So you’re looking to buy a domain name and are not sure which option is the best for you. First, let’s look at what exactly it is you are buying. You buy the domain name for one year, and it is registered to you.
Both registrars offer all available TLD’s such as .com, .net, .biz, .org, .info, etc. Both even allow for registration of .pizza, or .love, etc. As far as choosing the best one, GoDaddy is the more popular choice but surprisingly is the higher cost option.
GoDaddy has been around longer than Namecheap and that accounts for the larger share in the market of domain names registered by each company.
Namecheap offers lower pricing for domain name registration than GoDaddy. According to popular domain name registrar reviews, a GoDaddy domain may cost you a fee of 12 dollars a year, whereas Namecheap may offer the same domain name for 10 dollars a year.
Namecheap offers WHOISGUARD free. GoDaddy offers that privacy for around 10 dollars a year. This is a clear point for Namecheap, as having the WHOISGUARD is almost a requirement for people who want to prevent spam email.
As far as customer support goes, both offer live chat and 24/7 telephone service support. Both of them also offer easy-to-follow tutorials for implementing all your domain name needs.
Why do I need a domain name?
Domain names are used to index pages on the internet with easy-to-remember words rather than an IP address consisting of 4 digits. Domain names help your consumers remember your website. It gives you an online identity and the content you post.
How much does a domain name cost?
Domain names have increased in demand since the uprising of the internet. For 30 years, every day, thousands of names have been registered. Today’s total is somewhere in the millions of names.
If you want to buy a pre-registered domain name, it will be significantly more expensive depending on the popularity of the website.
Normally, however, a domain name can go between $10-20 dollars per year. Some registrars offer domain names for as cheap as 2 dollars, but the downside is that if you want to renew the domain name after 1 year, the renewal fee might be higher than you expect.
Not only should you be aware of the initial costs, but also the renewal fees. Low costs are usually associated with higher renewal costs.
Is a domain name necessary for a small business?
No, domain names are not necessary at all. Your website is accessible to the internet through an IP Address, which is unique for all online pages. What a domain name does is, links that unique address to a text-based name such as Google.com, so that it is more easily recognized by online users.
While a domain name may not be necessary for displaying your webpage, it is better to have it indexed in a DNS server that may even help direct organic traffic to your website.
Having a name registered is not necessary, but it is a big help for small businesses who are trying to make an online presence and direct their brand. It’s simple to buy and register a domain name, just make sure your domain name is 100% unique.
What are the advantages of buying a domain name?
Some of the lesser known advantages of having a domain name include: Increasing your search ranking, owning the unique name that is your brand, and company email accounts.
All it takes is a good commercial to become viral on the internet, and when your users are ready to visit your website it’s a good idea to have a domain name.
It will add more legitimacy to your online presence, nowadays there are fake copy websites that are not registered with a domain name, but look exactly like the target website. Having a domain name will ensure your customers always visit your original website.
What is the difference between .net and .com?
Both domain names are ok for businesses to have. The main difference between them is that .net is used for businesses that offer network services. On the other hand, .com is more oriented toward commercial use.
Which is better .net or .com and why?
When it comes to choosing a .net or .com domain extension, you may want to consider the following:
Pros of having a .com extension:
- Affordable – It doesn’t and shouldn’t cost more to use this extension
- Memorable – People often instinctively type .com after a website, thus it is more recognizable than others
- Credibility – People will recognize your brand as business-oriented, this helps build trust in your customers.
Pros of having a .net extension:
- Technology-oriented – .net domains are a great choice for businesses that are dedicated to providing networking and internet services.
- Availability – There is a higher chance for your domain name to exist.
- Marketing – This extension is great for promoting internet service providers and networking sites since most people associate a .net domain with your industry.
It’s simply a matter of deciding which industry you belong to and associating that extension to your domain name.
Is a domain separate from a website?
Yes. A domain is an identifiable space on the internet via human-readable text. A website on the other hand is the content that resides in that space.
For example, some common domain names are Yahoo.com, Google.com, and Wikipedia.org. The first step to obtaining a domain name is purchasing one.
It can be any name you want as long as it is appropriate and once you purchase the name, you have a right to it for one year.
A domain name helps people find your website online, a domain can go as far as being in an email address such as victor@webdesignpx.com. Once you have your domain name ready to go, you can go about building your website. So in essence, a domain name is part of a website.
