Domain Name

A. About Picking Domain Names:

Picking the best domain name, may be MORE important, than where and how you build  the website.  I make this statement, because  you can "rebuild" the website at a later date, or even have different versions in multiple locations.

But your domain name is like your phone number; once a domain name is taken, nobody else can use it.  So it's important to find the best one you can, then make sure you "hang on to it".

You want to pick a domain name that is ideally (1) available, (2) short, (3) easy to spell, and (4) easy to remember.  Usually these objectives conflict -- i.e. the name you want is usually already taken, so it's a matter of finding the best compromise.

B. For More Information:
  1. You can view the Billtown Web YouTube Video About Domain Names .
  2. You can do a YouTube search for "picking the best domain name" to find additional videos.
  3. You can view the Track2.com information page on  Domain Names.
  4.  You can also do a Google search for "picking the best domain name" to find additional web pages.
C. Forwarding Domain Names vs Not-Forwarded:

After you register a domain name, the easiest way to configure it, is to "forward" it to wherever your website is located (like a forwarding telephone number).

A better way, although somewhat more complicated, is to change the "DNS settings", so the domain goes directly to where your website is hosted.  This requires you to modify some settings both (1) at the Registrar, and (2) at the hosting site.   


D. Comparing Registrars:

I have been mainly using GoDaddy.com and 1and1.com.

GoDaddy:  

 I like GoDaddy, because:

  • They have phone support
  • Support people are in US and understandable.
  • You can renew for multiple years.

1and1:   

 I like 1and1, because:

  • The ".org"'s are cheaper; around $10 at 1and1 vs $15 for GoDaddy.
  • They allow to create free forwarding email addresses; and each address can forward to up to 3 recipients
(To use these, I have to keep the domain hosted at 1and1, and FORWARD the "www" part, in order to use the email addresses).
If i redo the dns settings so the "www" part, so the domain is actually HOSTED at, say Blogger, then the email forwarding addresses no longer can be used.

CONS:  Support people are overseas, hard to understand.  Cannot renew for multiple years, like you can with GoDaddy.

~~~~~~~
NameCheap.com:

A lot of people on the internet seem to like NameCheap.com  registrars (easy to navigate 'windows', not a lot of pushy advertising).  I registered a domain with  NameCheap.com just this week.  But for me, I don't think they have any advantage over GoDaddy or 1and1.com.
NO phone support.  Have to communicate via email.
They only allow 6 forwarding email addresses per domain, and each can only forward to 1 address. - - - - (Whereas with 1and1 you can forward each address to up to THREE addresses.  That's good for making contact addresses on web pages, where you can use a forwarding address that does not expose peoples real addresses to Spammers.).



At 11:42 AM -0400 8/23/12, Charles Ormsbee wrote:

For my business I use namecheap.com.
I like their online interface and over the years I have transferred all of my domains to them from various
registrars. I have never  had an issue with them. Domain registration is one of those things that is just
there and I don't think about much.

But since I am thinking about it now, I like how I can do everything online in my account without having to make any phone calls. That is just a personal preference. I take advantage of their privacy guard that is just a dollar and change a year so that I don't get spammed with marketing offers by mail or email. I think that is important no matter who you use for domain registration.

The email issue is not one I have as I only use purchased hosting accounts and I can have all the email
accounts I want on each of those accounts. With hosting costs so cheap these days I don't use any free
hosting services anymore.

You might want to check into getting a hosted account - it is very easy to set up a Wordpress self hosted site these days (almost automatic) and I think you would find that a lot of the technical issues would disappear as there is no need to forward things from here to there. I got an email the other day from Namecheap and they are offering hosting for a couple of dollars a month. Then you would not need to do any forwarding of emails.
I haven't used their hosting but I have heard good things.

Hope this helps.
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)