How To Buy My Domain Name

Creating A Social Media Presence

If you consider the fact that North America alone has a social media penetration rate of 70 percent, its safe to say that you cant ignore those platforms. With that being said, youll want to be able to claim usernames on your target social media platforms that are similar to your chosen domain name.

After all, its important to make sure you can represent your brand consistently across all of your online channels. Therefore, its a good idea to check out key social media platforms to see if usernames related to your desired domain name are available. If not, you may want to reconsider your choice.

How To Buy A Domain Name For Your Site

Follow these 7 steps to get a domain name you love:

Pricing And Domain Options

Domain names arent generally going to be a huge expense. Most of the common domain extensions are available for in the ballpark of $10 to $20 per year. But something that you might want to consider are additional options for your domain, such as bulk registration, domain privacy, theft protection, etc.

But what do those options mean? Lets take privacy, for example. While privacy isnt required for your domain, it can go a long way in protecting your personal contact information.

Domain registrars are required to provide valid contact information for registered domains on WHOIS searches.

While there is a benefit to having valid contact information available there, the unfortunate downside is that spammers and scammers love to gather email contact information from WHOIS directories. In other words, privacy on your domain is a great way to protect your personal contact information. Make sure its available with your domain registrar before purchasing a domain.

What about additional extensions? While many businesses choose .com domains for their primary web address, there are tons of interest-, industry- and geo-specific domain extensions available that you might find more appealing.

Not all domain providers will have a wide selection of domain extensions, so if this option is important to you, make sure theyre available through your selected registrar.

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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.

When Should I Buy A Domain Name

The best time to register a domain depends on your project and urgency. However, its better to purchase it right away before a competitor claims the address.

According to Verisign, there were over 363 million domain registrations across all TLDs at the end of the first quarter of 2021. This figure is likely to grow each year as the number of people and businesses that compete to get a great domain name is increasing.

Moreover, many entrepreneurs consider domain names to be digital assets they buy plenty of good URLs as investments and wait for their value to increase before reselling them further down the road.

If you want to start a new online business but have no time to build an eCommerce site, then register a domain now and make a website later to reserve your brand or business name for the future. A domain name will be yours as long as you keep paying for it.

Also, consider purchasing a domain that includes your name even if youre not ready to create a personal website or portfolio yet. Doing this can give you control of what potential clients, employers, and other people see when they search for you on search engines.

All in all, purchasing a domain name should be a priority for those who are serious about building an online presence or starting a new business. It will help protect a brands identity and future business ideas.

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How To Buy A Domain Name

This article was co-authored by Stan Kats. Stan Kats is a Professional Technologist and the COO and Chief Technologist for The STG IT Consulting Group in West Hollywood, California. Stan provides comprehensive technology solutions to businesses through managed IT services, and for individuals through his consumer service business, Stan’s Tech Garage. Stan holds a BA in International Relations from The University of Southern California. He began his career working in the Fortune 500 IT world. Stan founded his companies to offer an enterprise-level of expertise for small businesses and individuals. This article has been viewed 91,318 times.

This wikiHow teaches you how to buy a domain name for a website.

Transfer Your Domain To A Different Domain Registrar

If your domain is managed by a provider that doesn’t support all the necessary DNS records, you can transfer it to a different registrar. When you transfer the domain, you change who you send payments to in order to renew and keep your domain name.

Request the transfer at the registrar that you want to move your domain to. Look on their website for an option such as Transfer DNS. Be aware that after they make the changes, it can take a few days update across the Internet.

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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.

Is How Right For You

.how benefits

A .how domain name lets your visitors know they’re going to learn how to do something when they visit your website! Whatever kind of instruction you’re offering, a .how TLD is the perfect choiceespecially if the .com extension for your brand is already taken.

Ideas for your .how domain

Whether you’re sharing DIY courses online, resources for new parents, or something else entirely, a .how domain name could be a perfect fit. Anyone whos offering tutorials, education, or instruction online can benefit from this TLD.

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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.

How To Register A Domain Name With Hostgator

Next, well explain how to get a domain name on HostGator. Part of the same group as Bluehost, it offers a user-friendly drag-and-drop website builder and feature-rich web hosting services.

The first step to buying a domain name on HostGator is to open the Domains page on their website. Insert a domain name and on the search field and press the Enter key.

If the domain is unavailable, pick a recommended alternative with a different domain extension or name variation.

The cost for a .com domain at HostGator is similar to Bluehost, starting from $12.95/year. Bundling the item with a privacy and protection feature is also possible, costing $14.95/year. Pick between one, two, or a three-year registration period, then click Continue To Checkout.

Now, create a HostGator account and fill in your billing information. HostGator has two payment options credit card and PayPal.

