With so many companies out there, a newbie can easily get confused about where he/she should buy a domain name. There are many factors involved in making a trusted and reliable domain registrar. Generally, people take much care while selecting a hosting company but forgot to take the precaution while buying a domain.

A domain name is generally a cheap thing when creating a website; however, if even a few dollars matter for you, which usually is for beginners, then, of course, you need to consider some factors before selecting a domain registrar.

There are many factors that a buyer needs to focus on before purchasing a domain name. Thanks to BloggingSilo.com, that enlisted the essential factors helping the newcomers to stay with a reliable cost-cutting domain registrar.

Domain First Time and Renewal Price

There are two prices attached to a domain name. The first one is when you will buy a domain name for the first year, while the second one is the renewal fee. Typically, a domain name has a very small price for the first year. That is because of different promotions by the company even sometimes you will be able to grab a domain name as low as $1.

However, the real story begins in the very next year when you are going to renew the domain. Some domain registrars charge a very low promotional price, but their renewals cost between $15 to $25. And for newbies with a limited budget, that’s a significant difference.

So here is a pro tip, when you want a domain for around one year, like for a short-term project, you can avail of promotional discounts. But if you need a domain for at least 3 years, you must choose a registrar that offers low renewals. Such a registrar may or may not offer introductory prices, but the low renewals can save your money.

Go for the .com Domain

There are hundreds of domain extensions including .com, .net, .blog, .shop and many more. However, the most common and popular is the .com domain extension. It would be not wrong if we say it’s a king of domains. The web browsers even support shortcuts for .com.

Because of its popularity, you should also go for the .com extension instead of picking up some weird extension. When typing a domain name, everyone assumes it’s a .com. So we would suggest you go with .com. However, in case if your favorite is already taken, then perhaps you should consider a different domain extension.

Tip: when you are going to target a specific local audience, then it would wise to choose a specific TLD. Like for the UK market, you can use .uk.

ICANN accredited

ICANN stands for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. This is the only organization that is responsible for handling all the domains. If you see while buying a domain, you can see a fee of $0.18 that goes to ICANN.

Being the only organization to handle the domain names, you must ensure you are registering a domain name from an ICANN accredited company.

Consider Buying the Related Domain Extensions

You may be wondering why you should buy related domain extensions. Well, this is to secure your brand name. Would you like to compete with a domain name with the same domain as yours? So what you have to do is buy the related TLDs and redirect them all to your main domain name.

Is your Selected Domain Name Brandable?

You can’t ignore the importance of branding. So what are the factors that make a domain brandable?

• It must be unique and easy to pronounce.
• It should be easy to memorize
• People more likely to type short names.

Domain Name Generator

If you are confused like many people that what domain name you should for your website, then there many ways to generate ideas. One of the easiest ways is domain name generator tools. You can use just the primary keyword or two, and the tool will generate tons of suggestions.

Domain Lock

The domain lock is a feature that prevents the user from transferring the domain from one domain registrar to another. The availability of this feature depends on the domain registrar, where some companies keep this feature in their hands while some allow the user to lock/unlock the domain name.

In my opinion, this function should be in the hands of the users so that he/she can transfer the domain easily. However, if you are unable to change the domain lock status, you simply contact the company’s support department.

Support Services:

Whether it’s a matter of web hosting or a domain name, customer support is always the core factor. However, in the case of a domain name, you won’t need that much technical assistance, but a newbie may require assistance while adding nameservers and adequately securing a domain, etc.

Just consider the case you are using the domain panel for the first, and according to you, the nameservers are perfectly pasted, but still, it’s not working. This where the support team is going to assist you. Yes, indeed, you did not need help frequently in the case of a domain name, but still, the active support team must be there.

Add-ons

A company may offer some domain add-ons, but one of the very important ones is privacy protection, aka WHOIS guard. However, it’s not a mandatory add-on, but it will keep your personal information like address and email address away from the access of the public.

When you are registering a domain, also keep in mind the pricing structure of these. The company may offer domain at low rates, but the add-ons may be available at expensive rates. There are now some companies with free WHOIS guard like the famous NameCheap domain registrar.

Yes, you can purchase these add-ons from the other provider, but this requires some additional technical settings. So, purchasing all these in one place is suitable for those having low technical skills.

Reputation:

The reputation of a domain registrar also matters a lot. You cannot simply go for a domain registrar just because of pricing. The registrar must follow the ethical code of conduct.

You may find the reputation status at BBB where people rate their experience about the company.

Conclusion:

Don’t take it just an ordinary decision while buying a domain name. A domain name is one of the core elements of any website, so you should be careful. The list of the factors mentioned above will help you in picking up the reliable domain registrar as well as the best domain name.