If you own a Singapore business and run your own business website, it’s very important that you take the time to register a domain. This is particularly the case for people who are working on their personal brand. You need a domain that instantly identifies you–whether it’s a .com.sg or a .sg.

Why You Need a Domain Name

One of the best things about owning a domain name is that it gives you stability. If you ever decide to move to a new web host, you will always be able to take your name with you. What this means is that your loyal followers will never question where you are. You won’t have to inform them about these changes. In fact, as far as they are concerned, your website is still at the exact same location.

Not only does it give you a sense of stability, but having your own domain name will also make your business more credible. You’ll find that there are very few people who will be willing to do business with you if you don’t have a domain name. And that’s because there is no branding involved. Domains help you to describe what your business is all about. It gives people something to remember and easily recognise. It also gives your sponsors something to respect about your brand.

Why Your Business Needs a Good Domain Name?

Think of your domain name as a unique identifier among other 1.83 billion websites (as of Jan 2nd, 2021). 

That’s why it’s crucial to have a memorable and easy-to-type domain name for your online presence. 

Your website acts as an online extension of your business, and the domain name you choose is the address that people will be using to find it.

In that sense, a good domain name is supposed to:

• Improve your online recognition and awareness
• Add credibility to your business venture
• Boost your visitors’ recall

SEO has a lot to benefit from the domain name you choose. 

Years ago, choosing an exact match domain name was all the rage. But today, businesses are all about choosing a brandable domain name.

Memorable domain names are frequently typed into Google, and algorithms keep track to assign more authority to their respective sites. 

As the search volume of your branded domain name grows, the more Google assigns more authority points to it. Ergo, It will be a lot easier for it to rank higher for related keywords. 

Now, let’s move on to this article’s how-to part:

What to Keep In Mind When Registering

If you want to secure your own domain name, then you’re going to have to register the name with ICANN, a domain name registrar. This requires your paying a registration fee. It will give you rights to the name for an entire year. After this, you’ll be expected to renew the name annually. In some instances, you’ll be able to register your name for free, depending on the web host.

It’s a good idea to register your name directly with the domain name registrar instead of through your web host. This helps you to avoid the possibility of your web hosts registering the name under themselves which would entitle them to rights. Also, the web host could possibly charge you huge fees for the rights to the name later on.

Keep in mind that domain names tend to disappear pretty quickly. In fact, many people claim that all of the best domain names have already been taken. This is very true when it comes to names that are descriptive of certain products and services. That’s why it’s important that you choose the one you need as soon as possible and avoid future frustration.

How to Register Your SG Domain Name

Step 1: Figure Out Which Extension Will Be Best for Your Business. While your business should ultimately be able to speak for itself, the extension you choose for your domain name could still have some effect on your brand. So you need to take the time to think about which will better fit your objectives and goals: .Com.sg or .sg.

Both .com.sg and .sg are good for search engine optimisation in that they help to localise your business and you are more likely to cater to the Singapore audience. However, each has its own advantages. For instance, .sg is short and this makes it easier for your visitors to type and remember. It’s also good for branding if you’re selling products that are unique to Singapore. When it comes to .com.sg, this extension can help to inspire more trust because your business has to be legally registered in Singapore in order to secure this extension.

Step 2: Create a List of Domain Names. If you want to register a .com.sg or .sg, you need to start by coming up with a list of names. It’s very likely that your first choice will be taken, so having a list will make the process much smoother.  Most registrars will require that you either have a PayPal account or a credit card to purchase the domain.

Step 3: Locate Your Web Host’s Primary and Secondary Nameservers. After you purchase your domain, you need to point it your website. So if you have a web host,  locate their primary and secondary nameservers and then save this information somewhere. This can usually be on their FAQs, under categories like “DNS,” “domain name,” or “domain name transfer.” If you’re unable to find them, you can always email the host.

Step 4: Park Your Domain. If you have purchased a domain name but don’t currently have a web host, you can allow the registrar to temporarily park it. This is a great way to quickly secure the domain name that you’re interested in even if your website is not set up.

Most registrars will park your domain name by default. So it won’t usually require any additional steps. Some even offer free email addresses even though the domain is parked.

 

The Primary Roles of a Domain Name Registrar

The primary role of a domain name registrar is to:

• Coordinate domain name claims
• Match domain names with specified domain name servers (DNSs)
• Ensure there’re no duplicate domain names

Technically, you can’t buy a domain name. You can only reserve it for a specified time, after which you’re to renew it or risk losing it to someone else.

