Month: June 2020

Categories
Domain Names How To Guides

How to Find the Best Domain Name for Your Business

business startup domain name

Domain names, just like our names, are crucial in setting a positive first impression on prospects and clients, more so in establishing a business’s online presence. That’s why if you are starting a company website, one of the first things you need to do is find the most fitting domain name.

So, we beg to ask: How do I find the best domain name for my business?  Well, there is no hard and fast rule when it comes to choosing a domain name. But for any entrepreneur to find the best domain name for a brand or company, you must start with your business name. The best business domain names are brandable, memorable, and short.

But, often, selecting a brandable and easy-to-remember domain name may not be enough. You must choose a domain well because this can help your site’s traffic and promote a favorable branding identity.

Want to see how a truly brandable and memorable business domain looks like? Read the rest of the article for five tips and best practices when selecting the most suitable domain name for your business.

How Do You Find the Best Business Domain Name?

1. Start With Your Business Name

First off, consider using your business or company name as your domain name. Remember, a key rule in business branding is maintaining consistency. When your customers see the same company name and website name used, they are more likely able to remember it.

 

Doing so also aligns with another domain selection rule. And that is keeping your domain name short. For example, if your company name is The Good Furniture Company, Inc., just using www.goodfurniture.com as your domain name will suffice.

 

Think of the most famous business websites in the world today. All of them typically use the same domain name as their official company name. Do that for your business too.

 

But, if your business name is too generic, or if someone else has taken your chosen domain name, you need to be more creative in finding a business website URL. One tool that can help you is a website name generator tool. Our free tool allows you to search for different potential website domain names that match your preferences.

Naming Generator Domain Search Image

2. Add Keywords Related to Your Business

Another domain selection best practice is incorporating keywords that are related to your business industry or niche. Pick domain names that readily tell a customer what the site is for.

For instance, if you have a cleaning business, adding the words clean, neat, service, or tidy can work wonders in letting a customer know what your website is all about.

Remember, when selecting keywords to incorporate into your domain name, you must still keep in mind if the keyword adds creativity to your brand and whether or not it makes your brand more memorable. Don’t add a related keyword just for the sake of adding it.

Before fully committing to a domain name, always check how the keywords work with your chosen website name by plugging in the domain to our Naming Generator. This way, you will see how the new name works with different top-level domains.

3. Branding Before Naming

The next essential step when picking a suitable domain name for your business is to ensure that you have established (or plan to establish) a remarkable business brand first.

Remember: A brand name is more than just a name. It’s an image. Look for a brand name that can help your company cultivate a positive image and unique identity that your customers will happily associate with your business.

And once you have created a trusted brand name and have established this name as your website domain name, your business will have a smoother online transition. In the same vein, your customers will find your website more reliable.

4. Keep it Original and Typo-Free

Typos are major turn-offs. Spelling errors in a domain name not only shows incompetence, but they could also lead to a potential loss in traffic. That is why you must carefully check if your chosen business domain name for typographic errors, grammar lapses, and originality.

A good domain name for any business should not copy other existing business’s brand names or website addresses. Also, avoid closely related domain name spellings or puns as they can make your business appear unprofessional.

Conduct market and competitor research before using a domain name. Some businesses or organizations may not use a particular phrase or word as their website domain names, but they may already own the copyright or trademark for that phrase or word. Avoid any legal mishaps and always do your research first.

To check for available domain names, use free tools like the Naming Generator.

5. Decide If You Need to Purchase Other TLDs

For some business owners who want to set up their official websites, the best domain name is not one but also all the other matching names in different top-level domains. The main reason behind this is to ensure that all traffic from searches using other TLDs are redirected to the official company website.

Owning all the other TLDs (especially the .net, .org, and .biz ones) is a great strategy, especially if you want to avoid confusion and potential domain hijacking. All the other big companies like Microsoft, Apple, and Google are doing this.

Also, by redirecting all traffic to one business website allows you to control and present unified information to your customers.

Try out the free Naming Generator tool and see all the other available top-level domain names that you can use for your business website.

Bonus Tip: You can also purchase misspelled versions of your business’s domain name. Doing so allows you to capture all relevant traffic back to your official website. It’s a win-win.

Apply all the best practice tips shared above and you are now ready to choose the most suitable domain name for your business. Don’t forget to use our free Domain Name Generator and grab the domain name of your choice right away!

What if my business name is already taken as a domain name?

According to VeriSign, as of Q1 of 2020, there are 366.8 million registered domain names globally – a 4.2% yearly increase. It is highly likely that your preferred domain name may already be taken. That’s why a good workaround when it comes to coming up with business domain names is to think of the following criteria when picking out a domain name:

  1. What variations of my business or brand name can I use instead?
  2. Is it brandable?
  3. Is it unique?
  4. Is it short?
  5. Can it be easily remembered?

Ask yourself these questions and, hopefully, you will come up with a more fitting domain name for your brand.

Is it necessary to incorporate exact match keywords when choosing a business domain name?

No. It is best to choose a more brandable or unique domain name with few relevant keyword references instead. Over the past years, Google algorithm updates have penalized websites that used exact match domains.

If you want to read more about finding a matching your domain name and business name, read this article.

Do I need to use a geographic domain extension for my business?

No, geographic domain extension names are not necessary for businesses. However, they can help if you want to narrow down and target customers or clients coming from or searching for a specific location.

For example, if you want to open an eCommerce store that operates in the United Kingdom only, it is best to choose a .co.uk geographic domain extension instead of a regular .com top-level domain.

Related Questions

What do you really mean by a brandable domain name?

 A brandable business domain name means that your domain name or URL stands out, and customers can easily associate your domain name with your business campaign, company name, product, or service.

What is the optimal length of a domain name?

The optimal domain name length is between two (2) to three (3) words or about seven (7) to fourteen (14) characters or letters. Avoid adding hyphens, numerals, and consecutive letters as they can make your business domain name appear unprofessional.

What is the best domain name extension or top-level domain (TLD) for a business?

It is best for businesses to pick a .com top-level domain name or domain name ending. .com domains are more common and often regarded as more trustworthy.

Source:

https://www.verisign.com/en_US/domain-names/dnib/index.xhtml

https://domains.google/learning-center/how-to-come-up-with-a-good-domain-name/

Categories
How To Guides Resources

Best Linktree Alternative: WordPress FREE Templates To Grow Your Brand & Revenue

linktree lookalike landing page built with wordpress template

If you’re an Instagram Influencer then you probably already know the most valuable real estate on your profile, is that single little link. The problem is you only get one of them—enter companies like Linktree. Linktree is a fine company and many people benefit from using their service, but like many other people, you might be looking for a different option.

In this article, we are going to show you why you don’t need Linktree, or any of its competitors, at all…

In fact, we are going to show you a much better alternative to Linktree, (WordPress), that:

  • Has Far More Options
  • Gives You Total Control
  • Allows You To Make More Money
  • Offers Endless Possibilities
  • Is Cost-Effective

Not only are we going to tell you what this better option is, but we are going to show you exactly how to set it up, using this step-by-step guide.

Plus, we’ve created free templates you can have and use as a bonus if you decide to use this little known Linktree alternative.  That way you can save time and get going right away.

What Is Linktree & Why Do People Use It?

For those of you that aren’t clear on exactly what Linktree is, Linktree is a FREEMIUM product that was launched in 2016 and quickly took the Instagram marketing world by storm.

Linktree allows IG users to turn their profile link, normally limited to 1 URL by Instagram, into multiple links by simply bringing them to a simple mobile landing page with other links listed. 

A truly simple and ingenious idea at the time.  There was a clear need for Insta users to have more than one link and Linktree made it easy for us to do so.  The Free version lets you set up a simple page, which is pretty limited.

But perhaps the most annoying part of the FREE version is that you can’t remove the Linktree logo from the page unless you upgrade to the paid version.

linktree image

The paid version is only 6 bucks a month, but it’s pretty limited to what you can do.  So, we are going to show you another way to build the same thing using WordPress for about the same money.

But our WP version is just as easy to make, but is way more flexible and has endless possibilities while offering total control to you and your brand.

If you currently aren’t using some type of link landing page to grow your brand and increase your Instagram income you are missing out.  By having a landing page you can monetize your traffic in ways that are simply not possible on Instagram itself.

 Reasons You Should Use WordPress As A Linktree Alternative?

Ok, so there are a lot of Linktree competitors out there.  Why should you choose WordPress over all the other alternatives?  Here are the reasons you should use our WP alternative over Linktree or any of its clones.

 

  • We’ve prebuilt everything for you for FREE, so you can just click and type like you do now with way more control and upside!

 

  • WordPress is the world’s most used content management system for a reason. It makes up about 30% off all websites on the internet. That’s because it’s secure, easy to use, and fully customizable into just about anything you can imagine.

 

  • Building an Instagram site on WordPress means you own it! You aren’t beholden to any platform, Instagram is already a platform, why tie yourself to another platform that can change its terms, fees, or features at any time.

 

  • You have more control with WordPress. WP is a full blogging and website platform, with endless plugin options, that can give you any feature you can dream of. You have endless possibilities when you build your own site on WP, and that includes your new Linktree Instagram alternative.
  • Cost– We will show you how to set it up for about 50% of what you are paying now for the first year!

 

  • Your brand/site will outlive Instagram! It sounds crazy but social media platforms come and go all the time. IG is huge so it will probably always be around in one form or another, but do you really think it will be as popular say 5 or 10 years from now.  A betting man would say it will be replaced by the newest & coolest platform.

 

  • Way more than just a simple links landing page. Once you build out your IG links page using WP, you aren’t limited to just that.  But you can blog for organic traffic, add a store, create a portfolio, engage with your users in so many different ways that just simply aren’t possible using a platform like Linktree.

 

  • Think BEYOND THE LINK! – When you build your IG link page with our FREE WP template, your imagination is the only limitation. Want to add a map to your store—no problem, want to put someone directly into your sales funnel—no sweat.  You are going to increase your revenue, by increasing the ways you can make money and conversions.

