Congratulations! You’ve decided to set up your Web site.
The first step is going to be to pick a domain name. You’ll want to put this on business cards, signs, letterhead, ads, business listings and anywhere else you want to get the word out about your business.
If you already have a domain name, you can skip ahead to the next section.
Likewise, if you’ll be signing up with the Web hosting provider I recommend (GoDaddy) a domain name with a one-year expiration is provided for free with certain plans, so you can skip ahead to the next section too (although I’d suggest you still read this page so you understand the process).
This page is mainly for people who don’t have a domain name and who would prefer to buy a domain name independently of their Web hosting plan using the domain name provider I recommend (NameSilo).
What is a domain name?
A domain name is your identity on the Internet. All computers on the Internet are uniquely identified by a series of numbers called an IP address, which may look like 123.45.67.89 or 1234:5678:90AB:CDEF. Because your Web site will be hosted on a computer, your Web site will have an IP address to.
When the Internet was designed, they wisely realized that no one was going to remember a long series of numbers, so domain names were created. This way, instead of memorizing “54.239.28.85”, you could just memorize a name like “amazon.com” to get to a Web site.
Where do I buy a domain name?
Domain names are managed by companies called domain name registrars. As the name implies, their job is to register every company and individual who purchases a domain name, and to “point” the domain name to an IP address.
You don’t really “buy” a domain name, it’s more like renting it. You pay a one-time fee to acquire it, but then you have to renew it every year. Most registrars allow you to renew for multiple years, with 10 years being the maximum. If you stop paying, your domain name becomes freed up for anyone else to take it.
Domain name registrars used to be standalone companies that did nothing but domain name registration, such as Verisign, Network Solutions, and Register.com. Today, most domain registrars also provide Web hosting and vice-versa.
You don’t necessarily need to buy your domain name from the same company that does your Web hosting.
Today, there are more than 2,400 domain registrars, but a handful of them represent most of the domain names registered in the world. As of 2024, here are the top 10 domain name registrars in the world, based on the number of domains they host:
- GoDaddy (86 million)
- NameCheap (21 million)
- Tucows (13 million)
- Squarespace (10 million) – These are mostly domain names associated with their page builder service
- IONOs, formerly 1 and 1 (6 million)
- GMO Internet Group (6 million) – This company is based in Asia and handles many domains there
- NameSilo (6 million)
I personally recommend and use the seventh company on the list, NameSilo. From 1996-2006 I had my domain names at Network Solutions, but they started to jack their prices up to ridiculous amounts (upwards of $50-$100 per domain per year, if I recall). From 2006-2016 I switched to GoDaddy and while they were affordable at first, they too gradually upped their prices to $22 a domain a year. I pay NameSilo about $11.95 a year. While you can find cheaper prices elsewhere, NameSilo has been reliable for over 7 years and counting to the point where they’re now one of the largest registrars.
There’s a misconception that you need to maintain your domain name at the same company you host your site with. That’s actually not the case. Web hosting companies want you to believe that the money you pay them for your domain name is pretty much pure profit.
That’s why many Web hosting companies offer you a “free” domain name when you buy hosting from them. They hope that once you buy a domain name from them you’ll keep it hosted with them, even if it does cost more money. I’ll tell you how I handle that situation below.
I personally like to keep my Web hosting company separate from my domain name company. There aren’t a lot of differences between one registrar and another, but I like how NameSilo has a straightforward user interface, sets fair prices, doesn’t bombard you with sales pitches, tells you the right pricing upfront, and includes features like WHOIS privacy that other companies upcharge for. Also, $10/year in savings may not seem like a lot, but it does add up over time, especially if you own multiple domain names.
But of course it’s up to you. If you don’t mind paying a little extra for the convenience of keeping everything in one company, that’s fine too.
What are domain name extensions?
Domain name extensions are the thing that comes after the “dot” in a domain name. For example, if you decide to use “ginospizza.com” for your pizza place, the “.com” is the “extension”.
