How To Buy A Premium Domain
Premium domains are a great way to stand out online. They are great for branding and marketing purposes as well.
What is a premium domain?
A premium domain is typically short, memorable, and easy to spell. High-quality domains have a high search volume and are closely associated with an industry, service, or topic. They also have TLDs like .com, .org, or .net.
Premium domains are in high demand. So theyll typically cost a bit more to register. The process of buying a premium domain can be different as well since its not always clear if the domain is actually for sale. Heres what I mean.
Lets say you try to register a premium domain from a domain registrar or hosting company. Just because it says unavailable, that doesnt necessarily mean that it cant be acquired. These are the steps for buying a premium domain:
The Best Domain Registrar: How We Choose Them
- Pricing structures can be complicated. A low headline figure could become expensive on renewal, for instance. Prices vary between domain extensions, too, so a registrar that offers great value for a .com domain might give you a poor deal on when it comes to .org.
- There may be extra costs for tasks like transferring your domain to another registrar, too. Read the small print before you sign up.
- Look for any bundled or optional extras. A Whois privacy service prevents your address, phone number and email address appearing as public contact details for the domain, something which could otherwise get you a significant amount of spam email and phone calls. We’ve seen this cost as much as $11.20 a year, but several registrars provide it for free.
- Many domain registrars offer hosting as an extra, but keep in mind that web hosting companies can also register domains. If you have an idea of which web host you’d like to use, check the details of its plans: you may be able to register a domain for free when you buy hosting, and that’s often the cheapest option.
- Finally, take a look at the support a registrar offers. You may never need any help at all, but if anything critical crops up maybe an issue which might cause a problem with renewal it’s important that your provider is on hand to ably assist.
- Balancing all these priorities can be tricky, so that’s why we’ve created this list of top domain registrars to help point you in the right direction.
Find A Domain Name Registrar
The non-profit Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers oversees the entire system of domain names, and it allows outside companies, called domain registrars, to sell and manage domain names. You will need to register your domain name through a registrar.
Some of the most popular domain registrars include GoDaddy, Bluehost, and Domain.com, although there are many more to choose from. Be sure to carefully consider pricing and policies for each one before choosing your domain registrar, as it will be managing your domain name.
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How Do I Find The Best Available Domain Name
If you have an idea for the name you want, start by searching for that. If the name isnt available, well show you our best recommendations for similar, available domain names. Or, if you dont have a specific domain name in mind, just type in keywords that describe your website or project, hit search, and check out the suggestions.
Can I Buy A Domain Name Without Hosting
Yes, you can. Domain registration and web hosting are two different services. You dont need to buy or have a hosting plan to register a domain name.Check if your preferred domain name is available, then buy and register it at a domain name registrar.Whether you have a website or not, the domain name will be yours as long as you renew the registration before it expires.
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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:
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?
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Who Owns A Domain Name
A domain name is legally owned by a domain registrant. Whenever someone registers a domain name, the registrar will gather the registrants personal information and submit it to the WHOIS directory.With that in mind, if you register a domain name, you automatically become the registrant and will continue being so as long as you renew the fees.
Learn How To Transfer Your Domain To Another Hosting Provider
The first time you registered a domain name for your website, you had to go through either a domain name registrar or a hosting provider. But if, for whatever reason faster load times, smoother ease of use, cheaper renewal prices you want to move your domain name from one host to another, its completely possible! The only restriction is that youll have to wait at least 60 days after purchasing a domain before you can transfer it.
The process of transferring a domain is easy, but it takes some time. Thats because youll need to wait for both your current domain name registrar and the host youre switching to to authorize the domain name transfer.
Here are the steps broken down:
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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.
Tld: Top Level Domains
A top level domain is exactly what it sounds like: a type of domain name which is at the top level of the internets domain name system. There are over a thousand TLDs available but the most common include .com, .org, .net, and .edu.
The official list of TLDs is maintained by an organization called the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority and can be viewed here. IANA notes that the list of TLDs also includes ccTLDs and gTLDs, which well talk about next.
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Verdict On Who The Best Domain Registrar Is
Naturally, theres no single best domain registrar across the board. Some companies are always going to be better than the other ones, depending on your individual needs and requirements.
Still, here are a couple of quick recommendations from the WebsiteSetup team based on the companies reviewed above:
Comparison Table
How Do Domains Work
Domain names work by acting as a shortcut to the server that hosts your website.
Without a domain name, anyone who wanted to visit your website would have to enter the full IP address. But the problem is that an IP address is difficult for people to memorize or to include on advertising materials.
In our case, Hostinger.com is the domain name. Lets say it points to the IP address 100.90.80.70. The IP address points to a server, but it doesnt resolve the website if visitors try to use it. Thats because for an IP address to resolve a website, the remote server needs to be using port 80 with a default page stored in its web-apps directory.
As you can see, messing around with server defaults and IP addresses can be both confusing and time-consuming. Thats why the vast majority of website owners opt to utilize a service like Hostinger which offers bundled domain names with annual web hosting packages.
Domains can also use redirects, which essentially allow you to specify that if people visit your domain, theyre automatically forwarded to another. This can be useful for campaigns and microsites or for forwarding people to dedicated landing pages on your main site. They can also come in useful for avoiding confusion around spellings. For example, if you visit www.fb.com, youll be forwarded to www.facebook.com.
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Follow These Steps To Buy A Domain Name:
How Can I Get A Free Domain For Com
You only need to register for any of the web hosting plans that offer a free domain name. However, make sure the value is enough for you to buy the .com TLD.For example, if you sign up for Hostingers Premium or Business shared hosting plans, you will get a free domain for one year with the value equivalent of a .com TLD.
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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.
Avoid Hyphens Or Odd Spellings
How often do you use punctuation when searching for something online? My guess is rarely. The last thing you want is a domain name that requires extra effort from your visitors. Using something like, the-best-shirts-youll-ever-wear.com no matter how compelling wont do you any favors.
When possible, avoid using uncommon spellings or numbers. Is that a 4 or a four? What about 2, to, two or too? You catch my drift. If anyone ever shares your domain via word-of-mouth, your name could get lost in translation.
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