This is Part 3 in our Build A Niche Store Review - Full 8 Week Review
Also See Part 1 | Part 2

Happy New Year 2008! Wherever you are… I hope the weather’s great and may you enjoy a prosperous year ahead. Let’s make money online together with Build A Niche Store!

Alright, let’s dissect the Manual as mentioned in my last post.

The 1st thing you’ll need to do is to set up a hosting account, choose a domain name for the niche you are targeting and then apply for your eBay affiliate account. If you already have any of these setup or if you already know how to, then it’ll be easier for you and if you missed having one or the other, keep on reading.

In fact you can go on installing your Build A Niche Store right away! But I promised to go in steps remember?

Step 1 - Get a hosting account.

BANS recommends Hostgator and boy I’m glad they do as I personally use Hostgator as my hosting provider as well besides some other private hosting. If you don’t already have a hosting account, I suggest you get one right away.

I have done a step-by-step tutorial about how to sign-up for Hostgator for a mere $0.01 for the 1st month and $9.95 thereafter! You can view them Here.

*Special offer for THB blog readers! - I have 7 4 spots on my private hosting server and I’m offering them for a measly $6 a month plus I’ll setup your domain for you and you can host unlimited domains as well. If you need a Wordpress blog setup, I will install it for you as well - Gratis. Simply reply to this post saying you are keen and leave your MSN ID. I’ll arrange for your setup one-on-one.

Step 2 - Get a domain name for your BANS website.

When you sign-up for Hostgator, you can register a domain name through them if you like or you can register a separate domain name elsewhere and just point your nameservers to Hostgator.

Don’t worry if you don’t know what nameservers are yet. It’s more important you choose a domain name you like and want 1st.

You’d be taking a while choosing one as most of those that you want will probably have been taken up. Not to fret. Try and keep trying.

Now, how do you choose a domain name for your BANS website? Simple. Use the following guideline.

You are going to choose a niche from categories on eBay itself! Here are some of them. By the way, sign-up for eBay if you have not done so. I mean, where have you been? >> Go to eBay <<

Antiques, Art, Baby, Books, Business & Industrial, Cameras & Photo, Cars, Boats, Vehicles & Parts, Cell Phones & PDAs, Clothing, Shoes & Accessories, Coins & Paper Money, Collectibles, Computers & Networking, Consumer Electronics, Crafts
Dolls & Bears, DVDs & Movies, Entertainment Memorabilia, Gift Certificates, Health & Beauty, Home & Garden, Jewelry & Watches, Music, Musical Instruments, Pottery & Glass, Real Estate, Specialty Services, Sporting Goods, Sports Mem, Cards & Fan Shop, Stamps, Tickets, Toys & Hobbies, Travel, Video Games and Everything Else…

I’ve just listed the whole works! Not to forget, contained within these categories are hundreds of sub-categories so you are going to have a ball choosing them.

Here’s my tip - Choose a domain with a .com if possible and use some of the keywords of the niche you chose to form part of the domain name.

For example, OldAntiques.com, KidsClothing.com, BigWatchStore.com, FindGameCards.net and so on. Yes, if a .com is not available use a .net. It’s perfectly OK. You can use a domain name generator service to help you find an available domain name and I recommend Nameboy.

If you have decided on a niche and picked your domain name, you may enter it on your way to signing-up with Hostgator even before registering that domain name! Which you will do next and right away!

Personally, I don’t use Hostgator’s domain service and BANS recommends Godaddy which I use as well. The other domain registrar I use and highly recommend is Namecheap. Reason is it’s easier to navigate than Godaddy especially for those who are new but Godaddy works wonderful as well. I’ve blogged about Namecheap. You can read them Here.

I’m registering a domain name now for my BANS website. Stay tuned for the next Build A Niche Store Review.

Get your very own Build A Niche Store => Click Here