How To Purchase A Domain Name

How To Purchase A Domain Name - The Correct Way

WHAT IS A DOMAIN NAME?
First things first. In case you don't know what a domain name is, it is that name you type into your browser that looks something like this www.MyDomainName.com. Domain names are cheap and will cost you about 12 to 15 bucks a year to own one. If you choose not to pay it at any time, it will go back on the open market, but will always remain yours as long as you pay for it. Below I show you how to avoid the scams that take place. Read on.

WHO REALLY OWNS YOUR DOMAIN NAME?

I hate to cause the fear factor to rise in you a little, but what I am about to tell you next is vital to your business! We have all seen it out there in the web world "Get a free domain name with every website you purchase"... "FREE Domain names for one year"etc... DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT fall for it!

Below is an actual picture I snapped from a company I wont mention.

This is a scam to help get you in the door until it's too late and they own it all! Let me give you an example of what I mean. Let’s say some website company offers a free domain name for one year with every website you get done by them. Sounds like a good deal right?.. Well, what they are actually doing is owning the domain name themselves and not you, you are basically paying them to own it. So let’s say you purchase the "website package" they are offering and you want the domain name www.TonysPets.com (because you own a pet store...) So some time goes by and you have built a great brand and the store is doing great, but the website company you are with is charging an arm and a leg to get stuff done on the website. So you decide to move to another company to manage your hosting / web design needs only to find out that the company you are with is who actually purchased your domain name and you have been paying them to renew it as a third party. You realize you never owned that domain name to begin with and they own www.TonysPets.com. So to move away from this company you would need to change the name of your business and purchase a new / different name yourself or just stick it out with them... forever! There is no way out of it now. They purchased the domain name and pay the fees each year and then bill you.

An easy way to find out who really owns it is by calling the company and asking them if you (the client) truly own the domain name or if they do and if you can move it to Godaddy.com or something. Chances are, if you are unsure, this usually means that they own it.

WHAT SHOULD I HAVE DONE?

Places like Godaddy.com offer domain name purchases for pretty cheap. Godaddy is not a great place to host your website (in my opinion) but is a great place to purchase the domain name and own it out right. Any web designer can point your domain name to your hosting provider. If you already own it and are with some other company like, let's say "NetworkSolutions", chances you are paying more than 35-60 a year to own it, and you should have it moved to Godaddy. (Godaddy can help you with this process for free. And just for moving it to Godaddy, they will give you a year free).

THE 3 THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE YOU START.

This will help you understand the 3 things before you start a web design project.
- Domain Name
- Hosting
- Website Design.

Let's say you purchase your domain name through Godaddy.com. You then choose a hosting company, so let’s say you choose to let Created4design.com (that’s us) host and build your website. We build a killer website and give you instructions on how to simply point the domain name our host.

So what have we learned? Always, always own your own domain name and don't fall for the many scams there out there in the web space. We will always treat you right at Created4Design.com.

~ Tony