Why Are Some Domain Registrars More Expensive Than Others?

This article explains about the meaning behind the different domain registrar fees and why are some more expensive than others. We will also be talking about the different aspects of benefits and disadvantages that come with registering a domain on a more expensive registrar than the less expensive ones.

Over the past few years, I have been into domain buying and selling most of my domains that I have bought were from popular domain registrars that charge low prices from $6-10 a domain, but this only came in when I became wearier of these companies that sell domains for these low prices. From the beginning when I knew nothing about domain buying and only bought a domain for the sake of it, "just to have a website name". This domain was bought for around $20, but with it I got 24/7 support and a TOL line where I was able to talk to someone on different aspects of the domain functions and how to work it. This of course was very helpful at the time, as I didn't know the first thing on how to set name servers, how to redirect domains or even how the domain worked, but these kind of registrars that are quite small and not very successful try to promote their businesses by offering their customers, an amazing plus to what they have bought, which included the very important support on all the aspects of the domain running.

As I got more wiser and knew a little bit more about all the different kinds of domain registers and knew the different prices that these registrars have set, I didn't really need all that help, as I was able to do it all by myself. Therefore I went for registrars that charged incredibly low prices for domains compared to the high priced domain registrars. This was a benefit as I didn't need any of the help which of course the these low priced domain registrars didn't really offer, or did but it took them a while to solve the problem you had, as they have a much higher customer count. On the other hand these domain registrars had much more superior Control Panels for your domain names where you are able to control your domain name servers, emails and redirections, plus much more and each of these control panels came with their own guides on how to use them. Therefore you didn't even think of looking back at the high priced domains, as you do not need them, because all this and more can be accomplished for a much lower price.

Overall if you are new to the domain market and its functionalities and would like some help, I would recommend reading up reviews on a few of the domain registrars and see which ones offer the most help and go for those, but if do not need any help what so ever, just go buy a really cheap domain and enjoy it for a low price. What's the point if you know it all anyway.

Domain Name - Get It Before You Start

Choosing the right domain name can be critical to the success of your website and business flourishing. Your domain name should be a key to your web site. Most Internet users remember websites by their domain names; the rule of thumb is that when people think of your web site, they’ll think it by name. If your name is also your URL, they’ll automatically know where to go.

You should have a domain name, which sounds solid to the core values and ethics of your business. It should also reflect the personality of your target customer. Make the combination the words that are memorable and should not be confused. Try to register the identical name that your customers and visitors will associate with your Website. you have to keep in mind that people need to be able to remember it, and easily type it into their browser.

Here a question arises if one can not get the same domain name as per expecting website name. One may also add suffix to the name. This strategy may cause confusion. One might attempt to access a web site missing suffix.

Your domain name can also affect the anchor text of inbound links; and your ranking in search engines. So try to have a very much relevant domain name.

The other way is lookup with “whois” and have the domain owner information to motivate them to sell the domain name. The other option, that is followed commonly to purchase a domain name first and then naming your website the same as your domain posses.

Your brand name could be the first word visitors will type in search engines and it would be the easiest name for them to remember, so you should use your business name or brand name. For example use www.handbags.com.

How long should I make my domain name? Technically a domain can be up to 67 characters. But it is universally accepted that short names are better for a number of reasons.

1) They are Easier to remember.
2) They are less susceptible to mistake.
3) They are good for online or offline marketing.
4) They are visually pleasing.

Adverse to the above, advantages of long domain names cannot be ignored. Search engines explore it because of the Long domain name having the keywords to the web site.

A similar setback is whether to choose .com, .net or.org etc. Many people not obtaining .com domain but they can have .net, .org or other country specific top level domain such as “de,” ”nu,” or “sg”. People get simply confused whether they should go with one of these available extensions or not.

If your website is aimed at people in a specific country, having a country-specific domain, visitors will recognize right away that the business has a presence in the country of the extension. They might comfortable to buy. Some country-specific search results include sites with the relevant country-specific domain extension even if the site isn't hosted in that country.

In spite of this, country specific domain could work against. Especially the case when you are promoting your business in international market. People from international market may be less inclined to buy if the business looks foreign to them.

How ever, for international visitor .net or .org or any other country specific extension works also well. Still this might others to mislead that you are promoting your brand to that particular country only.

