How To Choose Best Domain Name Registrar
We can call any domain company the best domain registrar if it provides top-level domains at a minimum price ensuring the best security. Also, a simple user-interface is a must.
Additionally, here are some other factors to consider when selecting the best domain registration service.
- ICANN-accredited: ICANN is a non-profit organization that maintains domain name registration standards. So, make sure to purchase a domain name from ICANN-accredited domain registrars only.
- Domain Transfer: Sometimes, you may want to transfer your domain to another company despite choosing it carefully. So, check the domain transfer policy before making a purchase.
- Customer Support: Good customer support is absolutely important. Hence, check the support policies, support reviews from the previous customers to know how supportive they are to their customers.
- Pricing: Check into the pricing plans for the top-level domains along with contract years, compare, and pick the cheap one. Also check the cost of renewal, domain transfer fee, email accounts, WHOIS registration, privacy protection, and other additional fees.
Cost To Register A Domain Name
According to HostGator, domain name cost ranges from free to tens of thousands of dollars, with the average domain name settling around $10-$12 annually. These factors will affect what you’d pay for a specific domain:
- The demand for the particular name you choose
- The TLD domain extension
- The domain registrar you’re purchasing from
- Whether the domain has already been purchased by someone else
- Whether you commit to an annual payment or another payment schedule
- Add-ons such as privacy
Whether you choose a free or paid domain will depend on your budget and your website’s purpose. For example, you might need a basic website or something simple and temporary. In that case, a free domain name might be a good option.
However, paid domain names look more professional and are more likely to grow with your brand. You should ultimately decide what will work best for your business and goals.
Add Domain Id Protection
When you register a domain name with ICANN, you must provide your contact information including your name, phone number, physical address, and email address.
As soon as your domain name is registered, this contact information becomes available to the public unless you pay for domain privacy through your domain registrar. This domain privacy will shield your information from view keeping your personal information safe from spammers or worse, identity thieves.
Once you’ve got the domain name in hand, you’re ready to find hosting and build your website. Consider a free CMS, like HubSpot, to design your website, strategize for SEO, and create a blog.
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Which Tld Should I Use
Technically, it doesnt matter. The TLD will function exactly as it is supposed toso long as it was registered properly. The .com TLD is the most common but if you want to variate, you can. There is no one TLD that is more efficient than the rest, nor is there one that comes more highly recommended than others. With that being said, the .com is what many suggest as your safest bet.
This, of course, depends on the type of business you are putting on the internet.
Bluehost $999 Free With Hosting Plan
If you are using WordPress as your website platform , Bluehost is far and way the cheapest domain name registrar. Though BH customer support isnt quite up to par with SiteGround , they offer cheap hosting starting from $2.95 per month or as low as $12.99 per year.
On top of that, Bluehost also offers Domain Privacy Protection and a custom email with G suite. Like SiteGround, the most affordable hosting packages all come with a free domain bringing the cost down to effectively nil.
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How To Register Your Website’s Domain Name
The first domain name in history was Symbolics.com, which was registered on March 15, 1985. Today, there are more than 300 million domain names, with millions more added each year. A domain name is essentially the address that visitors will type into their browser address bar to arrive at your website.
Domain names allow users to easily connect to other computer IP addresses by typing in an address like “Google.com” instead of Google’s numerical IP address of “74.125.239.116.” In other words, domain names make our lives a lot easier.
Your domain name is an important part of establishing your brand. No two domain names can be exactly alike, although they can be similar. Ideally, your domain name will be unique and distinctive, so users don’t confuse it with other domain names or different businesses.
You might be wondering isn’t a domain name, then, simply a website? Although they are similar, domain names and websites have important differences. Your domain name is the address for your website it is what people use to find your website, which consists of pages, images, and other files.
Choosing and registering a domain name is often the first step when building a website. Read on to learn how to register a domain name.
How To Get A Domain Name From Namecheapcom
Namecheap is another popular website for buying domain names and getting website hosting. As their domain name prompts, they often have a lot of good deals and somewhat lower annular prices than GoDaddy, for example.
So if you love a good bargain, heres how to buy a domain name via Namecheap.
Step 1: Run your desired domain name search first and review available options. Namecheap has a really huge collection of new TLDs such as .art .digital, .luxury among 400+ other options.
Also, if your name isnt available or youd like to get some more ideas, switch to their advanced search view aka the Beast Mode:
As you can see from above, you have a lot more features to play with such as price range, suffix/prefix, and so on. This can help you drill down to that perfect domain name that is short, memorable, available, and yet cheap!
Step 2: After youve chosen the best contenders, proceed to your cart to start the checkout process. At this point, you can also add some extras and customize your order:
With Namecheap, you get a lifetime free WHOIS protection for every domain name, plus they recently added a bonus premium DNS offer . When you enable it, your domain gets yearly protection against DNS/DDoS attacks , plus ultra-fast global DNS response. This gives you some extra leverage in terms of your website speed.
On top of that, you can select some affordable up-sells such as:
Also, you can play around with your renewal. Namecheap provides a small discount for 2+ years.
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Why Whois Privacy Is Important
Without going too in-depth to what ICANN and WHOIS are, suffice to say its the nonprofit corporation that is responsible for keeping the internet secure and the naming structure of websites as it is. It requires anyone who registers a domain to provide accurate identifiable contact information, including name, address, email and phone number. Not everyone is comfortable with that information being public.
Domain registrars have found a way to keep your info safe and still provide ICANN with the info they need. These domain privacy features replace your information with the registrars info, at least publicly. Anyone can look up who registered a domain name, so having domain privacy can reduce spam for you, and keep you safe.
