DOMAIN NAMES
Here are some helpful hints to start off with!
Purchasing your Domain Name - Hints & Tips:
- I suggest purchasing your Domain name through GoDaddy.com I don't make any money by sending people to GoDaddy but they have the easiest domain management available.
- Purchase domain names for a number of years to get a better price.
- Add any misspellings, nick names or easily interchangeable domain names to your purchase, they can be redirected to your main site.
- For instance: "KathysBakery.com" could also be "CathysBakery.com" or even "CatsBakery.com" if there is a nickname you may go by. Best to get them all and not miss a potential client.
- Domain name ideas you'd like. You should go with the name of your company but sometimes you'll have to go with a variation.
- Try to include what you do or your business in your domain name. For instance, a hair salon would try to have Hair, Salon or both in the domain name.
- Try to avoid hyphens / dashes but don't stress if that's all they have available.
- Before you purchase, go to RetailMeNot.com and search GoDaddy discounts / Coupons for that month.
- Buy Multiple Years! I know this is #2 all over again but if you can, purchase for a few years at a time, the first purchase will be the cheapest so utilize that discount now and then you don't have to worry about it for a while too. I suggest at least 2 years but if it makes sense for you to purchase 5+, go for it.
- Purchase your domain names - Congratulations!
- Now, WHEN people email you & say "You need to do this or do that OR your domain name won't be listed" Hit - DELETE. It's all spam. I tell my clients all the time to forward me every email when it comes to their domain names. Don't purchase or sign up for anything. There are tons and I mean TONS of horrible companies out there that will try to steal your domain name. It's awful, so be smart and if you're a client, send it to me and if you're not, be super careful.
- Okay, you own your domain names, now when you're ready, you can add your designer as an Admin to your GoDaddy account. This is so the DNS info can be updated & forwarded and they can make any changes (but can't change ownership of your domains). Also, this is needed so all the additional domain names can be pointed to your main site. You're good to go!
If you like...
We can also purchase domain names & manage them for you, we charge $45 per domain name, per year. On occasion, they cost more so we would have to charge accordingly. If you'd like us to purchase on your behalf, we still need the following information to register it in your name. When we purchase them, we act as admin but you’re still the owner. If someone does a “whois” search on who owns your domain name, your business should pop up, not someone else's, (unless you want to register under a private name - please ask).
Key thing to remember, ownership of your domain, don’t lose it! That can be very costly and tiresome to regain control.
To register domain we'll need:
- Your Contact name
- Name of Business
- Business Address & zip
- Phone
- Year established