 

  • Build a Website that becomes a tangible asset you own. This is the biggest difference. You want to own your assets not just use other company’s platforms because it gives you the ability to potentially sell your website down the road!  Websites are selling for multiples of 30-40 times monthly earnings. So, if you have a branded IG following and corresponding website that brings in money, you could eventually cash out in a big way.  Let’s say you make $1000 month through your website.  You could sell that website for 30K-40K if you want to move on to another project.

 

 Step-By-Step Guide To Creating Your Linktree Alternative Page On WordPress

 Now that you hopefully see and understand the benefits of creating your Instagram link page with WordPress, you are probably leaning towards making the switch.

 

So, we are going to show you exactly how to do it and give you 100% FREE Linktree Alternative templates to make it as easy as possible.

 

Here is a quick rundown of the 5 Easy steps to setting up your Instagram Linking Page on WordPress.

 

  1. Domain Name & Hosting– We will show you how to get a domain name for free using NamingGenerator.com, plus a year’s worth of hosting as a fraction of what you are paying for Linktree. Not to mention crazy FREE bonuses—Including FREE Professional Logo!

 

  1. Install WordPress – We show you exactly how to do it below

 

  1. Get Free Premium Theme and Page Builder

 

  1. Download & Install our Free Instagram Link Page Templates

 

  1. Edit Your New Instagram Link Page- Simple Drag and Drop

 

Ok, let’s take a deeper look at each of these steps…

 

Step 1: Secure Domain Name and Hosting

 

The first thing you will need to build your own Linktree alternative on WordPress is a domain name for your site and hosting to serve your website up to visitors when they click on your domain name.

 

That is what NamingGenerator.com does best.  Our FREE naming generator tool allows you to quickly search for available domain names so you can find something that is perfect for your Instagram brand.

Naming Generator Domain Search Image

 

Secondly, we’ve cultivated a list of hosting providers that offer great deals on hosting, some of which will give you your domain for free, like Bluehost. Bluehost is one of the biggest hosting companies in the industry, they are offering monthly hosting for about 50% of the premium LinkTree cost and a free domain name.

 

But, feel free to use our FREE tool and pick any of the hosting providers you like.   Some are a bit more expensive but are optimized for WordPress which means it’s easier to install and manage, like Kinsta. The choice is yours, but if you want a rundown of Best Bluehost Hosting Alternatives, check out our article here.

 

On top of that, we offer some great FREE bonuses for using one of our affiliate hosting companies by ordering through our links.  So, you will get a FREE custom designed logo and other great FREE bonuses!

 

To secure your domain name and hosting now and then move on to step 2.

 

Step 2: Install WordPress On Your Domain

Now that you’ve secured your domain name and hosting in step 1, it’s time to install WordPress on your host.  This is really easy to do on most hosts as WP is the number one content management system on the internet so hosting providers know they have to make this easily available for customers.

Usually, it’s just a couple of clicks to get it installed.  Here is a quick video on how to install WordPress on Bluehost, if you took my recommendation above.

But, if you decided to use one of our other hosting partners or if you already had hosting, just search their site’s help for installing WordPress, or jump into their customer chat or helpline and they will quickly show you how to install WordPress or even do it for you in some cases.

Once you have WordPress installed move on to step 3 in this guide.

Step 3: Install Premium Theme and Page Builder Plugin

 There are endless themes and plugin options when it comes to WordPress sites.  Ultimately only you can know where you want to take your site and what theme might be best for those goals.

But, don’t worry you can change themes and page builders at any time, but know that if you change page builders the preformatted content from the old page builder might stop working.  So, try not to do this too often or when you have a ton of content on your site.

But, for the purposes of creating your Linktree alternative Instagram links page, I suggest Astra as your FREE premium theme, and Elementor as your page builder.  Both are very popular, Astra is built for speed which is important for your visitors and for Google when it comes to ranking your site.

Elementor is one of the most popular page builders on the market.   The FREE versions are all you need to use our FREE IG page templates.

Here is a quick video on how to install Astra on your New WordPress Site:

 

Here is a quick video on how to install Elementor on your WordPress website:

 

 

Once you have Astra and Elementor installed move on to step 4 to download our free templates.

Step 4: Download and Install Our FREE Linktree WordPress Alternative Templates

Ok, now that you have your website ready to go, download our 3 FREE pre-made ready to use Linktree Alternative WP templates Below.

DOWNLOAD THESE 3 FREE INSTAGRAM LINKING PAGE TEMPLATE HERE

linktree lookalike landing page built with wordpress templateinstagram linktree template 2 store gallary templatelinktree alternative the instagram shoutout page template on wordpress

We’ve already said that creating a mobile Instagram linking page with WordPress has endless possibilities so we wanted to offer a few different options to show you just how flexible your new Linktree alternative page can be.

Here is a closer look at the FREE Templates you are going to get…

FREE Template #1- The Basic Brand Builder Links Page Template

linktree lookalike landing page built with wordpress template

 

This template is your basic links page.  Really meant to help you add as many links as you want to the mobile Instagram links page.  You can’t go wrong with this simple and effective template.

 

FREE Template #2 – The Product/Store Gallery Template

instagram linktree template 2 store gallary template 

 

This template is great if you want to sell products from your links page.  We’ve set it up to have a product gallery as you can see above. You can have as many products as you want.

 

You can sell the products directly on your site using WooCommerce, or link to a Shopify store, or even a print on demand store for some swag.  But this is a great template to show your followers some cool products.

 

FREE Template #3: The Sponsored Post Booster Template

linktree alternative the instagram shoutout page template on wordpress

If you are Instagram then you know sponsored posts (shoutouts) are big money.  Well, we wanted to create a template that would help you make more money with your shoutouts!

 

How much could you charge if you were not only able to offer a sponsored post but for an added fee you were able to highlight your advertiser’s product or offer on your new mobile Instagram links page.

 

This template will allow you to charge more by allowing your sponsored posts to have their product on your links page. So, your followers can click the link find their offer, and take advantage.

 

Imagine how that improved conversion for your customers would improve your repeat orders! Not to mention what you could charge if you could tell people how many clicks they got and they could better track their ad money ROI!

 

Now, you don’t have to limit yourself to our templates, you can blend elements of all of them, or create your own from scratch, that’s the power of building your mobile Instagram Links page on WordPress.

 

I hope this has shown you some of the potential of using this method, let your imagination run wild.

 

Now that you’ve downloaded our free templates – install them into your WordPress site.

 

Here is a quick video on how to upload your templates.

 

 

Once you’ve completed this step, move on to the 5th and final step.

 

Step 5: Edit Your New Instagram Links WordPress Page

Remember we created these templates for mobile since the majority of Instagram users are on their mobile devices.

So, if you want to know how to edit these templates for desktop, tablet watch this video.

 

https://youtu.be/-rErfXXbsPI

 

Once you are on your page by clicking edit with Elementor, select the mobile page as shown above, and simply click on the element you want to edit.

You can then edit the images, links, and text like most drag and drop editors.

Good luck with your new Instagram WordPress links page!

 

Categories
Domain Names

How Important is it to Match Your Company Name with Your Domain Name?

domain name matching business name blog banner

The goal (not to mention, the logic) is really simple: you want people to be able to type in your business name and land on your website. This was no problem back in the day – but business owners of today face a bigger challenge. With over 220 million domain names already registered, it is now quite difficult to secure a dot-com domain name that matches your new business name to a T.

How important is it to match your company name with your domain name? While matching one’s business name to the corresponding domain name was, once upon a time, believed to be essential, this notion is not as relevant in these modern times. It’s been established that a good domain name is short – seven characters long or fewer, ideally. The next important element is that it also needs to be available for registration. If the goal of your website is to gain leads and search traffic, then keywords are what’s essentially more than an exact match. On the other hand, if the goal of your website is to simply have a web presence for the convenience of your customers who are already familiar with your business, then a domain name that matches closely with your company name could be more effective.

If your business model is heavily-rooted to the worldwide web, then an exact-match domain name should be your prime target. Companies like Netflix, Spotify, Yelp, and yes, Google have people automatically “defaulting” to their company name when typing on the web browser bar. Also, an exact-match domain name helps you get found by search engines, instead of losing your potential customer/s to someone else.

But if your business is mainly transacted offline, then you have more leeway should an exact-match domain name is not available to you. Many “brick-and-mortar” businesses (such as restaurants, hotels, gyms, etc.) include their geographic location in their domain names. You may want to consider yourcompanynameSF.com if you’re in San Francisco or yourcompanynameOH.com if you’re in Cleveland. You get the idea. Doing so likewise helps to increase your search engine visibility as many people typically search for retail outlets, hotels, and the like by location.

When formulating a branded domain name, the number one question you need to ask yourself is this: what works best for your customers? What would uniquely capture your business’ identity and will stay top-of-mind among your target audience? Fine, go with a long or short domain name so long as it’s memorable, relevant, easy to spell, professional, and unique.

Do I Need to Include LLC in My Domain Name?

First things first, a limited liability company (LLC) is a business type that combines elements of a partnership, sole proprietorship, and a corporation. This ensures that the owner/s of the company is/are not personally liable for the company’s debts or liabilities.

If your business is registered as an LLC, you might think of adding the acronym to your domain name. You can do so, yes, BUT a problem may arise should your business structure change down the road. In other words, say you started out as an LLC and so you registered yourbusinessLLC.com. But what if you need or decide to change the legal structure? Your registered domain name will no longer match your business structure, thus requiring you to re-register a matching name anew. And what if the version of your business name without the “LLC” is unavailable? Therefore, it’s more practical to skip the LLC.

Also, the “LLC” in a domain name may be inadvertently left out (or forgotten), landing your potential visitors onto the wrong website.

So, please, make it easy for yourself and your potential customers and just drop the business structure from your domain name. If the goal is to just distinguish yourself from a similar business, secure a keyword-rich domain name instead.

What is the Easiest Way to Check if my Business Name is Available as a Domain?

The first place you want to start to find your domain’s availability is with our FREE Naming Generator.

Naming Generator Domain Search Image

It will allow you to quickly search the availability of your name. If it’s available it will allow you to quickly secure the domain at the best possible price from some of the biggest companies in the industry.  If it isn’t available it will give you a lot of closely related naming ideas that are available.