With a few exceptions, there are actually no “rules” around what extension to use. Traditionally, businesses use “.com” while non-profit organizations use “.org” because they were once the only domain name extensions available (along with .net, .edu., .gov, and .mil).
If you’re in a country outside of the USA, you can get country code top level domains (ccTLD). If you’re planning to have a business presence, make sure you grab those. For example, if you plan on expanding to Canada, you’ll want to purchase a domain name with a .ca extension. In France, they use .fr. And so on.
Over the years, domain name companies realized something. People were making a LOT of money on claiming and reselling .com domains, and they wanted in on the action. And so over time they introduced new domains. Today, you can buy domains that end in all kinds of words like .shop, .food, .diy, .meme, and everything else you can think of.
My advice is to steer clear of these if possible; in most cases they will charge a hefty premium for annual renewal. For example, .store costs $44/year to renew, .site costs $29/year, and .online costs $27/year.
Plus, who would YOU trust, a site whose domain name is doctorsmith.com or doctorsmith.online?
You’ll always get the best pricing with good old .com and .org. Granted, it’s MUCH harder to find a domain that’s not taken, but we’ll talk about that below.
How much do domain names cost?
As of 2024, here’s what the most popular domain name hosts who sell directly to the public charge out the door for .com domains. These prices may look different from what you see because prices change all the time, plus many companies tack on extra fees. But the patterns are pretty consistent with each company from year to year.
| Company | Initial Cost | Annual Renewal | Notes |
| GoDaddy | $0.01 for first year | $21.99/year | First year free with hosting plan |
| NameCheap | $10.28 for first year | $15.88/year | |
| SquareSpace | $12.00 for first year | $20.00/year | |
| Ionos | $1.00 for first year | $17.00/year | First year free with hosting plan |
| NameSilo | $13.95 for first year | $11.95/year | |
| Wholesale Price | $9.15 for first year | $9.15/year | For reference only |
The costs are comparable for .org and .net domains.
As you can see, over time NameSilo is the best deal and closest to the wholesale cost of buying a domain name.
My suggestion, if you don’t mind dealing with the hassle, is to buy your domain from a company offering the lowest initial price and then transferring it to a lower cost registrar like NameSilo before it comes up for renewal in a year. If you already own a domain name, I’d suggest doing the same thing.
Better yet, if you’ll be buying a hosting plan, my recommendation is to just take the “free domain name” that comes with the hosting account and then to transfer it to NameSilo. The process is simple; you can read exactly how to do this in my post titled How to Transfer a Domain Name.
There’s one up-and-coming domain name company that’s making waves callled Porkbun. They’re doing to NameSilo what NameSilo did to GoDaddy years ago—undercutting them on price while providing pretty good customer service. Their cost for the first year is $7 and their cost for renewal is $10.37 so it’s slightly less than NameSilo. I still prefer NameSilo just because they’ve been established much longer and have many more registered domains, but if NameSilo continues to jack up its prices, Porkbun is probably the company I’ll go to next.
What do I choose for my domain name?
You’ll see a lot of bad SEO practitioners saying that you should stuff your domain name with keywords like bestchiropractorinboise.com or bestpizzainspringfield.com. That might have been good advice 20 years ago, but Google no longer factors in your domain name into its search engine rankings.
That’s why the advice I always give is simple.
- Use the name that you are (or want to be) known as. In most cases this will be your official business name, but in some cases (especially individual business owners) you might want to use your own name or a nickname.
- Use a name that’s short, simple and memorable. You don’t want a domain like bestpepperonisliceinspringfield4u.com because they’re ridiculously different to say, much less remember. Think of what you can print on a business card or tell a customer in person.
Be careful, of course, that you’re not trying to register a domain name that someone else owns the trademark for or which is “confusingly similar” to a trademark. For example, you can’t register a domain like “dominoes pizza.com” without getting a letter from Domino’s Pizza’s lawyers.
