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.
How Much Does A Domain Cost Each Year With 1& 1
Besides having a reputation spanning decades, 1 and 1 has some of cheapest domain in the domain industry. You might pay anywhere between $0.99 to $2.99 on your first year and thereafter $14.99 yearly.
Some of the features to expect include free email account, private domain registration, unlimited email forwarding, an SSL certificate, DNS management and more.
How Much Do Premium Domains Cost And What Drives Their Value
CEO, VPN.com: The $1M Domain Name – We help brands, Entrepreneurs, politicians and athletes acquire premium domain names for their vision.
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A domain name is a direct reflection of your business or brand. The right domain can drive people to your website and help you rank higher in search engines.
But how much does one cost?
If you’ve ever registered a domain name, you know that they can vary in price. There are a host of factors that determine the cost, including SEO viability, current market trends and the web extension .
Let’s take a closer look at the cost of domain names and what drives their value.
Unused Domain Names Are Very Affordable
To put a website online, you need to have both a domain name and website hosting. You can usually purchase an unused domain and hosting for less than $15. Some companies even bundle a free domain name with the purchase of web hosting.
How Much Does A Domain Name Cost
To buy a domain name, youll have to purchase through a domain name registrar. Registrars are simply companies that manage the reservation of domain names. Upfront and add-on prices vary between registrars, but well break down the costs to look out for, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of potential registrars.
Wondering which registrars are worth your time?
The two most common types of domains aretop-level domains and country code top-level domains . TLDs are well-known domain name extensions, like .com, .net, and .edu. ccTLDs are country-specific domain name extensions, such as .uk or .fr.
TLDs are trustworthy because theyre all so well-known when people cant remember a URL, theyre almost four times more likely to assume it ends in .com than anything else.
Meanwhile, ccTLDs are trustworthy because they imply that a site has national legitimacy. Some ccTLDs, like .me and .tv are bought and used for purposes totally unrelated to the corresponding country. In fact, the popular .co extension typically associated with business is actually a ccTLD for Colombia!
So how much does a domain name cost per year, broken down? TLDs and ccTLDs are similarly priced, butthose prices will vary depending on the registrar you use. Weve gathered the introductory prices of popular TLDs and ccTLDs below, and organized them by registrar:
| Registrar | |
|---|---|
| $5.95/year | $15.00/year |
Get A Domain Name Without Bankrupting Your Startup
Image via VirtueHosting.com
Im sure you have all been frustrated at least once by not being able to get the Internet domain name you want for your company. Who owns all of these names, and should you ever buy one for a premium? The simple answer is that if you want to be found on the Web, the perfect domain name can be well worth a few thousand dollars, but dont pay a fortune for one.
The market for domain investors has been in the doldrums for the last few years, since the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has rolled out top-level domains for every country, like .us and .me, as well as allowing companies to set up their own top-level domains. For instance, Cisco has applied to use URLs ending in .cisco.
Gone are the days when people like Frank Schilling and Kevin Ham built $300 million empires by speculating on premium domain names, since the possibilities are now endless. Only one sold for 7 figures in 2012 , and the average is now down to below $5,000. The current record was set in 2010, when sex.com sold for $13 million.
The right place to start is to target today’s average of approximately $8-$10 per year for a .com domain name from GoDaddy or one of the hundreds of other domain name registrars. Certain extensions such as .tv and .vs range in the $20 to $40 range for a year registration, but you can find sales on certain extensions for as little as fifty cents per year.
Are There Any Hidden Fees I Need To Worry About
1 Phone, email and chat support may not be available in all countries. Not all countries will offer customer support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
* Plus applicable taxes and fees, including ICANN fee per domain per year for certain TLDs
Get the help you need 24/7. Call our expert Guides on 1-866-938-1119. We’re here for you every step of the way.
Add A Sense Of Urgency To The Proceedings
You can do this using any one of several ploys: My boss has asked me to obtain a domain name of our new site within the next ten days, or, I need to decide how to spend my $2,500 budget within the next seven days, and Im looking at several domain names, including yours.
Out of fear that the domain name owner might otherwise lose the deal, a prospective seller might blink and agree to a lower price than he might ultimately want if he thinks that you have a fast approaching deadline.
You usually get one chance to make an offer before the domain name owner sends your email to trash, so make it count. Grab the sellers attention, and make a reasonable offer so that he will be willing to negotiate with you.
How Domain Names Work
It may also be important to note that domain names are different from websites. This means you can purchase a domain name without having to purchase anything else.
A domain name points to a website, which has the content stored on a server. Theyre connected by a Domain Name System service.
The server the website is stored on has an IP address, which has several sets of two or three numbers separated by full stops such as 12.345.678.90, for example. You can visit a website with its IP address, but IP addresses are difficult to remember.
