When you want to set up a new site or blog there are several different options available. While you can get a free subdomain with a service like WordPress or Blogger, it’s highly suggested that you purchase a domain name and self-host it. By having your own domain name you will have more flexibility and options when it comes to the management of your site – and if you ever sell your site you have the peace-of-mind knowing that can sell the whole thing without any worries (domain name and all).
While I’m not going to go through the process of how to choose a domain name in this post, I thought it might be helpful walking you through the process of how you actually go about the physical registration of a domain name.
Choose a Company
By far the largest domain name registration company is GoDaddy. I use them for all of my domain name registrations, hosting, email, and anything that has to do with getting a website up and running.
Over the past few years they have grown to dominate the competition and my personal experience with them has been nothing short of spectacular:
- Price – While their domain name prices vary according to their current specials and promotions, expect to pay around $6-11 when registering a domain name with GoDaddy. Sure, some other companies may be a little lower priced but for under $10 being set up with the largest company is well worth it.
- Customer service – One of the great things about GoDaddy is their customer service department that is open 24 hours a day and they can be extremely helpful with any questions regarding your domain name. I was actually on the phone with one of their representatives the other day and they said that they had never worked at a company where the customer is given precedence above everything. The rep said that this trickles down from GoDaddy’s President, Bob Parsons.
While I highly recommend choosing GoDaddy, you want to go with a company that is reliable and has a good reputation. Whatever registrar (domain name company) that you end up choosing, make sure that you are comfortable with their products and customer service.
Registration Type
After you have chosen a domain name and start proceeding through the checkout process, you are given several options on how to register your name:
- Standard Registration – Includes information about the person/company that registered the domain and is publicly available in the Whois database.
- Private Registration – This option will exclude your information from the Whois database. Choose this if you don’t want people to know who the domain is registered to.
- Deluxe Registration – Includes private and business registration, which lists your business information in the Whois database and keeps your personal information private.
- Protected Registration – Includes Domain Ownership Protection, Private Registration, and Business Registration, which keeps your domain locked and secured, lists your business information in the Whois database, and keeps your personal information private.
For the large majority of us, choosing just the standard registration option will be the best choice. The others come with features and enhancements that you may want, however, note that they will cost extra and will add to the registration cost.
Registration Contact Information
When you order your domain there will be several contacts you will need to list when purchasing your domain name:
- Registrant - The person or company registering the domain name (the owner of the name)
- Administrative Contact - Who should be contacted about anything to do with administration of the domain name.
- Technical Contact - The person responsible for making any technical changes to the domain name
If you’re an individual, you will be the person listed under each of the contacts.
Domain Name Registration Length
One of the final steps in registering your domain name will be selecting how long you wish to register the domain name for. There are several things you should be aware of:
- Length - You can register a domain from 1-10 years
- Fees - You pay a renewal fee each year to keep the domain name under your ownership. If you choose to register a name for 1 year and prices go up the next year, you will pay the new price not the initial price. As it seems domain name prices are on a steady upward climb, registering it for as long as possible (that you can afford) is my best suggestion.
- Renewal - Automatic renewal means that after the initial registration length, the domain name will automatically renew under your account and you will be charged appropriately. If you have your domain name set to manual renewal, be sure to mark it on your calendar so you can go renew if you wish. Too many times people have forgotten to renew and their domain name goes back on the open market for someone else to register. This can cost you a lot of time, money, and headaches trying to get it back.
Wrapping up
That covers most of the things you will want to know about how to register a domain name. It’s not overly complicated and after a couple of times going through this process you will find that you can have a domain name registered in just a few minutes.
