Your domain name is vital for your site and chances are, you will need to renew it for a period of several years. Depending on your domain name registrar, this can be quite expensive. The market for registration of domains is very competitive and it can be hard to find the best deal possible. Here are some tips on how to get the best deal and how to transfer your registrar if you are currently paying too much money.
On average, a top level domain can cost between $5 and $50 per year to register. This includes all necessary fees and will allow you to use the domain for a period of exactly one year. The amount you spend will differ greatly from company to company, depending on how they make their money. Domain name registration typically is not a profitable venture for most companies, unless they make up for low prices with high quantity sales.
It can be tempting to register your domain with your web hosting company, since they are right there and typically offer registration as an add-on. While it may be easier, it definitely may not be cheaper. Hosting companies typically inflate the cost of domain names by $10 to $15, simply because they don’t sell a lot of them. They don’t have the extra purchasing power that a company who sells only domains will have.
Places like GoDaddy.com and 1Plus1.com usually offer budget priced domain names. They are able to purchase huge blocks of domains at a significant savings and in turn pass that savings on to you. They may make only pennies for each domain that they sell, but because they sell so many, it makes it worthwhile. As a bonus, these companies combine budget domain names with a lot of other features such as private registration, parking and even hosting.
Once you have purchased your domain name from a company, you can usually expect to pay the same amount when it is time to renew your domain. However, other companies may increase the renewal charges, making it difficult to keep your domain name active. Most companies will offer a year’s free renewal with transfer, but others may not. Make sure you are getting the best deal before you commit to a change.
If you need to transfer your domain name to a different registrar, you need to make sure you do so at least sixty days before it is due to expire. Once you enter that sixty day window, it may be impossible to transfer your domain.
If you have your domain name set up to auto renew with your registrar, it is vital to make sure that the payment information is valid. If you are over your limit or the card has expired, you run the risk of losing your domain. Some companies will immediately auction off a domain that has failed to renew. Trying to get your domain name back may be very difficult, or in most cases, impossible. Once you have it, make sure that you never lose it.
Tags: domain name, domain registrar, domain registration
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April 14th, 2008 at 9:34 am
As he said, payment options in multiples are crucial. One time I had a domain, but I had an expired credit card on there. The domain expired and I lost the domain because of that. I tend to purchase my domains from a free Register.com promotion because they on;y cost $1 but when that ends I purchase mine from GoDaddy since they are cheap
April 26th, 2008 at 1:05 am
I paid $10 for my domain name. I was able to search for the availability of it on Godaddy.com but sad thing is that they don’t accept payments from unverified PayPal accounts so I ended up paying higher just to get my domain name. I just hope my credit card application will be approved next month so my PayPal account would be verified.
May 8th, 2008 at 4:44 am
This has really helped me in deciding what domain service I need for my site. I think your choice needs to be based on your website criteria since some of these company’s also offer web hosting. If you have a large company website, this service can be different than a simple blog or ezine website. However, it is always important to choose a safe trustworthy hosting company.
May 21st, 2008 at 2:51 pm
If you are just doing a sales page, you can get a cheap dot info domain, which can save you a lot of money if you do that kind of stuff. You can also use coupon codes, just google them and you’ll find plenty. Also, buying aged or expiring domains is a good idea as this can help you with rankings although they tend to cost a bit more.