Free Products + Services When You Register
From free perks like URL and email forwarding to sophisticated account features like Two-Step Verification and DNS templates, Name.com offers more for less.
Fair, transparent pricing
We clearly display domain discounts and renewal pricing during the search process so there are no nasty surprises when your domains renewal comes up.
Everything in one place
Once you have a domain in hand, we make it simple to attach email, hosting, website builders, and more. Its everything you need in one convenient place.
Easy domain transfers
FAQs
Whats The Easiest Way To Ensure You Keep A Domain Permanently
The closest system you can put in place for domain name permanency is to set an auto-renew setup with the registry.
This means authorizing the registry to charge your preferred payment system on a certain date annually.
Make sure you also have an email address that you can access for billing reminders and service concerns. You should also have alternate contact information updated with the registry.
Tips For Buying A Domain Name
There are some things you can do to make the domain buying process as successful as possible:
- Know your target audience. When picking a domain name, be sure to choose a name that will make your target audience perk up and take notice.
- Get help brainstorming ideas. A friend, family member, or a group can make it much easier to come up with a list of great domain names.
- Be prepared to choose an alternative. Before you start looking, write a list of alternative domains so you have plenty of ideas if your top picks arent available.
- Premium domains get premium traffic. Better domains are more expensive, but they also get more traffic.
- Take advantage of our domain name generator. Its a free tool that can quickly deliver multiple domain names at the click of a button.
Don’t Miss: How Much Do Domain Names Cost
Buying A Domain From A Standalone Domain Registrar
In most cases, going directly to a domain registrar like Namecheap will be your best option. As the name implies, these platforms specialize in domain registration.
Buying domains directly from a standalone registrar will be faster than alternative methods. Thats because youre not bundling other services, so the process is more direct.
Domain registrars also make it easier to buy domains in bulk. So if youre in the market for more than a single domain, definitely go with a registrar.
If you want alternative extensions, domain registrars will offer significantly more options. While I typically dont recommend anything other than a .com domain, some of you might want to browse through hundreds of alternative extensions.
Transferring domain names with a registrar is also easier than using a service that doesnt specialize in domain registration. So if you want to transfer your domain or think you might want to transfer it in the future, use a domain registrar.
Its usually cheaper to buy domains directly from a registrar. For starters, the domain itself will likely be less expensive. But the best registrars, like Namecheap, include WhoisGuard protection for free with the purchase of a domain. You probably wont get that from a hosting company.
The downside of getting your domain from a registrar is that theres an extra step in the process. Youll still have to get web hosting elsewhere.
How Much Does A Domain Name Cost
The exact cost of your new domain name will vary based on the registrar, the specific top-level domain you’ve chosen, and the quality of the domain name. Domain.com is proud to offer more than 300 unique TLDs to help your new website stand out. Some domains may be pricier due to their intrinsic benefits, like being short and memorable, or the use of very competitive keywords such as cars.com. Browse our premium domains to jumpstart your website performance.
Recommended Reading: How To Transfer Domain From Godaddy To Shopify
How To Register A Domain Name With Bluehost
Bluehost is a web hosting company based in the United States. Like Hostinger, it also offers a domain registration service. It even includes a free domain name for one year in its most affordable subscription, which costs $3.95/month.
Besides the generic TLDs, this hosting company has a wide array of alternative extensions for various niches such as .ink, .photo, and .guru. While theyre not as popular as .com, they can be an excellent touch to make your website stand out.
To get a domain name from Bluehost, open the Domains page on the site. Then insert a keyword paired with your desired domain name extension on the search bar.
The page will reveal if the domain name is available. If not, choose one of the other options below.
A .com extension costs $12.99/year, which is the average price. On the other hand, the privacy and protection service is $11.88/year.
Click Proceed to start the checkout process. Bluehost will offer to bundle the domain name with a 30-day free trial for a shared web hosting service and a free SSL certificate . An email service plan with Microsoft 365 is also available, ranging between $2.99/month and $3.99/month.
Press one of the Proceed buttons to complete the order. Fill in the billing information and choose a method to pay for the domain name registration fee.
Once done, Bluehost will send a verification email to your inbox to validate the domain ownership. Click on the link, and the domain name should now be usable.
What Are Domain Name Extensions
Domain name extensions help categorize different domain names. Its a special hierarchy, invented for the Internet.
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
Read Also: How Much Does It Cost To Register A Domain Name
How To Register Your Own Domain Name
One of the many reasons the internet is so powerful is because it gives nearly anyone the ability to share their voice and knowledge with the rest of the world. A particularly popular way to make yourself known is to set up a website.
These days many services, such as WordPress or Blogger, offer websites on commercial domains, but in a lot of cases it makes more sense to have your website on your own domaina personal place on the internet where you are in complete control of whats published and how it looks. Heres how to register your own domain name.
