How Do I Purchase A Domain Name
To find a domain name or obtain a website address is a very simple process nowadays – but there are a few important points you need to bear in mind in your search for domains.
The first point is to remember that you aren’t actually buying a domain name – no-one can buy Internet domains outright as registration is just a license you get from the registry to use the web name – a little like renting a house as opposed to purchasing one.
Getting your own website address can be done entirely online and is a fairly rapid exercise – but you should check your eligibility before searching and commencing the registration process. While domains ending in .com, .net, .org, .info and .biz have very few requirements you’ll find that to register a .au domain name does have quite stringent eligibility criteria as set down by the .au registry – so check the guidelines first before your purchase. These guidelines are a very good thing – they help maintain the integrity of the .au space which benefits all.
After ensuring you’re eligible to register a website name, then it’s just a matter of running a domain name search at a registrar to find out if the name you would like to get is available to acquire. A search feature is also available at the bottom of this page.
Choose Your Billing Terms
After you select the appropriate plan, Hostinger asks you to choose a period for your plan: monthly, 12-month, 24-month, or 48-month.
If you want the free domain, do not select the month-to-month payment option. Hostinger only includes the free domain with terms of one year or more.
The longer your commitment, the greater the discount. You also stretch out that discount for as long as possible, because renewal pricing is never as good. This is not a Hostinger thing, it is just the way every host does it.
If you sign up for longer, Hostinger will actually lower the renewal rate. This is not common. As you can see in the image above, the renewal price for a single month of service is $11.99/month, whereas the renewal price for a 48-month term drops to $6.99/month.
The downside to signing up for a longer period is that you have to pay upfront. Again, this is typical of every host. But Im willing to take the hit with Hostinger because it is a really great deal.
Do the math: Hostinger Premium Shared Hosting saves you over $400 for four years of hosting. Pay a hundred and change today, and dont worry about your website hosting again until this years high school freshmen have graduated.
When you factor in the savings of a free domain name, the price only gets better.
What Are The Benefits Of Having An Edu Email Address
Things to consider before setting up an Edu email account. Many people are unaware of the benefits of using an Edu email account, which are critical for frequent use.
Education Email has a lot of exposure in the digital market space, and qualifying Edu emailers obtain a lot of discounts and offers in many places.
The benefits of having a .edu email account include free Amazon Prime membership, a free copy of Microsoft Office Student Edition, and the ability to send up to 15000 emails every month without charge.
There are numerous advantages to having an Edu email account, including the ability to save money for students who use it and concentrate more on their studies.
Your institution may have registered you and issued you with a .edu email address, but you have no idea how to use it to your advantage.
Well, you can earn large discounts on purchases made with your email account or obtain free goods with your.edu email account, and well walk you through each step in the post below.
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Who Can Get Edu Domain Name
Registering .edu domain name does not establish ownership of the domain name, but allows using it for a certain period of time. How to get an edu domain name? Your right to obtain an .edu domain is unrelated to other domains you may have or acquire in any other top-level domain, such as .us, .com, or .org. EDUCAUSE can register no more than one .edu domain name for each institution, and you are limited to only one .edu domain name. You can apply for the .edu domain name by following the instructions on the corresponding page.
There is a number of prerequisites that you must meet to register or renew your .edu domain name. Educational institutions, academic institutions, or non-profit organizations can register .edu domain name. A complete list of criteria and a detailed description with examples can be found here. We will discuss only the main eligibility criteria.
One of the main requirements is the domain name itself. In addition to rare occasions of transfer of rights or inheritance, your domain name should represent the name of the applicant organization. Generic domain names are not allowed.
Nonprofit organizations have the right to register one .edu domain if the vast majority of their members are colleges, universities, and other relevant educational organizations. The main criteria are that at least 75% of the nonprofit members qualify for .edu domain. Nonprofits whose members are mostly individuals, cannot apply for .edu domain name.
Claim Your Free Domain
Once your payment goes through, youll have the option to claim your free domain name.