You can pay to reserve a domain name for a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 10 years, depending on the domain name registrar you choose.

So, by registering a domain name, you’ll only be leasing it for a specified period, after which you’ll be required to renew it at a fee to continue using it.

Choosing the Best Domain Name Registrar

Now that you understand the importance of having your own domain name as well as how you can go about registering it, you need to consider which registrar you would like to use. Luckily, there are several to choose from such as Exabytes Network (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Adicio Pte Ltd, Crazy Domains FZ-LLC, and CSC Corporate Domains Inc. However, just as is the case with your extension, each offers its benefits. When choosing a domain name registrar, there are four main things that you should be on the lookout for. See below for the full list.

First, you should consider security. Unfortunately, domain theft is a common practice. There are some people who will attempt to hack into your registrar account or perhaps your email address in attempts to hijack your domain names and then transfer them over to other registrars. By the time you realise this, it may be too late to get the domain name back which means a possibly expensive lawsuit.

So try to look for a company that has a reputation for how secure it is. Do they have a two-factor authentication? Consider the pricing. It’s a good idea to pay attention to how much the domain name costs as well as how much you will be expected to pay for the renewal. If you have a lot of domains, then this could add up. Luckily, most domain names cost under $10.

Take their customer support into account. Most business owners don’t really think about customer support, that is, until they need it. There are times in which you may need to submit an urgent ticket. And in these times great support is crucial. It can sometimes be challenging to determine the quality of customer support, but you can always send them a quick email before you make a purchase to find out how quickly and professionally they respond.

Last but not least, you should think about how intuitive the system is. Will you be able to easily manage the account without having to go through a steep learning curve? Sure, support can be helpful, but you don’t want to spend all of your time relying on their assistance. So do a little research to find out what their interface looks like. Try looking up a few Youtube tutorial videos to get an idea.

What Should You Consider When Choosing A SG Domain Name

Choosing a domain name is a momentous decision, but its effects are enough to either make or break your business. There’s so much to consider, failure of which you’ll be having a tough time propelling your business to where you want it to be.

For starters, the domain name you choose will be affecting your SEO effort. But its effects stretches far beyond that. You want your prospects to recognize your business, brand and – just by looking at your domain name – be able to tell what your website is all about.

In other words, the domain name you decide to go with by the end of the day should clue in your site’s visitors about the kind of products or services you’re offering. More interestingly, if the domain name sticks out in the search engine result pages that show up, the more people will be enticed to click through your link and check out your site.

That explains why spam sites settle for domain names that contain target keywords. In addition to increasing your chances of getting ranked a notch higher in the SERPs, such domain names are reported to have much better click-through rates, which goes to ensure the bulk of those who see your links in the SERPs check out your site and what it is that you’re offering.

So to keep it brief, the domain name you choose will have a direct impact on your SEO effort. Which is to say, choosing the right domain name makes it easy for you to target the right audience, in addition to accelerating your search engine placement.

There’s however more to it than coming up with different ways to integrate targeted keywords in the domain name you decide to go with:

So what makes a good domain?

Simple – read on to find out.

Brandable

The domain name you choose must be short and easy to remember and pronounce. Visitor must be able to visit your site upon hearing the domain name for the first time.

By brandable we mean the domain must be easy to remember and associate it with your line of business.

Look for ways to make the brand easy to both pronounce and spell. It’s also crucial to make sure the domain is easy to think about, and one way to go about it is by associating it with something your prospects can easily relate with.

Whatever you decide on, steer clear of using numbers, hyphens or any other non-standard character in the domain name you choose. Meaning, you’re only limited to using letters in the domain, unless otherwise.

And since search engines have been working on usability and accessibility as two of its key ranking elements, it’s crucial that you make the domain easier for humans to read – and by doing this, search engines will also have an easy time picking it up and indexing it appropriately for a favorable ranking in the result pages.

Keyword Targeted

Find a way to include targeted keywords in your domain name while still keeping it unique, brand friendly and catchy. However, try to steer clear of any domain name that’s excessively keyword rich.

Speaking of which, a word or two of keywords is enough to set you on the right path – otherwise anything longer than that is bound to do your business more harm than good. Here’s an example: best-web-developer-in-singapore.com, is keyword targeted. The problem is that it’s excessively keyword rich which makes it cheesy and somewhat difficult to brand.

But if you could shorten it to something like bwdeveloper.com, then the domain name will be making lots of logical sense, which makes it easy for you to brand.

By including a keyword into the domain name you choose, what you’ll be doing is making the domain easy for search engines to rank and figure out what your site is all about.

