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Nike.blogspot.com or Adidas.wordpress.com, how does this sound to you? If a company had these kinds of domains, would you trust them? A definite NO, right?
This is how much a domain can influence your brand and its credibility. It doesn’t matter whether you want to start a simple blog or a multi-million dollar business; your domain name is vital as any aspect of your business.
A domain name should be short, simple, brandable, and, more importantly, easy to remember.
So, what is a domain name?
A domain name is your website name. It is the address through which users around the world access your website. A domain name is a string of characters, that is used for finding and identifying computers through the internet.
Computers use IP (Internet Protocol) address, which is a series of numbers. However, it would be difficult for us to remember a string of numbers like this, 132.148.180.142, right?
Because of this difficulty, domain names were developed and used to identify entities on the internet rather than using IP addresses.
So how can you buy one? There are hundreds of domain name providers out there, and choosing the perfect one can be an overwhelming task.
Without any doubt, NameCheap is one of the best domain registrars out there. So let’s see what makes NameCheap stand out from the rest of the competition.
Also, we are going to discuss how to select a great domain name and what you should do after you bought it.
So without any ado, let’s start.
History of NameCheap
NameCheap is one of the most established domain name registrars globally, with more than 11 million registered users and 10 million domains.
It’s one of the fastest-growing American companies according to the 2018 Inc.
The ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) accredited company was founded in 2000 by Richard Kirkendall.
Even though they started with domain names, now they have ventured into different fields in the industry, making it one of the best services to register a domain.
They offer a full selection of popular and unique domains, along with fully featured hosting packages, SSL security certificates, WhoisGuard privacy protection, and more, at some of the lowest prices in the industry.
So now you know the best place to buy a domain name.
Now the question is how to select a great brandable domain name.
Let’s dive straight into it.
How to select a brandable domain name?
A great domain lays forward the foundation to build a successful online business. It doesn’t matter how tall your building is, if the foundation is not rocked solid, it will collapse.
So let’s see how to select a great domain name for your business.
Lean Domain Search
Finding an available domain name for your website could be a long and frustrating process that makes you want to tear your hair out.
One of the most common and easiest ways to find a great domain name is to combine two or more words, with one of the words being directly related to your keyword or industry.
There could be hundreds of combinations that you could try out, and this is where Lean Domain Search comes handy.
You have to enter your main keyword into their search bar, and voila, you will get thousands of available domain names related to your keyword.
In seconds, you could filter out some of the best domains according to their popularity, length, or even alphabetical order.
More than that, they also will tell you whether you can use the same name as your twitter username.
So, now you have generated some good ideas with this tool, how to select the best one?
So here are some tips for selecting a great domain name.
A Domain Name Should Be Short and Sweat
No one remembers a domain name that has more than ten characters. So the first criterion to select the right domain name is to make sure that it is short and sweet.
For example, you want to build a fitness website for nerds, which domain will you select: nerdfitness.com or howtogetfitfornerds.com?
nerdfitness.com, right?
That was precisely Steve Kamb did, and now he owns a multi-million dollar business. If you want to build some muscles, do check it out later.
A domain Name Should End with .com
You must have guessed this one. Everyone loves a domain name that ends in .com. There are six types of top-level domain (TLD), but .com is the most popular one. It is derived from the word commercial. The rest of the domains include .net, .org, .edu, .gov and .mil. Each one has its purpose and benefits.
If you are starting a blog or an online business, you should go for a .com domain name.
Avoid Slang Terms in Your Domain Name
We all come across some slangs daily, whether it’s in the street, hear it on TV, and may post it in your Tweets and Facebook messages.
Slang is any words or phrases that people might consider informal or too casual. In most forms of English writing, slangs are considered unprofessional.
For example, slangs are words that include dude, ain’t, kid, bail, cram, awesome, fire, etc. So it is better to avoid these while naming your domain name.
Never Select a Domain Name Similar To An Existing Brand
This is one of the rules that most people don’t follow. Many people think that if you have a name similar to a brand name, people will mistakenly come to your website and check it out.
This is the last thing you need in your business. A visitor will turn into a customer, only if they have faith in you. If you don’t provide excellent value to your customers, then you are slowly moving towards the end-game.
If you think that’s bad, things are going to get worse.
Sooner or later, you will hear from their legal team, and they can sue you for trademark infringement. You will have to hire a lawyer for the case, which could cost you some thousands of dollars.
