1. Where to buy your website domain
They are so many websites where you can buy domain names, but here are our top three. Prices for the same domain can differ slightly depending on where you buy and our top 3 regularly run promotions that you can keep an eye out for. If you are looking to buy towards the end of the year, Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions usually run during the last week of November.
2. Choosing a name
It goes without saying that if you have a business name, you will probably want to buy your business name with a .com or the relevant country code on the end as your domain name. But, that can be easier said than done. If you have a short business name or a fairly common name, you will probably find the .com address has already been taken.
One way around that is to get creative with the name or to consider whether a different top-level domain would suit (.com, .biz, .io). For example, if ABC Windows find their name already taken by a company with the same name in a different state, they might choose MeetABCWindows.com or WeAreABCWindows.com. The domain name providers listed above will provide suggestions to you, if your first choice isn’t available.
3. Which domain extension is right for you?
When buying a domain, you should consider which extension (.com, .co.uk, .ie, .biz, .org is right for you). Many people automatically think .com is “better”, but it actually depends where your main customer base is location. If you are an Irish business, operating only in Ireland, then .ie would be the most sensible choice. It’s also more likely to be available than .com. Having said that, if you are higgsplumbing.ie and you find higgsplumbing.com is available, then it is worth snapping that up too. You can always set up an automatic redirect to your main domain.
If you sell to international customers, then .com is likely the better choice. But, because buying and selling domain names is big business, it can be difficult to find the perfect .com address. This is when you might instead consider .eu (if you sell within the EU only) or one of the more creative extensions such as .studio for an artist’s studio or .digital for a digital marketing agency. When you search for your domain at one of the providers suggested, you should be given a number of different options and ideas.
4. Hosting
You might be wondering whether you should purchase hosting for your website at the same time as your domain name purchase. Before you do so, you may want to read this article on the Top Website Hosting Providers. Price is just one factor when choosing hosting for your website. More importantly, you will want to ensure your provider offers security, good performance, backups and any other features that you will need to successfully run your website.