Keep in mind that lots of the sites that take this approach fall in the spam category. That’s because people used to take advantage of them without investing a whit on the quality of content they produced. So search engines decided to deprioritize such domain names.

But that’s NOT to say they still don’t carry any weight. What it means is that your site will be under close scrutiny should you decide to go ahead and take this approach. Consequently, you’ll have no option but to invest on the quality of the posts you publish to avoid being ranked as a spam site.

Domain Name Extension

Not all domain name extensions are the same. So it’s advisable to settle for a Generic Top level domain name such as .com, .org, or .net.

These gTLDs won’t be targeting a specific country, but using a common extension will automatically make it easier for your prospects to trace your website.

You also have the option to use a gTLD that target a specific country if you’re more interested in your local SEO, but it’s always wise to go with a .com extension as it’s the first extension online users will always be trying to search your website with.

Steer Clear of Hyphenated Keywords

You might be tempted to use a hyphen in separating a domain name with two words, but that is only bound to create more confusion. Plus using hyphenated domain names strongly correlates with a spammy behavior, in addition to making the domain name harder to both read and memorize.

If you really want to use a hyphen, then you might want to limit the number of the hyphens you use to only one. However you’re so much better off NOT using any at all.

Optimized but NOT Spammy

The domain you choose shouldn’t be keyword heavy. But that’s NOT to say you shouldn’t make an effort to optimize it.

For instance, if you’re running a Singapore-based business, then there’s no harm in including the name Singapore in the domain name you pick. It’s however important to be cautious enough so as to avoid coming off as spammy while at it.

It can be something simple such as singaporevibes.com, which is so much better than a keyword laden domain name such as singapore-city-guide-and-tours.com.

Make sure the optimized domain name comes naturally and doesn’t in any way appear forced. Speaking of which, it’s possible to achieve this with some little bit of creativity on your part.

Processing Fluency

How easy is it for your site’s visitor to pronounce you domain name? Well, if your listeners can’t spell out the domain name after you pronounce it, then you’re better off trying out a different domain name.

In other words, those who hear you pronounce your domain name should be able to search for it online without probing you further on it.

By processing fluency we mean the domain name must be made up of words that people pronounce in their own minds. This makes it easy for them to both spell it out and remember when they finally decide to check you out.

So other factors held constant, then you might want to go with a domain name that no one has problem pronouncing it right.

Domain Name Length – the shorter the better

Short domain names are easy to remember and memorize. They’re also easy to spell, in addition to just looking right.

So given the option to choose a domain name from a list of similar domain names, always settle for the shorter one. By this we mean, you should avoid any domain name that’s more than 15 characters long — and the shorter the domain name is, the easier it will be for you to market it online.

Intuitive

By intuitive, what is meant is that the domain name you choose should clue your site’s visitors about what it is that you do.

The last thing you want is people trying to figure out what your business is all about when they see your domain name. Which is to say, there should be room to connect the dots and gather some clues about the line of business you’re involved with by just glancing over your domain name.

Avoid Numbers

Using numbers in the domain name you choose isn’t a good idea, for a number of reasons. The core one being, when you pronounce it, your prospects won’t know whether to spell it in numerals or letters.

This often leads to confusion, and may force some of your prospects to give up on the search and even consider checking out someone else.

Again, numbers are often associated with spammy sites that resort to numbers as a desperate attempt to stick out. Meaning there’s a strong possibility that some of your prospects may have a hard time trusting you to even consider checking you out.

Subdirectories or subfolders vs. Subdomains

From a ranking perspective, Google made it clear that it treats the content in subdirectories and subdomains equally. But for some reasons, webmasters are advised to consider placing link-worthy content such as the blog section in subdirectories rather than subdomains.

For instance, if your blog is abcdefg.com, if you want to add a section, it’s recommended that you add it as a subfolder instead. So Instead of having a blog section with the blog.abcdefg.com url, you’re so much better having the blog’s url as abcdefg.com/blog.

No need to sweat over the age of the domain name you choose

Search engines don’t consider the age of the domain name you choose as one of their ranking elements. Whether the domain name was registered a week ago or close to 10 years ago, search engines will still index them the same – with other factors held constant.

No search engine has ever come forth to explicitly state that they consider how long your domain name has been registered as an important factor in determining your SEO score.

In fact, any web development company that try to sell this idea should be approached with caution, as they could be lying about so many other things or are completely clueless as to what they’re talking about.

You’re however advised to renew your domain name right on time, or as early as it’s affordably possible to save yourself the trouble of your domain name expiring.

