If you are trying to start blogging, you may already have basics knowledge about it. If you are not aware of it, lets understand what is domain and how to get the perfect one for you.
What is Domain?
Domain is name of an address(IP) which directs us to reach the house of a site. If someone asks your address, you will give such an address which helps them to find a route that exactly directs your resident.
Similarly, domain is an address that routes internet users to the source of content.
Domains possess a specific type of identity and are generally understood at first sight. A domain looks like example.com
Types of Domain
I am not going to show the detailed category of domain. Here I am only talking about Top Level Domain (TLD). For blogging, you can go for generic TLD which includes .com, .net, .org, .xyz, .biz, .tech, etc. Among them .com is the mostly used extension. And I recommend you to buy the .com domain.
Or, you can also go for the country code TLD also called ccTLD. You can go for a country code Top Level Domain in case your blogs are country specific or the targeted audience is country specific.
In some countries ccTLD are free of cost for individual or Enterprises use. Check if it is available in your country.
Why Do You Need A .com Domain?
You might have seen that every popular platform in the world is using .com domain. For example Facebook, Google, YouTube, Yahoo, Instagram, etc. Because most of the popular sites have .com domain name, most people think that .com is only a default domain extension.
Not only popular social platforms and search engines but also many bloggers are using .com extension as their domain.
The most popular search engine Google does not discriminate Generic Top Level Domain (whether you have .com, .net, .org or any gTLD) in terms of ranking. But .com domain generally ranks at the top of search engines.
The main reason behind this is readers’ perception. When you search something on Google, It shows results for the same from .com and .xyz, which do you click?
In my case I go for .com extension and if the results are not satisfactory, I go for others. And this kind of user engagement affects search engine ranking a lot.
But if you write blogs that are really unique and search volume is very high, even your subdomain can rank at first on the search engine.
Domain Name Guide
The name of the domain can be any. Here name means the part of domain before extension. If you write domain in a specific topic try to make the domain name closer to the blogs and service you provide through your site.
If you are writing blogs on health issues, while choosing domain name, it should reflect health related terms in your domain.
I hope you understood what domain name to choose while reading Niche Selection Guide.
If you know how to use keywords and work on SEO your site can still engage more visitors. We will learn about SEO and Keywords later so you still have time to decide.
Make sure that you will use a clean and short domain name. While selecting the domain of your choice, it might be already taken.
In that case what others do is they add unnecessary parts which elongates domain names or they insert hyphen (-) in between, or choose different extensions.
It is not recommended to use hyphen or make the domain name longer than 7-8 characters. Instead of using hyphen or making domain name longer, take some time and make a clean domain name.
And if you are planning to register other than .com extension due to unavailability of that .com, do proper research on what that .com domain is about.
If it is already a popular site in the same field it will be difficult for you to rank. But sometimes it also helps to divert their traffic.
If you manage to register your domain name without hyphen, within 5 characters with .com extension, it will somehow help to drag readers attention if you write really useful blogs.
How To Buy a Domain?
There are many options to buy domain. In fact almost all hosting service providers also provide domain registration service. But a domain should always be registered from a trusted site.
Because what some of the registrars do is they register your domain, and keep their eyes on your domain.
If you rank your site and create back links and drive more traffic, they will note your every detail like your permalink of popular/ranked posts, designs, services ,etc.
And then either they will contact someone who is searching a similar domain. Once your subscription period ends or they think the domain is performing well, they stop providing service or will not listen to you for renewal.
Now, they register the same domain at high price to another person who enjoys your hard work on back-links, content ideas and seo works by creating similar sites.
This includes extensions representing a country. For example .ca for Canada, .au for Australia, .in for India, .np for Nepal, etc.
On this site they can post slightly different posts under a ranked post with the same focused keyword.
These kinds of scams can lead you in huge loss, you will simply lose your brand.
Everything I am trying to aware is that you need to buy a domain from trusted site only.
Among them I will suggest some popular sites to register your domain.
Suggested Top Domain Registrars
Herre are the most popular domain registrars that you may wan to check out to get a domain for you.
NameCheap
Namecheap is the most popular and cheapest domain registrar currently managing more than 10 million domains. If you are searching for the most affordable domain then you should choose NameCheap.
Here you can buy domain for 10 years in advance, it means you need not to worry about renewal of your domain every year.
Even if you are inactive for some months your domain will still be working and not registered by someone else.
You can also search for a domain from here if you want to know if the domain you are searching for is actually available or not.
Price starts from $8.88 for .com domain. It can even go lower sometimes, at the time of writing there is an additional 10% discount offer available. The renewal fee for this domain is $12.98 per year.
Renewal charge is applicable only after your initial subscription period ends. Therefore, if you buy a domain for 10 years, you will have to renew it at 12.98 dollar per year.
With domain you will get the following services:
- free privacy protection
- domain name security
- 24/7 live chat support
- full DNS access
GoDaddy
GoDaddy is another one of the popular domain name registrar.
You can go to their website and buy a domain that suits you.
They offer a wide range of services including domain name registration, hosting, website builder, SSL certificate, emails, and more. So if you need any other services in future you can easily get here.
The pricing and DNS management system is similar to NameCheap. Similarly, you will be provided a 10 years subscription option which was also available in NameCheap.
Name.com
Name is another recommended site for buying domains. You can check out the site and buy if you find domains at an affordable price.
Selecting a domain is a completely subjective matter and there is no one stop solution. You have to brainstorm and find the perfect one that matches your requirement.