Selecting a Domain Name

Checking for availability of a domain name

How To Register a Domain Name

Choosing a domain name registrar

Cost of Domain Names

The cost of registration should be a primary consideration in choosing a registrar since prices vary widely from one to another. For example, domain names under legacy generic top level domains (gTLDs) such as ".com" can cost anywhere from $8.95 per year (through A to Z Domains, for example) to almost $30 (through eNom) or $35 (through Network Solutions) per year for individual domains, depending on the registrar. The cost of registering ".com" domains in larger bulk quantities (50 or more) can be as low as $6.95 per year apiece.

Register Your Domain Name Yourself

It is highly recommended to register your domain name yourself, directly with one of the accredited domain name registrars or with a reliable affiliate of one of those registrars. Signing up to register a domain at one of the registrar sites is just as easy as signing up at any other ecommerce web site. Some other recommendations for registering domain names:

• Make sure you use an e-mail address that will be reliable for some time to come, to ensure that you will receive any notices sent by the registrar. Don't use an e-mail address under the domain name itself, since you won't get any notices if that domain stops working (worse yet, the next owner of the domain could get access to your entire account by retrieving its password).
• If possible, use an e-mail address that can be changed (a free "throwaway" address, for example) and can be forwarded to your mail client. The contact information for domain name registrations is publicly available, so if you use the mailbox address configured in the account settings of your mail client it's likely that you will get a lot of spam. By using a different address with forwarding, you can keep your permanent address private and periodically change the e-mail address that appears in the contact information to eliminate the spam from the address that was previously used. If you want to keep all of your contact information (including your mailing address and telephone and fax numbers) private, not just your e-mail address, some registrars will provide a more private registration for an additional fee.
• If you change ISPs or your e-mail address changes for any other reason, be sure to update the address on the registrar's web site, or change the forwarding for the address that you are using there.

Registering a domain name though a third party such as an ISP, hosting provider, or web design service is not recommended. The third party is then responsible for notifying the customer, billing for the renewal (often at a premium price), and then renewing the domain name with the appropriate registrar. There have been many cases where web sites were shut down because their domain names were not renewed in time by the third party. Expired domains are not immediately made available for re-registration - they first go into an exclusive auction affiliated with the registrar, then into a redemption period where they can be renewed for $150 or more, then put up for auction on various expiring domain name sites where many domains are acquired by someone other than the original owner. Since bidders on expired name auctions look for domains that have had some traffic or are listed on the major search engines, it is unlikely that a domain will be released for general registration unless it had not been used for a web site. When faced with having to pay to reacquire the domain from an auction site (for $60 or more), pay the redemption fee ($150 or more), or pay the high bidder for the expired name thousands of dollars, or else hoping that no one bids on the domain in the expired name auctions and having the web site shut down for months waiting for the domain name to be released, it usually winds up being necessary to abandon the original domain name and register a brand new name for the site.

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Last updated Saturday December 30, 2006

How to register domain names in bulk