How Much Does A Website Domain Cost
If youre just getting started online, then the best course of action is to choose a new domain. A new domain will be cheaper, and allows you to build your own brand from scratch.
Typically, youll be paying around $10-$12 for a new domain, depending upon the domain name extension you choose.
Thats what most of the people reading this right now can expect, but its not the whole answer to what domain registration costs. On the low end, you may be able to register a domain for free . On the high end, popular domain names have sold for as high as tens of millions of dollars.
Thats a pretty huge range in cost. To figure out what accounts for the difference between the extremes and what you can expect, read on for the most important information you need to know about domain registration costs.
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How Much Does A Domain Name Cost Exactly
While you can expect to pay around $20 per year for an unreserved .com.au domain, the most expensive .com.au domain ever sold went for $400,000.
Although owning a domain is often likened to owning property, the fact is you dont have the same volume of comparable domain properties to anchor the value. Instead, a domain names value is much more dependent on what someone is willing to pay for it.
If youd like to know how much a prospective domain name is worth or if you want to check the estimated value of one you already own, check out GoDaddys domain valuation tool.
Beyond that, there are a few factors that will influence how much a domain name costs.
Your Domain Name Shouldnt Break Any Legal Terms
There was a time when the Internet was the Wild West.
Those days are long gone. Now its full of corporations with deep pockets that will sue you into bankruptcy if you even look at them the wrong way. Thats why its important to be careful.
Imagine this. You come up with a great name. You register it. You launch your website. And then, just as your business starts gaining momentum, you are hit with a cease and desist letter.
What the ?? is your first thought.
But then, as you decipher the legalese, you realize that apparently your domain name is trademarked, which means that you are in a world of trouble.
You can avoid this by doing due diligence.
For example, you can check US trademarks on the United States Patent and Trademark Offices website.
Alternatively, you can check for the trademarks for whatever country you want to operate in through the local equivalent of the USPTO.
And, of course, Google can help you as well, because if nothing comes up on it, then you probably dont need to worry.
Now, unfortunately, if you came up with a cool name, the chances are that you are not the first person to do so, which means that you might end up having to go back to the drawing board.
However, keep in mind that finding yourself back at square one is much better than getting hit with a lawsuit, so dont cut corners here.
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Your Domain Name Should Be Easy To Remember
You want to make sure that your domain name is easy to remember. But what exactly does that mean?
Basically, the more items you ask someone to remember, the harder it is for them to do that.
When it comes to domain names, every word and symbol is a separate item, which is something to keep in mind when you are considering various options.
For example, www.luciddreaming.com is easier to remember than www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com .
Try to keep your domain short, avoid using symbols, and get a well-known extension.
Your Domain Name And Branding
People often think that the word brand means a company name.
However, a brand is much more than that, your brand is the overall company image that you present to the world.
Its important to make sure that everything in your business, from the company name to the domain name to the website design to the content to the tone of voice, works together and conveys the image that you want to convey.
Imagine that you are conducting a job interview and you think that the candidate is great.
She is professional, she has the relevant experience, she seems like a great fit in terms of the company culture
But when she leaves, you take another look at her resume and you notice that her email address is .
No offense to the sk8ergurls out there, but lets keep it real: an email address like that would make you question your original impression of her.
Well, its the same with branding. If everything about your company conveys a certain image but your domain name doesnt fit that image at all, it will put potential customers on guard.
And the last thing you want to do is give them a reason to be suspicious.
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Tips For Choosing A Registrar
Determine which services you require
You may want services like email hosting or support offered in French, so find out what each registrar offers. Remember, if you registered your .CA domain name as an individual you have free WHOIS privacy protection already included.
Check references
Seek out customer reviews and testimonials, and ask friends or colleagues for a recommendation. You may find that some registrars come highly recommended by your peers. If you make a mistake, you can always transfer your .CA domain to another registrar.
Shop around
Shop around to get a good understanding of how much your domain name, and additional services, will cost. Registrars may offer bundles, packages, or special promotions. Keep in mind that cheapest isnt always necessarily best.
The Costs Associated With A Domain Name
When creating a brand new website, there are several costs associated with the process, from hiring a web development company and purchasing a hosting plan to signing up for a continual support plan and registering a domain name. A good domain name is critical to any new website and will allow users to easily remember and find your website. When people can find your website quickly, it makes it easier for them to make a purchase and for you to increase your sales.
An important question that comes up frequently when a website is being developed is, How much does it cost to purchase a domain name? The short answer is anywhere between $10 and $30+ million. Unfortunately, there really isnt a specific answer, but here is some information that can help you understand the pricing differences you may encounter as you search for that perfect domain name.
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Cost Of Registering The Domain Name Itself
There are countless companies that can register a domain name for you. Those companies are usually referred to as domain name registrars.
The main product that every registrar sells is the same a domain name. Domain bought from one registrar is no different than the same domain bought from another registrar.
Despite that, even though they all sell the same thing, the prices between registrars can vary. This is why its important to do your research and not overpay when it comes to the main domain name cost.
Apart from the price differences between registrars, different domain extensions come with different price tags too even from the same registrar. For example, a .shoes domain is going to be more expensive than the traditional TLDs such as .com or .org domain.
On top of that, youll also find that each domain extension has a different price tag with each registrar, which adds a whole new level of complexity to this pricing puzzle.
To make this more approachable, weve done the research for you. Heres a comparison of the registration prices for the most popular domain extensions with the most popular registrars:
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