Select this option unless you want to buy additional domains or connect other domains you own.
From there, Hostinger will walk you through the process of selecting a domain name thats available. You can search right on their site.
Hostinger offers domains with different extensions, including:
- .com
- .us
- .club
In most instances, a .com domain will be the only one I recommend. But there are two reasons why you might get an alternative domain extension: price and availability.
Getting a .site or .tech domain is cheaper than a .com extension. But in this case, youre getting a year for free anyways.
Price aside, .com domains will be better for the long-term success of your website.
I recommend getting your domain name set up right away. If you skip this step now or click out of the window for any reason, dont worry, you can always claim your free domain by on your Hostinger dashboard:
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Build Your Business By Registering Your Domain
After weighing the benefits and drawbacks of free or paid domains, you should get started on your search for the perfect domain name. Domain names can go quickly and there’s a little more competition than Symbolics had in 1985 so it is important to register the one you want before it is too late.
Registering a domain name is quick and easy, but it does take some time to brainstorm the right name, select the optimal suffix, and find the right domain registrar for you. As such, there’s no better time than now to get started on registering your domain name.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in February 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
Originally published Jun 20, 2022 7:00:00 AM, updated June 23 2022
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Purchase The Domain Name
When you have settled on the domain name and a suffix, you will pay to register the domain name with the domain registrar. This is not a one-time purchase, however. Typically, you will pay to own the domain name for one year, after which you can renew your registration for a fee. You can expect a registration fee of about $10 to $15.
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Use A Domain Name Generator
If youre not the creative type, you can use a domain name generator to help spark some ideas. Simply enter in some words or phrases that describe your brand or website, and these tools will give you a list of ideas that you can then check for availability.
Bring your brand to life with your own website. Design from scratch, connect a domain, analyze traffic, and optimize for SEO.
How Do I Choose The Best Domain Name
Great question! Here’s a few core things to consider when choosing your new domain name:
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How Easy Is It To Create A Website
Creating a website is a relatively easy process, but there are a few things to keep in mind. First, make sure your website is designed properly make sure your design is professional and sleek, and that your pages are easy to navigate. You should also make sure your website is easy to find make sure your websites domain name is easily accessible, and that your websites pages are listed in search engines. Finally, make sure your websites content is of high quality make sure your websites pages are full of valuable information, and that your websites content is up-to-date.
Top Rated Domain Registrars To Get A Free Domain Name
If you want to get a free domain name, youll need a domain registrar. Here are the top options Ive identified:
- Hostinger Best for creating your first website
- Domain.com Best for keeping domain costs low
- Porkbun Best deals on unique domain extensions
- Network Solutions Best for locking down domains for decades
- GoDaddy Best domain registrar for protecting your personal data
- Namecheap Best domain registrar for tight budgets
- NameSilo Most affordable domain deals with bulk purchasing
You can read our full reviews of each domain registrar here.
But today Im going to show you how easy it is to claim your free domain name with Hostinger. Why? Because hands down, Hostinger is one of the easiest ways for someone new to domain names to get one for free.
There are a few other ways to get a free domain name with free hosting, and Ill cover those later. But going with Hostinger means you wont run into the limitations that come with those other options.
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What Are Edu Domains
Edu domains are those domains ending in .edu. Like .com, .net, .org and others, .edu domains are a top-level domain . The majority of .edu domains are associated with an American post-secondary educational institution, such as a college or university.
How do you get an .edu domain? What are the eligibility requirements?
The registration of .edu domains is governed by Educause, which limits the registration of such domains to post-secondary institutions in the United States that are institutionally accredited. Institutionally accredited means that the entire institution and not just a particular program or department is accredited by an agency on the U.S. Department of Educations list of Nationally Recognized Accrediting Agencies. Those recognized accrediting bodies included Regional Insitutional Accrediting Agencies, as well as National Institutional and Specialized Accrediting Bodies. In other words, its going to be very tough for an individual to register a .edu domain.