A school of thought found that “.net” and “.org” are equally acceptable. Actually “.org” extension was intended for non-profit making organizations.

As far as I am concern, .com extension is for commercial web sites that have adopted all over the world and still the most sought after. In some circumstances we can use another domain extension like .info, intended for informational portals.

Thus there exist many good arguments for accepting other extension when you go with the need of a particular name and unable to get “.com” extension other extensions are equally acceptable.

Now let me reiterate the case in a glance that is “Get the name registered before naming your website.”

Domain Name Choice - Domain Name = Your Brand

Picking a domain name is more important than just finding the first available “.com” name that you like. In some ways, the name you choose is the platform on which you are going to base your entire internet marketing strategy. So it’s more than a “good” name.

Your domain name is your internet “brand.” A good brand name should be able to communicate your entire value proposition to your prospective client – either because the name is readily understood or because your advertising associates that brand with your value proposition (it’s cheaper to have the former.)

If your domain name is your internet brand, it’s important that it be consistent with other trade names or brands that you use in your business. If you can, consider making it the same name as your company (e.g. newco.com) or a variation (e.g. newcoinc.com).

Many people struggle with the notion of whether the domain name should be long or short. Don’t. Worry instead about whether it’s memorable and clear. You can assume most of the short catchy names are gone or parked, so if you don’t want to have to buy your domain name, go with what you can. Long is OK as long as it’s intuitive and easy-to-remember. Try to avoid abbreviations, or worse, part abbreviation, part full name. The test for clarity is this: say the name to a friend and see if they can get the domain name right just from what you’ve said.

Lastly, avoid complicating the name by adding “the” or “a” or “an.” Don’t add hyphens or dashes unless it can pass the clarity test above. Keep it simple.

The ideal name doesn’t seem to be available. Keep looking. It’s just a matter of time and persistence before you find the right name/brand. You’ll know it when you see it. Good luck!

Domain Names - How To Get The Right Domain Name In Less Than An Hour

Now that you have an idea that you want to run with, you need a domain name. Dot com names are always a first choice. Names without hyphens are also the first choice.

The shorter the better but chances of nailing a one word domain name are slim to none unless you want to pay a million. Having a keyword in your domain is also desirable. If you run a golf site, fredsgolfworld is a lot better than fredsapplepies. This is where Domain Name Analyzer comes in handy. It can generate hundreds of available domain names in minutes. No need to keep trying different names trial and error style. Look over the list that is generated and pick the ones you like best. You will be surprised that some of those names are available.

Buying a domain from someone may be a good idea if the price is right. Most domains these days are not worth more than $100 and most are worth a lot less than that. I bought a good domain off Ebay awhile back for $10. I thought that was a fair price.

Once you have you domain name, you need to register it. For years I registered names at itsyourdomain.com. Great service, easy interface but they are twice as expensive as other sites. If you only have a few names I would highly recommend them. If you have a lot of names then there are other options. I currently have most of my name registered at registerfly.com.

The prices are good, every couple of weeks they have a sale and .com names can be registered for $6.99. But I find them very frustrating. Their interface is poor, hard to navigate. Support is fair. I have had them park my domains even though I had changed the name- servers. GoDaddy is popular and I have a few names there but I have heard some people have had problems. Namescheap and 1and1.com often come up as good places to register.

Be sure you always have total control over your domain names. Take advantage of any extra privacy protection they may offer. Some will offer whois protection so that spammers can’t get your contact info and if you lock your domain, it makes it harder to be hijacked.

Simple Step For Choosing a Great Web Host

There are thousands of web hosts around today with thousands of plans to choose from making what was once a simple procedure seems like a daunting task for both newbie and pro alike. Whether you're looking for your first host or looking to move on to a better one there are certain simple steps you must follow to succeed in choosing a great host. These simple steps include:

Right Platform

The first and most foremost step in choosing a web host is determining the platform the web server should run, usually a choice between Unix/Linux and Windows. Your choice is largely determined by your website and the technologies used to create it, generally a website created with Microsoft technologies (ASP, VB) will run on Windows servers while most other sites using open source technologies (PHP, Perl, Python etc) will run on Linux based systems.