The old manual way to see if your preferred domain name is available is to search it out. In your web browser, type in www.yourbusinessname.com. Try checking your business name dot-com, dot-org, dot-net, etc. on the end to see if any business entity comes up or if there is a similar business out there that could be in competition with your brand.

If no functioning website is associated to that domain name you want, you’ll see one of these two things. Either you see an error page, or you see content on the page that offers to sell you the domain name. Please do not get tempted by such an offer to purchase the domain name. These kinds of offers usually mean that the domain name is already registered to another business or entity. It may be available for sale by that business or entity, but the parked post will likely charge you more (think: middle man).

If you get an error page, you know that the domain name is available. Once you’ve determined that is no active website for your preferred domain name, what you will want to do next is check the WhoIs record for the domain name. WhoIs is a record of domain names and provides the history of a particular domain name. Here, you can see if that domain name has ever been registered to another company or individual and when. If the WhoIs record shows that the domain name is currently registered to someone else, this means the domain name is not available (even if there is no active website associated with it).

The domain name for your business’ website is an integral part of your branding. A domain name that is highly relevant to your business is instrumental in your customers’ ability to find you. The whoIs will offer you the option to purchase the domain name if it’s available, but a word of advice: this is not usually the best option. A good domain name registrar will provide more services than simply registering your choice of the domain name. After checking WhoIs, a good place to turn next is NamingGenerator.com, a free online domain name generator tool, that will not only help you come up with available domain name ideas for your business but will give you great domain name registrar recommendations, plus access to great web hosting deals.

Let me just reiterate that even if your business name appears to be available upon an online search, somewhere out there a competitor could be in the process of completing its unregistered business name. Act fast. Start here.

 

How do I Get Other Domain Ideas if My Company Name is Taken?

If your business name is already taken as a domain name, do not fret. There are workarounds. Take GlaxoSmithKline, for example. GlaxoSmithKline is a giant in the pharmaceutical industry, named as GSK.com online. Not that they had any competition in name ever, but hear the story of their strategy out. There was a time GSK wanted to promote vaccine use, particularly for whooping cough. GSK created an entirely new website and with the domain name BigBadCough.com. While BigBadCough.com is longer than the 7-character ideal, it is both memorable and concise. The website’s domain name clearly communicates the type of content that is being discussed on the said website.

Another way to approach the unavailable domain name pickle is to add location information, as earlier described. MomsBaking.com could be MomsBakingVA.com. The geographic signifier can filter customers, ensuring they land on the right website, in the right location.

If your business name is unavailable to register as a domain name, all is not lost. A good online domain name generator tool offers free domain name suggestions, using your own ideas and your keywords, and will likewise offer good leads on domain registrars and web hosting services.

 

Does Your Logo Have to Match Your Business Name?

Technically speaking, a logo is really a graphic representation and so it may be hard to match it to the written word.  A business logo is effective IF it evokes the sense of the brand. Like how the swoosh does not have a single text on it, yet it is very much recognizable as Nike. Even wordmarks, such as the cursive style of the Coca-Cola brand. It is so richly stylized that it acts as a logo – it is distinctly Coca-Cola’s.

You’ll want your logo to stand out as different in the minds of your customers. Your logo should imprint on people’s minds; the more effortlessly, the better. A well-chosen business name and logo are both instrumental in helping you to stand out among your competition.

We go back to NamingGenerator.com again. For this is not just a free online domain name generator tool that likewise offers recommendations for domain name registrars and web hosting providers. You can also get a free custom logo design when you use their FREE domain name generator and opt to use one of their hosting partners to register the domain you decide on. NamingGenerator.com is pretty much your one-stop-shop in the journey to building you the best website ever.

 

We would emphasize that a domain name that matches your company or business name is appropriate when your website is essentially an online presence for your business. However, when marketing a certain brand, product, or service, a domain name that is short, catchy, and memorable would do the job more effectively. The perfect domain name for brand awareness can be the name of the brand, a keyword that describes your product or service, or a word abbreviation with no direct translation. Truly, there are several factors to consider when naming your business. While it may pose as a roadblock, you should not really let the availability of a dot-com domain name be a deal-breaker of sorts. If you were able to come up with a business or company name that works for you on many levels, there’s surely a way to find a domain name that will serve you just as effectively.

Sources

https://www.inc.com/janine-popick/business-name-or-domain-name-what-comes-first.html

https://technologytherapy.com/domain-name-business-name-match/

https://websitecreativepro.com/blog/domain-match-business-name/

https://www.quora.com/Can-a-domain-name-be-different-than-your-legal-business-name

https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/do-i-have-to-use-llc-in-the-business-name

https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/what-is-a-limited-liability-company-llc

https://howtostartanllc.com/what-is-an-llc

https://www.startwebsmart.com/answers/how-to-buy-the-best-domain-name-for-your-website/

https://broadly.com/blog/find-if-a-business-name-is-available/

https://www.register.ie/a-guide-on-how-to-check-if-a-domain-name-is-available/

https://www.quora.com/Does-your-trademark-have-to-match-the-brand-name

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/choose-company-name-logo-2348.html

https://www.quora.com/Does-your-trademark-have-to-match-the-brand-name

Categories
Domain Names

Can a Domain Name be Too Long?

can a domain name be too long article banner

The ultimate goal of a website is to attract then engage potential customers. The more visitors, the better. The website’s domain name, obviously, is key in achieving this goal. In this article, we will talk about more features of an effective domain name, particularly the impact of length on the overall quality of a domain name, and namely, can a domain name be too long?

So, can a domain name be too long? The direct answer is yes, there is such a thing as having a domain name that is “too long”. The maximum number of characters a domain can be is 67 including the extension. When your domain name has a disproportionate or excessive number of characters, it can be harder for your customers to remember. The simpler your domain name, the easier it will likely stick to a customer’s mind. The last thing any business or organization with an online presence would want is for a potential client to give up on finding your services, simply because he or she could not recall your website’s name (or yes, location, technically speaking).

If you want help finding a great short domain name, use our free domain name generating tool.

Naming Generator Domain Search Image

It is only natural to want your business name and domain name to be an exact match. The common logic to it is that any discrepancy between your domain and business names could cause confusion for your site’s visitors. But if your business name is quite lengthy, you may have to put more thought into the domain name you choose.

Certainly, no one would want a domain name that has words that are difficult to remember or even harder to spell. A highly complicated domain name may just cause you to lose out on valuable website traffic, not to mention potential business.

Likewise, it may be quite tempting to stuff your domain name with too many keywords. Although it won’t hurt to add more than one, too many keywords could be derailing you from your brand and vision.

It may not be ideal to cram up your full business name into your domain name, but you can very much still highlight your brand via your domain name. You just need to ensure that your branding, website content, and your business’ “message” all support each other. More on branding down the page. Read on.

 

How long can a domain name be?

A valid domain name has a minimum of 3 characters and can go up to 67 characters long (max) — including the 4 characters used to identify the Top Level Domain (.com, .net, or .org, etc.).

Most experts suggest that actually going all-out with the 67 characters (including the extension) makes for an awfully long URL and, thus, is not entirely recommended.

 

Why does domain length matter?

The lengthier your domain name, the more likely it is that people forget the address or to commit an error (or errors) when typing it in. Also, if your domain name is too long, it could be a challenge to print on business cards, letterheads, sides of trucks, and so on.

But, as we will discuss further down this article, long domain names aren’t always bad. The real key to an effective domain name, setting length aside, is meaningfulness. Relevance. Recall.

Just that experts would unanimously recommend not overdoing domain naming, particularly in the length aspect. Very long domain names might look rather “spam-my”. It is also possible that extra-long domain names (resulting to long URLs) might have some negative impact on web usage on mobile devices. Even a 70 WPM touch-typist may not be able to overcome the relatively tiny keypads on most hand-held devices. This is not yet taking into consideration the countless people who aren’t familiar with copy-paste shortcuts on smartphones and similar digital devices.

 

How long should a Domain name be?

Research has shown that the most common domain names are approximately 12 characters long, on average. The data used were based on website popularity. That is, the amount of web traffic. This is why experts recommend that we should aim for domain names with just 6 to 14 characters. If you are not able to find a short domain name (these have likely been sold years ago), at least make your domain name “brandable”.

A brandable domain name is unique and stands out from all others, while a generic domain name is not particularly memorable and is typically stuffed with keywords.

 

Are long domain names bad?

Come up with an impressive and effective brand name that is easy to remember for the users. Usually, it is the short domain names that stick to people’s minds. In general, SEO experts and other online observers seem to agree with a common rule-of-thumb when it comes to domain naming: a one-word domain name is outstanding; a two-word domain name is good; three or more words is not always bad – though it’s more often NOT a good idea, either.

But a domain name is not “too long” if it conveys real meaning. To illustrate, DomainNames.com is 11 characters long, but sure makes more sense than DMNM.com. Then again, DN.com is golden than both earlier examples combined.

This might be a good rule of thumb: “if it’s meaningful, it’s not too long. But if it’s short, it is more likely to be meaningful.”

Longer domain names, though, have a better chance at being unique, especially if the combination of words is creative. And one may have better luck at getting the URL of choice registered with a provider out there.

Are Shorter Domain Names Better?

In general, when it comes to the length of your domain, shorter is better. Why? Short domain names (one or two words) are concise and thus easier to read. Also, and more importantly, shorter domain names are easier to remember. In practical applications, short domain names are easier to include on any printed material, such as business cards, letterheads, or mobile (as in moving) ads.

There is this one challenge to a short domain name, though. Short domain names have, more likely, been registered already. This is especially true for brand names that aren’t 100% unique and brand names that contain a common word or phrase.

These circumstances may require you to get more creative. You might also need to consider paying a little extra for a domain name with a different extension (.net, .org, .co, etc.).

 

How to find the best and shortest domain name available?

The reality is that good and short domain names are becoming harder and harder to find in .com. You may have better luck trying to find and register domain names of a reasonably short length that are still available with a different TLD (top-level domain). You may have to start looking at .com.au and the like.

