I’ve heard the hype. I’ve heard the good and bad of it. I have even helped “skin” a profile on it.

MySpace.

Being a Web designer, people assume that I not only design and build websites, but that my life revolves entirely around the Web. They seem shocked (and appalled) that I don’t have a MySpace, Facebook, or whatever-the-latest-social-site-is account. Prompted partly by that and partly by curiosity, I took the plunge and got a MySpace account.

Less than a few hours after getting it, I got spammy mail from “friends.” Or at least that’s what they claimed to be. One seemed like an “official welcome” from Tom. Tom, by the way, took the liberty of adding himself as my “friend.” I don’t know Tom. And, Tom if you are reading this, nothing personal, but I will add my own friends should I become so inclined.

I also received one that was nothing short of a shameless promotion for a band, begging not only to be heard, but to be my “friend.”

And Kelly, she wanted someone for a serious relationship. To her credit, I noticed that my profile said I was single. I am not. I suppose that was the default setting, which I should have expected since MySpace seems geared toward those who haven’t finished puberty. At least it defaulted to “straight.”

When I did go on, I felt assaulted by the ads. Not just one or two—but dozens—flashing, blinking, and screaming for attention. This set up will give you A.D.D. for sure.

Anyway, less than 48 hours on MySpace, I pulled the plug and cancelled. I can’t wait for the next person to ask me if I have a MySpace account.

It wasn’t really my space anyway. It was theirs.

Once you have decided that you want or need a Web site, the first thing you should do is register your desired domain name.

What is a domain name you ask?

Your domain name is your address on the internet. And, for those who just laughed at such a simple question, be warned, this post is not for you. Spend your time reading about the difference between a URL and URI. For the rest, I want to offer some information in laymen’s terms that you can use when planning a Web site.

Registering a domain is done through one of the many registrars such a Network Solutions (the first but no longer the best), GoDaddy and my personal choice, MyDomain.com. The registrar will charge an annual fee of anywhere from $8 to $30. While some registrars have gotten into the hosting business, domain name registration is a separate thing altogether, and in general I would not recommend the hosting they provide as their plans tend to be quite restrictive. Most registrars will offer domain forwarding, email forwarding and the ability to modify DNS records as part of the annual fee. Some offer “private” registration so that your personal address and email are not listed in the Whois database for all the world to see (including spammers).

When choosing a domain name, try your organization’s name, or a word or simple phrase that relates to what you do. Ideally, it should easy to spell, pronounce and remember. Try to get a .com domain name, even if you are a non-profit organization. People will generally try the .com version first. While a dash can be used, try to avoid it if at all possible. Also, write it out all lowercase, running together and make sure it still makes sense and can’t be mistaken for something else (for example, therapist.com).

If the domain name you want is taken, go ahead and visit the site. If the site is not up and running you may want to contact the owner and see if they are willing to sell. You can get information on the domain name owner by doing a whois lookup.

Sometimes the site will announce that the name is for sale. There is no standard price for buying an existing domain name, and unless the domain name includes a trademark, you don’t have much leverage. I have purchased existing domain names for clients ranging from a few hundred dollars up to a couple thousand. Then there are the half-crazy people who will ask for an insane amount of money. I once tracked down the owner of a 3-letter domain name ending in .org. The person who had it was in South Korea. He stated wanted $1 million for it. After a few back and forth emails, he lowered it to $125,000. Needless to say, I didn’t get that one.

Once you have your domain name, keep it mind that it needs to be renewed annually. Also, if you have had a domain name for a while and then change to a new one, keep the old one as long as possible. Some people may still be linked to it. You should have your Web guru set up a 301 (permanent) redirect to the new one. If they don’t know what that means, find a Web guru that does or ask them to find out about it. Another reason to keep it is that there are some less than tasteful online marketers who are just waiting to pounce on recently expired domain names. They realize that with them, they may get instant traffic and older domain names do better in search results—especially with Google. By the way, Google also prefers domain names that are registered for more than one year, so go ahead and register for two years if you plan on using the name for sure.