AMS case study: Week 3

How exciting – buying a domain name! Lesson 7 had me buying my domain name but since I've purchased one before, this was easy. (I had a blog a couple years ago, nothing very exciting, just something to mess around with). However, thinking of a name was not easy. As what everyone faces, it seems as if all the good names or at least the ones you wanted first are gone, and all the ones you come up with after just seem lame.

I made it a family affair and for a couple days my kids and I tried to come up with a good name. My daughter was pretending to do YouTube videos with the different names we were coming up with, it was quite comical! Now of course, my two teenage boys kept coming up with, how should I say it – um – albeit funny, but “not suitable for primetime” names (well maybe “not suitable for primetime” from the past, because we all know that primetime nowadays really pushes the boundaries hahaha).

We finally came up with a couple of names that we liked and they were available, it was just a matter of picking which one and eventually going with a name my ten-year-old came up with. At the last second as I was going to click submit to secure the name, I got cold feet. I drove the kids crazy asking them if they were sure (for the umpteenth time) and my oldest said to me – Mom, you’re over-thinking this way too much and now everything you’re thinking and saying out loud is sounding lame to you. – So true, right! So I hit click and was excited! Once I secured the name, my kids were like – thank goodness that’s over with.

Next up was “Buying a Hosting Package” and “Connecting the Domain to the Host” in Lessons 8 and 9. Figuring out how to set up hosting was fairly easy, the only glitch I had was when setting the Domain Name Servers (DNS – what connects your domain name to your web site). I must've clicked the wrong thing and then somehow placed the wrong name servers in the wrong spot. I finally figured out I copied the ones from GoDaddy and was like, hmmm – that’s not right, then looked at the printout I received from my web site host - Hostgator, and entered the correct name servers. Duh!

I moved on to even more technical stuff with Lesson 10 - “Uploading Files to Your Website" and Lesson 11 – “A Tour of cPanel” (which is your hosting control panel). For uploading my files, this course suggested using a free FTP downloaded software - WEBCEO. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a computer program where we copy files from our computers onto a server so people using the world wide web can see our web site. I’ve used FileZilla for different tasks in the past, but thought I would give WEBCEO a shot. I’m glad I did, because I really like the setup and ease of use. For me this part was very straightforward and completed in no time. Whoo-hoo!

I must say, every detail of these lessons is thoroughly explained along with actual screenshot examples in the Affiliate Marketing Schoolbook. This was great because setting this all up would’ve been challenging and most likely time-consuming, but since every single step was lined out, it was pretty much a breeze! Thanks Laura!

Until next time...
- Kelli

Laura's comments:

Kelli is now past one of the most nerve-wracking parts of creating a site: buying the domain. I think it's great that she got the kids involved, both for the extra input and because anything that you can work on with your kids is a good thing!

Setting domain nameservers correctly is essential if anyone is going to be able to see your site, but it can be a bit confusing until you understand the concept behind it. (See DNS made easy.) Sounds like she got it all figured out, though, and is ready to roll!

Once Kelli has installed WordPress on her site and there's something there to see, she will reveal her chosen domain name next week and you can take a look. Hope to see you then!

Previous posts in this case study:
Week 1 - Brainstorming ideas and keyword research
Week 2 - Evaluating competition and determining demand