Like I said, the best approach is usually to just use your business name (or your own name, if you use it for your business). As long as you went through the process of choosing something very uniquely “yours” when you chose your business name, there’ll be a good chance it’s available.
If you’ve trademarked your business name but someone registered it with the intent of selling it to you at a profit OR using the good name you built over the years to sell a similar service to the one you sell, that’s illegal. There’s a legal process you can go through to claim the domain name back.
If your business name is a fairly common one that no one holds a trademark or copyright for, and it’s taken, try adding something that makes you unique, such as the name of your city or region.
You may be wondering why I chose ‘seoforsmallbusiness.org’ for this site. Honestly, it’s because I built this site as an informational resource and not necessarily to build a “brand” with. If and when I ever decide to start my own business, I’ll probably use my own name as my domain (which I acquired years ago).
How do I look for my domain name?
Every domain registrar has a search bar where you can type in a name to look for it. Warning: make sure to do this only on reputable domain registrar sites like the ones I mentioned above; some unscrupulous domain name companies actually monitor what people type into their search boxes, register them, and then try to resell them for hundreds of dollars.
I’m going to use NameSilo’s interface as an example, but they’re all similar.
First, type in the domain name you want to see is available. Since I have pizza on the mind, let’s type in “ginospizza.com” and see what happens.
You can see that ginospizza.com is taken. If you’re curious about who owns it and when it was registered, you can use this Lookup Tool from ICANN, the non-profit organization that oversees all domain registrars (again, be careful of WHOIS pages from companies you never heard of).
As you can see, it was registered back in 1999 by a chain by that name (who incidentally has one of those outdated Web sites I was talking about). If you’re a local pizzeria with that name, it looks like you’re out of luck. The domain name expires in 2025, so if they forget to renew it you might have a tiny chance of getting it.
Your only option will be one of the following:
- Change the wording and see if it’s available. You’ll want to be careful here; again, if the name is “confusingly similar” to an existing name aren’t legally allowed to register it. But if it’s a simple change like “fredspizza.com” to “fredspizzeria.com”, that’s not a problem. You can also try adding your city or state name to the domain name.
- Choose a different extension. As you can see, sites like NameSilo will give you alternative suggestions if the domain you want is taken. Again, be careful here. Look at the renewal price and ask yourself if that’s a fee you’d be willing to pay every year. Also, top level domains outside of .com, .org, and .net aren’t always trusted by customers; you’ll want to make sure you choose a domain name that you’re comfortable with for the long haul.
- Challenge the current owner of the domain name to hand you over the domain. This is a long shot, but if you have a unique business name and you have proof that someone has maliciously registered it in order to get money from you, you may have legal recourse.
In the case of my example, because there are so many “Gino’s Pizzas” (I can name 5 of them within a 20 minute drive of me, each owned by a different “Gino”) and no one can claim an exclusive trademark on that phrase, it’s really first-come, first-served when it comes to registering the domain name. You really have two options when this happens to you: either change the name of your business or like I said, see if you can add words to your domain name that describe you.
For example, let’s say you lived in the fictional town of Springfield (where the Simpsons live). When you check for “ginospizzaspringfield.com” here’s what happens.
As you can see, it’s available.
Take your time in choosing the right domain name. Buying a domain name is an important decision because as you build your site and establish your online presence you’re going to be adding value to that domain name. You don’t want 10 years down the line to realize that you’ve chosen the wrong domain name and have to start from square one again.
How do I buy a domain name?
Once you’ve found a domain name you like, snap it up right away before someone else gets it.
To do this in NameSilo, simply add the domain to your cart and check out. In your shopping cart, you can adjust the number of years you’ll want to pay for upfront. I’d suggest going with the maximum of 10 years.
One thing I appreciation about NameSilo vs. other companies is that they don’t bombard you trying to upsell you to other products. This is where companies like GoDaddy will bombard you with trying to get you to add everything to your cart.
