If you want to start a new website or a blog, you will need a domain name, so that users from around the world can use the domain name to access your website. A domain name, is the name of your website, which is mapped to the IP address of your webhost server.
If a user wants to access your website, he/she will have to access your website's HTML files stored on your web server. To access the server, the user will have to remember the IP address of the server, which is not possible, because an IP address is just a combination of numbers. On the other hand, a domain name is an alphanumeric value, which is easier to remember, like studytonight.com is a domain name.
Countless websites offer domain names for registration along with hosting services; the process to register a domain name is very simple and self-explanatory; however, getting the domain name you want, might not be that easy. Why? Because domain names are unique, so if a domain name is registered by someone else, you cannot get it.
Therefore, many people and businesses register their domain names before they create a website.
Moreover, you will need to understand the contracts between you and the domain name provider to avoid future issues. Therefore in this article, we will explain everything about the domain and the procedure to get a domain name for your website.
Domain Names TLDs and Contracts
Let's start with domain name TLDs and contracts. Domain names are friendly, easy-to-remember names for a website; instead of placing the unique numeric IP address for a website, remembering a Domain name makes much more sense. Similar to IP addresses, every domain name is unique, and each represents an individual IP address.
For example, the domain name of IP 106.108.178.94 is xniog.org, the domain name xniog.org will always represent the respective IP address, the whole purpose of making the IP addresses easy to remember using a Domain name is to make it easy for others to communicate with you, sending an email like user@xniog.org is much easier than sending an email like user@106.108.178.94.
To buy a domain on the web, you must pay a fee. Depending on the Domain name provider, the price might vary, and some services even provide free domain names. To register a domain name, you should be creative. You won’t always get the domain name you wanted. If you are looking for popular domain names like beauty center, chances are someone already takes it.
The most attractive, shortest, and catchiest names are already reserved by various investors, who wish to resell the domain names later at a higher price. You will have to think of innovative words. Also, you might use - or _ symbols in your Domain names to make it unique.
No matter what Domain name service you are using to register your Domain name, every Domain provider keeps track of the taken domains. If you select any domain addresses that are taken, the service will notify you. While choosing a domain name for your website, you will enjoy your domain name SEO optimized if you want your website to be available on the Google Search results. For that, check out the latest SEO keywords related to your website, and choose an appropriate name.
The suffix after your Domain name also matters because the suffix identifies if the name of your domain belongs to a specific top-level domain. In the business industry.com, the suffix is the standard, and it stands for commercial. However, there are other popular and mainstream domains like .org for organization, .edu for education, .game, .hiphop, .net, and .in.
All these suffixes also carry meaning. If you want to launch a commercial site, you would like to use the .com TLD. If you are undertaking the area for an organization, you would wish to the .org TLD for your website since there are a lot more TLD you can look up; we would recommend you to check for all the TLDs and select that is appropriate to your needs if you are not sure what to choose then go for the .net TLD.
The most popular suffix, .com, will cost much higher than the .xyz TLD because chances are someone has already taken the domain name with TLD you wanted, which you can buy if the owner is willing to sell it. The domain Carinsurance.com was sold for $50 million; everyone in the industry is trying to profit, so now people are even registering less popular domains to sell it in the future for a higher rate.
No dedicated service is required to buy a domain name. You can get a domain name from a hosting service like DreamHost, HostGator, Hostwinds, or you can get the domain name from a domain name provider services like GoDaddy, A2, Namecheap, etc.
You can also register country-specific TLDs for your domain name. You should check for international domains too.
Registering a Domain Name
1. Get a domain name registrar
The entire system of domain and names is looked after by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and outside companies, also known as domain registrars, are allowed to sell and manage domain names. Your domain name has to be registered through a registrar.
GoDaddy, Domain.com, Bluehost, etc. are some of the most popular domain registrars even though there are many more to choose from. Before choosing your domain registrar, you have to make sure that you have considered the pricing and policies of each as they would be managing your domain name.
2. Check if your domain name is available
Then, you will have to check if your domain name is available by using the registrar's search bar. There are a lot of domain names out there and you have to find a unique one.
There are chances that the name you had in mind might be taken before, so you need to keep an open mind and insert keywords into your domain when appropriate.
3. Finalize the domain name
After you have looked for various domain names or got the one you wanted in the first go, finalize whether you want it. Take into consideration what suits your brand the most and will also be easy for the users to find.
4. Select a domain name suffix, such as .com or .net
Consider the suffix after you have finalized the domain name. As you must know, the most popular suffix is .com, but other suffixes like .net and .org are also known. In the domain naming system, these are considered to be top-level domains or the highest level domain suffixes.
You can also consider the country-code top-level domains which end in a suffix that is specific to a country.
Or you could also go for "sponsored, top-level domains," which are domain names that are sponsored by a specific community. for instance, .edu is given by the education institutions, .gov is given by the US government.
The best suffix, though, has to be .com just because of how easy it is to use and how common it is, but yes, you might also consider a sponsored top-level or a country-code domain.
5. Buy the domain name
You will have to buy the domain name by paying an amount to the domain registrar after you have settled on the name and the suffix. Mostly the payment has to be annual where you own the domain name for a year after which you can get it renewed. The registration fee is mostly between $10 to $15.
6. Add domain ID protection
Your contact information, including your name, physical address, phone number, and email address, has to be provided as you register a domain name with ICANN.
This contact information becomes available to the public as soon as the domain name is registered. This can be evaded if you pay an extra sum for domain privacy through your domain registrar. Your personal information can be shielded from spammers or identity thieves using this domain privacy option.
Registering a domain for FREE
You can free domain names from several registrars. Mostly, these website hosting providers and website builders offer free domain names against the purchase of another service or with some customization limitations.
Some of the more famous free domain websites are, Wix, Weebly, Bluehost, GoDaddy, WordPress, etc.
You should check them out before you buy a domain name.
Conclusion
You should get started on your search for the perfect domain name after you have weighed the benefits and drawbacks of free or paid domains. The domain name that you want might go away quickly and it is important to register the one you want before it is too late.
Yes, registering a domain name is a pretty straightforward process, but selecting the right name, suffix and the correct domain registrar takes some time. So without wasting any more time, just get to work.
