So you have decided to set up your own business, maybe an informational blog, a portfolio, something that now requires you to get yourself a domain name. This can be an overwhelming task especially if you are not particularly technical. However choosing the correct domain name for your business is crucial in making it successful and some time and patience should be put into the decision.
We understand that when you Google “buying a domain name” you are probably inundated with websites telling you they have the best platform, the safest hosting platform, the best value for money etc. That is why we are here to help you narrow down the choices available to you and let you know what you should be keeping an eye out for when deciding on which platform to buy from!
In this article I will take you through what you should consider for your business when buying a domain name, what costs you can expect to pay, what name you should consider choosing and how to add this into your website.
The answer in short is yes! If you are setting up a business and you want it to have an online presence, no matter what business it is you need a domain name. You also need to think hard about what this name is going to be and think about it from a consumer standpoint so that you rank better in Google.
What is the business you run? Is it a flower shop, is it a chemist, is it a play school? No matter what industry or sector you are in, your keywords should ideally be in your domain name. It isn’t mandatory and of course you can run a successful business if the keyword of the business you run isn’t in the domain name but let me explain why it helps.
If your name is Ben and you run a flower shop and you have decided to name your business Bens and have also decided you will only use the word Ben in your domain name so your domain name is going to look something like www.bens.co m, how does Google know what that is? As soon as you launch your business you’re going to be somewhere in the Google universe but you are definitely not going to be ranking anywhere near other flower shop businesses.
Of course after time and effort and once your start receiving back links and you will eventually start to rank after maybe weeks, months of SEO content and making sure all the headers are in the correct places etc but it is going to take longer then if you had called your business domain Ben’s Flower Shop i.e www.bensflowershop.com from day one.
In summary if your keywords are in your domain name you will start to rank quicker and if you do not have the budget straight away to pay on SEO specialists, PPC adverts etc then you will find by using your targeted keywords in your domain you will start receiving traffic to your website pretty much straight away.
There are a number of websites you can purchase domain names from. I will list a few here.
Domain.com has been operating since 1998 (so basically 15 years after the internet was invented, wow!). They are one of the longest domain hosts in their field and have more than 1.2 million websites under their server. Domain.com specialise in web hosting, Email & SSL certificates.Domain.com is one of the most competitive domain platforms on the market and is super easy to use and is ideal for making your first domain name purchase!They have a search engine which allows you to type in your selected domain name and it will allow you to see whether it is available or not.
Just type your domain name into the search engine and if you are lucky you will be given the choice to purchase your chosen domain or it will tell you that the domain name you have selected is unavailable.
You cannot pick the same domain name as someone else. This would be like picking the same address as someone else, it would mean all your post would go to their address and not yours. That is why you have to pick a domain name that is unique to you and that nobody else has picked, this is why it is always good to have a few ideas picked out.
Domain.com also offer you the ability to buy a business email with Microsoft from as little as $3 a month which can be billed at $36 annually. Please be mindful though that this will renew at a higher price which is $72 annually after your first year. However for the sake of having a professional email address with Microsoft the deal is pretty good!
You can always choose between .com, .net. .co .tech and below is an infographic explaining the differences between each Top Level Domain (TLD) which is the industry’s term for the .com, .net, .co.uk, .co etc etc that is found at the end of a domain.
.com is the most commonly used TLC because it is the most popular one by Google. It is the one that Google most prefers and it is also the oldest in the industry and because it is used so much globally it is the first one people think of.
We would recommend going with a .com TLC because as mentioned it is the one that people find the most memorable. It is the TLC that people are most likely to put at the end of the domain address when they type it into Google, Safari, Yahoo or Bing.
Domain.com is very reasonable and prices start from as little as $1.99 depending on which TLC you choose or how strongly searched your keywords are. (Information on this can be found further down on this article)
.com domains start from as little as $8.99 a year! That is incredible value! Plus by following above link you can get an extra 10% off!
Domains will always offer you security packages along with purchasing your domain and it is always a good idea to add them to your purchase as it just makes sure everything has that added layer of security and your privacy is kept top priority! Domain.com privacy package can be added on for just $8.99 a year plus with the 10% discount it also means you get money off! Brilliant!
Namecheap is another one of our favourites. It is another platform that has a really easy to use interface and a search engine which allows you to see if your chosen domain name is available or not.
When entering namecheap.coms website you will see the search engine up the top which allows you to start searching for your chosen domain name straight away!
Another reason why people love namecheap is the fact that it allows them to transfer their domain name to wordpress really easily! In fact we have found it very easy to transfer selected domains over to WordPress, Shopify and other highly used ecommerce platforms for clients really easily.
They have some great resources with simplified instructions which is really helpful for those who may be nervous about setting up domains on their own!
Namecheap .com prices start from just $8.88 a year which again is fantastic value! However if you follow the above link you can get your first year from as little as $0.99c! This is an amazing way to kickstart your business.
