Why You Need A Custom Domain For Your Website
Yes, it is true that you dont necessary need a domain name for your website. In fact, there are many website builders that offer free plans with free website addresses. But these free website addresses come in the form of a sub-domain. For example, if your website builder is example.com , they may create a sub-domain called john.example.com for you to use on your website. Visitors typing in http://john.example.com will end up at your website.
The sub-domain is free and it is not owned by you, but rather by the website builder and they can create and delete any sub-domain they wish. When a website builder decides to delete a sub-domain, the website that is associated with it is deleted as well. You may say, Simple enough, Ill just build a new website on another website builder.
But you may not realize its not that simple.
When you lose your website address, you lose all your regular visitors people who bookmarked your website and return frequently for updates and new information. When they click on their bookmark link, they will end up at a browser error page.
Not to mention all the marketing work you have to do to publicize your new website and get your visitors back. It will be awhile before your website gets back to what it used to be.
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How To Get A Domain Name From Domaincom
Domain.com is a reputable domain registrar, launched in 1998. Over 1.2 million websites are registered with them.
Domain.com features the most popular top level domains such as .com, .net, .org, .co, along with over 25 county-specific domain extensions .
They are mostly selling affordable domain names with most names priced in the $9.99-$12.99/year range. If you are lucky, you can also steal a deal and buy your domain name for as low as $2.99/year.
For that price you get:
- 1-year domain ownership.
- Free SSL certificate for extra security.
- Automatic email forwarding to your domain.
- DNS registration and management tools.
Also, you can purchase extra Domain Privacy+Protection for your domain . In this case, your personal details will not be displayed publicly in the WHOIS/ICANN directories. Plus, the registrar will also run extra security checks.
Sounds sweet? Heres how to register a domain name on Domain.com.
Step 1: Run a quick search to verify that the domain name you are eying is available.
Step 2: Pick your domain extension. Go for .com since its the most familiar option among users and thus, people, tend to type .com before trying anything else.
Your choice gets automatically added to your cart with a 2-year privacy protection subscription. This ones optional, so you can remove it during the next step. Also, you can change your domain renewal period from one year to five years.
Moreover, you can pick some add-on services such as:
Choose The Best Domain Name Option
When youre checking for available domain names, youll often find that your first, second, and tenth choices are already taken. Some of the different approaches you can take when this happens are:
- Keep searching. Let your creative juices flow, and continue to search until you find something you love or at least like.
- Choose another extension. If the .com isnt available and youre set on a certain name, consider the .net or .org if you think it will work.
- Reach out to the owner. Maybe the domain is already owned, but its not being put to much use. You could reach out to the owner with an offer.
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How Can You Benefit From Having A Personal E
Having a personal e-mail domain rather than a freemail address can offer many advantages, as outlined in the following six points:
- Professional: a polished image is key in having a successful career, and that applies to your online presence as well. While freemail addresses with provider domains often convey an amateur image, successful businesses and entrepreneurs use e-mail domains. By customizing the e-mail, you can ensure that your contact details are coordinated, creating a sleek and professional image which facilitates customers trust. The most effective domains are either company-oriented or personal, for example:employeename@company.com department@company.com jobs@company.com
- Concise: freemail companies provide e-mail addresses with their domain to their customers, making it difficult to register a name that is unique and concise. Names are usually snapped up very quickly, so users are often forced to come up with long combinations of numbers and letters: john.r.smith1957@freemail-provider.comLong e-mail addresses carry with them the risk of being misspelled or misremembered, whereas custom e-mail addresses can be shorter, making them concise and more memorable.
- Safer: cybercriminals also need a high hit rate if their malware are to have a big effect. Freemail providers are a common target for hacking and phishing, but this risk decreases significantly with a personal e-mail domain.
$1 Domain Names
Buy An Email Domain And Other Add
During the checkout process, most domain registrars will offer a selection of add-ons, from email to hosting to SSL certification.
Your website building platform will likely include most of these features in its hosting plans except for email. For example, with CMS Hub, youll get hosting, SSL certification, website building and design tools, and built-in security features. But, youll want to purchase a professional email address that matches your domain. This can help ensure your customers read your marketing emails instead of sending them straight to spam.
You can connect your email sending domain to HubSpot or whatever platform youre using later as youre setting up your site.
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How To Register A Domain Name
+ Ways to Get it for Free
Are you looking to register a domain name, but dont know where to start?
Part of creating a website is buying a domain name that has to be unique.
In this step-by-step guideline, were going to show you several options on how to register a domain name and also cover some commonly asked questions that might pop up in your mind while registering a domain.
Ready? Lets first start by explaining why is it crucial to choose a good domain name.
Why Should You Use One Of These New Domain Extensions For Your Custom Url Shortener
So why is it OK to use a gTLD as a URL shortener, even if youve been told to keep the .com for your website?
Well .com has been around from the beginning and has, undoubtedly, got the most authority online.
Lets look at an example:
Your new company name is TastyFood.
And because you sell pizza you decide your website name will be TastyFood.pizza.
Sounds good in theory, but
If someone was to do a search for your company at some point, the tastyfood.com websites are likely to come up first and can result in you losing valuable traffic because they are getting redirected to tastyfood.com instead of to .pizza.
And if someone searched for you directly in the web bar, dont you think theyd try .com before anything else?
If they did, theyd go straight to http://tastyfood.com/ and youd lose out on a customer.
For that reason, it is recommended by us and Rand Fishkin to always purchase the .com variant of your brand or business name. While you dont have to use the .com variant as your primary address, you should at least own it to redirect traffic to the right spot and prevent branding mishaps.