Remember that if you’ll be paying for Web hosting, many of them give you a free domain name. My suggestion is to take the free domain name, but transfer it to a company like NameSilo as soon as possible.
How do I transfer a domain name?
If you already own your domain name and are paying too much for it, or if you’ve gotten a free domain name as part of a Web hosting company, you can save money and get extra services (like WHOIS Protection) for free by transferring it to a company like NameSilo.
The process of transferring a domain name is this, in a nutshell.
- Go to your current domain name provider and make sure your domain is unlocked. You’ll also need an authentication code to validate that you are authorized to move the domain.
- Go to NameSilo (or whatever new domain name provider you choose) and enter the domain you want to transfer to it. Enter the AUTH code and submit the payment. NameSilo and most other companies will add a year to your domain renewal date.
- The process should be fairly automatic from here. Your old domain name provider will send you an email asking you to confirm that you approve of the transfer. Once you do, your new domain name will be available at NameSilo, and you’ll no longer get a bill from your old domain name provider.
I’ll write a longer, step-by-step breakdown of the domain name transfer process. It’s not as daunting as you think, and in my opinion, it’s well worth it.
What is WHOIS Protection?
One of the other things I appreciate about NameSilo is that they give free WHOIS protection,
One of the annoying things about registering a domain name since the beginning has been that you have to provide the full name, address, and contact information of the owner, a technical contact, and an administrative contact (all of whom are usually you). In the early days of the Internet this was a nice way to know whom to contact in case of any questions about a domain. As you can imagine, over the years this has been a treasure trove of spammers and even identity thieves.
A lot of domain name providers will charge extra for this “service”, even though it’s not a lot of work for them; people rarely use WHOIS records to contact a domain owner and if they do, all the domain name company has to do is forward an email to someone who’s already on their customer list. Keep an close eye on companies that
What is a Top Level Domain vs. a Root Domain vs. a Subdomain vs. a ccTLD vs. a gTLD?
You’ll hear all of these phrases bandied about, and in the vast majority of cases people will be using them incorrectly. Here’s the definitive meaning of all these terms.
Top Level Domain (TLD) – This is the domain extension, or the part of the domain name after the “dot”, by itself. The original list of TLDs were .com, .org, .net, .int, .edu, .gov, and .mil.
Root Domain – This is the main part of your domain name, which includes one word before the “dot” + the domain name extension. Examples of root domains include amazon.com, wikipedia.org, att.net, and ny.gov.
Subdomain – A subdomain has a prefix added to it, followed by a “dot”, followed by the root domain. For example, mail.google.com is a subdomain of the root domain google.com. Technically speaking, www.yourcompany.com is a subdomain of the root domain yourcompany.com.
One thing that some people may not realize is that if you own the root domain, you can create an infinite number of subdomains for “free”.
Country Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) – A ccTLD is essentially a root domain that’s used in countries outside of the United States. If you do business in other countries, it’s usually a good idea to register your main domain name with country code extensions. For example, if you own yourcompany.com and do business in Canada, Mexico, Germany, and Japan, you’ll want to register yourcompany.ca, yourcompany.mx, yourcompany.de, and yourcompany.co.jp. Each country code has specific rules that you’ll need to know before buying, some more stringent than others (for example, some ccTLDs require that you have a physical office location in that country).
Generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) – As I wrote above, after people realized that they could make money by selling domains beyond the original seven domain names the official organization that manages domain names (ICANN) opened the floodgates to allow for over 1,600 domain name extensions (and counting). But like I said, there are very few sites that have achieved credibility with domains other than the original seven.
Throughout this write-up I’ll be using the phrase “domain name” interchangably to refer to all of these.
How do I connect a domain name to my Web site?
Once you have your domain name with a domain name company like NameSilo, how exactly do you use it?
People mainly do two things:
- Connect it to their Web site so that www.yourdomain.com goes to your site
- Connect it to their email so that yourname@yourdomain.com can be used to reach you
I’ll provide details of how that’s done in future articles.
