Cheap Domain Names: What Qualifies As A Good Discount
Type Cheap Domain Names into a search engine, and youll see a range of prices without much context. Which of these is real, and what qualifies as cheap? To know that, you have to consider what goes into the price of a domain name.
Theres the initial registration, which is the price you pay upfront. This price usually covers the first year of your domain and can range from $0.99 to $13.00, on average.
The less expensive ones usually come by way of a coupon code or some behind the scenes trickery so you may need to read carefully before selecting one.
After that first year period is up, you will need to pay a renewal fee yearly to hold on to your domain name, usually less any discounts you got on the first year. This annual fee will range from $10.00 to $15.00 in most cases. You should expect to pay $9.00-$20.00 a year as the low end for your domain.
Bear in mind that this is just the price for name renewals. It doesnt cover hosting fees or additional overhead that comes with running a website.
Domain Names That End With Org Net Biz Etc
Since it’s so hard to find good “.com” domain names these days, many people go ahead and settle on going with a different version of the domain name such as “.net”, “.biz”, etc., as they are usually readily available.
You may want to hold off before going with those extensions for a couple of reasons.
First, if there is already a well known brand that uses the “.com” version there may be legal implications to you using any version of the domain name.
Second, even if the other extension is available, most people are familiar with the “.com” version and may end up going to that website anyway essentially you’d be advertising for your competitor for free. When a client searches for “.net” version of the domain name, you have to compete against a larger, already established brand. And when a client is actually looking for you, they might not remember your less well-known name and end up buying from your competitor.
There are some cases where using a different domain name extension can make sense. If your company is a non-profit then going with the “.org” is a viable option. Another example is if you have a local business that only serves a geographical area such as a business in New York could go with a “.nyc” extension. Other than these exceptions it’s highly recommended you try to find a “.com” name for your website.
How To Choose The Right Domain Registrar
At the time that we are going to choose the best domain name registrar, we should search out by the following four criteria:Firstly, the thing you should check is the domain name pricing and registration period.The second thing is Domain Transfers. Domain names can be transferred from one domain registrar to another.The third is Domain Expiration Policies.And finally, Add-on Services.
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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.
Domaincom: Best For Protecting Your Site
Domain.com offers some great security features for your site, including upgraded SSL certificates, site backups, security scans, and domain privacy. While those will cost you a little extra, they could easily end up saving you money in the long run. Like they say, an ounce of site protection is worth a pound of hiring someone to fix your website after it gets hacked or accidentally broken. Let Domain.com save you money with extra security.
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If I Purchase A Domain For A Low Price Will The Renewal Rate Be The Same
Probably not. Many cheap domains are available at a great price due to a sale or special offer on first-year registration. Our 75.00 domain name offers are often limited to one year, with successive years billed at the regular rate. That said, there are other great ways to buy cheap domain names from GoDaddy while keeping the price low in the future. Here are some options to consider at renewal time:
- Take advantage of multi-year registration. It will save you money compared to renewing your domain on a year-by-year basis.
- Do you buy a lot of domain names? Consider using our bulk domain registration or joining our Discount Domain Club to get some of the lowest domain prices and renewal rates.
Namecheap The Best Domain Names For $1 Or Less
Looking for the absolute lowest cost to register your domain? Namecheap is the way to snag your sites real estate for dirt cheap.
The company offers some of the best prices on popular domain extensions. Youll find .com domain names for less than $10 per year.
If you are looking for a newer domain extension, the price drops even lower. Thats where the real savings happen.
You can find plenty of domains that start at just 99 cents for the first year and boatloads more that are no more than $6 per year.
If youre willing to think outside the box, you can get a memorable, short domain for next to nothing. With all the new TLDs available, you may actually find a URL that works better than a .com.
I like the example Namecheap gives: instead of helpme.com, you could just go with help.me. Its shorter, easy to remember, and still preserves the keywords you want to use in the domain.
In fact, theres a lot about going with Namecheap as your domain registrar that will save you money in the long term.
WHOIS privacy is free forever with your domain. That saves around $15 per year compared to registrars who charge for it.
You also get email forwarding, which lets you set up professional email addresses with your domain name. Receive all your messages in your current inbox or set up another free Gmail to handle it. Your call, it wont cost anything either way.
And if you are unsure about DNS records or how to get your site set up, you can reach out to Namecheap 24/7.
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How Do Domain Names Work
Domain names operate under a Domain Name System . It is an internet address book that helps direct visitors to a website that they want to access.
For example, if you want to visit Geekflare , you would enter the URL in your browser and wait for the result. In this tiny amount of time, many communications happen between your browser and internet systems.
First, the request goes to a DNS system that checks if the URL is available in its database or not. If yes, it translates the domain name into the corresponding IP address and locates the server where the website is stored. Hence, you will be capable of visiting Geekflare.
Well Cover Cost Hidden Fees The Best Domain Registrars And More
Your domain name functions as your websites address in Internet-land, so having one thats simple and relevant will make it much easier for people to find you. If youve ever misspelled a long location name on Google Maps and ended up in the middle of nowhere, then you can probably appreciate the beauty of straightforward place names.
