Should I Buy A Domain

What Is Google Domains

is a domain registration service launched by Google in January 2015.

Google Domains helps you register the domain name that you use with your WordPress site .

Unlike a lot of other popular domain registrars, Google Domains does not offer any type of hosting. That means youll need to purchase hosting separately. For example, you could purchase your domain name from Google Domains and then connect it to Kinsta for hosting.

Google Domains also makes it easy to connect to other Google services, like G-suite, , and more, and you can access Google Domains by using the same Google account you use for other services.

Though it was launched in 2015 and is fully functioning, Google Domains is still technically in beta.

Your Domain Name Should Be Easy To Remember

You want to make sure that your domain name is easy to remember. But what exactly does that mean?

Basically, the more items you ask someone to remember, the harder it is for them to do that.

When it comes to domain names, every word and symbol is a separate item, which is something to keep in mind when you are considering various options.

For example, www.luciddreaming.com is easier to remember than www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com .

Try to keep your domain short, avoid using symbols, and get a well-known extension.

Buy Extra Domains When Your Brand Name Is Hard To Spell

Another reason you might buy multiple domain names is if your brand name is sometimes misspelled.

This can definitely be a factor, especially if well-meaning customers or fans share a link to your domain but the domain is spelled slightly wrong. Weve picked up extra domain name variations, because weve noticed people sharing links to our domain name where one letter was off.

This can help your SEO by capitalizing on links that people build for you, and ensuring they end up on your website. We usually do domain forwarding at the domain registrar level,.

Also Check: How Much To Purchase A Domain Name

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.

Use A Descriptive Tld

If youre looking for a top-level domain for your personal website, might be a suffix that talks for your business, like .shop or .biz. For creative sites, how about .art, .studio, or .design? There are countless TLDs to consider.

Get local

You can also play around with country code top-level domains . Search engines will rank you for local searches, and employers or customers will immediately know where you are based. Well-known ccTLDs like .uk, .us, .nyc, and .eu are all a good choice.

Check which extensions are coming

The powers that be, aka the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority , are constantly expanding the internet by rolling out new domain suffixes. Check here for the most up to date list of available TLDs on the market right now.

You can also check which extensions are coming soon, and the latest TLDs drop just here. If you see something that catches your eye, work on your web design in advance so youre ready to go when the new TLD goes live and is available to purchase.

Also Check: How To Figure Out Who Owns A Domain

What Is Domain Privacy Protection

I want you to think of Domain Privacy Protection as having your name and address UNLISTED in your local phone books or White Pages. Typically this service is provided for a modest yearly fee at White Pages or by your local phone carrier.

When you purchase a domain, you will have the option of adding the Godaddy Privacy Domain Protection at checkout. It cost $7.99/year and Godaddy will normally tack it on automatically as an upsell. This service blocks your personal info such as: Name, address, phone number, email, etc. Having this feature privatizes your info.

Whats This About Anyway

Just to make sure were on the same page :

When youre in the market for a website domain name, youll naturally need web hosting as well. Therefore, there are two main approaches you can take: Either get the domain name and the hosting from two separate companies, or get them both from the same company your web host.

Interestingly enough, pretty much all of the leading domain name registrars now offer web hosting services as well. This means that even if you go to a company such as GoDaddy known primarily for domain registration you can still walk out with a bundled deal of hosting and domain.

However, you can also do things the other way around. You can go to a well-known hosting company and get the same bundled package from them as well.

Also Check: How To Determine Who Owns A Domain

How Many Domains Should I Buy

Theres no limit to the number of domains you can buy, but there are some general considerations every business should make to determine the amount of domain name variations they should own.

1. People Will Buy Your Domain To Trick People

This was not an accident. There are people that are looking for domains to drive traffic to their own sites. If your business name is a way to do it, they will buy it. At that point, you *maybe* could try and ask them to sell it to you but then they could charge any price they want to sell it back to you.

2. Capturing Visitors Who Misspell

3. People Will Buy Your Similar Domains Because Its Their Brand Name, Too.

ANOTHER person owns one of the other domain names I said to buy. They have a legitimate business, and this domain name is a great choice. But the first business owner has been in business many more years, spending thousands of hours and dollars building up a brand that now directs to someone else. Yet ANOTHER person is starting a business outside the U.S. and they found a domain name that is very, very close to a business that I know here in Massachusetts. The first company has a registered trademark, so they probably will win a lawsuit but it may be an expensive process. Its a lot cheaper to buy a similar domain from the start.

4. Launching a Creative Campaign

5. Beating the Local Competition

Go Ahead And Get Your Domain Name

Whew, okay, that was a lot of reading! Still, I dont want this list to be intimidating. Even reading through it just once and then noting down the most important takeaways will give you more than enough insight to be able to obtain your perfect domain name and do so safely.

Just to help you out, heres a cut-out-and-keep version of everything thats been said above:

• Wondering whether or not to buy a domain from your web hosting company? See: Should I Buy a Domain Name From My Web Hosting Company?

Did we miss anything? Thoughts?

