How To Buy A Domain Name For Your Website
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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You’ve settled on the perfect idea for your website. Everything is ready, and there’s just one last thing to consider: how to buy a domain name.
This is a position that many people find themselves in because it’s common to underestimate how difficult it may actually be to buy a domain name. Before someone buys a domain name for the first time, they’re likely to assume that picking it is the hard part after that, they simply find it on Bluehost or another registrar. Sometimes it is that easy, but buying a good domain name is the first step.
Choose A Good Domain Name
Your first step in how to buy a domain name is, of course, choosing the one you want to buy. While there’s a great deal that goes into a name, you can choose a reasonably good domain name by keeping a few principles in mind.
First, it should be as concise or memorable as possible two or three words or a catchy acronym are good. It’s incredibly beneficial to use a respected domain extension such as .com or .co. This is universally better than paying the price for using a cheap .biz extension, which entails willingly associating with spammers and fraudulent websites.
Once you’ve picked out a domain name, it’s time to begin your search.
Search For Your Domain Name
How To Buy A Domain Name That Is Taken
How Much To Buy A Domain Name?
Things To Look For In A Domain Registrar
Not all domain registrars are the same. Pricing and the services they offer vary. Some work independently of hosting services while others work exclusively with web hosting companies for a more seamless user experience. You can find a domain registrar that offers what you need. Thatâs why you will want to consider these features when choosing a domain registrar:
- Cost
- Gotchas
What Are New Gtlds Or New Domain Extensions
gTLDs are generic Top-Level Domains, also known as new gTLDs or nTLDs. These extensions are practical and memorable and offer an alternative to the more traditional suffixes such as .com, .net and .org.
New gTLDs are commonly used to describe the function of a website e.g. an actor could choose .actor for his website or a fitness instructor could use .fitness. There are hundreds of new gTLDs to choose from including .london, .cymru, .wales, .diet, .farm, .website, .love, .education and many more. Find out more and choose your ideal domain name today.
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What Is A Domain Registrar
When looking to buy a cheap domain, its important to know the differences between a domain name registrar, a registry, and a reseller.
- Domain Registry Owns all the domains of a particular extension. For instance, Verisign owns the .com and .net extensions.
- Domain Registrars Leases the domain from the registries that own specific extensions. They also are licensed to sell these domains to people.
- Domain Resellers Unlicensed vendors who also sell domains. They must go through an approved registrar and often bundle domains with web hosting services.
Registrars have the option to sell domains for the lowest cost, given that resellers usually add additional markup. In saying this, they dont always offer the best deals.
But, since most resellers tend to be web hosting companies, you can find some pretty sweet hosting and domain deals from these guys!
Its quite common for resellers to use a loss leader pricing strategy where they lose money in the initial year of domain registration. However, they often include conditions and upsell offers that ensure theyll recover their costs down the track.
A common example comes from web hosting companies that offer a discounted in the first year but only when you sign up for a hosting package too.
More Naming Tools To Come Up With Concepts
Stuck? Dont worry. This is a tricky process.
My recommendation: Listen to this podcast episode with Anthony Shore from Operative Word, a company that specializes in naming things.
Hes named the on-demand fitness system Tonal and Virgin Voyages . He uses a variety of tools, too, which Ill list here:
OneLook.com This is like a thesaurus juiced up with killer capabilities and wildcarding options. Say you want a name that starts with Bl and ends with rd, and its seven letters long you can literally search for that.
RhymeZone Pretty self explanatory. Bet you didnt know that Quick Sprout rhymes with six out, big trout, this crowd, clear out, and sixth round. In addition to rhymes, you can also find synonyms and adjectives.
Sketch Engine This is very intense corpus linguistics database it uses a large body of real world language that it runs through a computer to organize and tag that language. Anthony sets his to all the news articles from 20142017. You can look up words that are used near or in relationship with other words. Basically, youre finding words that are already natural together. This makes your name more relatable, credible, and adoptable. He talks about it more on the How Brands Are Built podcast.
MRC Psycholinguistic Database He talks about this more in the podcast its a pretty advanced way to search for words with certain criteria. You can use it to find words that start or end a certain way for example.
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How Do I Choose The Best Domain Name For My Website
This is a tricky one with no concrete answer. The good news is that you can register multiple domain names, and so its usually a good idea to do that for every domain name that you think of. That way, no matter what happens, you own it.
To get started, youll want to use our domain checker so that you can look up the availability of your domain name including each of the popular extensions. As a default, you should start by entering your company name – or, if youre launching a blog site, the name of the blog. If thats available as a .com address then the decision is pretty much made for you. Go ahead and register it.
Unfortunately, thats not always easy because of the sheer number of domain names that have already been registered. Youre unlikely to find a dictionary word as an available .com domain, for example, and so youll need to be more creative. This is where that domain checker will come in super useful, because youll find yourself entering all sorts of combinations until you find something thats available.
As a general rule, the best domain names are memorable and easy to spell, and many of the most popular companies named themselves by merging two words together . Try different words in different combinations until you find something thats available.
How To Buy A Domain Name For Cheap
Looking to buy a domain name for cheap? Youre not alone.
There are hundreds of people just like you, searching for the perfect domain name that wont break the bank.
You probably have a lot of questions like where do I start or how much is it going to cost?
Weve got you covered. Were going to help you buy a domain name, plus some tips to get it for free.
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Dynadot Domain Registrar Service
A quality registrar that excels everywhere
Reasons to buy
Most domain name registrars offer a simple identikit service with little to separate them from the competition, but Dynadot is an interesting exception which has some unusual advantages.
