The greatest moment for a blogger comes when he/she is buying a great domain name for their website or blog.
Mind you, buying a domain is not a simple task at all. There are so many wide varieties of options that will leave you confused as to which is going to be the best for your website.
That is why it is necessary to do prior research and talk to your other blogger friends.
What kind of domain your website needs, nobody will understand it better than you.
There are going to be errors and server failures, for sure. So, when you are starting out, the real challenge for you is to buy a domain that is amazing and cheap at the same time.
You cannot expect to earn in millions of your blog when you are just starting out.
So, we have got you covered if you are lost and confused. Here is everything you need to know about how to buy a cheap but great domain name.
1st step: Things you should keep in mind
1. Do necessary research about factors that affect the price and value of your website
A great domain name is something that should be simple and easy to remember.
The price of the domain depends on factors like the length of the domain name, how easy it is to spell, the number of words, how much traffic it can generate without prompting, etc. So here are few things to keep in mind.
- If you are choosing a short name with just one word and then a .com domain, it will cost you higher. That is because simple and short titles like these are more searched by people and hence they have lots of uses.
If you are choosing a name that already has a registered .com domain, you might have to get in touch with the owner, else he will accuse you of copyright issues. Prices can also get high for multiple word domains and misspellings.
- Of course, there are alternatives to the high in demand .com or .org domains.
You will find plenty of domain extensions like .guru, .club and so on. They definitely reduce the problems of lack of space in the .com domain.
- Before you make up your mind to purchase a domain name, make sure you have lots of backups and other variants.
- If the name that you are planning to purchase contains a misspelling, you should know that you will lose a lot of traffic to the properly spelled counterpart.
Again, if your desired name contains a word that is anyway commonly misspelled, you can think of buying another variation of the domain name and then link it to the main website. This will ensure traffic, but you will have to incur additional costs.
- Make sure not to use any characters in the domain name as they drive away traffic.
2. Try purchasing your domain name from a registrar that is ICANN accredited
This will let your users know that your company is committed and trustworthy. This increases your domain value and the first step of building credibility is already done.
3. Be sure to control all aspects of your domain name
There are lots of domain registration companies that do not let you control your domains or make any changes to them.
You will have to lodge a request on their support systems and then have to wait for days for your turn to do even the simplest things like changing name servers or IPS tags.
These things should be possible to control from your own control panel. So, without having to depend on the registration company, you should be able to control your purchased domain.
4. Check thoroughly if you have to pay any fee while releasing or transferring your domain
A lot of domain registrars and hosting companies charge you for a release fee. There are others who charge you of a transfer fee every time you will change hosts. This charge is extra and completely unnecessary for you to bear.
So, look for domain registration sites that do not charge you.
5. Check if you get a free email account along with the domain
There are domain registration sites that charge separately for an email account with your domain name.
There are others that include the email account in the package. So, make your choice wisely.
6. Check if you can use their SMTP servers to send out emails:
There are lots of domain registrars and hosting companies that will not allow you to use their SMTP servers to send out emails.
They expect you to use your internet service provider’s servers to send out emails.
7. You should have control of your domain name at all times:
There are so many problems that website owners who host their websites with a web host face, like, poor service, infrequent and surprise invoice, email issues, unreliable uptime and so on.
Make sure you are not one of them. You should have total control of your domain and then should be able to walk out and find a new host, whenever you want.
8. Never make the mistake of buying your domain in someone else’s name:
This might make you lose your website overnight without a prior warning. So, NEVER go for it.
2nd step: Buy the available domain name
1. Do your research with a few domain registration companies before finalizing anything:
There are things to consider, like, the price of the service, how well their customer service is, what all are included in the package you are buying, etc.
These factors are different for every company, so you have to make a well-informed decision.
2. Check if the name of your choice is already taken:
This is obvious, right? The domain registration company on which you are planning to buy a domain has a huge database where you can check if the name you want to register for is available or not.
If it is available, go ahead with the further steps. If it is not, you have to come up with a new name.