This is where the confusion creeps in though:

While search engines don’t really care about how long the domain name you’re using has been registered – to a varying degree, they do care about how long it’s been since your site was first crawled or since their spiders recorded your first inbound link.

Moving a Domain Name

Moving a domain name from one registrar to another is a snap. But there are several vital factors to be taken into consideration while at it to avoid causing some detrimental effects to the overall well-being of your site.

First, you have to make sure you’ve correctly set up all the redirects, on a page to page basis, making sure that all the sub folders links and deep content pages are redirecting to their corresponding subfolders like they’re supposed to.

It’s therefore crucial that you avoid redirecting the page links to the domain of another homepage, failure of which your search engine performance will always live to suffer.

Uniqueness

With every domain name you come up with, go ahead and check its availability online to find out if somebody else is using it. Just enter the domain name on whois.com and find out if it’s still available.

Whatever you decide on, don’t settle for the same domain name but with a different TLD. Ideally, you’re better off with a domain name that’s utterly unique.

You may be offered a list of the domain’s variations. Don’t settle for any of them either as they do NOT offer the unique value.

Once you get a domain name that tickles your fancy, go ahead and buy it. If possible, try to buy it with as many TLDs as it’s affordable to you. That will prevent other people from getting hold of them. Plus you can always redirect as many domain names as possible to your site.

You have the option to buy the domain name from anywhere else. But it’s always recommended to get it from the same company that’s providing you with hosting.

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What to Understand about a .Sg Domain before Registering one in Singapore

What’s the difference between a domain and a website?

You probably heard someone use the two words interchangeably and automatically assumed they mean the same thing.

A domain is an address that people use to find or identify your website online. It’s what gives your business its identity.

A domain comprises of four parts: a protocol, subdomain, second-level domain, and top-level domain.

Using our domain as an example

About MediaOne

• https – this is the domain protocol
• www – is the subdomain
• mediaonemarketing – is the second-level domain (SLD)
• .sg– is the top-level domain (TLD)

The second-level domain (SLD) and the top-level domain (TLD) are what form the root domain.

So, in this case, ‘mediaonemarketing.com.sg’ is our root domain.

A website, on the other hand, is what people see after they enter your domain name in the address bar of their web browser – it’s the collection of webpages, data, files, texts, video, and images, and anything else that’s visible on your browser’s screen.

A more relatable analogy is your home. While the domain is nothing more than the address that leads visitors to your home, the website is the home itself. It is what people see when they finally make it to that address.

What’s .sg domain?

What comes next after the second-level domain in your website’s URL is the top-level domain. The most common or popular TLD is .com, with more than a thousand other TLD options, including .net, .org, .edu, and so on.

While purchasing a domain name, you have to apply your creativity to come up with the second-level domain for your business, and then decide on the TLD to use.

While you’re allowed to choose your preferred TLD, it’s good to bear that some TLDs represent the nature of your business.

Whereas .com is reserved for commercial businesses, or businesses that are after making profits or money online, .org is the TLD for non-profit organisations.

Generally, there are two types of TLDs – generic TLDs and Country Code TLDs (CcTLDs).

Country Code Top-Level Domain (CcTLD)

ccTLDs are reserved for local use. They’re based on the internationally agreed country codes, and it bears mentioning that every country has one.

The country code for the US is us, so its ccTLD is .us.

The country code for Japan is jp, so its ccTLD is .jp.

The same goes for Australia (.au) and the rest of the countries in the world.

You can see which audience a website is targeting by just looking at its ccTLD (if it has one).

The country code for Singapore is sg, which makes their ccTLD .sg.

.sg can, therefore, be defined as the ccTLD of Singapore.

Generic TLD (gTLD)

As the name suggests, a generic TLD is more general in nature. It does not rely on country codes. It’s however, worth noting that each gTLD is intended for a specific use that sets it apart from the next gTLD (like we mentioned earlier).

For example, .edu is reserved for educational institutions, while .mil is reserved for then military, .org for non-profit organisations, and .net which initially was reserved for ISP, but today it’s now set aside for general internet usage.

Second-level Domain Names for Singapore

• .com.sg – for local businesses that lean more on the commercial side..

.com.sg is more of a generic TLD, but with a local touch. It goes to show that you have a commercial intention, but with an eye for local clients or customers.

• sg – if you’re involved with networking or any other random internet stuff, then it makes more sense to use a .net.sg domain name than any other option out there.
• sg. – for non-profit organisations, registered with the Registry of Societies.
• sg for government entities
• sg for personal domains.
• .sg for Singapore websites that don’t want to be specific with their intention. It can work for virtually any type of website, as long as it’s locally-minded.