Its easy to see why people are willing to break the bank to secure a snappy domain name it increases site traffic pretty much by design. Some of the most popular domains, like hotels.com or business.com, have literally sold for millions of dollars. But resist the urge to stock up on lottery tickets million-dollar domain names are not the norm. In fact, for most of our plebeian purposes, registration cost wont come to more than $20 annually, max.
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Multiple Spellings And Numbers
Because it’s easy to get confused with spelling, choose a word that cant be easily confused. For example, the word “bass” has two pronunciations and as a result will be spelled incorrectly, a number of ways. Bass can refer to various fish species, a low-frequency sound, more than ten different towns around the world or even a surname.
Second avoid using numbers, as many people may confuse whether or not they need to type in the actual number, like “7”, or type in the spelling of it, like “seven”. Also, using numbers in your domain can give off a perception of being low budget and have an amaterish feel to it.
Why Whois Privacy Is Important
Without going too in-depth to what ICANN and WHOIS are, suffice to say its the nonprofit corporation that is responsible for keeping the internet secure and the naming structure of websites as it is. It requires anyone who registers a domain to provide accurate identifiable contact information, including name, address, email and phone number. Not everyone is comfortable with that information being public.
Domain registrars have found a way to keep your info safe and still provide ICANN with the info they need. These domain privacy features replace your information with the registrars info, at least publicly. Anyone can look up who registered a domain name, so having domain privacy can reduce spam for you, and keep you safe.
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Why Do I Need A Domain Name
You need to register your domain name because its a key component of your website.
When you register your domain name, you are declaring that you own the domain name and it has become part of the DNS system.
Domain Name System is a system used for finding computer services or information on the Internet by using a unique type of name.
So once you registered your domain name it will create a unique record in DNS space that will point to your web hosting.
Grace Period & Expiration Policy
Domain registrations are not permanent and they will expire if you do not renew after the expiration period.
Grace Period means you have a grace period after expiring to get your renewal done without losing the domain.
This is usually differs based on each domain registrar.
Also, its always good to check the policy regarding how long you have once your domain name has expired before it becomes available for public registration again.
Most domain registrars will give you an auto-renew service, which will pay your renewal fees for you automatically.
This is important because if your domain registrar does not have a grace period or you fail to renew your domain within the grace period then you can permanently lose your domain.
It can be bought by another person.
My advice is to keep auto-renewal turn with active funding source on for your important domains or registrar for bulk years such as 5 to 10 years.
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Who Owns A Domain Name
You dont own a domain name.
You get to register the right to use the domain name for a period.
For that privilege, you pay a registrar, who updates all the records and makes sure your name is unique.
During the time for which you control the name, you can sell that control to someone willing to pay you.
Top-level domain names are leased from the organization that runs the DNS.
So simply you pay a yearly fee to maintain control of that domain name.
So long as you pay your yearly fee you own the domain name, and have certain rights to it.
Whats The Difference Between A Domain Registrar And A Web Hosting
A hosting company helps you to host your website content files and you can use their server space. Domain registrars reserve the domain name which you registered and point that domain name to your chosen hosting.
You can register a domain name with a hosting company or registrar but it does not matter whichever way you choose. It is up to you to decide.
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My Domain Name Has Expired What Do I Do
Domain names are issued a certain amount of time when they are created.
After that expires, you will renew it through the same company you registered.
If you fail to renew your domain name before it expires, it will be deleted.
And another person can register it to their name.
Or, if the registrar has a grace period for expired domain names, you can renew it even after expiry within a certain time period.
Whats The Difference Between Tlds Like Com Me And Pizza
Well, theyre all valid domain extensions. But before you leave behind .coms forever, there are a couple things to consider.
Like professionalism. Weve said it before and well say it again: you probably wouldnt trust this ranking as much if it were housed at Business.pizza instead of Business.org. So think about whether or not a non-standard extension would work for your business. Its one thing to be Dominos.pizza, but another thing entirely to be MortsMortuary.pizza.
Then theres price. In theory, gTLDs like .pizza were created to give people more domain options. The catch? They cost a lot more than the supposedly scarce .com domains tend to. Thats not always the casea highly desirable domain, like google.com, would probably cost more than a variation like google.pizza. But generally, gTLDs cost more than their traditional counterpartshence our pricing charts including costs for both.
Finally, theres search engine optimization. If you want your website to be findable via Google and Bing, you might want to stick with a .com website. At least for now, search engines tend to favor .coms and other traditional TLDs over new gTLDs.
But as long as you understand those considerations, theres no reason you shouldnt choose a funky TLD for your business. Have fun with it.
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Make Sure That Its Legal And Available
Before you try buying a domain, you need to make sure that its available. Do a quick Google search and take a look at the WHOIS database. The database includes every registered domain. If you find that the name you want is already taken, you can also use the database to find some contact information for the owner.
Another thing to consider is the legality of the name. The last thing you want to deal with after paying for a domain is a lawsuit. Make sure that the name doesnt include any trademarks.
Hostgator: Best For Traditional Tlds
HostGator stands out in the domain registration world for offering only 15 TLDs mostly traditional extensions, like .com, .biz, .net, etc. That means HostGator could save you money on your domain name search, given that .coms and .nets tend to be far cheaper than newfangled extensions like .diamonds and .pizza. So if you want to keep things simpleand affordableHostGator will steer you in the right direction.
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