Personably I use namecheap as my host for all my domains including Start My Media. I found them a few years ago while browsing for domain hosting websites and I haven’t looked back since! I find their customer service excellent, their interface easy to use and I though connecting the domain name to my website host was very easy! With every domain site you will find that their prices increase as the years go by so although I paid $8.99 for my first year I thought the renewal cost for my second year was very reasonable in comparison to many other big domain hosting websites out there!
It is also very easy to set up your business email with them so if you are looking for an email address that reads something like info@bensflowers.com which for a business looks more professional than bensflowers@gmail.com then Namecheap will allow you to set this up for a yearly charge of $33.88 a year.
Namecheap regularly have promotions and offers on so they are definitely worth keeping an eye on!
Another extremely popular domain name provider is GoDaddy. GoDaddy boasts itself to be one of the biggest domain name providers in the world and states that it has over 20+ million customers. With its modern and sleek website you can see why people flock to GoDaddy as their domain provider.
We would think that GoDaddy is one of the fastest growing domain providers out there. Their marketing campaigns are relentless and they have definitely built themselves a well recognised brand quickly.
GoDaddy also offers excellent email hosting, including Microsoft 365, if you are also looking for a business email.
So here’s the thing..
GoDaddy lures people in with their cheap 1st year offers with .com TLC going from just $.84c.and emails going from as little as $2 a month. However for everything their second year is always much more expensive and often you have to buy two years together you cannot just purchase one year.
So for the second year of domain name hosting the price is in and around $24 and you have to purchase both years together, this is before any extras you may choose to add. In total one day one you will probably be paying something like $24.90 and this is again if you do not choose any extras.
Their most basic email renews at $5.89 a month instead of $2 a month.
None of these prices are expensive and we still feel that these are fantastic offers but we want to be transparent and tell you that you should expect an increase in your domain costs after the two years. These will not be expensive but it is still something people should be aware of.
They are completely transparent in these costs and all of this information can be read in the small print before purchasing anything on their website. They are a reputable hosting site and clearly extremely popular with commendable marketing and business acumen.
As you can see there is a cost in buying domain names and more than likely you will always receive a cheaper year one then you do year two. Domain hosts like the ones mentioned above and many more make their profit from giving you a really cheap first year and then increasing the prices on the second year.
On average you should not be paying more than $8-$13 for your first year of hosting with any domain provider.
Again this is based on you picking a domain name that is not set at a premium price.
To explain a little better about what we mean about premium prices lets take for example the domain name marketing.com is going to be costly. Why? Well here’s why..
When you go to buy a domain from any of the websites listed above or one you choose to select yourself then basically that website will work as a register for your domain name. This means that they will keep your domain name secure, they will run security checks on it to keep your website safe, they will make any updates to the SSL that need to be made so that your site runs smoothly.
They are pretty much like a safety deposit box for your domain name. You pay them a fee and they make sure that one of the most valuable things connected to your business stays operational, works quickly and stays secure.
They also exist to make sure that there is only one domain name available. That yours is unique and nobody can come in and take it unless of course you decide to give it up or sell it.
Although some of these domain websites offer you the ability to build a website with them, if you decide to build your site through Shopify, WooCommerce, WordPress, Wix etc then you will need to connect your website host to your domain host. This is so that when someone types in your domain name to their search engine (Google, Yahoo, Bing, Safari, Chrome) they are taken to the website you built on Shopify, WordPress, Wix etc and they are not taken to Domain.com.
Unfortunately there is no option to buy a domain name forever. You will have to pay a yearly fee to the hosting platform you have chosen to select for as long as your website is operational. This is why you should do your research before picking a domain hosting website as you want to make sure you are getting the best value for money in the long run. It is likely that the more traffic your site obtains the more expensive your annual domain cost will become.
There are always options to transfer your domain name to another server after purchase and once you are out of contract with that host. You are not obligated to stay with the domain host you chose on day one.
So if you picked domain.com today in five years time you can change your hosting platform to GoDaddy if you feel they would serve you better or vice versa.
Once you have purchased your domain name and if you have a website built then it is time to connect your domain name to your website!
There are so many different ways of doing this for all the different platforms that are available out there that it would be impossible for us to describe how to do them all in this article.
However whoever you chose to buy your domain name from will have guides and information on how to connect your domain name to the platform which is hosting your website whether this is Shopify, WIX, Squarespace etc.
If you cannot find a guide or information on how to connect your purchased domain to your website host then their customer service support teams will be more than happy to tell you.
However for the three websites we have spoken about above here are links on how to connect these domains to your website:
https://www.domain.com/help/article/domain-management-how-to-update-domain-pointers
https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/9837/46/how-to-connect-a-domain-to-a-server-or-hosting/#:~:text=1)%20Sign%20into%20your%20Namecheap,from%20the%20drop%2Ddown%20menu.
https://ie.godaddy.com/help/connect-my-site-to-a-domain-24748
Disclosure: I earn a commission from domain.com & namecheap.com if you use my referral link to make a purchase