Do I Need .sg Domain Name for My Website?

Whether or not you need a .sg domain for your Singapore business depends on the intention that you have.

Where you’re targeting the global market and don’t want to narrow your focus locally, then it makes more sense to go with a wider, generic domain name.

However, there are a few incidences when it makes more sense to use a .sg domain name for your website, and they include:

• When you’re eying for Singapore traffic. If your primary target is mainly from Singapore, and not anywhere else in the world, then you might want to consider using .sg TLD.

By doing this, users can also tell that you’re from Singapore, instead of randomly opening a site without knowing what to expect.

• This also works for SEO purposes. When you want to rank locally, you’ll have an easy time convincing search engine to rank you higher with a ccTLD than a generic one.
• .sg is also good for winning your users’ confidence. When users search online for a product or service, they’ll try to keep their results as local as it’s humanly possible.

And that’s because it’s generally easier to make purchases from a local platform than an international one.

Where Can I Check the Availability of A SG Domain Name

It takes a lot of creativity and thought to come up with a fitting domain name for your business. And with every idea you come up with, you have to check for its availability to make sure that no one else took a jump on you and registered it first.

So how do you check the availability of your .sg domain online?

• Domain Registration: Domain registration is one of the best sites in Singapore to check the availability of your .sg domain name. The site also offers domain name registration. So, should you find out that your domain name is still available, you can proceed to register it by following the steps provided.

The site also offers a broad range of domain extensions to choose one. It’s upon you to decide if you want to register your domain name with an .sg, .com.sg, .com, .org, and so on.

Other options for checking the availability of your .sg domain include:

• Godaddy Singapore
• Macaria
• Asia Registry
• Instra

How Much Should I pay For an SG Domain

The cost of registering a .com domain can cost as little as S$10 a year while registering a .sg or.com.sg domain name could set you back to as much as S$80 per year.

That explains why so many people choose to go with a .com domain.

The price for registering a domain name also tends to vary depending on the domain name registrar.

Some options for checking the availability of your .sg domain include:

• Godaddy Singapore
• Macaria
• Asia Registry
• Instra
• Oryon.net

Let’s compare a few of these options and see how they stack against each other:

Domain Registrar	Cost
Oryon.net	SGD $29.99 ( USD 22.50)
101Domain	SGD 68.31 (USD 49.9)
Vodien	SGD 60 (USD 44)
Only domains	SGD 49.19 (USD 36)
Exabytes	SGD 39.00 (USD 28.54)
Godaddy	SGD 81.99 (USD60)
Macaria	SGD 81.99 (USD60)

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Do I Get to Own My SG Domain Forever?

People use the term ‘buy’ a little too loosely on this side of the internet. When you buy a domain name, you’re not exactly buying it, but leasing it for a period not less than one year and not exceeding ten years.

In other words, domain names are leased on an annual periodic fee. Meaning, you can only acquire temporary ownership of a domain for a period not exceeding ten years.

After that, you’ll have to either renew it or watch it exchange hands.

Can I Buy a Domain Name without Hosting?

It depends.

If you’re only interested in reserving the domain name so that nobody else can use it, then yes. You can buy a domain name without hosting.

However, you won’t be able to run a website on that domain name until you buy for it some hosting space.

With a domain name, all you have is a digital address. You need a digital real estate to host a website.

To put it quite differently, you need to purchase some space online, where you’ll be hosting your web content, after pointing the domain name to it.

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Singapore Domain Name Registrars

Corporation Service Company (Singapore) Pte Ltd (formerly known as IP Mirror Pte Ltd)

• Website: www.ipmirror.com
• Tel: +65 6222 0105
• Fax: +65 6222 0210
• Email: nicrelations@ascio.com

Singnet Pte Ltd

• Website: info.singtel.com
• Tel: +65 6221 1606 or 1800 472 2580
• Email: registrar@singnet.com.sg

Exabytes Network (Singapore) Pte Ltd

• Website: www.exabytes.sg
• Tel: +65 6727 2277
• Email: sales@exabytes.sg

Adicio Pte Ltd

• Website: www.adicio.net
• Tel: +65 6441 8863
• Fax: +65 6441 9902
• Email: sales@adicio.net

Crazy Domains FZ-LLC

• Website: www.crazydomains.sg
• Tel: 800 130 1651
• Email: sales@crazydomains.sg