As earlier recommended, if you are unable to find something short, at least make your domain name brandable. You can make up your own catchy, new word, just as Google, Bing, and Yahoo have done. Whip out your thesaurus as you might just find interesting words that fit your brand.

Another great suggestion is to use domain name generators. These tools, such as this FREE online domain name generator tool, can help you come up with a unique, brandable domain name derived from your initial domain ideas and keywords.

 

Word-of-mouth marketing is an absolutely viable avenue to take in growing your business. For this to happen, it is essential that your website’s domain name is almost effortless to recall. Whenever you find yourself second-guessing your domain name idea, go the “shorter is better” route. Okay, a lot of the shorter domain names will have been taken by now. This is, then, the time to bust out your creative side. You may believe that you’re bursting at the seams with great ideas… but none of that may not matter if the great idea of a domain name is no longer available for you to register. Before moving forward, make sure you periodically stop and do a domain search to check your great idea’s availability. This will save you a lot of trouble down the line. You can just sit back and click here to get started.

 

Sources Used

https://blog.flippa.com/domain-name-mistakes/

https://www.webfx.com/long-domain-name-vs-short.html

https://www.namepros.com/threads/how-long-is-too-long-for-a-domain-name.1136512/

https://www.crucial.com.au/blog/2017/04/20/domain-name-length/

https://www.appypie.com/faqs/what-characters-are-allowed-in-a-domain-name

https://websitesetup.org/choose-domain-name/

https://www.domainregistration.com.au/infocentre/info-domain-length.php

Categories
Domain Names

Are Domain Names Case-Sensitive?

are domain names case sensitive blog banner

A domain name is, simply put, a website’s name. Strictly, it is the address where all users of the Internet can find a particular website. Computers use IP addresses, or a number series, in assigning a location to each website. However, it is not easy for humans to remember strings of numbers, not to mention several different IP addresses. So another way to put it is: a domain name is the human-readable (and memorable) website location. If your job entails searching multiple websites every day or if you are thinking of building your own website, surely you, at some point, have wondered if domain names are case-sensitive or not.

Are domain names case-sensitive? The American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII)-based domain names are NOT case-sensitive. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. This is true for a majority of the domains in the world, regardless of domain name extension (.com, .gov, .edu, .net, .org, etc.). What might appear to be exceptions are the Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) which contain at least one language-specific script or alphabets, such as Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, Devanagari, Hebrew, or the Latin alphabet-based characters with diacritics or ligatures, such as French.

Traditionally, the domain names within the Domain Name System (DNS) have all been ASCII-based. The American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) is, simply, a character-encoding standard for electronic communications. All ASCII-based domain names are not case sensitive and will continue to be so. In other words, the domain names like Amazon.com, CNN.com, etc. are not case-sensitive at all. It does not matter whether you type amazon.com, Amazon.com, AmaZon.com, or even cnn.com — you will still be taken to your intended website.

So if you have your own website and are worried that letter case might cause your potential customers to get lost, don’t fret: they’ll most likely get there just fine. As we will discuss further later on, some websites are just represented in a combination of upper and lower cases as a matter of style (it makes it easier to read/distinguish words). Both YourBusiness.com and yourbusiness.com will take your customer to your web page. But if you have an address beyond the .com (or .net or any other TLD) part, that’s when letter case will matter.

Why are Domain Names Meant to be Case-Insensitive?

Case-insensitive domain names bear a more practical advantage. It makes it easier for potential customers or website visitors to avoid confusion or bad recall and still be able to land on the correct website. If you are about to register a domain name for your business or organization, it might be ideal to register your domain name as case-insensitive, as well.

If in the registration process you notice that the domain name given in all upper-case letters, no need to panic, that’s completely okay. The actual registration is done in all lower-case letters.

However, when you share your domain name with others, it’s alright to use upper-case letters to make it easier to read, as mentioned earlier. More on this later.

Why do Some International Domain Names Seem to be Case-Sensitive?

In modern DNS, we now have something referred to as Internationalized Domain Names (IDN). These domain names can contain language-specific characters. As such, it might be tricky to define upper-case and lower-case characters in certain languages, which is why IDNs may seem to be case-sensitive.

Can a URL be Case-Sensitive?

URL (Uniform Resource Locator) and domain name are some of the common terms in internet language and these two are often interchanged. Bear in mind, though, that these two terms are absolutely dissimilar.

A URL is a string of alphanumeric and special characters that provides the information on the location or “complete internet address” of a webpage. A domain name is a more human-friendly form of an IP address and is just an element of a URL.

Take this website for an example: NamingGenerator.com. The website’s domain name is NamingGenerator.com (or, yes, naminggenerator.com) while its URL is https://naminggenerator.com/and-everything-else-that-may-follow-when-you-click-on-links-on-the-site.html.

When typing a URL, letter capitalization may be necessary. A URL (or internet address) is only case-sensitive after the domain name (particularly, after the .com part).

Why is a URL after the Domain Name Case-Sensitive?

While the actual domain name is not case sensitive, the full URL to a specific webpage on the domain may be case sensitive. Let’s say, for example, you have a page called product.htm on your website. So the URL to this page will be https://yourdomain.com/product.htm. This URL is not the same as https://yourdomain.com/PRODUCT.HTM.

For the same reason that links within a website should match the letter case of the name of the file they actually link to, the address after the .com (or any TLD) needs to match the letter case of the specific file or folder’s name. In our earlier example, although the domain is valid, the product.htm file name is in upper-case in the second example, and that file may not actually exist on the server.

In other words, yourdomain.com/product will go directly to a page on the webserver that is in a folder named “product”. This won’t work with “PRODUCT” because there is no folder on the server with that name.

Operating systems (even Linux) treats a file with different letter-casing as a different file. In our example, because the “PRODUCT.HTM” file does not exist on the server, your browser will generate a “404 error” message.

Does it Matter How I Capitalize a Domain Name on Business Stationery or Content?

Domain names are not only used in internet browsers, but they also abound offline, as well. Your domain name likely (and, in fact, ideally) appears on your stationery, your business card, brochures, and other marketing content media.

In any URL, upper-casing is optional but only up to the .com part. Internet addresses become case-sensitive after the .com (same goes for .org, .edu, and other types of TLDs). When advertising your URL (or web address), it is okay to use upper-case letters in the domain name part of your website’s URL for emphasis, distinction, or easy reading.

yourdomainname.com could be printed on your letterhead as YourDomainName.com and you can still be confident that your potential customer will find your website.

Furthermore, it pays to consider the “aesthetics” of your domain name on print media. The first consideration in this aspect is the use of upper and lower case to enable identification of separate words within that name and help clarify its meaning.

It is not only rude or questionable misinterpretation or association that can cause problems when multi-worded domain names are presented offline. Confusion or misreading may happen when consecutive words in a domain name end and start with the same letter. Some might even construe it as a misprint. Upper-casing, where such words join, will help distinguish the words.

In the online universe, a company’s domain name may influence how a potential customer might perceive the organization. A poorly-considered domain name may be perceived as a representation of a poor company, and a good domain name may give the impression of a solid company that’s good to do business with.

As an internet user, if you are uncertain if the page or directory you need to visit is in upper-case or lower-case, it is always the safer bet to use lower-case. The majority of webpages on the Internet are going to be in all lower-case. As a webpage creator, always save all files with lower-case file names (including the file extension).

If you are about to register the domain name for your first-ever website but are new to all this, don’t get confused with all this jargon. The domain name that you register will, in very high likelihood, NOT be case-sensitive. Registering an Internationalized Domain Name is not yet a common practice. The really important thing is to confirm before taking the first steps to register a domain name for yourself or your business is to decide on the domain name you want. Easily get help at this free online domain name generator tool. From there, you can likewise get good recommendations for domain name registrars and web host services. Go build that site!

SOURCES

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalized_domain_name

https://abhijitrawool.com/are-domain-names-case-sensitive/

https://www.quora.com/Are-website-domain-names-case-sensitive

http://www.digitalfamily.com/faq/should-i-use-lowercase-or-uppercase-letters-in-a-domain-name/

https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000709.htm

https://techdifferences.com/difference-between-url-and-domain-name.html

http://www.ez-domainnameregistration.com/domain_name_basics.htm

https://www.alancharlesworth.com/domain-names/choosing-the-right-domain-name-4.02-aesthetics-why-it-matters-how-your-domain-name-looks.html

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Domain Names Industry Information

What Symbols/Characters are Valid in a Domain Name?

forbidden domain sign for characters not in domain banner

Your domain name is everyone’s way of remembering and finding your website. Your domain name refers to the name of your website and internet users can use your domain name instead of the web address (or IP address – a string of numbers) to access your website. A domain name could be any combination of letters and numbers and attached to domain name extensions, such as .com, .net, .org, and more. But, there are some rules around the characters and/or symbols that can be used in a domain name.

What characters or symbols are valid to use in a domain name? A valid domain name character would be derived from a set of alphanumeric ASCII characters, such as letters (a-z, A-Z), numbers (0-9), and dashes (-) or a combination all of these. A domain name can be any combination of such letters and numbers with up to 63 characters – 67 if you count the domain extension (.com, .net, .org, and others). The hyphen (-) is the only symbol that can be included in a valid domain name. There are no spaces in a domain name, nor is the use of the underscore ( _ ) allowed. Other common symbols such as exclamation points (!) and asterisks (*) are likewise not allowed.

Anyone who has been using the internet for a long time has likely encountered the acronym ASCII. This acronym is short for American Standard Code for Information Interchange and this is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other digital devices.

There is a lot of technical jargon in order to explain what ASCII is and how it is used in internet language. We will not be discussing that here at this time. What’s important for everyone to know is that, essentially, ASCII prescribes the characters or symbols that are valid for use in a domain name.

This information, while seemingly trivial, is a crucial element in everyone’s quest for the perfect domain name. Read on for a further understanding of characters and/or symbols that make a domain name valid.

Defining the 3 Types of Characters Allowed in a Domain Name: Letter, Number, and Special Characters

Valid characters that can be used in a domain name are A-Z (both upper-case and lower-case allowed), the numerical digits 0-9, and the hyphen (-).

