Find Your Perfect Name:

Welcome to your Registrar! This is an agency that provides the license for your chosen domain and controls the directory to point users to your website address wherever you have it hosted. Your hosting company is where your website files will be physically located and will have a unique identifying IP address. This is called your Name Server or DNS. It is generally recommended to have different companies as your domain registrar and website host.

There are many sources (Registrars) for searching and registering domain names such as GoDaddy who spends millions on advertising and has become a household name. However, My personal favorite, after having tried almost every one out there, is Hover. Here you can instantly assess the availability of your preferred domain and see lots of unique alternatives as well as a list of creative domain extension options. Their streamlined process is very simple; you can get your license in 3 easy steps. 

Warning: Many registrars make it appear much more complicated and you often end up paying substantially more than the minimal cost of the domain license itself. You do not need to pay for additional years of registration, privacy, email, hosting and the many sneaky add-ons that are commonplace in the industry.

Hover’s fees are low, it’s incredibly simple to search and register and they don’t hard-sell or trick you into a lot of the extras which are typically unnecessary for most small businesses.

Top 10 Tips to Register the Perfect Domain Name:

• Always choose .com as your first option unless you’re going for outrageous memorability with your creative domain extension.

• Use your most important keyword in your domain which also helps in search engine positioning.

• Keep your domain name as short as possible to reduce potential misspellings.

• Consider purchasing additional domain names if misspellings be a major consideration for your domain. You can simply forward this domain to your main website, right at the registrar, so you won’t risk losing traffic.

• Don’t use a dash or punctuation (think about how it’s said out loud when you have to say “dash” or “underscore”).

• Avoid inadvertent double letters (think about how it sounds when you TELL someone the domain name).

• Avoid using a number (numeric or alphabetized versions can be confused).

• How many years you register your domain license is up to you. You will own the rights to use that name for one year or multiple. One year is fine but you’re welcome to add more for your peace of mind. This is not a factor in search engine positioning as it once was.

• The “privacy” option is also up to you. If you are a home-based business and do not want your address listed, then choose WhoisPrivacy ON (like being unlisted in the phone book) but does not hide your site from search engines. If you’re based at a location that you want to be listed, then choose privacy OFF.

• Don’t pay hundreds or thousands for an overpriced domain that is privately owned by a domain “pirate.” These are often contaminated with bad will or search engine penalties from a previous owner.