This is a risk people need to know about, before settling on a brand name. Its important to check for availability of that brand on .com and other extensions.
But no matter what the domain extension your main site resides under, there is no risk of running into the same issues under your custom URL shortener, thus a gTLD is perfect. You dont have to worry about:
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How To Make A Custom Business Email Address Using Bluehost
Bluehost is one of the leading web hosting providers. It offers a wide range of plans and is an excellent choice for making professional business email. Like other web hosting providers, Bluehost offers free email domain that can be easily personalized.
Following are the steps to make a free domain email address for business using Bluehost.
Step 1) Goto this link and select the basic plan.
Starting out we recommend to subscribe to the basic plan. This plan includes 5 email addresses even though its not mentioned in the pricing table. Please do not get confused with the Microsoft office email that BlueHost is advertising. It is the premium service, and you can switch to MS email once your business picks up. Bluehost will assist you for email migration.
Step 2) You can host your existing domain at Bluehost. If not already registered,Bluehost allows you to search your desired custom free email domain.
Many a times, your desired domain may not be available. You can usedomain name generatortools to come up with uniquedomain name ideas.
Step 3) Enter your business information.
It is important that you select a 12-month plan. By default, 36 months is selected. There is no harm in selecting 36 months, but initially, its a good practice to keep things agile and minimize cost.
Uncheck the following checkboxes:
How To Make A Free Business Email Address Using Google Workspace
Step 1) Go to this link. To start off, it is recommended that you choose the smallest plan. It is easy to upgrade the plan later based upon your usage needs.
Step 2) will ask you the basic information about your company. The most important field in this section is the country of your business location, which cannot be changed later.
To begin with, in the number of employee section, you can choose Just you.
Step 3) Since you are creating Google Workspace account for the first time, an administration must be assigned to your business email domain. This information can be changed later.
Step 4) You have an option to use an existing professional domain name. In this guide, we will register a new domain with Google.
In the next screen, click on NO I NEED ONE button.
Step 5) allows you to search your desired custom email domain.
Many a times, your desired domain may not be available. Google Workspace will display alternative domains that can be booked. You can also use domain name generator tools to come up with unique domain name ideas.
Once you have confirmed the availability of the domain, click on Next button. The domains are privacy protected.
In the next screen,
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Should You Register All Other Available Extensions
As you search for your domain name, you will notice that more than one extension is available. Should you register all of them? The answer to that question largely depends on your budget, but generally speaking, its a wise choice to register the most common extensions as well.
The main idea behind this is it helps protect your brand. In an ideal world, you shouldnt be worried about the possibility of someone registering your name with a different extension for malicious purposes. In reality, there is always a possibility that something similar might happen. If someone goes out of their way to build up the other site in search engine rankings, you run the risk of having your reputation tarnished.
If you can afford it, minimize this risk by registering at least the .net, .me, and .co extensions. Then, simply redirect those domains to point to your primary domain name.
Powerful Tools To Help You Find The Right Domain Name
There are many domain name checkers online as well as a number of domain name registrars. In fact, most of the hosting companies allow you to register a domain name with them for free when you sign up for one of their hosting plans.
However, before you do that, consider using one of the tools below, as choosing the right host is another important factor to consider, deserving of a topic of its own.
1. Instant Domain Search
Instant Domain Search lets you see the results as you type them out. Aside from letting you know whether your preferred domain name is taken, it will show you other available extensions and offer a number of alternative suggestions. It will also let you see which of the taken domain names are currently for sale.
If you find the domain name you are completely happy with, simply click on the option to buy it and you will be sent to GoDaddys website where you can register it.
2. Panabee
Panabee takes the domain name search a bit further. It lets you not only search for the domain name and offers alternative suggestions if your desired name is taken, but it also allowing you to cross-reference domain names against popular social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and others for name availability.
3. Knowem
The best part about this site is that it allows you to easily claim your desired domain name and usernames for your preferred social media profiles. If youre serious about building your personal brand, make this website your first stop.
4. NameCheap
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What On Earth Is A Gtld
Lets start by taking a website address as an example and break it down to better understand:
www.socialmediaexaminer.com
.com is the Top-Level Domain , socialmediaexaminer is the Second-Level-Domain, and www is the Third-Level Domain.
The biggest TLD around is .com but there are many others including .org.biz and many more.
TLDs are generally broken down into 2 main categories:
There are a couple other kinds of TLDs, like sTLDs and uTLDs , but they are less important for the purpose this article.
A TLD or gTLD is simply another name for a Domain Extension.E.g. hubspot.com has the TLD .com
And this TLD is specifically a gTLD as its generic and doesnt point to any specific country.
Got it?
What Is A Custom Domain
A custom domain is a unique branded label that’s connected to the IP address of a website. To visit a particular site, you can type its custom domain name into the address bar of your browser. HubSpots custom domain, for example, is hubspot.com.
Domain name registration is required for proprietary reasons it gives you ownership over your website’s address so that no one else can claim it, and it simplifies how internet users find your site.
But purchasing and registering a custom domain name has additional benefits, including:
- Brand identity: A custom domain name is essential for a consistent online brand identity. Visitors will expect your domain name to match or resemble your company name.
- Credibility: A domain name that aligns with your company name establishes credibility, and makes your website appear legitimate to users.
- Memorability: If your domain is easy to remember, visitors can easily enter it into their search bars, resulting in more direct traffic to your site.
- Differentiation from competitors: A clean, catchy custom domain sets you apart from competing sites with clunkier domains.
- Search authority: In addition to strengthening your brand, custom domain names can also help you establish search authority. As a rule of thumb, the older a domain is, the more authority it has in search. Thats because its had time to accumulate quality content, internal links, and backlinks.
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