Also, if a website uses shared hosting, then multiple sites are stored under the same server and IP address. While this isnt always the case, it does prevent access to any of the sites when the IP address is entered. Thats where a DNS service comes in. It connects a website with the corresponding domain name through an IP address or nameservers, although the option thats used depends on the hosting provider and how the server is set up.
Either way, when someone enters the domain name into their browser, the DNS service is called, the corresponding server details are retrieved and a connection can then be established. This is when the website loads for the end user.
: A DNS service connects a domain name to the website.
It may also be important to note that while there are similarities between a DNS service for a web server and the DNS connected with your Internet Service Provider they arent exactly the same.
Put The Domain Name Up For Sale
With pricing all sorted out, the next step in how to sell your domain name is to put it up for sale. To do so, especially if youre interested in how to sell a domain name fast, you need to create a For Sale landing page.
Why? Its simple. When someone is looking for a domain name to buy, they usually type it into their browser to see if its available. If you have a large message saying This domain name is for sale along with your contact info, the potential buyer will know its available and be able to reach out to you.
It may not necessarily be the best way to sell a domain name as you might have better luck listing it with the domain marketplaces like Sedo or Afternic, but in situations like this, it could keep you from losing out on a great selling opportunity.
There are a number of ways to create a For Sale landing page. You can create your own using any landing page builder software, or you could use one of the For Sale landing pages available at Sedo, Afternic, or one of the other domain marketplaces.
Just know, if you go the latter route, youll have to pay a 10-30 percent commission on the sale price of the domain, even if you acquired the buyer directly from the landing page and not the marketplace.
Another option is to use Efty or another commission-free domain selling platform. The landing pages on these platforms are specifically optimized to sell domains.
Which Option Is Best For Me
For most people, buying a new domain is going to be the preferred route to take. Youll not only get the best deal, but the registration and purchase process will be the simplest.
In time, as your experience and online assets grow it might make sense to negotiate for a domain or purchase an expired domain.
But, when youre just starting out make it easy on yourself and find a solid new domain.
HostGators domain registration is easy, the prices are fair, and you can take care of your domain management and renewals in the same place you manage your web hosting services and website updates.
Domain registration doesnt have to be expensive or difficult. Simply use our domain search tool to find the domain you want, and it can be yours within minutes. Still looking for a hosting provider to help you build your online presence? HostGator is a leading hosting provider that offers a number of different hosting packages so you can build your perfect website.
What Tld Should I Use
Despite the number of TLDs to choose from, it is recommended that you use .com when possible. Other than the list above, other TLDs havent become popular or widely used, so users may not remember that your website is not a .com and could give up on trying to find your site. The entire list of TLDs is maintained by the Internet Assigned Number Authority . To see a complete list of TLDs, click here.
Check The Domains History Before Buying
Like people, domains have a history. That history must be meticulously checked.
Check three crucial issues:
How Much Does It Cost To Register A Domain Name
Registering a domain name involves the initial cost to secure your chosen domain name, along with additional charges for privacy protection and renewals so that you can continue to own it.
For example, domain name prices are often in the £7-12 per year price bracket. Renewals can be charged at the same amount as registrations, as is the case with A2 Hosting. Or, they can incur a higher fee, such as Domain.com, which charges $9.99 per year to register a .com domain name and $13.99 per year to renew it.
Which One Should You Go With
Its best to look up your desired domain name on both websites to see which company can offer you a better deal.
Namecheap offers .com domains at a lower price than GoDaddy . Yet its important to remember that money is not the only thing that matters, so you might want to take a closer look at GoDaddys and Namecheaps track record in terms of their views and their behavior to see which companys values resonate with you more.
Not sold on GoDaddy or Namecheap? Make sure to read our blog post.
A New Approach To Domain Buying
regardless of the seller persona youre working with, i believe the following tips yield better results than emailing Whois records from your ex-girlfriends Hotmail.
most viable buyer
there are four ways to do this: IP, IP, IP, and IP.
our company owns a couple dozen pieces of intellectual property, from trademarks to copyrights, for Fomo the word as well as logos, phrases, and in multiple nations /each.
we spent 2.5 years accumulating this arsenal by investing in legal teams who helped us file and protest outdated or irrelevant conflicts.
if a seller thinks someone bigger will come along and pay more than you, but you have the IP to prove youre the most serious player, this absolves that fear of the unknown.
be open
if your first offer is a final offer, thats plain bad negotiating. instead, your first offer should achieve 1 thing: a counter.
the worst spot to find yourself in with a seller is a non-response, or flat no. so, make a serious offer and follow up in a week or two. but dont say we can pay more in your followup hold firm until the seller asks for it.
if their counter is far outside your price range, counter the counter with your absolute highest bid. let them know this is all you can afford, and you wont have more in the future.
youll be ok either way
in our case,