Before finalizing the purchase, HostGator will preview the order. Here, you can set custom nameservers to point the domain name to a third-party hosting account if desired. Click Place Your Order once everything looks right.

Finally, HostGator will send a domain ownership validation request to your registered email address. Remember to click on the link within 15 days to prevent the domain from temporary suspension.

Besides the steps above, HostGator also offers a domain name registration service via their support team. However, this alternative method is only applicable to certain TLDs.

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What Are Domain Name Extensions

You can choose among popular top-level domain extensions such as:

• .com
• .org
• .net

Or go with a local domain extension such as if you want to focus on building a presence in a specific country:

• .co.uk
• .fr
• .au

Also, theres a bunch of creative domain extensions, launched recently. You can try playing around with them to create a shorter, brandable name. For example:

• Alchemi.st
• Handma.de

Complete The Domain Registration

As soon as you have completed the payment, youll be redirected to the control panel. Inside, there will be a setup box that youll need to fill out to complete the domain name registration.

Youll need to fill in all the fields with the correct details, such as your name, address, andcontact information. This data will be stored on WHOIS, the official domain ownership database.

After submitting your details, the domain registration will be processed.

Its possible to modify the domain ownership details using the domain management section within the control panel. Once the changes are made, you will have to confirm them via email.

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Find A Credible Domain Registrar

A domain registrar is a company that is responsible for registering and managing domain names. Its accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers , a non-profit organization that controls the rules and regulations of domain name registration.

Choosing a reliable domain registrar is crucial because it can impact a project or business for years. Pick the wrong one and you might end up paying hidden fees or even get scammed. For example, there have been cases where a domain registrar pressures users into purchasing domain names similar to the ones they hold under false pretenses.

It can be challenging to pick from hundreds of domain registrars out there as they all offer similar services. Therefore, consider the following when choosing a registrar:

As we mentioned earlier, people can also purchase a custom domain from a hosting company that offers domain registration services, like Hostinger.

Since having a web hosting plan and domain name is essential to make a website, it may be more convenient to purchase and maintain them together at the same place.

Here at Hostinger, we offer low upfront and renewal costs for the most popular domain names and a dedicated 24/7 support team ready to assist you.

If you buy a domain name at Hostinger, its also possible to activate domain privacy protection. This feature can help hide specific details from being discovered through a WHOIS lookup.

Age Of The Domain Name

The number of years that the domain name has been registered for will play a significant role in determining what is the value of a domain name.

A domain name that is 2 years will have more value than the one that is just registered or 3 months only.

Google usually recognizes and give priority to domain names that are older.

Although its not much of a significant factor, especially if the domain name is not registered for long, the cost of the domain name renewal should also be considered.

Here is the reason why i said cost of renewal of a domain name is not too significant in determining the value of a domain name.

Some of the most expensive domain names ever sold are Lasvegas.com which costs $90 million, and carinsurance.com which costs $49.7 million.

Let us assume that the cost of renewal of these domain names is $50 and they were registered for 50 years before they were sold, each will cost $2,500.

So you can see that the intented usage and keyword, which i will discuss below played significant role in determining the value of these domain names.

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Best Tips Before Buying A Domain Name

Having a good domain name is essential since it can add extra credibility to a website, spread brand awareness, and ensure that users can find you on the internet. Thats why its crucial to dedicate some time to research before choosing the right domain name for your site.

Here are 15 tips to review before deciding on a domain name:

Hover: Great Search Tools And Suggestions

Hover is a simple registrar, offering average prices and good service. Where Hover shines are their suggestions, showing similar domains with different styles and synonyms to help you narrow down the domain you want. Their search page has a useful sidebar with different categories and filters for different extensions.

Here, we searched for the domain cookiesbygrandma.com, which was taken. Hover automatically suggested a list of domains similar enough to our search term that we might be alright with those instead. If youre not sure exactly what domain you want, you should try searching around on Hover.

Their .com domains start at $12.99 per year, and they offer email forwarding at $5 per year, plus free WhoIs privacy on top of it.

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How To Register A Domain Name For Free

Youve heard the rumor about free domain names. Is it true?

Yes! There are actually ways to get a free domain name for your website.

First, you can get a free domain name for a web hosting provider such as Bluehost.

They offer every new user a 1-year free domain with any of their hosting plans. You can either register a brand new domain name with them or transfer a domain name, registered with another company.

Some other hosting providers who also have a 1-year free domain policy:

• HostGator
• Dreamhost
• InMotion Hosting

Note: The downside of getting a domain name from a hosting provider is more expensive renewals. After a free year, most hosting providers will charge a higher renewal fee, compared to domain registrars.