How To Buy A Domain Name – Step By Step Guidance To Getting Your Perfect Domain

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Buying a domain name is a big step. It will be your website’s home on the Internet, and the choice of domain name can have long term search engine ranking impact. Therefore it’s wise to think the decisions through before buying and registering your domain name.

Here’s a short tutorial on how to buy a domain name.

Keywords in the domain name

The importance of having your actual keywords in your domain name varies across various search engines. Google for example seems more interested in the popularity and perceived importance of your page as determined by their page rank system.

However, when other sites link to you spontaneously, they may simply use your domain name to do so. Having your main keyword phrase as your domain name in these cases will help your search engine ranking for that term a lot.

So, while it may not be critical to have your main keywords or keyword phrase in your domain name, it’s definitely good to have it if at all possible.

Domain name extension

Whenever possible, try to get a .com domain. This is by far the most popular domain extension. Local domain extensions, like .co.uk, may rank better in that specific country than generic domains like .com or .net. If you want to do business globally, try .com first. Opinion is divided about whether the domain extension has an influence on search engine rankings, and in the end it might not.

However, people’s tendency to type .com as a domain extension into a browser rather than any other extension makes .com the preferred extension.

Budget concerns may prompt you to go for the ridiculously cheap .info domain names, which you can pick up for around $1 – $3.

Check domain name availability

Obviously you need to check whether a domain name is available before you actually register it. There are numerous tools online to do this with. Any domain registrar will be able to give you the information, but here are my two favorite tools for the job:

DomainsBot.com

Simply type your keyword phrase into the Domainsbot search block and it will quickly reveal whether the domain name for that phrase is taken, and also what extensions are still available.

Nameboy.com

This service allows you to type in a few keywords, and it will automatically make up hundreds of possible combinations of those keywords, and list which of those combinations are available for each domain name extension. A great time saver and also great for brainstorming domain names.

How to buy a domain name

The price of domain names vary across different registrars on the Internet. It’s important to find a reliable registrar and not just go for the cheapest. Your domain is almost like your home, you don’t want to leave it in incapable hands. Personally I use Namecheap and have been very satisfied with their service. Their pricing is also extremely competitive.

NameCheap.com Step By Step:

Go to NameCheap.com. Sign up for a free account using the link below the login box on the right.

How to buy a domain name

Once registered, you can use the tool on the front page to register your domain name. Type in the desired name and the extension(s) you’re interested in, and click Search.

You’ll now see what extensions are available for your domain name.

If the .com is not available, you may try something else. Otherwise, just tick all the extensions you want to register and click on Add to Cart.

For this example I chose to register the .net extension. Next, choose how many years you want to register. Start with 1 if you’re still unsure about the longevity of your business or the domain itself. The longer you register it for, the more expensive it gets of course.

Click on one of the checkout buttons, complete payment and you’re done. Time to get some hosting!