  • Numbers: all ten Arabic numerals from 0 to 9.
  • Letters: this is divided into two blocks: upper-case and lower-case.
  • Symbols: only the hyphen or dash (-) can be included in a valid domain name.

How Many Characters Are Allowed in a Domain Name?

Domain names can be divided into two parts – Label and TLD. Let’s take amazon.com as an example. The label is amazon, while the TLD is .com. Top-level domains or domain extensions are the strings of text that come right after the label. A valid domain name has a minimum of 3 characters and can be up to 67 characters long — including the 4 characters used to identify the Top Level Domain (.com, .net, or .org, etc.). Remember to NOT type the “www.” before your domain name (label) when registering.

Can a Domain Name Have an Underscore?

Historically, search engines are not able to parse (analyze) punctuation marks. From an SEO standpoint, it is fortunate that Google has the ability to parse the underscore and the dash, along with a couple of other punctuation marks. But from a wider perspective, this is not the case.

Often, when writing in a format that does not allow spaces, people resort to the underscore ( _ ) to_write_something_with_spacing_that’s_human_readable. However, this is not necessarily how a computer will interpret the said symbol. Computers will typically use the hyphen (-) as a spacer, or-something-like-this. The underscore might be able to distinguish words for humans but could not differentiate them for computers. A_phrase_like_this will be parsed as Aphraselikethis.

As far as valid domain names go, there are no spaces in it, nor is the use of the underscore ( _ ) allowed.

Underscores are not allowed in domain names (labels) but are allowed in subfolders. Take this free online domain name generator tool, for example, www.naminggenerator.com/sub_folder/. The underscore in the URL (that is, anything that comes AFTER the .com) will work just fine.

Naming Generator Domain Search Image

Can a Domain Name Include a Hyphen or Dash?

A valid domain name uses the English character set and may contain letters (a-z and A-Z), numbers (0-9) and hyphens (-), or a combination of these three sets. However, there are particular guidelines to the use of the dash (or hyphen) in a valid domain name. A valid domain name:

  • Cannot begin nor end with a hyphen (-).
  • Does not contain a dash in the third and fourth positions (e.g. www.uv- -yz.com).
  • Multiple hyphens can be used but two hyphens cannot be used together. (e.g. www.this-is-okay.com but www.this- -is- -a- -no- -no.com).

Hyphens are allowed in domain names themselves, yes, and as a matter of fact, hyphens are likewise allowed for use in subdomains and subfolders. www.Your-Domain-Name.com/sub-folder-1/ is, theoretically, a perfectly valid URL.

Can You Use the Ampersand Symbol in a Domain Name?

Again, characters that you can use in your domain name include letters, numbers and hyphens. Unfortunately, you won’t be allowed to use the ampersand (&) as a part of your domain name. For example, the following domain name will not be allowed:

Take a look: this author actually typed “bacon&eggs.com” on the search box. Even Google wouldn’t hear of it.

Can a domain name start with a number?

For a domain name to be valid, it needs to begin with a letter or a number and end with a letter or a number.  So to answer this question: yes, a domain name can start with a number.

But some might also ask a follow-up question about “should”. In a previous article, we touched on the aesthetics of domain names, particularly in offline media (such as letterheads, business cards, and marketing materials). A few online experts are of the opinion that it might be best to just stick to alpha-texts when coming up with a domain name. It’s hard to verbally communicate a domain name that has a number in it. When your website travels via word-of-mouth (a viable marketing channel, believe it or not) it might be hard to determine if the number (or numbers) are written out as words or are numeric in form.

Your domain name may very well be the bedrock of your website’s success. Domain names are considered as the “real estate” of the vast worldwide web. Everyone who wants a piece of it will want “prime property”. An ideal domain name is often short and always easy to remember. Not many website users create bookmarks and would just remember the names of their favorite websites. These types of users just type the domain names out whenever they want to visit them. With this said, use all the valid domain name characters and create a unique name for your website, which is easy to spell. So that users could easily type it out without mistakes or without landing on an entirely different page. Domain names should always be more than good that it leaves a lasting first impression. The first step to all of this is finding that smashing idea of a domain name – then finding out if it’s available to register. Luckily, you have resources like this FREE domain name generator tool to help you get started on building your dream website.

Sources

https://www.website.com/beginnerguide/domainnames/8/1/What-is-a-domain-name?.ws

https://www.cnet.com/forums/discussions/what-special-characters-can-you-use-in-a-domain-name-271485/

https://www.ionos.com/digitalguide/server/know-how/ascii-codes-overview-of-all-characters-on-the-ascii-table/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII

https://www.whogohost.com/host/knowledgebase/308/Valid-Domain-Name-Characters.html

https://www.saveonhosting.com/scripts/index.php?rp=/knowledgebase/52/What-are-the-valid-characters-for-a-domain-name-and-how-long-can-a-domain-name-be.html

https://www.seoblog.com/hyphen-dash-hurt-seo/

https://www.quora.com/What-characters-are-not-allowed-in-a-domain-name

https://www.ecenica.com/support/answer/can-i-use-ampersand-in-domain-names/

https://www.appypie.com/faqs/what-characters-are-allowed-in-a-domain-name

https://www.verticalresponse.com/blog/8-mistakes-to-avoid-when-selecting-your-domain-name/

 

 

Categories
Domain Names

Can You Buy a Domain Name Permanently?

can you buy a domain name permanently blog banner

In the process of setting up your own website, one of the first things you will need is “domain name.” Often people ask, can you buy a domain name permanently or keep ownership forever? That’s exactly what we will answer in this article.

First, we need to understand your website’s domain name is the address or location of your website. Computers use IP (internet protocol) addresses, and domain names are the “human-readable” version of your website’s location on the world wide web.

That’s why finding the perfect available domain name for registration is a critical step into building your website and this is what we will be talking more about here. If you want help finding the perfect domain name, use our free domain name generator tool.

Naming Generator Domain Search Image

Registering a domain name is, essentially, reserving a name for your website on the internet for a prescribed period. The length of registration will depend as you will see.

But can you buy a domain name and own it permanently? What you need to know is that a domain you buy will remain yours for as long as you renew it, but there is no way to buy a domain name permanently. While you can’t own a domain name forever there are ways to ensure you maintain ownership for as long as desired.

Continue reading for the keys to keeping ownership of your domain for as long as you want.

Does The Domain Registrar Impact Potential Length of Ownership?

It is important to understand that you can keep the domain name for the life of the domain name registrar that you used. As long as the company remains in business, you keep your domain name (that is, with the proper renewal channels).

However, if the domain name registrar who registered your domain name goes out of business, your domain name goes with it.  So, keep that in mind when selecting a domain registrar, try to stick with industry leaders.

You can buy a domain name from any domain registrar of your choice. This usually costs you around $7 to $12 for every year that you wish to keep the domain name.

When you buy a domain name from a domain name registrar, make sure to write down the exact date of the purchase. Note the date somewhere visible so you can remember it, or better yet, set it on a digital calendar that can notify you about it.

Typically, the expiration date for a domain name registration is exactly one year from the date you purchased it. About 30 days before the domain name is set to expire, log onto your domain manager tool, and accomplish necessary renewal steps.

As is common practice, you will have to enter valid credit card information (or any applicable payment method) to renew the domain for another year. Many domain name registrars offer a “recurring payment” option wherein your renewal fee will just be automatically charged from your credit card annually.

Selecting a domain registrar with automatic renewal options is an added protection to ensure you never lose your domain and can keep it indefinitely or as long as you continue to pay for the renewal.

What Happens After Your Domain Registration Expires?

If you fail to renew your domain registration and ownership expires, the domain name goes into what’s called a “renewal grace period” status. Under this status, you will still be allowed to renew ownership of the domain name without incurring additional fees.

This is usually a period of 30 days. The day after your domain’s expiration date, your domain name will be deactivated and replaced with a parking page indicating the domain name has expired, and other services associated with that domain name may cease to function.

During this 30-day period, the original domain owner may pay a redemption fee as well as the renewal fee.

Once the renewal grace period runs out, the expired domain name’s status is changed to “registrar hold”. In this status, the domain name registrar can try to sell the domain name to the highest bidder in an option auction.

If sold, the highest bidder will then have to wait the full 30 days of the registrar hold before they can own the domain name. Should you decide to renew during this period, the bidding fee is refunded and you can retain control of the domain name. If not, once the registrar hold status is lifted, the highest bidder gets ownership.

After the registrar hold, ends and the domain name was neither renewed nor purchased, the domain name is released back into the registry. Upon this release, the domain name is placed under the “redemption period” status, meaning it cannot be changed or deleted for 30 days. During this time, you, as the original owner, can opt to pay the redemption fee plus the renewal fee for you to reinstate your website and email services.

If all these grace periods end without the domain name being renewed or purchased, it will then be placed under the status of “pending delete”. If no actions of restoration are taken, whether from the original owner, registry or registrar, the domain will eventually be deleted. This deletion effectively releases that domain name back for general registration.

Note that certain domain names are “auto-renew only” and cannot be renewed manually. Auto-renewal usually occurs within 30 days prior to the domain’s expiration date (this may vary from one domain to another). For such domains there is no grace period. Once they expire, it’s not possible to recover them.

So, How Long Can You Purchase a Domain Name For?

The first step to building a website is to decide on a domain name and to confirm if this name is available. The good news it is easy to find a great available domain by using a  domain name generator tool like NamingGenerator.com.

This, particularly, is a great jump-off point as it quickly suggests different names and gives you which are available to register and even offers you great recommendations for domain registration as well as web hosting services.

Once you confirm that the domain name you want is available, you will next be faced with the choice to register your domain on any of the several different top-level domains (TLD’s) such as .com, .org, .biz, or .net. After selecting the available TLD you wish to register with, the final decision is about how long you want to reserve the domain name.

Ultimately, You can buy domain names in year-long increments, up to a maximum of 10 years at a time.

What are the Benefits of Registering a Domain Name for a Longer Period of Time?

There are many benefits to keeping the same domain name registered for a long time. Many SEO experts believe that Google factors in the number of years a domain name is kept registered by an entity/site.

If this is accurate, it would, then, follow that just the standard one year of domain name registration is not ideal for most businesses.

