The very first thing you need to do to get your own email domain name is to decide what it should look like, or make a list of ones you want to have.  They can describe your business or who you are, or what your favorite hobby is.  You also need to decide which designations (".com", ".net", ".me", etc.) are acceptable to you.  You cannot use ".gov" and ".edu".  These are reserved.  Some designations available to us are: 

• .com, 
• .info , 
• .org, 
• .net, 
• .biz, 
• .us, 
• .name, and 
• .me.  

There are many others, but they make no sense for the average U.S.-based business or citizen to use.

If you are just creating an address for yourself, no business involved, use ".me".  That's what it was created for.  If you are a business, ".com", ".org", ."net", and ".biz" make the most sense, although ".org" is typically used by organizations, not commercial  businesses.

Be aware - all domain names must be unique and the purchasing of domain names has been going on for a long time, so most simple or obvious ones are taken.  If your name is John Smith or Sally Jones, there is some chance those domain names will be taken already.  (I just checked and johnsmith.me is taken, but sallyjones.me is available.  Better hurry and grab it, Sally!)

In the next post, I will detail how to search for your desired domain name to see if it unused, and what some of your options are if it is.