How Do I Buy A Domain

Through A Domain Registrar

If youre buying more than one domain name or want to manage your domain and hosting services separately, you can use a domain registrar like domain.com or NameCheap.

This route makes sense if youre launching a business website and want to buy all the possible variations of your business name to prevent others from doing so. Many domain registrars offer bulk discounts but you wont be able to get your domain for free.

Check out our top domain registrar recommendations, here.

Check Your Credit Card And Paypal Statements

Usually, domain names are renewed automatically every year. So if you scour your credit card statements, you should be able to find a charge for about $10 to $25. Hopefully, on that line item, youll see some information on the company you bought your domain name from. Look them up on Google and call them to ask about the charge and if they are the registrar of your domain name.

You can also call your credit card company and ask them about any line items that you think might be charged from your domain name registrar. They can give you more information about who the merchant is and their contact information.

PRO TIP: Some registrars charge every two years, five years, or ten years. Thats a common little trick they employ to get more money up front faster. Sometimes theyll even pre-check 10-year billing cycles just to sneak in a nice fat one-time payment. This can make it a lot harder to figure out who your domain name registrar is since you might have to look through ten years of credit card statements to figure out who the company is.

Theres also a chance you bought your domain name using PayPal. Log in to your PayPal account and look through your transactions to see if there are any charges from a domain name registrar.

Register Your Domain And Verify Your Ownership

Next, youll need to register your domain. Your registrar will do most of the heavy work for you behind the scenes, and the process may take several days.

Youll need to confirm your details to ensure your registration is complete. Depending on your registrar, you may need to verify your email address or phone number.

Additionally, you may need to provide extra verification to purchase TLDs like .edu. If this is the case, youll need to follow the registrars instructions to verify your identity.

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Two Methods For Buying A Domain Name

Fortunately, it doesnt really matter where you buy your domain. At the end of the day, a domain is a domain, and you wont find any variations in quality based on where you buy one.

The biggest difference from one domain registrar to the next is the pricesome offer domains for just a few dollars a year and others can go as high as $20 per year or more. There are two ways to get a domain name, one of which is free for the first year and the other is not.

How To Buy A Domain For Office 365 Operated By 21vianet

If you don’t already have your own domain, you can easily buy one online at a domain name registrar, domain reseller, or even at your current Internet provider. You get a domain name when you sign up for Office 365 operated by 21Vianet, for example, contoso.partner.onmschina.cn. But you may want to use a custom domain name, like fourthcoffee.com.

To set up a domain in Microsoft 365, you must own a domain and change some of the DNS records for your domain.

Caution

Some domain registrars or DNS hosting providers do not allow creating all the DNS records required by Microsoft 365. The following list of hosting providers supports all the needed records. If you’re thinking of using a different hosting provider, Service limitations when your hosting provider does not support SRV, CNAME, TXT, or redirection.

After you register your domain , you sign in to Microsoft 365 as an admin and set up your domain so you can use it with your email address and other services..

Note

The SharePoint Online Public Website information in this article only applies if your organization purchased Microsoft 365 prior to March 9, 2015.

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Set Up Website Hosting

Finally, if youd like someone to do it for you, its time to find a website host. We recommend Kinsta.

Kinsta websites are fast, easy to build, and protected with hardware firewalls, SSL support, uptime monitoring, and Distributed Denial of Service detection. Kinsta also offers expert help and allows you to choose which of the 28 Google Cloud Platform data centers hosts your site.

You can get started with Kinsta by signing up for one of our plans. Then, follow our instructions to add your domain to your Kinsta site.

Who Actually Owns A Domain Name

No one. Its all very tricky. Just as you registering the name is basically leasing it from the domain company, so the domain company leases it, i.e. pays for the right to lease it from ICANN. But it doesnt stop there the domain name company also has to pay a fee for the different domain extensions that they use. So for instance, the Donuts startup has been given the rights to administer the .rocks top-level domain by ICANN. Each TLD is given to a certain registry operator, and then a domain company also has to pay a fee for the TLDs they want to offer to their clients.

So, you pay your registrar to lease the domain name for a period of up to 10 years. The registrar, in turn, pays charges to ICANN and to registry operators that work with specific TLDs. In the end no one actually owns a domain name.

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Who The Heck Did I Buy My Domain Name From

Sometimes, youll buy a domain name and youll totally forget what company you bought it from. Or youll purchase it in some roundabout way through another service that just happens to package a domain name with their offer. For whatever reason, busy business owners do lose access to domain names theyve bought.

This is a fairly common problem and it happened to a client of ours. Were going to talk about how to solve this problem and other ways to work around it.

Web Hosts And Domain Names

You needn’t go to a dedicated registration service to buy a domain name, though. The best web hosting services, such as DreamHost, HostGator, and Hostwinds routinely offer a registration mechanism as part of the sign-up process. Hosting services typically offer a free domain name when you sign up for a web hosting package.

Keep in mind, however, that free domain names are usually free only for one or two years, after which the registrar will bill you for the annual or biennial fee. In other words, the provider of the free domain name pays only for the first billing from the registrar. Also take note of whether or not the provider charges a fee for setting up a domain name. Most services offer to transfer an existing domain name to their servers at no cost, but sometimes you’ll find a setup fee over and above the registrar’s fee.