And in the end, you will have to hand over them the domain for free!
You have to go through all of this because you simply bought a similar domain name to theirs.
So do you really want a domain name that is similar to a brand?
Avoid Numbers and Hyphens in Your Domain Name
It’s a good practice to avoid numbers and hyphens in a domain name. It’s tough to verbally communicate a domain name that has space or a number. When someone hears your domain for the first time, it will be hard for them to know if a hyphen is required, or whether the numbers are written out as numeric or words.
So it is better to stick with the A-Z alphabet and leave the other characters alone, no matter how tempting they are.
Your Domain Name Should Be Clear and Understandable
A domain name should be clear and understandable. It should pass the phone test, that is, when you communicate your domain name through the phone, the recipient, should understand it clearly, without any hint of doubt.
So before buying a domain name, do a trial and make sure that it is clear and understandable.
A Domain Name Shouldn’t Contain The Same Two Adjacent Characters
Make sure that the same two characters never come together, in your domain name—for example, BloggingGame.com, TripParrot.com, GolfFather.com.
So if you find out that your domain name has two similar adjacent characters, it is better to change your domain.
Since now you know how to select the right domain name, let’s see how to buy one.
NameCheap, The Domain Provider You Need
NameCheap is one of the best domain providers that are available out there, period. They provide you with some features for free. Yes, you heard that right!
WhoisGuard is a privacy protection service that prevents people from seeing your name, address, phone number, and other details , when they do a Whois search on your domain.
Everyday, domain owner’s information is collected by spammers from publicly available whois to send spam. WhoisGuard protects you from potential spam as well as from identity theft.
Domain registrars like GoDaddy will ask you to pay some fees to ensure that your information is kept safe. Whereas, NameCheap provides you WhoisGuard for free!
Domain Names
As the name suggests, most of the domain names that are available in NameCheap are affordable. Some domain registrars overprice their available domain names to get more profit out of them.
Most of the domain names are available at a fair price in NameCheap, so you won’t feel like they are overcharging. It doesn’t matter whether you are a seasoned pro or a beginner, it’s always ideal to buy your domain name from NameCheap.
How To Buy A Domain Name From NameCheap
First, you have to go to namecheap.com and enter your preferred domain name in their search bar.
Within a few seconds, they will show you whether the entered domain name is available or not. If someone had purchased the same domain earlier, it would be shown as unavailable.
Below the search bar, you can see a section called Suggested Results, which will show some domain names similar to what you have entered.
You could select any of the domain names mentioned there, or search for a new domain.
For example, I have entered the domain name exampledomain.com in the search bar. Here you can see that the domain exampledomain.com is a premium domain, and you have to pay $3,685 to register the name.
You can also see the suggested results showing some similar domain names like exampledomain.dev. exampledomain.ai, and more.
They even provide more suggestions in the results section.
So you might be thinking what is a premium domain, right?
Some domains are valued higher because they are brandable keywords, short in length, or it is some dictionary words.
A premium domain is a perfect domain that could boost your brand’s visibility. So assign all the domain registrars to the premium tag and sell them at a higher price.
If you find out that the domain name you were looking for is a premium domain, you can search for a new domain name or select any of the names mentioned below.
After finalizing your domain name, click on the add to cart button to proceed further.
When you click on the add to cart button, a popup will slide from the side, saying that the domain has been successfully added to your cart.
Now a new section will be visible at the bottom of the screen, with the amount you need to pay. Press on the checkout button to proceed to the next screen.
After clicking the add to cart button, you will be directed to their shopping cart page.
If you have any promo codes available, you can apply here to get a discount on the purchase.
The screen will also show some of the add-ons provided by NameCheap. These add-ons include Web Hosting, PostitiveSSL, and Email Hosting.
WebHosting
If you want to display your website for the rest of the world to see, you have to choose a hosting service. A domain is an address to your website, and the hosting is your server, where you store your website.
So when you are building a website, the actual files that constitute your websites are stored in your hosting provider.
NameCheap also provides a hosting service. You don’t need to buy your hosting from NameCheap itself. There are many dedicated hosting providers like Bluehost and Hostgator.
If you buy a Web Hosting account from Bluehost or any other service provider, you just have to link your domain name to the hosting provider (which we will talk later in this article).
PositiveSSL
You must have noticed that for the past few years, all the internet browsers show a green lock symbol in the address bar. If you haven’t seen one till now, check your address bar, you could see one right now.
