuperSmartDomains.com. Just look on any of their home pages to see where you can enter your idea about which domain name you’d like to search for to buy.

NOTE: I’d strongly suggest you choose a “.com” domain name, as that’s what most people are familiar with. Others are great, but go with that.

It may take you a little while to find just the right one, but you’ll get there eventually. This should only cost you about $8-$15/year for your domain. And you don’t really need any of the extras that they’ll try to sell you. (TIP: Look for the words “No Thanks” at the bottom)

2. Hosting Your Website

After you’ve chosen the right domain name, it’s time to find a place to put it. This is why you need hosting. To explain what hosting is, imagine that your website domain name is a mobile home, and the hosting is the trailer park/real estate where you’re going to park it. You can move that mobile home to another location, just as you can move your website to a different host. (NOTE: They’re both a painful process)

When it comes to choosing a great web host, you’ll have a lot of choices. However, there’s two companies that I’ve been using for a few years now and I can personally, wholeheartedly recommend. They both have a few different choices of plans, and they’re all extremely affordable and reliable. You can check them out here: SuperSmartDomains.com and HostGator.

Your DIY web hosting should only cost you $4-$9/month to get started. And depending on which option you choose, you can put AS MANY domain names that you buy on that single plan! You may have to upgrade your hosting plan in the future if you need more speed, reliability, disc space, bandwidth, etc.

Next, you’ll need to point your Domain Name TO your Web Host. This is called pointing your DNS Server to the right address. I’m about out of time for this month, so I can’t cover this in depth for you. But I’ll tell you this: The information you need will be provided by your domain name registrar (e.g. SuperSmartDomains.com) and your web host (e.g. or SuperSmartDomains.com or HostGator). Both those companies DO provide excellent customer support, so just contact them to ask for help to get through the process.

Here’s What To Do Now (Your Assignment):

Take Action by doing what was taught in this article: Go online to buy your domain name. Then go ahead and get your web hosting. This won’t cost you much and it’s only hard to do the first time. Plus, you’ll start to feel legitimate and walk with more swagger in your step (no charge for that).

That’s all the time we have for this month! Join me next time to continue this website adventure, where we’ll get to the fun parts of Website Design/Appearance – How to Make Your New Website Look “Sexy!” Who doesn’t like sexy, right? So be there!

Until Next Time,

Tony Pearl