After all, how committed can a business be if it is only intended to be around for just a year? Of course, the registration plan of a website’s domain is not the only indicator of its true potential, but it’s also true that the length of time that a domain name is registered for may say something about the website associated with it.

1 Year. The standard one-year domain registration is typical of bloggers, businesses, and private entities that are possible under these circumstances:

  • Limited income or capital
  • Trial phase
  • Multiple domain name ownership

2 Years. Two years is more of standard among real or more established businesses. From an SEO perspective, two years is the minimum registration duration for businesses or entities that want to be considered credible and committed. This is also believed to help your website to rank better in searches.

5 Years. Registering a domain name for a 5-year plan shows that the business is forecasted to be operational for a considerable amount of time. Simply put, a 5-year domain name registration plan is a smart “middle ground” between one and 10 years.

10 Years. The 10-year domain name registration period is indicative of a solid organization that intends to be in business for as long as it can endeavor. If you run a serious, legitimate business, the cost of a 10-year registration is not a tall “reach” and paying in advance means you don’t want to worry about it for the maximum time allowed. Just make sure that you keep your contact information up-to-date so that when the time does come to renew, the notification email will be duly received.

If I Register a Domain Name, Can I Lose It?

When you register a domain name, you are basically reserving ownership of that domain for a specified period of time. Typically, you renew your claim over the domain annually (or periodically, depending on the registration plan chosen) before it expires. Ideally, under these standard circumstances, the domain is securely yours and yours alone.

However, in today’s highly-automated world, most domain name registrars allow their customers to manage their domain name registration records online. The accountability for ensuring the security of domain names are given to the domain owners.

Unfortunately, this level of convenience also opens the door for web thieves. Consider the scenario described below.

Let’s imagine that a cyber-criminal scopes your domain name and detects that it holds money. By hacking into your email, this cyber-criminal can potentially gain access to the account you use to manage your domain name registration record. This compromises the security of your domain.

You can avoid this by ensuring your account information, as well as all log-in credentials, are secure. Once your records are protected, secure the email address that you use in maintaining your domain registration. The email address used is ideally a newly created SMTP email account with a separate username and password. This is because hackers may have tools to be able to scrutinize the history of changes to your domain records prior to additional privacy protection.

All domain name registrars are required to show domain owners’ contact information.

This is why it is important to use a registrar that masks your actual email address to protect your domain name. This service is available in most domain name registrars.

There are many names for it, such as ‘whois protection’, “privacy guard”, or “whois proxy”, but they all function the same.

Basically, this works by placing an intermediary company to replace your contact information and email address with theirs. This intermediary company is, then, responsible for protecting your information and forwarding all contact requests to you.

Of course, you still own the domain and manage the registrations. The small fee paid to mask your email address and protect your domain is a good deal, not to mention beneficial in significantly reducing spam.

Make sure you discuss with your domain name registrar about your options for domain protection. More particularly, extra layer (or layers) of protection to your domain name registration so that it is safeguarded against unauthorized domain name transfers. You can get great domain name registrar recommendations for free here.

Does Your Domain Registrar Offer Any Protection Against Expiring Domains?

Most, if not all, domain name registrars offer some sort of additional feature that acts as protection against expiring domains. Domain expiration protection is a service that will keep your domain safe from deletion for up to one year in case of payment issues (credit card hold, for example) or failure to renew in a timely manner.

This protection ensures that your domain is not deleted from your account and save it for you until you are able to transact the applicable renewal fees. More importantly, this feature ensures that no one else can register your domain during that time.

Aside from securing your domain for up to a year in case there is a failure to renew after the contract renewal date, domain expiration protection features secure you from additional fees associated with reinstating or redeeming an un-renewed domain.

Much like licenses, a domain name registration has an expiration date on it. If you wish to keep it active, you definitely need to renew it.

One of the most common reasons a business loses control of its domain is neglecting that the domain registration has not been renewed until it expired. If you own a domain for your business’ website, make sure to take serious note of the expiration date (or dates, if you own multiple domains).

Always keep an eye out for renewal alerts in your email inbox. Check the billing information on your account as well. Make sure the information is always up-to-date. Even if your domain is set to renew automatically, it might fail due to obsolete billing info. Make sure, too, that the associated credit card (or payment method) to the renewal aspect is valid.

Even if you have your domain registered to the maximum term, it will always pay to make sure you are on top of all the information on your account.

SOURCES

https://www.website.com/beginnerguide/domainnames/8/1/What-is-a-domain-name?.ws

https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-buy-a-domain-name-for-life

https://www.pcworld.com/article/241722/how-to-register-your-own-domain-name.html

https://support.dnsimple.com/articles/domain-auto-renewal/

https://www.domain.com/blog/2018/09/27/how-domain-names-are-registered/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=genericsearch&kclickid=4f0701a6-396c-45fe-b622-03f6011ae477&kenshoo_ida=Domain.com%20IDA&gclid=Cj0KCQjwy6T1BRDXARIsAIqCTXqpqcb4shmJ1nxBVeXL-EtHXv6RmgVXotxUsalD653rFScl6ycDWsoaAqg0EALw_wcB

https://www.quora.com/How-long-will-domain-names-be-relevant

https://www.siteground.com/kb/domain_name_registration/

http://www.purposive.com/domain-name-registration-years/

https://www.domain.com/blog/2018/11/01/domain-name-expirations-what-you-need-to-know/

https://support.dnsimple.com/articles/what-happens-when-domain-expires/

https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/lost-domain-names

https://www.domainpeople.com/alerts/how-to-avoid-losing-your-domain.html

https://www.register.com/domain-expiration-protection.rcmx

http://www.networksolutions.com/support/what-is-domain-expiration-protection/

Categories
Domain Names Web Hosting

Where to Buy a Domain Name Without Hosting?

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If you are looking to buy a domain name for your new website, there are a few different options you can take to make that happen. Often the question, becomes, where can you buy a domain name without hosting.

In this article, we will show you the best places to buy a domain name without hosting, plus some other important information you should know before making the purchase.

Where is the best place to buy a domain name without hosting? Here is a list of 6 industry-leading domain registrars where you can purchase a domain name only, without additional hosting:

  • DOMAIN.com

No matter which you decide to use, we recommend starting your search with our FREE domain name generator tool. It will save you countless hours of time and frustration while helping you find a better domain name more quickly.

Naming Generator Domain Search Image

Each of these companies offers quality domain name registration services without needing to purchase additional hosting. They each have their strengths and we will go through what they offer in more detail in the remainder of this article.

Also, if you need hosting for your website, you may want to consider getting your domain name through the hosting deals we have listed on our NamingGenerator.com home page.

We have offers that will allow you to get your domain name for FREE, plus we are offering some great bonuses when you purchase through one of our affiliate hosting links.

We will design a FREE custom logo for your new website, plus give you a FREE E-book on 27 FREE website tools as well as access to various website training courses to help speed up your success!

 Read the remainder of this article to compare these individual domain registrars and pick the best one for you.  Plus, we will answer other related questions.

How Do You Choose Between Different Domain Name Registrars When You Don’t Need Hosting?

 Before we go deeper into where you can get a domain name. It’s important you understand what you need to consider when choosing a domain registrar without hosting.

ICAAN Accredited

 Make sure your domain registrar is ICAAN-Accredited. Any entity that wants to offer domain name registration for Generic Top-Level Domains or gTLDs needs to be ICANN accredited.  This ensures they have the technical, operational, and financial wherewithal to be a registrar business. You can learn more about ICAAN here.

Cost

You will want to make sure that you are getting competitive pricing when choosing a domain name registrar. If you are buying a domain without hosting, you will still need to purchase web hosting to store and serve up your website content. So, make sure you don’t over pay for your domain name. Some registrars may have cheaper pricing on certain extensions and be more expensive on others. So, it’s important you keep an eye on cost.

Duration Options

 You will also want to make sure you find a registrar that offers flexible duration terms.  So, you can pick what works best for you and your business. Sometimes you can get different pricing based on the length of time you purchase your domain for, so make sure you look at that as well.

Included FREE Services vs Add on Fees

Each of these domain registrars is going to do what they are intended to do, meaning secure your domain for you and forward it to your desired website location. But some will include standard services in their cost while others may charge additional fees.  So, make sure you read the terms and understand what you are getting.

For instance, some will charge for privacy which means your name and contact number will be hidden, some include it free. Some may include and SSL with the domain, others might charge an add on fee.  Neither is necessarily better than the other, just make sure you understand what you are looking for and what you are getting.

Domain Portability – How easy is it to transfer your domain

 Understand how each domain registrar handles domain transfers. Do they make it easy, is it free or do they charge?  Something to keep in mind before choosing your domain registrar.

User Interface

 Most Domain Registrars make their interface easy to use, but some are better than others. So, make sure you take this into account if it’s important to you. Now in reality if you only registrar your domain with these companies and host them elsewhere, you probably won’t be in your domain registrar’s website often, once you set up your site.

History & Track Record

 Considering domain registrars have been around a long time, you really are better off considering industry leaders with a long track record of success and reliability. So, make sure you take this into account when picking a company.

Ok, let’s keep these criteria in mind as we look at the different Domain Registrars listed above in more detail.

6 Best Domain Registrars To Buy A Domain Without Hosting

 Remember to start any domain search off with our FREE domain name generation tool to find the “best” domain name instantly.

Domain.com

domain.com image

Domain.com has been around since 2000 and is one of the world’s top players in domain registration. They specialize is affordable domain names, web hosting, email, ssl, and other website site services today.

Do They Offer Domain Registration Without Hosting?  Yes

Cost: They offer some domains as low as $2.99/year. & .Com Domains are $9.99 year.

Additional Features they offer:

SSL – Secure your website with Lets Encrypt Free SSL

Privacy – They offer WHOIS Domain Privacy to protect your masks your personal information

DNS control – Keep total control of Domain Name Servers for the life of the domain

Transfer Lock – Protect your domain from unauthorized Transfer or “hijack”

 

NameCheap.com

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Do They Offer Domain Registration Without Hosting?  Yes

 Cost: They offer some domains as low as $1.28/year. & .Com Domains are $8.88 year.