Other schools, like elementary schools, high schools, middle schools, and even charter schools are not eligible to register a .edu domain. It is reserved solely for post-secondary schools.
Are there any exceptions?
Buying Directly From The Owner
The first step in buying a domain name thats already owned is to contact the owner and ask them if they want to sell it to you. Then, youll need to agree on a price, and finally, youll need to pay for the domain name.
Heres a breakdown of those steps.
Step 1: Find the owners contact information. The easiest way to do that is tolook it up in the WHOIS directory.Just as the name of a property owner is listed with a local governing body, the name of a domain owner is listed in the WHOIS directory. You can simply enter the domain name there and find the owners contact information.
However, when buying a domain name, owners have the ability to decline a WHOIS directory listing. If the domain you want isnt listed, youll have to visit the domain and find the owners contact info there. Checking out the sites Contact Us page would be a great place to start.
Step 2: Negotiate a fair price. When buying a pre-owned domain name, there are two things you have to keep in mind regarding the cost:
- No one will sell you a domain for peanuts. Youll have to prepare yourself to make a reasonable offer.
- Youll need to learn how to negotiate, because most domain name owners who are willing to sell will try to get the highest price they can.
You can make your case for a lower price by looking up the value of similar domains in the marketplace. Its also possible to hire a broker to make the deal for you, but if you do that, youll have to pay a commission.
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How To Register Edu Domain Name
The power of the internet is overwhelming the internet has consistently outgrown itself from year to year. Everybody, every brand, every business are going online to tap into the vast traffic and huge market share that exist online.
Even if you are running an educational institution, you should have an online identity. Yes, your domain name should be related to education. .edu domain name is the best choice.
But its not easy to register a .edu domain like other domain extensions. Here we will show you how to register the .edu domain name.
How To Get A Edu Email Address If You’re A Student Or Staff
Students and staff probably won’t have to do anything at all. Once you begin your job as a teacher, or register for your first classes, you’ll likely get an address issued to you. For staff, the account will be accessible for as long as you’re with the institution. Students, in many cases, will have access to their account for life, or until it’s left idle for a certain period of time after graduation.
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Should I Register More Than One Domain
Yes! Registering multiple domain names protects your brand from domain squatters or copycats who may try to register alternative versions of your domain. For example, if you own coffeelovers.com, you may want to consider registering coffeelovers.net and coffeelovers.org as well. You may want to consider misspelled versions of your domain name too.
Want to learn more?
Weââ¬â¢ve got you covered. Here’s a few articles about searching for a domain we think you’ll find pretty helpful:
What You Can Do With A Edu Email
While youre waiting for the reply, be sure to check these great offers for students. Take great advantage of these offers while you can. After all, it takes a lot to get there.
Tips:
EDU email address comes with a few advantages, including the following offers:
- Amazon Prime 6 months free. Visit and create your account with your new edu email.
- Unlimited Google Drive storage
- Free Office 365 with 1TB OneDrive
- LastPass Premium 6 months free
- Free Autodesk software
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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.
Tips When Making Your Ca Purchase
Always register the domain name yourself
Never let third parties, such as a marketing agency, complete a registration on your behalf. This can become a problem if you part ways and no longer have access to the account managing your domain name.
Register common variations of your name
If your company or product is commonly misspelled, register the alternate domain names and forward them to your primary website. This helps protect your brand identity and ensures no one else can register these domain names.
Provide accurate contact information
CIRA and your registrar will use the contact information provided during the registration process to communicate important information about your domain name.
Register a .CA with French-accented characters
The .CA domain registry supports French accented characters within domain names: é, ë, ê, è, â, à, æ, ô, , ù, û, ü, ç, î, ï, ÿ. When a .CA domain name is registered, all variations with accented characters are reserved for the original registrant exclusively.
Choose a registration term length that works for you
You can register a domain name from one to 10 years at a time. A longer registration period, combined with setting up auto-renewal with your registrar, can help you ensure your .CA domain name remains registered and active.
Protect your domain
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