Also Check: How Much Does It Cost To Buy A Domain

Via The Register Subtab

If you are registering a domain from the Register subtab, you can complete the domain name registration by following these steps:

• Go to your Bluehost control panel and input your login details to gain access
• Navigate to the Domains tab and click it
• Locate the Register subtab icon and click it
• Input the domain name that you have chosen and add the .org extension
• Beneath the cart, at the far right, click the Next button to proceed
• A payment portal will pop up, where you can input your payment details to complete the purchase

A Place To Host A Blog

Why not use your own name as a domain for a blog? Its a common route to getting your personal brand online. Seth Godin runs one of the most popular blogs on the net using a personal domain URL . His site offers a glance at the books hes published including a link to his blog. White hot truth blogger Danielle Laporte has also fully branded her blog around her name.

Also Check: How Much Does It Cost To Purchase A Domain

Find A Custom Domain For Your Site

Whether youre working on a blog, an online portfolio, or an online shop, Mailchimp offers custom domains that can make all the difference to your online presence. And theres no reason to stop there. Use Mailchimp to build your website and connect it to our all-in-one marketing platform to really make your offerings stand out from the rest.

Learn more about how to get a free domain name from Mailchimp and how our offer compares to the competition.

What Is A Domain Name

Every website on the internet has an IP address. These addresses point to a websites location think of them like GPS coordinates. The IP address, which is generally a set of numbers, usually resembles something like this:

216.27.61.137

Unfortunately, trying to remember all of those numbers in order to navigate to a website can be challenging. Thats where domain names step in and lend a hand.

A structure called the Domain Name System translates those IP addresses into names that are simple to remember. Those names are called domain names.

Your website’s domain is what people enter into the address bar on their browsers to point it toward your website. In the simplest terms, if an IP address is your websites GPS coordinates, the domain is its street address. Some examples are mailchimp.com and google.com.

When someone types a domain into a browser, it gets routed through a DNS server. That server translates the name to figure out which IP address it points to. Then it grabs the data for that website and delivers it to the browser. This process happens in a matter of seconds, letting you find and view a website fast.

Recommended Reading: Do I Need Private Domain Registration

Some Things To Keep In Mind

• Purchase immediatelyIts nearly impossible to claim a domain once its been taken unless youve got deep pockets, so act fast.
• Register it for as long as possibleRegistering for longer periods saves you the hassle of renewing each year, reduces the risk of expiry, and usually means discounts.
• Pay in advanceAlso works out cheaper if you can afford to pay for hosting etc. in advance. The advantage being you are saved the hassle of renewing each year.
• A clean URL, one that is not full of numbers and letters just looks better. People are more likely to share a simple URL that doesnt take up two lines of text. Keep it as simple as possible such as your full name or company name, for a cleaner look.
• Private vs professionalMight make sense to get two distinctive domains, one focusing on your professional life, one on your personal life.
• UpkeepYou should build high-quality profiles, and a website if desired, and optimize all to rank as high as possible for your personal domain name.

Another key point to remember is consistency. Its good practice to maintain a consistent name across all the platforms you are using. Use your business name or actual name when creating vanity URLs on Twitter and Facebook for example. This lends credibility to your brands. It also keeps things memorable and helps avoid any confusion as to whether visitors have stumbled on the correct profile. Plus they will find your profile more easily.

Buy A Domain Through Shopify

Before you buy a custom domain through Shopify, check the price and availability of your domain name by using Shopify’s domain name generator. Domains purchased through Shopify start at $11 USD per year. The exact pricing depends on which top-level domain extension you choose. The availability of TLDs is subject to change.

The domain name generator displays the availability of your chosen domain name, as well as other available TLDs and alternative domain names. If your chosen domain name or TLD isn’t available, then you can choose one of the suggested options or start a new search.

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How Long Does My Domain Name Registration Last How Do I Renew My Domain

How long your domain registration lasts can vary depending on the domain you purchase. Many domain name registrars will allow customers to register domains for 10 years at a time, but typically customers will register domains for one to three years.If you want to extend your registration, its easy to renew your domain with GoDaddy. You can choose to manually renew or set up auto-renewal, so you ensure it stays registered to you.

Dont Buy The Domain If Its Not For A Unique Site

Heres a typical scenario youve got an existing website. You have new content, or new products that you want to promotebut it does not quite fit under the domain that you have.

You consider buying a new domain name for that new content or new product instead of using your existing domain.

Dont buy that new domain just yet.

Why? Well, you will be starting from ground zero in terms of audience, search engine indexing, and content. If you use your existing domain, youll get to build off its existing equity.

However, other companies/bloggers/people obviously do this all the time , so whats the best practice? Here we go

• If the new site has a 100% different target audience, voice, or brandthen buy the domain name.
• If the new site is a one-off content feature if the content appeals to the same type of people who read your site now if its really just a categorization issue for youdo not buy the domain.
• Instead, look at ways that you can expand the description of the site to catch that one-off topic because you arent writing for a topic, you are writing for the types of people who are interested in that topic.
• If you dont have a whole new audience, dont buy the domain, especially because it is usually associated with Rule #2.

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