3. Choose the domain and pay for it:
There are 3 kinds of fees that you have to pay when purchasing a domain- a purchase fee, a fee for yearly renewal if you buy for more than a year and a setup fee.
4. Make sure you never forget to pay your renewal fee on time:
If you ever forget to pay your renewal fee to the domain registrar, your website will be lost overnight, just like that.
All your data and hard work will be lost in no time. So, be very prompt and punctual about paying the renewal fee on time.
3rd step: Bargain for an occupied domain name
1. Find out the current owner of the domain:
If you find that the current owner is an industry authority and a well established, popular site, you just have to bow down and request.
But if this is not the case, you can negotiate with the owner and he might consider.
A lot of times people buy a domain as a backup or just instinctively and then keep it inactive. In such cases, the owner might negotiate a deal with you.
2. Simply drop an email to the owner:
Before you even start bargaining with the price, you have to mail the concerned person and ask him if he wants to sell the domain.
Make sure the mail sounds formal and professional enough, else it might just reach the spam or junk folder of the concerned person. Also, create an alternate email id to mail the current owner.
3. Now, start bargaining for the price:
When you are ready to bargain, there are 4 bargaining scenarios that you might face.
- First, the current owner might quote an unreasonable amount that is unfair. You can argue that it is not fair and quote your amount which you think is fair. Then you know the drill you have to follow.
- Second, the owner himself might ask you to suggest a price for the domain name. This means the owner is ready for bargaining. So, start with quoting a price of at least 30% lower than your budget. Let the haggling take its natural pace.
- Third, the owner might quote less than what you had in mind. This is a win-win for you. Accept the offer, but still, behave as if you could have got it for lower prices. The owner should not suspect that you are being generous.
- Lastly, the owner will quote the exact price range that you were expecting. In this case, too, adopt the above method.
Whatever be the scenario, do not settle for more than what you are willing to spend. You want a great domain, for sure. But you also have to be cost-effective and find something that is cheap.
4. Be very careful when you are communicating with the current owner:
We will tell you why. Suppose, you just casually agreed with the owner to buy the domain for his price. But later you change your mind when you find a better deal for another domain name of your choice.
In such cases, the previous owner might use this email communication to drag you to court.
So, do not finalize a deal unless you are dead sure that you want to purchase that particular domain. Also, try to use an alternate email id while making these email communications.
5. Make sure the owner makes up his mind as early as possible:
Once the owner agrees, you are good to go. The email conversation you had is the contract by law.
Things to Keep in Mind While Buying Great and Cheap Domain Names
Now that you know the step by step process of buying a domain name, you are good to go.
But there are few things that you have to keep in mind before you make the purchase. Let’s see what they are:
Avoid using hyphens or any other character while writing a domain name. Visitors do not remember where exactly these special characters are placed.
These characters also make your web site’s name look a lot clumsy. This will take away a lot of traffic, and you surely do not want that.
If the .com extension is not available for your domain, do not make a hasty decision in buying some less popular extension. Because, if a popular brand is using the .com version, there might be a legal case against you.
Again, the problem of traffic. People will continue to visit the .com version and might not even be aware of the existence of another extension.
Do not make the mistake of purchasing from an unknown domain registrar.
They might go out of business anytime and you will have to suffer a huge loss for no fault of yours.
When you have the keywords in mind, do a brainstorming online to find the best possible permutation combination of your keywords.
Use the online tools or an online thesaurus that you will find easily and enter your keywords.
When selecting the time period, make sure you buy a domain for a minimum period of 2 years. There are quite many benefits to that.
It saves you the hassle of having to renew your domain name every year. It also makes your search engine ranking higher. Of course, the price you pay is more cost effective.
Do not go for the auctioned domain names. They are expensive and difficult to remember.
Your customers are not going to relate to nice, flowery words. They are going to relate to your brand.
Wrapping Up:
As we already told you at the beginning, buying a great domain name is not an easy task. But with our guide, we hope things are clear now. So, make an informed decision.