4 Things To Watch Out For When Buying A Domain

Securing a domain name is an important step when you’re building a website. Your domain name is what will allow people to find your website. Before registering a new domain name, you should take care of several things, to ensure that you don’t end up buying the wrong domain name. For instance, your domain name should be short, easy to remember, avoiding numbers and hyphens, easy to spell, and unique.

You should take your time to think and finalize the domain name, because once registered, it can’t be edited. You will have to buy new one if you want to change domain name.

Qualities of a good domain name

 So, if you have decided to buy a new domain name, please check whether your imagined domain name exhibits the following qualities:

1. It should be short. Long domain names are boring and hard to remember.
   
   
2. Domain names should be easy to learn and remember. When someone visits your site, he should be able to read and remember your website name.
   
   
3. It should be easy for your visitors to spell. While choosing domain name, think like this— you have called your friend and told him your domain name. Is he able to spell it correctly? If your domain name is flikr.com, and you tell your buddies about it, they will search for flicker.com. Don’t be confusing.
4. Try to go for a .com, because these are common, global, and SEO-friendly.
   
   
5. Your domain name should speak for itself. What it means is that when people come across your domain name, they should be able to feel the niche of your site. For example, when you come across techcrunch.com, you know it is related to technology.

Finding the right domain name registrar

Apart from finalizing the right domain name, there are a number of factors you have to consider. You should ensure that the domain registrar you purchase your domain name from at least follows the guidelines outlined below. 

1.  Ensure That You Choose a Registrar That Values Privacy

When you register a domain, you are required to submit identifying and contact information such as your name, email address, and phone number.  This information, which is linked to your domain name, is known as WHOIS data. Unless you do something about it, you or your business’ personal data will be exposed and could be accessed by my malicious third parties. 

Some domain registrars offer privacy protection and sometimes it is offered for free. This domain privacy service ensures that your data isn’t visible in public WHOIS data searches. At the very least, make sure that the domain registrar you choose doesn’t charge expensive fees for privacy protection.

If your privacy is not protected, you will receive numerous calls from third-party service providers where they will ask you to buy web hosting services, other IT services, etc. Hence, your domain name registrar should enable privacy protection.

You should also ensure that you go with a registrar that doesn’t sell your data to third parties. This is a disappointing practice which some registrars use to make money.

2.  Watch out for Hidden Fees

It’s a common practice for domain registrars to try to trap you with hidden fees. Fees may initially seem reasonable but there may be underlying fees that you don’t see initially.

One of the most common traps is the offering of a discounted rate for the first term of your domain purchase. The initial rate for your domain may be low, but then registrars may try to trap you with significantly higher renewal rates.

Another trap is asking you to pay to change your WHOIS data. This should be as simple as logging in to your account, changing the data, and then pressing save. Be wary of this. 

Registrars may also try to charge you for extra services and add-ons that you don’t actually need. For instance, they might try to get you to buy unnecessary domain extensions.

3.   Make Sure Your Registrar Offers Strong Support 

Some registrars don’t offer much assistance during the registration process which can be unnerving. You may have questions about how to get your domain name set up with your hosting account for example. This is something that support should be able to help you with. Strong support is especially valuable when you are transferring a domain from one registrar to another. While most registrars will offer tutorials online, sometimes you may miss a step, make a mistake, or an error might happen. For this reason, choosing a registrar with strong support is important. Check reviews of the registrar(s) you’re thinking of going with online to make sure that they have a proven track record of providing strong support.

4. Custom email address

Having a custom email address based on your new domain name can help you look professional when you reach out to your visitors or clients, or even show it up on your website or blog.

A custom email address looks like abc@yourdomainname.com. Without this, you will either have to purchase email services or use Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc. There are many domain name registrars that offer free email addresses, at least for the first year. It would be really great to opt for the registrar if they provide custom email addresses along with privacy protection.

Who are the top domain name registrars?

If you are not sure from where to buy a domain name, we have listed a few of the best domain name registrars below. You can check out their plans and services to make your decision.

1. Domain.com
2. GoDaddy
3. NameCheap
4. BigRock
5. BlueHost
6. Hostgator
7. DreamHost
8. ZnetLive
9. Hostinger
10. Name.com

Wrapping Up

Registering a domain name is an important step in getting your website set up. You should do your research before going ahead and purchasing your domain name from any old registrar. The same goes for if you’re transferring a domain name. Consider the three points above and carefully pick a respectable registrar.