When setting up your personal domain name, you have a lot of options and many vendors to choose from. You can search around to see what works best for you and your needsor look over our suggestions belowbut the following steps outline the gist of what you need to do.
What Happens If I Dont Renew My Domain Name
If you didnt set auto-renewal or forgot to manually do so despite the reminders from your domain registrar, your domain name will expire. This means several things:
- Your website will no longer be accessible by anyone who types your URL.
- The domain name will be available for sale again, typically in 30-days or so after expiration.
- It can also be auctioned on a website domain auction.
In essence, failure to pay a renewal fee means lost access to your domain.
Also Check: How Much Does It Cost To Buy A Website Domain
How You Can Get As Close As Possible To Owning A Domain Name For Life
If youre worried about the price of your domain skyrocketing or others beating you to the punch and buying it from under your nose just as youre about to renew it, dont worry theres a way to make sure none of this happens.
It may dawn on you to become a domain registrar yourself so the domain remains your own for as long as you wish. However, this is not a great solution as its a lot of work and very costly. Youd need to pay an annual accreditation fee to ICANN, a yearly fee for each domain you run , and also a commercial insurance policy which costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. And of course youll also need to pay a fee to the administrator of each domain extension you have in your arsenal. Google is its own registry, for instance, but Google is also one of the biggest, richest companies in the world.
Luckily, you dont have to do any of that. If you want to avoid a rising recurring fee and protect your brand, heres what you can do:
Where To Buy A Domain Name
When you buy a domain name, you do so through a Domain Registrar that manages the registration of that domain name. For most registrars, youll buy the domain from them and then use a hosting provider to manage the website. Some companies provide both services.
is a great tool for finding domains and integrates well with Googles mail services. Namecheap and Hover are other great options and offer good DNS support and mail hosting in addition to low prices on domains.
You can also buy directly from your hosting provider , but if you want to switch providers, its generally more difficult as youll usually have to transfer the domain to another registrar, sometimes even having it locked down to that specific host.
Recommended Reading: Transfer Shopify Domain To Another Host
Choose A Descriptive Domain Name
Your proposed domain name must clearly describe your organisation or government initiative youre providing. Your domain name must:
-
be between 3 and 63 characters long
-
contain only alphanumeric characters and the – symbol
-
not be the same or substantially similar to an existing .gov.uk domain name, unless you are registering it defensively
-
not use & or _
-
not include abbreviations like ltd, plc and gov
-
not include a postcode
visitblackpool.com is acceptable for tourism promotion.
Check For Trademark Infringement
Both major and minor brands alike take issue with others using their trademarked names. Even if youve just made an innocent mistake, the legal hassle involved in a lawsuit and having to rearrange your web presence could be costly.
You can avoid these situations by using a trademark lookup tool before you finalize your choice.
Recommended Reading: How Much Does It Cost To Purchase A Domain Name
The Answer: Yes And No
While it’s true that ICANN ultimately controls the allocation of domain names, they don’t actuallysell them at a retail level to webmasters. In a sense, they work like factories in thebrick and mortar world that sell their products wholesale to retail shops.
Therefore, on one level, the answer is “no”. You cannot buy a domain name directly from ICANN theway you do a registrar.
That said, it’s possible to get accredited with ICANN as a domain name registrar. I mentioned some of the requirements forthis in my other article, “CanI Be My Own Domain Name Registrar So That I Can Avoid Paying Domain Renewal Fees Every Year?“
If you were to read that article, however, you will notice that the annual expenditure that you will have to makeis not insignificant, especially if all you want are a few domains. In the latter case, your expenses will be farin excess of what you will normally pay to a registrar. I suspect that ICANN wants to deal with companies thatbecome registrars because they expect to make a profit from selling domains, not with a zillion small-time webmasterswho want to skip the middleman.
But just to be clear, for the typical person hoping toset up a new website,this is unlikely to be the route you are looking for. Like me, you will probably just want to take the easier,faster and cheaper route of buyinga domain from a registrar, and devote your time and energy to the site itself.
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.
Read Also: How To Find Who Owns A Domain
Why Do I Need Domain Registration
Before buying a domain, learn all there is to know. Simply put, a domain name is an identification label to show that you have ownership or control of an internet resource. A computer will recognize a website address based on behind the scenes binary IP addresses through domain name servers . However, in order for them to be easily recognizable and memorable to the public, the numerically addressed internet resource is given a name. What is easier to remember, http://74.125.224.72/ or http://Google.com? Exactly.
A website’s name is the address of said site, and it should be memorable. With millions of websites on the internet, domain registrars will ensure that no names are duplicated, and act as intermediaries between users and the DNS. Remember, when buying a name, you might be referred to as the owner, but rather than ownership, it’s leasing it for a term, and have bought the exclusive rights over that domain for a period of time. Most companies or registrars will allow customers to renew the name automatically at the end of this term, ensuring it does not appear back on the open market.