This starts right at the beginning, with your initial search. You can use the website much like any other type your preferred domain, press Enter, read the results but you also get Bulk and IDN search tools, and advanced options allow defining which domain extensions to include in your searches, as well as setting those as defaults for all future searches.
These searches can optionally return results from domain auctions, Dynadot’s Marketplace and other sources. There’s also a Backorder option to try and grab a domain that isn’t currently available, if it’s not renewed.
Prices are on the low side, with Dynadot offering both special deals on some extensions and good value at renewal. For instance, .com sites is priced at $7.99 for initial price and same for renewal. If youre after a .co.uk domain, thatll set you back $2.49 initially , .org is $8.99 initially, $10.99 on renewal, and .mobi domains are $5.99 initially, $17.99 on renewal.
This requires a small fee and won’t always be allowed , but it’s still a welcome extra you’ll rarely find with other registrars.
Reasons to buy
Founded in 2000, Namecheap is a popular domain name registrar and web host which now manages more than five million domains.
Reasons to avoid
Pitfalls When Buying A Domain Cheap
As with any endeavor, there are traps you can fall into if you dont have experience. Unscrupulous registrars will attempt to separate you from your hard-earned dollars with shady practices. Make sure you read the fine print to avoid:
WHOIS Database Trickery: Youll recall that the WHOIS database maintains a record of your registered domain and some personal details. After registering your domain, some companies will try to charge you for editing that information if there are errors or if something needs updating.
Some will offer privacy services, promising to conceal your information for a price. What they dont tell you is that they substitute their information on the registry. If it comes down to a dispute, then in the eyes of the law that domain is theirs, and not yours.
The most unsavoury services will straight-up steal your personal information and sell it to the highest bidder. No longer are you their customer you become a product for them to auction off for more profits. Best prepare for the onslaught of spam and robocalls.
Domain Slamming: This is often used as a ploy to get a user to unknowingly switch their registrar. A third-party will email you transfer notices disguised as a bill or renewal notice. Responding to this fraudulent note will transfer your domain to another registrar, and you get slammed with higher fees that you did not anticipate.
Also Check: How To Transfer Godaddy Domain To Shopify
The Starter Domain Approach
An approach that I am a fan of is to use the starter domain approach. The idea here is that you can start with a domain name with the intention to move to another one down the road.
Lets say you identify a domain name that you really like, but it is out of range for your budget. For example, when I was coming up with a name for my latest company, I really liked GoodLife.com. Someone else owns it and isnt necessarily looking to sell it.
If I wanted to buy it, I would have to offer a lot of money a lot more than I was ready to pay.
If I wanted to take the starter domain approach, I could start with GoodLifeMedia.com, theGoodLifeCompany.com, or something else thats close to what I want. Over time, I can work to acquire the GoodLife.com via a domain broker or trying to strike a deal myself.
If you want a real-life example, Tesla had to use teslamotors.com for years before they could acquire the tesla.com domain.
Considerations for the starter domain approach
Best Domain Name Registrars: Comparison + Full Review
Are you in a hurry? Take a look at the comparison table for a quick idea of the best cheap domain registration sites:
| Name |
|---|
The pricing is usually applicable for the first year only. Such plans are offered to attract new customers.
And now, let us see the complete review of the best cheap domain registration sites.
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Make It Easy To Remember
Domain names are meant to be memorable. Steer clear of hyphens or random numbers. The fewer the characters, the better. You dont want to confuse your visitors or make them accidentally visit a site thats not yours. Try saying your domain name out loud. If its easy to pronounce, its easier to remember.
Why Do You Need A Domain Name
There are several reasons for this, the most obvious being that its good for branding. Nothing looks more unprofessional than a brand that hosts its website at brandname.wordpress.com. This is because as a general rule, the websites that buy and maintain a domain name tend to be those that are more reputable and more established.
But your domain name is so much more than that. Often, the reason why people start a website in the first place is so that theres something they have full control over. When you use social networking sites or free blogging providers, or even if you make a living selling on Amazon and eBay, youre fully reliant on those other sites. If they change their terms of service or the service goes down completely, youre in trouble.
When youve registered a domain name, though, you dont have to rely on anyone else. That domain name belongs to you and you alone, and you have full control over what you do with it. You can control any associated email addresses, determine which server the site accesses and even sell it or transfer ownership if thats what you want to do.
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Buying Cheaper Domain Names: The Verdict
Youll have to balance several factors when youre starting your website. Theres a whole swath of companies promising a lot when it comes to cheap domains, but seem more intent on nickel-and-diming customers than providing adequate, no-frills registration. If you are unsure, look for a money back guarantee.
If you just want to get a domain registered for the lowest price, though, youll probably find what youre looking for with NameCheap. They offer basic domain name registration along with free private registration services to keep your information guarded. If youre up for it, lets learn a little more.
The upside to cheap domain registration
Its clearly the price. Compare the $14.99/year youd pay for a .com with Hover to the low cost of $8.88/year with NameCheap. Youve got to have a domain name to grow your website into something brandable. Might as well support your pocket and get it for as low a price as possible, right?
Lets see
Potential downsides to cheap domain registration
Perhaps not. There are a few reasons you might want to reconsider a cheap domain. The first is that it might not be as cheap as you initially thought.
Some registrars employ pricing scams to hook you at an introductory rate that sounds reasonable. That rate, as you may have already deduced, skyrockets later on, leaving you locked in at a price you never agreed on.
From poor security to barely functional WordPress integration, the list of complaints is long.