Cybersite Services Pte Ltd

• Website: www.cybersite.com.sg
• Tel: +65 6727-2276
• Email: sales@cybersite.com.sg

Top3 Media Pte Ltd

• Website: www.domainregistration.com.sg
• Tel: +65 9821 7707
• Fax: +65 6733 5231
• Email: domains@top3.com.sg

Webserver.sg Pte Ltd

• Website: www.webserver.sg
• Tel: +65 6572 4895
• Email: sales@webserver.sg

Vooju Pte Ltd

• Website: www.vooju.com
• Tel: +65 3123 9791
• Email: info@vooju.com

Web Commerce Communications (S) Pte Ltd

• Website: www.webnic.cc
• Tel: +603 8996 6799
• Fax: +603 8996 8788
• Email: sales@webnic.cc

Instra Corporation Pty Ltd

• Website: www.instra.com
• Tel: +61 39783 1800
• Fax: +61 39783 6844
• Email: sales@instra.com

Gandi SAS

• Website: www.gandi.net
• Tel: +33 170377880
• Fax: +33 143731851

Key-Systems GmbH

• Website: www.key-systems.net
• Tel: +49.689 4939 6850
• Fax: +49.689 4939 6851
• Email: info@key-systems.net

CSC Corporate Domains Inc

• Website: www.cscglobal.com
• Tel: 866 403 5272

Safenames Ltd

• Website: www.safenames.net
• Tel: +44 1908 20 0022
• Fax: +44 1908 32 5192

You can also use Godaddy or Vodien to register your .com.sg or .sg domain easily but you have to get your UEN (Singapore company registration number) ready.

 

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How to Register a Domain Name on Domain.com

Domain.com was launched in 1998 and has grown to be one of the most reputable domain name registrars. They have, so far, registered more than 1.2 million domain names. 

This registrar stands out because they have almost all the popular top-level domains, including .com, .net, .co, .org, and more than 25 country specific domain extensions (like .fr, .co.uk, .au, and more).

Their domain names are quite affordable, ranging from $9.99 to $12.99 per year. If you’re lucky, you could snag one of their deals and get a domain for as low as $1.99 per year. 

Here’s what’s included in their domain package, without you paying extra for anything:

• I year of the domain ownership
• Free SSL certificate to beef up your security
• Automatic email forwarding
• DNS management and registration tools

You may also find it necessary to purchase extra domain privacy protection (for $8.99 per year) if you don’t want your personal details to be publicly displayed in the ICANN and WHOIS directories.

With that said, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to register a domain name with domain.com:

Step 1: Run a Quick Search on Domain.com to Find Out If the Domain Name You’re Eyeing for is Still Available

You can only reserve a domain name that’s still available. If someone took a jump on you and secured it first, then too bad! If you cannot buy it from them, then that means you should try registering a different domain name.

Step 2: Pick Your Preferred Top-level Domain or Domain Extension

Next, pick a domain extension that suits you best. If it’s a business website, it makes more sense to go with a .com domain extension, as it’s more popular and well-suited for anything commercial.

If it’s a non-profit organisation, we suggest choosing a .org extension.

You might also want to consider going with a country-specific domain name if your business is strictly local (such as .co.uk, .com.sg, .fr, and so on). 

Keep in mind that it’s still possible to link more than one domain name to a single website. For that reason, you might want to pick more than one domain extension for your website. 

Your choice will be automatically added to the cart for two years of domain registration and two years of privacy protection. You can downgrade the domain registration to one year or increase the period to up to 5 years. 

Privacy protection is optional. You can either remove it or reduce its period to one year.

 

Domain.com offers a series of add-ons to pick from:

• Professional email address matching your domain
• A drag and drop website builder
• Webhosting plan (don’t pick it)
• Site lock security tool

Step 3: Provide Your Billing Information

Go ahead and provide your billing information. Also, be sure to enter this coupon code (WEBSITESETUP25) to get 25% off your first payment. 

Proceed with checkout once done. 

Side note: recheck your domain name and make sure it’s correctly spelled before hitting the “purchase now” button. Keep in mind that you cannot reverse a domain purchase. Once it’s done, there’s nothing you can do to change it other than purchasing the correctly spelled domain name.

How to Register a Domain Name on GoDaddy

GoDaddy is one of the world’s leading providers of hosting services. And like most web hosting services, they also carry our domain registration.

So, how do you register a domain name on GoDaddy?

Read on to find out:

Step 1: Quickly look up with them to find out if your domain name is still available.

Simple. Head over to GoDaddy and type your domain name in the text box provided before hitting the enter button.