Additional Features they offer:

 SSL – Secure your website with Positive SSL Free for first year

Privacy – They offer FREE WHOISGUARD protection for Life

Customer Service- They pride themselves on great customer service

FREE DOMAIN WITH HOSTING – CHECK OUT OUR NAME GENERATION TOOL TO FIND OTHER GREAT FREE DOMAIN OFFERS.  (NOTE: if you use our free tool and claim a free domain through one of our hosting affiliate offers, we will have our graphic designers create FREE custom Domain LOGO for your website! Plus give you two other incredible FREE bonuses)

BLUEHOST

bluehost image

Do they offer domain registration without hosting?  Yes, you can buy domains only at Bluehost under the domains tab pictured above. If you do need hosting they will also give you a free domain when you purchase hosting.

(Reminder, if you choose to use our affiliate link to purchase hosting and get a free domain name through Bluehost, we will give you a FREE custom logo for your new site, plus a free e-book and training courses to help you speed up your website’s success)

Each domain includes:

Easy Management

An easy to use control panel which makes it simple to get your domain name deployed.

Auto-Renewal

Keeps your domain from expiring accidentally. You can switch this off to the manual at any time if you want.

Domain Lock

Keep your domain from unauthorized transfers so you can unlock it for transfers at any time. So, register any domain you are interested in, and Bluehost will store it until you are ready to use it.

24/7 Expert Support

You will have access to help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week if you purchase your domain through BlueHost.com.

You can purchase domain privacy through them to protect your personal information, and you can get certain domains like .website for as little at $1.99/year

Bluehost has been around since 2002 and is one of the most recognized names in hosting and domain registration. They are a good option if you want to purchase a domain without hosting because they also offer a courtesy 30 days if your domain were to expire, where they will hold it for you just in case you want it back.

GoDaddy.com

godaddy image

GoDaddy.com is probably the most famous domain registrar out there, made famous by its tradition of Super Bowl ads.

They have over 78 Million Domains under management, making them the worlds largest registrar.

Does GoDaddy offer Domain Registration without Hosting? Yes, you can purchase and manage your domain names with Godaddy.com without purchasing web hosting.

Widest Selection on The Web

No matter how obscure your domain extension might seem, you have the best shot at finding it with Godaddy.com

24/7 Support

You can call them night and day for support with any domain related questions.

Privacy Protection

They offer privacy protection and business protection as an added option.

Their cheapest domains start at special pricing for $0.99/Year.

Remember make your domain name search faster, with our random name generator.

DynaDot.com

dynadot image

Dynadot.com might not have the same commercial name recognition as some of the other players above, but they’ve been big players in the space since 2002.

Do they offer domains only without hosting? Yes, you can purchase a domain only from Dynadot.com

FREE domain parking

They offer free domain parking with up to 10 email aliases.

FREE one-page website builder

They include a free one-page basic page builder with each domain, and allow you to do FREE ownership change in and out of Dynadot.com accounts.

FREE Grace Period

They offer a free domain return grace period.

ICAAN Accredited

They are an ICAAN accredited domain registrar.

Auction Domains

They also offer a domain auction service where you can bid and purchase unavailable domains.

Other Related Questions To Purchasing Domains Without Hosting

What are You Actually Buying When You Buy A Domain Name Without Hosting?

It is important you fully understand what you are buying when you purchase a domain name through any registrar.  A domain name is your website’s address or location on the internet.  It allows users to find your website content by typing in your unique domain.  A domain is the alphanumeric representation of your website’s IP address.

It’s a lot easier remembering a catchy domain name like Google.com, than an IP address for each and every website you want to visit. The registrar isn’t actually selling you ownership to the domain, but it is selling you the service of forwarding that domain to your desired website.  That’s why when you purchase a domain you select of the length of time from 1-10 years.  You can extend the domain as much as you like once you own it before it expires.  But you don’t actually own the domain name.

So, when you purchase a domain name without hosting, you are purchasing the rights to that domain name for the designated length of time you choose.

What Happens Next, When You Buy A Domain Name Without Hosting?

Once you purchase the domain name through a registrar. If you don’t forward it to a website on a web host it will be parked for you for FREE by most quality registrars.

This means a simple one-page website that says website coming soon will be put up if someone visits that domain name.  This was a solution that came out of domain squatting rules. Rather than have the domain owner have to put up a quick website, the best registrars will do that for you at no extra charge.  This is one of the reasons we recommend the registrars we do, among many.

Does It Matter It Matter Who You Buy A Domain From?

 In the end, it doesn’t entirely matter who you purchase a domain through when it comes to ownership. Once you buy it through a properly ICANN accredited company it is yours as long as you maintain ownership.

There are some differences in Price, Terms, Duration, and Management that are dependent on the Registrar you choose.  If you want, you can read our complete article on: Does it matter who You Buy a Domain Name From?

We make it easy to find the perfect domain name and best deals from reputable domain registrars with our NamingGenerator.com FREE tool.

 

Can I Keep A Domain Name Without Hosting?

 Yes, you can keep a domain name without having a web hosting. You just need to keep renewing your domain name before it expires when the initial leasing term comes upon renewal. Your domain registrar will often just keep your domain name parked for you.

So, if you have a project in mind that but really want to secure the domain name for it now. Use our domain name generator tool and grab it before someone else does.

 Can You Have a Website Without Buying A Domain?

 So, this is kind of a tricky question.  Everyone website on the internet has a domain, that is how people find the site. Just like each page on that site has a unique URL. There are no exceptions to this.

Now if what you are really wondering is do you need to necessarily purchase a unique domain to have a website, the answer is no. There are platforms that will allow you to build webpages, sales funnels, or e-commerce sites using their assigned domain if you don’t want to purchase your own domain.  However, if you really want to build out a long-term web asset, we highly recommend you find your own domain.

Could you host a Shopify store on the domain like AmazingBenders.shopify.com or a winning sales funnel on a domain like fatburnerpills.clickfunnels.com, or an award-winning media empire on something like GaryGazzette.wordpress.com, well technically yes?

But, it doesn’t exactly exude the most trust or brand viability.  So, if you are debating getting your own custom domain, or just using a subdomain on a platform like the examples given above, we highly recommend getting your own if you can swing the 10-15 bucks a year.

Get started with your own custom domain today.  Find it for Free Here

Categories
Domain Names

Why Aren’t Domain Names FREE?

why aren't domain names free banner

Whether you own an existing business or about to launch a new one, it’s likely needing an online presence that has crossed your mind. Business owners in the internet age are almost unanimous about the significance of an online aspect is crucial to success, which often starts with a domain name.

As you research what it takes to create a website questions around domain names may arise. In this article, we will discuss why domain names aren’t free.

As a website owner, you understand potential customers typically do a web search first as they start on the buying process. If you have a website that is easy to find and convenient to navigate, this increases the chances of a sale.

That’s where your domain name comes in…

A domain name is a website’s “location” on the worldwide web. Domain names translate the digits making up an IP (internet protocol) address into something memorable to people. Domains are purchased through Domain Name Registrars – companies that manage the reservation of domain names and direct searchers to your website.

So, why aren’t domain names free-of-charge? When you buy a domain name through a Domain Name Registrar, these entities manage the registration of your domain name of choice. After you have bought a domain name, the next step is to contract a hosting provider to manage your website. Now, some companies provide both services: domain name registration and hosting. Whether you go through two separate entities for domain name registration and website management (hosting) or opt for a package, these services will cost you. Consider it as a capital and/or operational expense toward the success of your business.

As earlier explained, a domain name is the human-readable version of your website address.

Let us break it down for you this way: take Google for example. Google’s domain name is “google.com”. If you want to go to Google, all you need is to type up “google.com” into your web browser’s address bar.

In reality, though, your computer does not actually understand where “google.com” is. What we don’t see is that the internet uses numerical IP addresses.

One of Google.com’s IP addresses is 172.217.0.142. And if you type this numerical series into your web browser’s address bar, you’d also end up at Google’s website.

Your domain name is, in essence, your identity on the internet. And the internet is a sure gateway to the immense world of customers out there. This is why business owners would, of course, logically want domain names that carry their business identity.

But with all the businesses around the world, it is not uncommon for two businesses to share the same name.

If someone already has the domain name that you want, you might still be able to buy it, but expect that it will cost you more than if you were getting an original domain name from a domain registrar.  If you don’t want to pay a premium for an already owned domain, use our FREE domain name generator to find great available domains.

Naming Generator Domain Search Image

A number of enterprising individuals register domains they think are potentially profitable and then sell them on domain marketplaces like Sedo and Afternic.

Take a look at our youtube video explanation here.

What Are You Getting When You Buy a Domain Name?

Let us reiterate that your domain is not a website, it is simply the “name” of your website on the internet. Sure, you’ve reserved/registered the name… but you will still need the actual website: content, interface, and all.

If you purchased your domain through your hosting provider, it is likely that you already have your website set up for you, as well. But if you’ve just bought the domain name, you will need to refer it to a hosting provider next.

Now, you have to pay attention to this part: Just because a domain name has your website hooked up to it, it does not mean that you are the legal owner.

It happens a lot that a business owner is surprised to learn that he does not own his domain name. Most often, it’s the website developer who owns it. This is a tricky situation to be in, especially when the business owner decides to move to a different website developer.

So, when you buy a domain name for your company, especially if it’s through a hosting provider, make sure that your name (or an entity you own) is registered as the owner. The registered domain name owner has total control of it, including what website the domain name directs to, what domain name registrar maintains it, and only this registered owner can sell it, should the need ever arise.

How Much Do Domain Names Cost?

Simply speaking, the average cost for a brand new domain name will typically be anywhere between $10 and $12, depending on the registrar you choose and the duration of your registration contract.

The cost of a domain name varies, depending on a number of factors. For instance, be prepared to spend a bit more on a domain name that is already owned by another entity.

As we mentioned earlier, you can save money by using our FREE domain name generation tool to find available domains.

Believe it or not, some older domains have gone for millions of dollars, specifically domains that are very broad like single-word, encompassing domain names (like insurance.com, hotels.com, and investing.com). If you decide you want a single-word, previously-owned domain, then be prepared to spend a lot of money to secure it for yourself.