Please note that not all web hosts give you the option to register a domain name. Cloudways, for example, is a solid web host that requires you to purchase a domain name from elsewhere.

Registrars offer a wide variety of registration durationsone year, three, five, and even ten. Be careful about registering for more than a year, though. First, there might be restrictions on your ability to transfer the domain name should the registrar give poor service. Second, the registrar could go out of business, leaving your domain name without a host. Check the policies closely.

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How Much Does A Domain Name Cost

When you buy a domain name through domain registrars, you register it for one year with the option of a multi-year registration. You will be able to renew your domain name registration when the initial period finishes, and will usually be alerted by the registrar to do so. Domain names are also sometimes included in your web hosting plan and if not, usually offered by your hosting company.

Domains purchased through Mailchimp are priced based on the TLD you choose, such as .com or .net.

A domain name with a common top-level domain, such as .com, can be had for as low as $12.99 per year, and promotions are often available. Internet domains purchased through Mailchimp also come with free WHOIS privacy protection and a Secure Sockets Layer certificate to provide your website with free verification and encryption.

You do need to have a web hosting plan to put your site online, but you dont need to have hosting to purchase a domain. Assuming you have a business or blog name in mind, its possible to reserve your brands name for the future by purchasing and registering your domain name now. Then youll have plenty of time to consider how to build your website.

How To Register A Domain Name With Godaddy

With over 20 million customers, GoDaddy is both a domain registrar and web hosting powerhouse. It has a wide array of domain extensions ranging from .com and .org to newer selections like .fun or .law. The company plans to add even more TLDs to its collection in the future.

To buy a domain on GoDaddy, start with a domain name search on their homepage. The system will reveal whether the name is available for purchase using your desired extension.

If the .com version is taken, GoDaddy offers a domain broker service, where a representative will negotiate with the owner to purchase the name for you. You will pay $119.99 and a 20% commission to hire the agent in addition to the domain registration fee.

Click Add to Cart on a domain name and continue to checkout. On the next page, GoDaddy will offer several add-ons to bundle the order with.

GoDaddy has two privacy and protection options Full and Ultimate . The first protects the domain from hijacking, malicious transfer, and loss of ownership due to billing failures.

On the other hand, the second offers malware detection and search engine blacklist monitoring features to uphold your domain security and reputation.

Additionally, GoDaddy offers a custom business email plan with the domain. The pricing ranges between $1.99/month and $8.99/month.

The next step is to create a GoDaddy account and fill in the billing information. There are three payment methods available credit card, PayPal, and check.

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How To Buy Or Add A New Domain:

What Characters Are Allowed In A Domain Name

Can I Cancel The Registration Of A New Domain

Domain names cannot be changed or refunded, even if you’ve accidentally spelled them wrong . We encourage you to double-check the spelling of your new domain before finalizing the purchase.

Why Can’t I See My Domain?

There are two common reasons why you might not see your domain online just after purchasing it:

Why Do I Get An ‘Error: Improper Telephone Format’

• Example: +1.5556667777

Are There Special Registration Requirements On Certain New TLDs

Why Does My Domain Say It Requires Additional Assistance

How To Choose A Domain Name

Since your domain name can have a major impact on your online presence, what you choose is a vital first step in building your brand. Finding the perfect domain name, however, can be challenging.

While its true that there are millions of domain names available, many of the popular domain names that are easy to remember are taken. Fortunately, you can still get what you need if you go through a simple process and use a bit of imagination.

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If All Else Fails Try Registering A Different Extension Or Top

If you really need to use a specific domain because it matches your business or personal name, but you cant get the owner of the .com version to agree to sell it to you, consider a different top-level domain. For example, rather than fruitcobbler.com consider registering fruitcobbler.recipes or fruitcobbler.cooking. If you need help, you can read also how to register a domain or how much is a domain name.

How To Buy A Domain Name For Less Than You Think

Disclosure: This content is reader-supported, which means if you click on some of our links that we may earn a commission.

If you want to start a website, you need a domain name. Buying one takes less than five minutes. And costs a lot less than you think, especially when you bundle it with web hosting. You need both to build a website, so why not get them together? If youre wondering exactly how to buy a domain name or how to save money when buying a domain, youre in the right place.

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Domain Names Allow Us To Distinguish Sites

The number of worldwide websites exceeds one billion, and that number is growing by the second. Domain names allow humans to distinguish one site from another instead of having to use the long unique string of numbers known as an internet protocol address. Domain names are made up of the domain extension , the second-level domain , and a host name . Together, these details make up a uniform resource locator .

Are Com Domains Better For Seo

Not necessarily. Older domains that have a history of staying within Googleâs guidelines may rank better, but this is due to Googleâs preference for aged brands- not the TLD that were used. Google has directly stated that alternative TLDs do not directly affect a websiteâs rankings or performance, but your audienceâs perception should still play a role in your final decision making. The .com TLD provides a sense of familiarity, professionalism, and trust for newer audiences that you find necessary. The Fortune 500 brands all maintain a .com website- create yours today!

* The introductory prices are for the first term of service only and automatically renew at the regular rate.

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