Step 2: Pick Your Preferred TLDs to add the domain name to Your Cart

If the domain name is still available, you can add it to your cart to complete the registration process.

Pick all the TLDs to add to your cart and select your renewal period. With GoDaddy, you’re allowed to set your renewal period to up to 10 years.

They also run a series of promos. So, if you’re lucky, you could snag a good discount deal with them.
Their annual rates include the following:

• Basic privacy protection: That means they can hide your personal information from publicly showing up on WHOIS or ICANN directories.
• Real-time domain monitoring and other security tools
• Free forwarding to major social media accounts
• Excellent customer support
• The ability to create sub-domains (up to 100 of them)

Step 3: The Checkout Process

After Filling Your Cart with domains, you can now proceed to the checkout to complete the purchase. 

On the next page that shows up, you’ll be allowed to pick a few other handy features, such as:

• A free coming soon page
• Security coverage and extra domain privacy
• An email address that matches your domain name

Step 4: Sign Up with them

After you click on the checkout button, you’ll be directed to the next page, where you’re to either sign in or create an account with them. 

There are three ways to go about it. You can sign up using Facebook, Google, or by entering your emails and other details. 

GoDaddy has a long list of upsells that they’ll try to pitch to you. You can pick whatever sits well with you or ignore them all.

Step 5: Provide Your Billing Information

Lastly, provide your billing information and review all the details before hitting the purchase button. You also want to make sure your domain name is spelled correctly.

How to Register a Domain Name on Namecheap

Namecheap is a positively reviewed web hosting and domain registration company, currently managing more than 10 million domain names. 

The company has so many good deals on domain names that you’d sure want to take advantage of.

With that said, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to register a domain name on Namecheap:

Step 1: Run a Domain Search 

Again, you’re to begin by heading over to Namecheap, where you’re to run a domain search to find out if your domain name is available or taken.

It’s simple: just type your domain name in the text box provided and hit enter. 

Namecheap stands out because they have a gigantic collection of TLDs, with over 400 TLDs to choose from.

Also, if your domain name isn’t available, you can always switch to their advanced version (aka beast mode) for some domain ideas. 

Step 2: Select Your Preferred Domain Names and Add them to Your Cart

After adding all the best domain names contender to your list, you can proceed to the checkout process. 

Namecheap will try to upsell to you by suggesting a few extras to add to your order. Choose whatever makes sense to you and ignore the rest or ignore them all. 

Namecheap offers one of the best deals on domain names. Here’s what’s included in their annual domain rates:

• Lifetime Free WHOIS protection on every domain name you purchase from them
• Premium DNS and protection against DNS/DDoS attacks once enabled
• Free SSL certificate

And here are their affordable upsells:

• Yearly hosting (comes with a builder)
• Dedicated and managed WordPress hosting
• VPN subscription
• A professional email address that matches your domain name

Step 3: Create an Account with Namecheap

Before you confirm your order, you’ll be required to create a Namecheap account.

Unfortunately, Namecheap has no option for creating your account with Facebook or Google. Meaning, you can only create an account with them by providing your email address. 

Step 4: Provide Your Billing Information

After creating an account, you can log in, provide your billing information, and choose your preferred payment method.

Lastly, you want to make sure that you didn’t misspell your domain name. Once confirmed, you can go ahead and hit the purchase button and ta-da! You’d have registered your domain name.

 

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How to Purchase Hosting

After registering your domain name, the next thing you’ll be required to do is purchase hosting services for your website. 

Think of hosting as your digital real estate and space to store your website content.

Types of Hosting

But before you buy hosting, we’d like to remind you that there are three types of hosting services you can buy:

• A Dedicated Server: A dedicated server is where you rent a full server for yourself. That means you’re the sole user of the server and therefore have total control over its resources and everything else. 

It’s an option you’d want to consider if you’re planning to host a big website, targeting extreme traffic volumes (think millions of visitors). 

Dedicated servers are quite costly (thousands of dollars) and don’t make much sense if you’re setting up your first website. 

1. Virtual Private Server (VPS): A virtual private server is where a server is partitioned into several small servers, with each isolated from the other. 

A VPS makes a great choice of hosting if the traffic you’re targeting ranges from 8 000 and 100, 000 people per day.  

1. Shared Hosting: Shared hosting can be set up on a VPS or dedicated server. Essentially, hundreds of users are made to share the same server. It’s not private since you’re not the sole user of the server. Instead, the hosting service provider will install the necessary applications that allow you to create a fully functional website while sharing resources with a long list of other website owners. 

