Domain Name of Website in the Address Bar
A Domain Name is one of the most important aspects of your website's online existence. It is the address of how to arrive at and view your website. You MUST own a domain name in order for your website to be visible on the web. When you type a Domain Name in the address bar of your browser and hit the enter key a website will be shown (the Domain Name, i.e. address, will tell the web where your website is being hosted). TheDreamChest.com is a Domain Name, FaceBook.com is a Domain Name, Google.com is a Domain Name... etc.
Side-note - Some people may say "URL" (as in "curl" without the "c") and some people may say "U, R, L" (pronouncing each letter separately) But, the best and most proper way to say it is "Domain Name".
Choosing a Domain Name
Unfortunately, as we move into the 2020's every version, sub-version and alteration of a Domain Name you can think of is most likely already owned by someone else. Domain Names are not particularly expensive and literally billions of people around the world can purchase them easily and have been for decades. Furthermore there is a huge industry of "Domain Name" traders (some people might even call them scammers) who just buy up hundreds if not thousands of domain names just so they can sell them for a profit on the secondary market.
If your business name is "Big Dog", a pet store, the best Domain Name would be bigdog.com BUT this Domain Name was bought decades ago and if the current owner is using it for their own business they will never sell it to you. If a Domain Trader owns the name expect to pay a pretty penny for a good domain name... the best Domain Names have been sold for millions of dollars.
Question: "If the Domain Name I want is taken, what can I do?" You can,
- Contact the owner and see how much they want for it (or we can do it for you). As mentioned previously, don't be surprised if the owner wants a lot of money. Sometimes decent names can be purchased for hundreds and or thousands of dollars but really good names can easily jump to tens of thousands very quickly.
- Try to slightly alter your desired Domain Name. For example, using bigdog.com you can try thebigdog.com or abigdog.com type of thing. Unfortunately most of these have also been purchased.
- Get super creative and majorly alter your desired Domain Name. For example, using bigdog.com you can try something like bigdogbrutus.com or dogstorebigdog.com.
- Use a completely different name. This is what most people have to do these days. Many companies will just slap two random words together and use it as a Domain Name. Look at "FaceBook", before it became popular "face book" meant absolutely nothing. I hate to say this again but... unfortunately most all "two word" domain names are taken. You'll have to dive into three and maybe even four word strings to find a Domain Name that might be available.
We can help you choose a Domain Name. We can give suggestions and or come up with a few names that you might find acceptable. Remember, as stated above most all names are already taken so just accept that and try to be flexible with your choice.
How to buy a Domain Name
Before I discuss "how to buy a Domain Name" it should be noted that clients must buy their own Domain Name, we will not buy it for you. We can advise, consult and guide you along the process BUT, you as the client must be the owner (purchaser) of the Domain Name. It's important that the owner of the Domain Name retains control/ownership of the name.
Where do I buy a Domain Name?
Bottom area of GoDaddy.com Homepage
You buy a Domain Name at a Domain Registrar. There are thousands of Registrars but one of the biggest, most well known Registrars is called GoDaddy.com, this is where we have been buying our own Domain Names for decades. Note that if you click the GoDaddy.com link it will open the GoDaddy.com page in the language of the country you are accessing the site from. i.e. If your in Japan, the page will open in Japanese. You can scroll to the bottom of the page and select another language if you like.
How much does a Domain Name cost?
For the base name a Domain Name runs around $15 USD to $25 USD per year depending on at which registrar you buy it at (be sure to review our Website Ongoing Costs - Per Year page as well). There are various add-ons like Privacy Protection that you can purchase along with the Domain Name if you like. Note that when you buy a Domain Name all your information is collected and viewable in a Public Viewable Online Database. If you buy a Domain Name using your personal information without Privacy Protection all the information you give will be easily visible on the web. Buying a Domain Name using company information and or along with basic Privacy Protection is recommended. Privacy Protection can run from $20 USD to $60 USD per year.
Don't Lose your Domain Name!
After spending time finding and choosing the perfect Domain Name, Don't lose it! When you purchase it, purchase at least 3 years initially AND make sure the "Auto-Repurchase" feature is ON. After 3 years when your business and website is up and running and your website is getting visitors, has a reputation... the most devastating thing that can happen is you lose your Domain Name! As soon as a Domain Name expires there are people/businesses which immediately buy these expired Domain Names and then they'll try to sell it back to you for an exorbitant amount! Set reminders, make sure that if your credit card expires and the number changes you fix that at the Domain Registrar so it will Auto-Repurchase without issues.
Other Domain Name Information
In the old days (and even now) some people say or type "www." blah blah when talking about a website, i.e. "Did you see that article on WWW dot CNN dot com?" However, you don't need to say or type 'www.' when talking about or typing into the address bar a Domain Name. You can just say "cnn dot com" or type "cnn.com" in the address bar and the website will be presented correctly.
FireFox/Chrome, click the little lock
What is that "s" in "https://www." ?
In the old days all sites we're just "http://www." but now most sites are "https://www." The "s" means the site a.) is using or b.) is trying to use Secure Encryption when data is being sent back and forth. I say "trying to use" because even though some sites are accessible by "https://www." some sites have broken encryption methods and the site may not actually be secure! Complicated right?
To check website that is using the https protocol to see if it is actually secure you can click the little "lock" icon in the address bar of your browser (the little lock should be just to the left of the URL, see image). If the encryption is broken (not set up or not working correctly) it will show a broken lock icon and let you know in the text after you click the lock.
