Domain names used to cost several hundred dollars to register for a year, back when domain name registration first began; and today you can buy them for well under $10 most of the time. Cheap domains are a small expense in running a website. The domain web hosting is a much bigger piece.
When shopping for an affordable domain name, there are a few key points to keep in mind in selecting a great name, and getting a great price. This is mainly geared for those who plan to have some sort of business for their website, and does not apply much if you are just looking to setup a personal site or blog:
1. The extension, or TLD. The TLD ("top level domain") is basically the extension of the domain. In the United States, the most popular are .com, .net, and .org, in that order. Most businesses attempt to get a .com, although they are getting more scarce by the day. .Net and .org domains are more common for not-for profits, small or local businesses, and those not as interested in long term business purposes. Why you ask? Because when people want to visit a particular business' website, they usually use .com at the end out of habit. If you are really planning ahead, getting all three for your business name may make the most sense.
Another reason .com, .net, and .org's are preferred is because search engines have established these in a way that they fare better in the search engines. Sometimes getting an obscure extension will make it difficult to appear in the search engines later. For most people this is important, but not always. More obscure extensions include .me, .mobi, .info, or some other country extension (unless your business is meant to be based in that country). Sometimes getting extensions from other countries can be unreliable in other ways as well, which are beyond the scope of this article.
2. Brand-ability. When starting a business, the last thing you want is a long, hard to remember domain name. Short and sweet is best, and if it matches your company name, then that’s even better. Even if it does not describe your business (think of famous brands). Avoid hyphens as well because when you are talking to your customer, it can be confusing to explain this to them. And with a lot of hyphens your domain starts to lose credibility, since they are quite popular with spammers.
3. Buying an unregistered domain is not your only option. Buying an established domain is an option to remember. Sometimes, you luck out and find that although your desired domain name is already registered, the current owner is willing to sell it to you, but don’t be surprised if they ask for an arm and a leg. Some domains sell in the thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and on rare occasion, millions—and that’s without a business attached to it.
4. Look at the total cost of owning a domain. Most of the add-ons that registrars are trying to sell to you are simply fluff designed to take advantage of uniformed shoppers. For the most part, the only add on services that are valuable are “private registration” which is a way of protecting your personal information that you used to register the domain. This is a cost you should look at when buying lots of domains.
In short, when looking for cheap domain registration, look for buying a memorable, short domain for your business. Buy it new or used, but buy it right. Avoid the unnecessary add-ons too to save some money.
Tags: cheap domain name and web hosting, unlimited domain web hosting, cheap multiple domain hosting
