Both "domain" and "URL" mean basically the same thing for your purposes, so you might see them both used in some places. It's the address you see in your web browser when you visit a site. Our domain/URL is http://alumnispaces.com.
Getting your own domain is easy and only takes a few minutes and usually costs about $12. There are a million sites out there that sell them (they are called domain registrars) - you've probably seen commercials for 1&1.com or GoDaddy.com. They are all selling the same product so you can buy your domain anywhere you like. The difference is what you get with the domain and the experience of buying it.
We recommend Hover.com for buying new domains for these reasons:
The experience is great - if the URL you want is not available, they recommend others that can be purchased, the flow is fast and straightforward without lots of popups and annoying ads.
No upsell - on some sites, you have to go through 3-4 pages of useless "add-on" offers where you can buy hosting, domain locking, email servers, etc. Hover is straightforward and just sells you the domain without trying to pitch other things.
Premium features are included for free - when you buy a domain, you have to supply your name, email and address. Many registrars will charge $10 /year or more to keep that secret but Hover keeps it secret without charging you extra.
You get $2 off! - using this link to Hover.com, you'll save $2 when you buy a new domain.
When you buy the domain, from Hover or anyone else, the steps are similar:
Select the URL you want to buy, add it to your cart and checkout
Provide payment information
Provide your name, email and mailing address.
Wait for a few hours - sometimes it takes a few hours for your purchase to be confirmed. This is normal and is because some of the things that the internet is built on were invented 30 years ago.
Once you've bought your domain, you'll just need to change the DNS settings for it and we can start to use it for your Alumni Spaces website!