Our Naming Generator also provides offers from hosting companies to get your new domain for free.

What Domain Extensions are Worth Paying Extra For?

We all know that the .com domain extension (or suffix) has long been considered as the gold standard of gTLD’s (generic top-level domains) – the term used for whatever follows the dot in the URL of a particular website.

Although gTLD’s such as .net and .org have become more widespread and well-received, the distinction of a .com website still influences many businesses and entities to pay top dollar for it.

Just how important is a domain name extension? An experiment with 1,500 respondents and comparing the top eight gTLD’s (.com, .net, .org, .co, .biz, .us, .blog, and .io) yielded the following results, among others:

  • .com domains are over 33% more memorable compared to URLs with other TLD’s.
  • .com is the number one in most trusted TLDs, with .co coming up at close second.
  • When people recall a URL wrongly, they are 8x more likely to assume it ends in .comthan anything else.

In terms of perceived trustworthiness on a scale of 1 – 5: .com came out as the number 1 most-trusted domain extension, with .co also coming up a close second. This is followed by .org and .us, each scoring a 3.3. Trailing behind is .biz with a 2.9 trust rating – about 17% lower than .com’s trust score. And .io doesn’t do any better than that.

The most important take-away from the said experiment is that a URL that people trust AND remember is more likely to get clicked on, linked to, and shared and it’s easier to build a brand with something like this.

Dubbed as the “big three”, .com, .net and .org are the longest-running and most widely-used domain extensions. These three have grown in importance with the development of search engines and search engine optimization (SEO), resulting in increased scrutiny of the advantages of each domain extension.

Although, sometime in August in 2015, Google surprised everybody by announcing its plans to restructure its business and fold itself into a holding company known as Alphabet, hosted at the URL “abc.xyz.” However, the bigger surprise to some observers was the new company’s use of the .xyz domain, rather than the old .com superstar.

This bold move probably got a lot of us asking if we should (or not) jump aboard the alternative domain extension (which some people have smartly dubbed “not com”) bandwagon, as well. Non-advocates of this convention that believe that a not com domain name can be disadvantageous to a business’ brand.

Going not .com or sticking to the good ol’ TLD would depend in large part on your brand persona. The new domain extensions emerging (such as .finance, .agency, etc.) may provide a cost-effective way to signal to your customers that you’re a brand that does not sit quietly with the status quo. If you have an innovative product or service or if you have a “challenger” brand personality, alternative domain name extensions might be worth your every dollar.

Read more on how to find a great cheap domain name article.

How to Get Your Domain for Free with a Hosting Plan

We make it easy to get a free domain, check out the free domain offers on our home page.

Website hosting is something that is inevitable when building a website. Look for a website hosting provider that will make it easier to grow your online presence, allow you good user experience, and prevent a lot of painful headaches along the way.

It is common nowadays for web hosting companies to give away domain names for free to customers who will likewise host their websites with them. The cost of the domain name might be packaged together with the hosting fee.

Other companies may offer a free domain name in exchange for displaying ads on your site. Also, some domain registrars allow you to “earn” your domain name by way of customer referrals.

There are some services that offer free domain names, provided that you use a specific TLD. These services, however, should be avoided as they typically offer obscure ccTLD’s (country code top-level domains) like .tk (Tokelau) or .cf (Central African Republic). Not only do these TLD’s make your domain name look unprofessional, but they’ll make ranking in Google much more of a challenge.

Website experts recommend avoiding any hosting offers that, sure, may save you $10 annually in exchange for relinquishing control of your website to them. Doing so will cost you much more in time, energy, and money, in the long run.

Your brand says everything about you, your values, your identity, and your promise. Your domain name should not be any different. Your website is the core of your online presence. You should select a domain name that parallels, if not matches, the company name so as not to confuse existing and potential customers.

Deciding on and, eventually, buying your domain name and having your website hosted should be treated as a real investment critical to your business’ success. The good news there is a fast and convenient way to find available domain names best for your business, with or without hosting. The first step toward the investment in your online presence is finding the perfect domain name – an endeavor that an online domain name generator tool can easily help you with. Here, you can find tons of available domain names that you can register. You can likewise get great registrar and hosting recommendations that can all bring your online business goals one step closer to reality.

SOURCES

 

https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwjUwPGimYHpAhUQdmAKHfF5BBwYABAAGgJ0bQ&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESQOD214Tu0MBL3JqUMWhXNInoy30MCTDaIgL5iOqP4ctRoM17SWaxtOs2r-LI_LkIOkqjxnOentma_50H9jBnnDg&sig=AOD64_18AHd_qmRa4FuKVXc_stPbj_qI0w&q=&ved=2ahUKEwiD5-iimYHpAhVlFqYKHXqhDV8Q0Qx6BAgREAE&adurl=

https://www.domain.com/blog/2018/11/08/why-a-domain-name/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=genericsearch&kclickid=4f0701a6-396c-45fe-b622-03f6011ae477&kenshoo_ida=Domain.com%20IDA&gclid=CjwKCAjwnIr1BRAWEiwA6GpwNRgoAdjR_gDxeFdCxK-eQ8uxtd9BFYQab2TdVvL71BWOtHv_4tFbgRoCh5sQAvD_BwE

https://www.howtogeek.com/393534/buying-a-domain-name-here%E2%80%99s-what-you-need-to-know/

https://www.seobuzzinternetmarketing.com/blog/do-you-own-domain-name/

https://www.hostgator.com/blog/how-much-website-domain-name/

https://www.hostgator.com/blog/new-domain-name-next-steps/

https://www.thesitewizard.com/archive/registerdomain.shtml

https://www.whoishostingthis.com/blog/2014/07/29/website-cost/

https://www.eurodns.com/blog/premium-domain-names

https://www.websitebuilderexpert.com/building-websites/domain-name-cost/

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/76558/20150816/is-google-alphabet-xyz-the-new-com.htm

https://www.woodst.com/web-design-development/new-domain-extensions-worth/

https://novanym.com/pages/why-com-is-the-best-domain-extension-for-seo

https://growthbadger.com/top-level-domains/

https://www.ventureharbour.com/free-domain-name/

Categories
Domain Names Web Hosting

Can You Buy A Domain Without Hosting?

can you buy a domain without hosting article banner

If you are new to creating websites or just learning more about the process, one of the most common questions a lot of people have is, can you buy a domain name without hosting?

In this article, that is exactly the question we plan on answering, along with some other closely related domain questions.

So, can you buy a domain name without hosting? Yes, you can absolutely purchase a domain without buying hosting. When you purchase a domain directly through a registrar you are purchasing the right to use that domain for a designated period of time. You can forward that domain to an established location or set up a website for that domain which would require hosting.

 In the remainder of this article, we are going to explain the differences between purchasing stand-alone domains through a registrar and buying your domain along with hosting.

We will also show you the best way to buy your domain using both methods. If you are ready to find and purchase your domain you can skip right to our FREE Domain Name Generator to quickly find the best available domains.

Naming Generator Domain Search Image

Continue reading to find out more about this as well as some reasons you may choose one option over the other…

What Is The Difference Between A Domain Registrar & Hosting Company?

 Before we go any further we want to clearly lay out the difference between a domain registrar and a hosting company, because we find a lot of the confusion over the main question above comes from misunderstanding the differences between the two.

Domain Registrar

A domain registrar is a company that manages the reservation of domain names as well as the assignment of IP addresses to that domain address. If you want to buy a domain without hosting, then you will need to purchase (Lease) ownership of the domain through a domain name registrar.

Hosting Company

A web host or hosting company provides the services needed for your website to be viewed on the internet.  It stores your website content and makes it accessible to users that visit the site.

The Best Way To Find a Domain Name- With or Without A Hosting Company.

Whether you want to find a new domain name through a domain registrar or through a web hosting company, the good news there is an easy way to find a great available domain quickly.  The easiest and fastest way to find a great domain name with or without hosting is by using a Name Generator. Our tool instantly gives you tons of available domain names that you can registrar.  We also, give you great registrar and hosting deals to buy that domain at a discount.

So, if you want to find a great domain name quickly, use NamingGenerator.com FREE tool and then pick from our discounted domain name registrars.  If you need a hosting company to store and serve your website, we also bring you some of the best hosting deals from the biggest hosting companies on the planet.

On top of that, if you do need hosting and decide to buy it through one of our hosting partners. We will give you some great bonuses. We will provide you with a custom logo design, a free e-book with free website tools, and video courses to help you grow your website faster.

Related Questions

 In this section, we are going to cover some additional related questions to domain registration.

Can I Keep A Domain Name Without Hosting?

You can register a domain name and keep ownership over it without creating a website.  Some registrars will provide FREE domain parking. You can continue to renew your domain as long as you like, the minimum is 1 year at a time. Sometimes, this a great option if you are looking to purchase multiple domains and develop them over time, or flip them for higher sums.

What is the advantage of buying a domain name without hosting?

 When you buy a domain name without hosting you get the advantage of keeping the two entities separately.  So, if you need to move your website to a different domain, you can quickly migrate the site and change the name servers. This helps limit the risk if something were to happen to your hosting company.

Also, when you purchase a domain name only, you are only paying the registrar for the service to point your domain name to the location you desire.  This is cheaper than hosting a site. But you will need hosting elsewhere.   If you are ready to find your domain and registrar it for a discounted price- find in it now with our domain name generator.

What is the advantage of buying a domain name with hosting?

If you decide to purchase your domain name through a hosting company there are some distinct advantages.

If you get your domain with hosting you can often get your domain name for free. In fact, when you use our FREE Domain Name Search Tool we have taken the time to bring you some great deals from the best hosting companies in the industry.  Many of which will give you a FREE domain name when you buy hosting through our link.

Also, it will be easier to manage since you don’t have to manage name servers from a separate domain registrar.

We also added some additional advantages to getting your domain through one of our hosting offers.  If you do, you will get a FREE custom designed logo for your new website. Along, with a couple of other great bonuses, including a FREE e-book and video training courses.

So, either way. If you are ready to find and get your next domain name- head over to our Name Generator and start your search.

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