Buying a Website Domain Name for the first time? I’ve already purchased domain names for everybody in my family. In this blog are my 7 crucial tips you need to know before buying a website name in 2011.
Tips for Buying a Website Domain Name
1. Get a .com address. You want to buy a .com website name if at all possible but if not, .net is usually ok depending on what you get it for. If you’re buying for a business, generally you want to stick with the .com unless it’s a really good website domain name like trucks.net or icecream.net.
Where to buy domain names? I use a small site called DomainShoe because it's cheap on registrations and privacy.
2. When you register a website name, the domains are all the same no matter who you buy from. You just have to make sure there are no catches when you’re buying a domain name. For example, you might see a $1.99 domain name on sale. Be careful because the next year it might cost $35 to renew!
That said, you can still get a domain name for cheap. I like to buy from DomainShoe.com. Their .coms are only $8.49 and the .nets are $7.99. Pretty cheap compared to everyone else. Godaddy is like $11.99 for .coms and $14.99 .nets. I’ve registered a lot of web addresses from DomainShoe.com and never had a problem.
Register.com charges $35 a year for a registration! I don't get why people buy from there.
3. If you just want a domain name, there is no need to get all the extra stuff for websites and website marketing you see. The only thing you may want is domain name privacy. Domain privacy prevents people from seeing your registration info like name, address, phone number, and email. Again, I choose DomainShoe.com because it’s cheap. Privacy there is only $1.95 whereas Godaddy and other places are $5.99 and up.
It really pays to find the little guys on the web.
4. If the website name you want is taken, don’t panic. You can get usually get a good alternative. For example, if you want to register FlowerShop.com and it’s taken, here are some alternatives to registering a domain name that is taken you can try.
Add my – MyFlowerShop.com
Add online – FlowerShopOnline.com
Add the – TheFlowerShop.com
Add a hyphen – Flower-Shop.com
Add a location – CaliforniaFlowerShop.com
Add your name – MarysFlowerShop.com
Add a brand – FlowerShopWorld.com
Add a superlative – BestFlowerShop.com
You can see how many options you really have when it goes to registering a website domain name. If your pick for a domain is gone, try checking domain availability for other options.
Yahoo Small Business is known for great initial sales and then HUGE price hikes later on.
5. Protect your name. If you buy a website name that could be confusing to type in, register the possible mistaken spelling domains that might be commonly typed in. For example, look at SuccessStories.com. It has 3 s’s in a row. It’s very conceivable that a visitor to that website might just type in 2 s’s so it would be a very wise idea to grab the misspelling and forward it to your website. That way none of your marketing dollars are wasted.
6. If you’re sure you want the domain you will buy for a long time, you can register for up to 5 or 10 years. But if you’re not sure about it, my advice is you only register your website name for 1 or 2 years.
7. Getting a website name is not enough to put up a website. You also need web hosting to actually host the site online. Web hosting generally costs anywhere from $4 to $10 a month for basic plans.
Best Places to Register a Website Domain Name
Last, here is a price listing for .com registrations on some of the top domain registrars:
Register.com – $35.00/year
NetworkSolutions.com $34.99/year
Godaddy.com – $11.99/year
Namecheap.com – $9.99/year
DomainShoe.com – $8.49/year
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