How To: Register a Domain Name

by: Jen Udan | ChooseWhat.com

Registering your domain name is a key step in setting up your business website and marketing your business to customers.

You must register your domain name before you can set up a website that promotes your business and/or sells products or services online. In order to register a domain name, you must have a potential business name (or list of names) in mind. Read the following guidelines for help with registering your domain name.

1. Go to GoDaddy.com. 

   You can use another registrar if you prefer, but this is the one we suggest.  It's reliable and inexpensive  (costs $12 or less per year to register a .com domain).

2. Search to verify that your domain is available. 

   If it's available, move to next step; if it's no, then you should consider a new name for your business or website.  (Read more about how to pick a name for your business).

3. Select how long your domain registration will last.  

   (e.g. 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, etc.)

4. Select options and upgrades. 

   
   
   • Private Registration:  For an extra $10-$15 per year, you can get a private registration.  This will help keep your contact information out of the public WhoIs database, which will prevent spam and and other undesired contacts.
   • Domain Variations:  For an additional fee, you can purchase variations on your domain name.  This is useful for preventing others from copying your domain name or for redirecting customers who might accientally misspell your domain name to the right place.
   • Auto-Renewal:  You can set up your account to auto-renew your domain name when it expires.  Keep in mind that they will automatically charge your credit card on file.
   • Email Storage:  For around $3-$5 extra per month, you can get multiple email addresses and storage space to host your emails.
   • Web Hosting:  To set up your website, you'll need space (or "bandwidth") to host your site.  You can purchase hosting space from a lot of the same companies that offer domain registration for an additional fee, which is typically $5-$10 per month.
     

5. Pay for your domain. 

   It's important to keep your credit card information current after you've purchased your domain.  If your credit card on file expires, you could risk losing your domain name as well as a lot of business.

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• Buying domain variations saves you time and money. If you have a successful business, people will copy your name. You might be able to block copy cats through legal channels, but that can be expensive. It’s a lot cheaper to pay $8 per year to own a domain you don’t want someone else to own (i.e. domain variations) than to pay an Intellectual Property lawyer $300 per hour to shut down a copy cat.
• You can save time by registering and hosting your domain on the same service. If you plan on building a website with a free website builder, you can save a few steps by registering your domain with the hosting company that offers the site builder you plan to use.

• Don't let your website get taken over by a porn site! There are third-party sites that alert people when a domain name becomes available and allow people to immediately purchase an expired domain. Sign up for auto-renewal service to ensure that you won't lose your domain. Also, make sure you have current credit card information on the site with which you've registered your domain. An expired credit card will prevent you from auto-renewing your domain.