It’s cheap, relatively easy to use, and would make a viable web hosting choice if your daily traffic targets fall below 8000 people.

5 Things to Pay Attention to When You’re Purchasing Hosting

If this is your first-time purchasing hosting, we’d advise you to go for shared hosting. It’s affordable and relatively easy to manage. 

But even with this, you want to do your due diligence and find a reliable web host. 

In which case, here are the five things you need to know before purchasing any shared hosting services:

Price

Shared hosting packages go at an average cost of $4 to $10 a month. Sometimes the providers offer discounts or promotions that further bring the price down. You might want to take advantage of this. 

Most providers restrict you to annual billing, which happens to be a lot cheaper than monthly, quarterly, and semi-annual billings.

Be sure to check out Host Monk, a site comparing different web hosting services and their prices.

Disk Space and Bandwidth

Unless you’re planning to host a lot of media content (videos and images), anything above 50 GB of SSD disk space should work fine with shared hosting.

You also want to pick a hosting service or package with the highest bandwidth.

Bandwidth refers to the amount of data that your website can deliver to its visitors over a specified period (usually a month). 

Meaning, the bigger the bandwidth, the more data your website can transfer.

In that same dimension, a better web host should be able to offer unlimited bandwidth. 

There’s Nothing Like Unlimited

You might have come across the term unlimited so many times when shopping for hosting services.

The truth is, there’s nothing like unlimited. Everything still narrows down to the allocated resources and hardware.

By unlimited, what’s implied is that the web host won’t artificially limit or measure your storage or bandwidth. But there’s always a limit to how far you can go with the usage.

Room to Grow

You also want to consider if the web hosting provider can fit into your future plans. What may appear like adequate hosting to you now might not be able to sustain your web hosting needs two years to come when you’ve expanded your business, and your website traffic has vastly grown. 

The web hosting enterprise you’re working with must be able to facilitate a smooth transition to a better web hosting package. Do they offer VPS or Dedicated server solutions?

If so, what’s their process for upgrading? 

Control Panel/User Interface

It doesn’t matter if you’re not tech-savvy. You can set up everything without necessarily calling your web host – like installing WordPress, setting up your FTP accounts, or setting up an email.

For this, you want to make sure the web host you choose uses cPanel or Plesk, or something relatively easy to figure out. 

How to Purchase Hosting from Bluehost

You have an endless list of companies to purchase web hosting from. But if we were to suggest a shared hosting vendor, then Bluehost would be it. 

With that in mind, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to purchase web hosting from Bluehost:

Step 1: Go to Bluehost.com and click on “Get Started.” On the next page that shows up, you’re to select a web hosting package from the options provided.

Remember to go through the package features and choose the most suitable package for you.

After selecting a package, a page will pop up requesting you to either create a domain or enter an existing one. If you haven’t purchased a domain name from elsewhere, you can choose the first option. But if you already have a domain name, go with the second option. 

Click next after you’re done. 

If you choose an existing domain (the second option), you’ll need to login into your domain name registrar and change your name server to NS1.Bluehost.com; NS2.Bluehost.com.

Step 2: Complete the Registration Process

After adding a domain name and clicking “next,” you’ll be directed to the next page where you’re to fill in the requested information. Enter your name, phone number, email address, and the rest of the requested information.

After that, you want to scroll down to the bottom of the page, where you’re to enter your credit card information and accept their terms of service before clicking on “Submit.” 

After you click on “Submit,” an advertisement page will appear. Click on “no thank you,” and you’ll be directed to a confirmation page informing your that your transaction was successful.

Step 3: Create a Password

Before you proceed with anything else, you’ll be required to create a password for your Bluehost account. All you have to do is click on the “create password” box and enter your password.

After that, you want to go back to your email and click on the confirmation message you’ve just received to confirm the password. 

You’ll be directed to Bluehost’s logging page, where you’re to log in using either your domain name or username. 

Log in, and you’ll be led to your Bluehost dashboard to Install WordPress and begin the web creation process. 

 

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Conclusion

No matter what industry you’re in, it’s not enough to simply create a website. It’s essential that you own your own domain name. Not only does it give you stability and control, but it makes you more credible to customers and other businesses. Luckily, registering your domain name is pretty simple. Just make sure that you have a long list of great names as the best domain names tend to go quickly.

You can also contact MediaOne to assist you in securing a good domain name according to your brand, for high quality and SEO-friendly domain names that can help you rank up easier (there are certain rules applied by the search engines), create a website, SEO or manage your PPC to make your online visibility a success. Call 67899852 today.