Talking tech since 2003

I received a message on YouTube from a member who wanted to know about domain names – where to buy them, how much to pay, how to think of a name, and any other advice I may have to provide.

I buy all my domains from GoDaddy, their prices are competitive, their customer service is decent, and I like their management panel – it’s easy and simple to use.

Most .com’s, .net’s, and .org’s go for around $10/year. I would not pay anything more than that. However, some TLD’s (Top Level Domains) are more expensive due the fact ICANN charges more for them, such as, .tv which is generally $30-$40/year. Most people should be fine with just purchasing the .com, .net, and .org. The reason you would want to do this is to a.) deter people from buying the other available ones and b.) to protect your name.

Something most people don’t know is that if you purchase a domain name for 10+years, it will help your Google rankings because to Google it looks like you will be around for a while whereas if you were to purchase the domain for 2-3 years at a time. Also, make sure you renew your domains as soon as you possibly can during that 90 day period before the domain expires. The reason for that is it keeps Google from “hurting” your ranking; this goes hand and hand with registering your domain for extended periods of time.

In terms of thinking of a domain name you need to be creative, keep it short, relatively easy to spell, and catchy – the less words the better. Try brainstorming a few domains and then using Godaddy’s search to see if it’s available. Also, this is somewhat of a no-brainer, but, I recommend when you are deciding on a domain name that it makes sense in the context of the site you are going to be creating.

Of course, I recommend you stay away from the free TLD’s such as .co.nr and .tk as they are usually associated with spyware, malware, viruses, trojans and other malicious software.

Where do you buy your domains? Leave a comment!

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