Step 1 – A Domain Name

This is a direct continuation from the previous post Step 0 – Plain Talk for Newbie Webmasters.

You now know from the previous post that you need a domain name in order to continue what we’re doing here.

We have not found a reliable source of free domains without some sort of string attached. Usually, it comes in the form of “host your website with us and we will give you a free domain – .com, .biz, .info” This is not necessarily a bad thing – the one thing you need to know is that there is an annual charge for the domain name ownership – so you will probably have to pay next year (and each year afterwards) even if the first year is free. There are also potential problems if/when you decide to change hosting companies (first-hand experience speaking here!).

There are many domain name providers, and most of them are reputable operators – not free, but reputable (but not all of them are!). Note – if you live outside the USA, there are different types of registrations available to you, and for many national domain names, certain restrictions apply – for example, if you want a domain name that ends with .it for Italy, you have to have a registered business or residence in Italy, and you have to prove that to the Italian authorities (in Italian), and agree that your website will conform to all applicable rules and regulations. Other countries and regional administrations may be more or less flexible, and some have farmed out the registration process to private companies, such as Western Samoa – the suffix .ws – which is controlled through the firm Global Domains International, and they use it in a unique MLM (multi-level marketing) concept combined with email and hosting.
Please note: If you buy a membership in GDI as a result of clicking on the above link, Craig Hesser (the author) should receive a commission from your membership and you will be placed in his membership downline in GDI. Please see the GDI site for more information at http://www.website.ws/kvmlm2/my.dhtml?sponsor=chesser
Here are some more common and interesting domain name extentions and typical prices.

Please note that almost all registrars have special deals, sometimes give big discounts and occasionally even free registrations. Just make sure you know all the strings that are attached to the deal before you decide to continue.

Please note: If you buy a product from the advertiser as a result of clicking on the above advertisement, Jimmy Craig Websites should receive a commission from the advertiser, based on the amount you pay before taxes, and the type of product you buy.

Note also that once your domain is registered, it remains with the same registrar as long as you own the name (or until you transfer it – this is possible but entails a lot of detail work). That means that – more or less – you are stuck with the registrar, for better or for worse. If you register your domain name with your (first) hosting company (for example, if you decide to take them up on the offer of the first year for free), the domain name will remain registered with them, even if you move the hosting to another company and close your hosting account. You will receive renewal notifications from the original registrar, and since the combined hosting and registrar companies are constrained to keep their businesses separate, their bills will most likely be separate, even if you’re still hosting with them. If the original company is not very pleasant about it, you will not find out how to transfer your domain name or even change the DNS pointers, and if you change hosting, you will probably lose the domain name through red tape. It’s not supposed to happen like that, but it does.

Dotster is one of the most respected registrars in the US. Other well-known and reputable registrars are Enom, and Network Solutions in the USA, TUCOWS in Canada, Schlund & Partner in Germany, the Public Domain Registry in India, Melbourne IT in Australia, and NetNames in the UK. We originally used Dotster due to its reliability, reputation and ease of use, but we have now changed to two other registrars due to a nice price advantage and easy-to-use and transparent systems. These two are NetFirms and Moniker.

Please note: If you buy a product from the advertiser as a result of clicking on the above advertisement, Jimmy Craig Websites should receive a commission from the advertiser, based on the amount you pay before taxes, and the type of product you buy.

There are many sources of advice on how to pick a domain name. The obvious advice is, the name should be descriptive, may not be abusive (in whatever form), and you need to choose not only the domain name but the extention as well (.com or whatever). You can look up a name on the website http://who.is (”.is” is the suffix for Iceland) to see if it’s available, or, what is probably more efficient, most registration companies have search engines on their websites that can find out if “your-domain-name.xxx” is available, and with what extentions. Two examples are the advertisers on this page. One thing you should keep in mind when selecting a domain name is that the domain name should reflect your main keyword 100% if at all possible. As an example, if your site is about “Poppies in Wisconsin”, then your site’s domain name should be something like “http://poppiesinwisconsin.com”. Also, try to stay with the extentions .com, .net, and .org in that order. Except in very special circumstances, don’t go outside those three extentions. More about all this later on, but it’s important to note at this point.

If you know something about domain names, you’ll notice that I did not mention the company with the funny name that has more than 25% of the world domain name market. There’s a reason for that. If you want to know more, please drop me a personal email or chat in Skype or Yahoo! Messenger and I’ll explain it to you.

There is another source of a domain name that is free for one year and we do recommend them. This is called My MLM Toolkit, or “MMT”. At MMT, you also get a website builder with a complete on-line video tutorial, free advertising, and an seo-submitter (Internet search engine optimisation submission tool, so your website will become “known” to the search engines like Google and Yahoo! and increase your traffic). MMT does have a membership fee – but it’s a one-time-only thing, and you stand a good chance to make money from the site (even pay yourself back for the membership fee) if you promote it.
Please note: If you buy a membership in MMT as a result of clicking on the above advertisement, Craig Hesser (the author) should receive a commission from your membership and you will be placed in his membership downline in MMT. Please see the MMT site for more information at http://www.my-mlmtoolkit.com/?craighesser

By the way, you are NOT stuck with your domain name forever! If you don’t want to use the domain name any more, you just let it expire at the end of its term and that’s the end of it. Or you can be polite and tell the domain registrar in advance. IF it’s a REALLY good name (that means popular for the Internet), something like microsoft.com , you also have the option to sell it through a broker – the best-known of these is Sedo, and there is a new one called Dot com Domain. You can park the domain with these people for free, and they will even advertise it for you. Needless to say, selling the domain name is not a free operation, and the charges can get quite high compared to a $12 or $15 renewal fee, but you still get a very reasonable return for a domain name worth $250 on the market.

OK. Now that you have a domain, or at least know how to get one, we will go on to the next step, website hosting, in the next post.

P.S.

I did a quick survey late last year (2008) using my favorite search engine, and came up with the following basket price range for one domain each of .com, .biz, .net, .org, .info, and .ws. The prices were for USA consumers buying in the USA with US$ and no quantity discount.

Maximum for the basket: $60.90
Minimum for the basket: $42.69

Two providers I found used flat rates regardless of which suffix was used (in theory) at $9.95 each ($59.70 for the basket), and a major provider in Australia wanted US$ 35.00 each (that’s why almost everybody should buy at home! The Australian folks can buy a .co.au for a lot less than a North American buyer can).

NOTE: Since then, the prices have gone up roughly 50%, so don’t be surprised when you go shopping!

Buyer beware! Look before you buy a domain name. There are also discounts again (it’s now late 2009 – they disappeared for a while early in 2009), so if you want a specific extention, shop around! .info names are presently going for as little as $1.99 each for the first year in the USA. Note also, the savings you achieve are generally only for the first year.

Happy hunting!

Jimmy Craig

P.P.S.

It’s me again with one final (?) note: one of our hosting companies gives free domain names with their program – and these remain free for the life of your hosting contract, so we have three websites that are free and will remain free – no yearly renewals. In addition, you can nominate a different domain name registered through them as the “free” site, so you don’t lose the free status if you want to drop a domain name. I don’t know how common that is in the industry, but it’s nice to receive a notice from Host Excellence that our free domain was just renewed for $0.00. Please note: If you buy a product from Host Excellence as a result of clicking on the above link, Craig Hesser should receive a commission from the advertiser, based on the amount you pay before taxes, and the type of product you buy.

Jimmy Craig

Step 1 – A Domain Name