Right Features

Once you've chosen your platform the next step is determining the features you'll need from your web host. Take your time with this step as the feature lists of web hosts are getting longer and longer every day and while some plans may look similar on the surface, a good look at the feature lists may tell another story. Only you can determine the specific features you'll need, but some key things to keep an eye on are:

Disk Space
Bandwidth
Backups
Uptime
Money Back Guarantee
Domains Allowed
Databases (Number & type)
CGI, PHP, Perl, Python, SSI
Cron
Email accounts

The list goes on and on, just remembers to take your time and make sure your new web host is going to provide you with everything you need.

Budget

Often budget is the only thing people consider when choosing their first web host, funds are usually tight and on the surface most hosts look very similar. Sometimes you get lucky and choose a good host, but more often than not it turns out to be a horror story.

Remember that the cost of your web hosting is more than just the monthly fee, think about the total cost of ownership. TCO includes lost sales due to downtime & slow speeds, downtime rebates, extra bandwidth charges, setup costs, extra feature costs, and your monthly fee.
Many hosts will require you to pay yearly to get the best price available though there are some that allow you to pay by the month and still get the best price, it's really a matter of personal choice as to what payment method works best for you.

Customer Service

Customer service is another aspect that is often not forgettable while choosing a great web host. You shouldn't settle for anything less than 24/7/365 service, your website needs to be running all the time so it's no good if your hosting company doesn't work during the holidays. Don't take the web hosting companies word for it, they all claim 24/7 support but few back it up with consistent performance. Be sure to test them out at various times of the day and night via phone, email and live chat if they offer it.

Support

An extensive knowledge base can be a real time saver as well as being an indication of the level of customer service supports and expertise you can expect to receive. Spend some time browsing the support sections of the website and see for yourself the level of support provided.

Longevity

Do a whois on the web host's domain name and find out the creation date, anything less than a year ago and the risk that they won't be around next year increases. They could be a great host, but considering more then 95% of new hosts go out of business within a year that really isn't something you should be taking a chance on.

Uptime

It's a fact of life that a web host cannot be online 100% of the time, servers need to be rebooted for security and software updates and any web host that doesn't get updated faces the increased risk of being successfully hacked.

99.9% uptime guarantees are pretty standard in the industry however a guarantee is only as good as how it is defined and the company behind it. Look for no less than a full months free hosting should they not meet their guarantee, a prorated refund based on the amount of downtime is virtually worthless. Say you pay $10 for a month of hosting and your site is down for 24 hours. They will refund you for one day of downtime, which ends up being about 33 cents.

Hence, it's not a rocket science; just a little research and investigating that can save a lot of heartache in the future and can offer you a great web host.

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So What Is In A Domain Name?

One of the most essential components of the internet is the domain name. It is the identity of your website on the internet. It distinguishes your site from the others and makes it stand out. No two organizations can have the same domain name. These domain names cannot really be bought but can only be leased for a period of 1 to 10 years.

They are many factors involved in choosing a domain name. Firstly it should be catchy and easy to remember so that visitors remember the name easily the next time. Also, it should be simple and should contain only a few characters so that people do not mistype the name and land up on some other site. You should choose a domain name which describes your business clearly. Make sure to mention the name quite often on your site so as to promote your site on search engines. But even if you do not like your domain name later and think you can improvise on it then you can always sell it and make some money.

Buy your name in as many domains as possible like .com, .net or .biz. By doing this you would prevent anyone else from buying a name similar to yours and thereby intercepting your business. For this purpose you will have to buy all these domain names as soon as possible or else you would be regretting later over someone else choosing the domain name of your choice.

Also when choosing a name, make sure that it is nowhere close to that of your competitors. In this case, one small mistype by the customer might take him to the wrong site and you will lose potential business.

Always make it a point to buy alternative domain names. For example if the domain name of your choice is example.com or .net then you should also buy with hyphens example.com and .net. You do not have to maintain each of the sites but you can simply link them to your main site. This is not an expensive practice as domain names are dirt cheap and it helps you to be on the safer side.

You need not worry if all the domain names you like are already being used. These domain names, as mentioned earlier, can be rented only for a maximum period of 10 years. So you can choose a domain name whose duration has come to an end and which is already a hit with the search engines and thereby get traffic to your site easily without doing much.

So take your time to choose a domain name that will serve your purpose the best but do not take too long as it is an important factor in the growth of your business and you should not neglect it.