The green symbol indicates that the website has a valid PositiveSSL certificate installed.
Earlier, all the web addresses used to be like www.example.com. Then, later on, it changed to http://www.example.com. The HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol.
HTTP is an application-layer protocol for transmitting hypertext documents, such as an HTML file. It was designed for the communication between web browsers and web servers.
I know, I sound like a broken record, but remember that all the URLs that started with HTTP were secure.
As always, people tried to find some loopholes to exploit the protocol, and eventually, they succeeded.
So, to make it more secure, they introduced an extension of HTTP called HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure).
HTTPS made sure that your data is transmitted through the internet in an encrypted manner so that no one would be able to invade your privacy.
All the browsers now show a symbol in the address bar and with a warning, saying that your connection to this site is not entirely secure.
Google Chrome released an update, which took matters to the next level. In some cases, Google Chrome won’t load your website; instead, it displays a warning message saying that you shouldn’t visit it.
So, it’s always better to buy a PositiveSSL certificate and, more importantly, install it properly.
Email Hosting
Namecheap provides a professional email for your personal or team usage. If you choose this option, you could get an email id ending with your domain name, like [email protected].
In my opinion, you could use a Zoho mail account for free (with limited features) by adding some TXT documents to your hosting provider.
After deciding whether you need these add-ons or not, press the confirm order button to proceed.
Now they will ask you to create your NameCheap account. Quickly go through the registration process by entering the required data.
After registering your account, you will be directed to the billion sections of the site. Here you have to enter all the details like your address, zip code, etc.
After completing the required fields, press on the continue button.
This is the last step in registering your domain name. Here you can select your preferred payment method and complete the payment process.
TopUp Account Balance
You can speed up the checkout process by ensuring that you have adequate funds in your account to cover all planned purchases.
By going into the Top Up Account Balance page, you can add funds to your account using any accepted payment method.
What are nameservers
If you have managed your website earlier, you may have run across the term nameservers, right?
So what are they? Nameservers are a fundamental part of the DNS (Domain Name System). They help your browser to make connections between URLs and websites. They are incredibly important, as we would have to memorize IP addresses to access websites without them.
It works just like calling your friend on your phone. Before calling, you look up their name in your contacts and then call them, right?
You don’t enter the phone number whenever you want to make a phone call; instead, you just save the name in your contacts.
It’s because of the DNS you can access Google by typing google.com; otherwise, you would have to memorize their IP address.
How To Manage Your Domain Name
So you have bought your domain name, now let’s learn about how to manage your domain. It is one of the first steps that you must do after your purchase.
Now to connect your domain to your hosting provider, you just have to enter their name server in the custom DNS field.
After entering the custom nameserver, go to your hosting provider’s account and add the domain name there. Your domain will be successfully connected to the web hosting account.
Why We Recommend NameCheap Over Other Domain Providers
Privacy: As I mentioned earlier, NameCheap protects your privacy by enabling Whoisguard by default. You will have to pay extra money to get Whoisguard for other providers like Godaddy.
Reliability: NameCheap provides a reliable service that won’t disappoint you. You only have to register your domain and pay the renewal cost every year, that’s it. NameCheap will take care of the rest.
Customer support: To be honest, this is one of the best features of NameCheap. If you have any questions to ask or need some assistance, you could chat with their representatives, and they would reply to you within 5 minutes.
Affordable: NameCheap provides most of their domains at an affordable rate. So you don’t have to spend a lot of money to buy a domain name that you love.
Renewal Pricing: They provide the details about the renewal pricing even before you register your domain. But more importantly, the price remains the same, after a few years.
Multiple TLD Support: NameCheap supports most of the Top-level domains, so you would be able to buy the domain name of your choice.
NameCheap Domain Registration Pricing
NameCheap supports most of the top-level domains. They even launch new sets of TLDs every month.
If you want to start a blog, website, e-commerce site, or even a portfolio, it is always better to go for a .com domain.
Here are some of the TLDs provided by NameCheap and their pricing.
Conclusion
A great domain could help you to boost your online presence. Even before people visit your website, the first thing they see is your domain name.
So make sure that you follow our guidelines before purchasing a domain name. Remember that a domain name is your identity, not a tagline, so keep it short and right to the point.
As the saying goes, “A first impression is the best impression,” your first impression is your domain name. Make it sweet, short, and brandable.
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