It’s becoming increasingly harder and harder to find the right domain name. I buy many domains every year for myself and my clients, and now I am going to share with you some advice and my 5 tips to buying a domain.

First make sure you don’t use a registrar that offers the scam where you buy your domain cheap the first year and then get hit with a BIG renewal charge, that’s hundreds of times larger than the industry standard rate. Yahoo pulls this crap all the time, they offer domains for $1.99 the first year, then up your renewal rate to like $50 the next year, that’s why I use Go Daddy, they have yet to ever pull that crap with me. I also find their domain control panel easy to use, and the dozen or so times I have needed to contact their support my issue was resolved within minutes. Of course the fact that they always have some of the lowest domain prices doesn’t hurt.

So let’s get started with my 5 tips to buying a domain!

1. Brainstorm Domain Names and Make a List
   

   It’s common for great domain names to already be taken, if this happens, you can try and buy it, but it normally costs a lot of money. The alternative is you can look for other good alternatives domain names to fit your need.

   So before you even start take a few minutes to create a list of domain names you like and could use for your purpose. Once you have your list you can visit Go Daddy or any registrar to see which domains are available.

2. Always Use .com
   

   Do not be fooled into buying one of the other domain extensions like .org, .biz, .net. Etc…, for your main domain name, even if it’s your dream domain. The majority of people doesn’t pay attention to extensions and automatically assume every domain name is a .com.

   You will save yourself a lot of heartache in getting a .com, even if it’s your third or fourth choice.

   *note, best practice is to also buy the .org, .biz, and .net for the .com domain you purchase. I rarely do this, but if you’re super serious about your marketing and brand you should.

3. Keep it Short or Descriptive
   

   The shorter the domain name, the easier it is to remember. Best practice is to get the shortest domain name you can, BUT if you can’t find a good short domain available, the next best option is buy a longer and more descriptive domain name.

   Some examples could be OnlineMarketingPundit.com, GreenGuideForHomeowners.com, SanDiegoRealEstate.com, you get the idea.

   *note, if you get a longer and more descriptive domain, I recommend also buying a short domain that connects to your longer descriptive one. When I bought this domain I also purchased OMPundit.com. This short domain is useful for many reasons, the biggest reason though is that many advertising opportunities only allow so many spaces for the domain display, so if yours main domain doesn’t fit, you can use your smaller domain in its place. The best short version in my opinion is getting the acronym of your long domain if possible.

4. Search Engine Optimization Starts with the Domain Purchase
   

   Most people don’t know this, but the search engines look at the Whois records for domains and give domains registered for 3-5 years more importance than one that was only purchased for a single year.

   The reasoning is pretty solid, most domains purchased for nefarious purposes like phishing, spam, or black hat SEO have a very limited lifetime, so why would people waste money on more than the minimum one year registration. On the flip side real businesses and people serious about their web presence expect to use their domain for many years to come, so they would want to register for more years from the start. I always recommend registering your main domain for at least 3 years.

5. Don’t Waste Your Money
   

   Every registrar I know offers several other services you can bundle in with your order. Some of these are great services and some aren’t very good and are overpriced. Make sure you evaluate each offer to see if it would be a benefit for you or not.

   The only recommendations I give is, if you’re going to be doing business online and need a SSL certificate I find it much easier to purchase one through Go Daddy with my domain purchase, that way I have one point of contact for both services and both services will be on the same term contract length.

   My second recommendation is if you do not have a lot of technical support or knowledge, it’s often easier to get things like hosting and email with your domain purchase, but like everything online, you need to consider all your options before making any decision.

I hope these 5 tips to buying a domain have been helpful, and I wish you the best of luck in getting that perfect domain.

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