7 Quick Tips on Buying a New Domain

[Jerlene]

I got an interesting e-mail tonight that I thought I would share with DNL.

1. Never pay more than $5.99 for .com, .net, .org and .info domains.
In the aftermarket, domains can be affordable or pricey depending on the seller or how badly you want the domain. If your registrar allows you to buy a domain though an affiliate link, even better, though there may be a limit as to what’s permitted. For new domains, you should never have to pay a lot. Beware of extra fees, like ICANN fees, setup costs, etc.

2. Choose a registrar that offers free domain privacy.
Domain privacy allows you to use a special email address for receiving emails when someone looks up your domain's public Whois information. Most emails received from this public information tend to be Spam. Protecting the email address associated with your domain, helps you clearly identify and rid yourself of Whois Spam. It used to cost $10 or more per year to get private domain registration. Today, you can obtain it for free.

3. Pick a registrar that offers free email with the domain.
Even if you just want to later sell the domain, you might want an email address for people to send inquiries to. Some registrars either don't offer an associated email account, or have small storage limit.

4. Set your domains to 'Auto-renew'.
Many registrars allow you to do this. This will help avoid loosing that perfect domain if you forget about your renewal date.

5. Watch for ALL emails from your registrar.
Conveniently, registrars send out emails when your domain renewal is pending. Make sure your registrar's emails are "white-listed" and that you pay attention to them. You don't want to miss a problem or issue with your billing information.

6. Protect your existing domains.
Protect your domains by securing those related to it, like typo variations and other top level domain extensions like .net, .org, and .biz

7. Monetize your domains!
You have basically only a few options to make money with your domains. You should carefully consider and test each one.

a.) Parking domains -earn by sharing the click revenue of ads shown on your parked page. Sedo.com is an excellent resource for this.

b.) Sell your domains -earn by setting a price, accepting offers on it, or auctioning it off. Again, Sedo.com is an excellent site for this.

c.) Build a website; create Virtual Real Estate -by doing this you can sell products, information, run ads, or generate your own sales leads. Of course, this can be a bit more expensive and time consuming, but it can also be the most profitable option.

d.) Redirect domains to an affiliate program -if people type or mistype your domain, they will land on another site from which you can earn revenue.


Domains are cheap, and can be profitable depending on what you do with them. The above steps should give you some ideas how to get the most when buying a new domain, and what to do with it.

[Source= By Joshua Sloan, Director Online Marketing, 1&1 Internet, Inc.]

[Taylor Hewitt]

I think that there are some valid points in that article but most of those are definitely not musts or even tips that most people should keep in mind.

1. Most decent registrars won't sell you a domain for under $6 or even $7.

2. I've had all my information available on the internet for years and I've never received ONE spam email to the emails listed.

3. Free email? What the heck? Most people don't get the email through the actual registrar. If you've got hosting then that's all ya need to set up an email.

4. Not all domains are "the perfect domain". I would only set auto-renew to domains that are hosting websites that I don't plan on selling. Most of my domains I sell before the end of the year anyways.

5. This point is actually a great one!

6. While this is a good idea it's definitely not for somebody who is NEW to domains. I'm by no means new to domains, own dozens and dozens, and never register the typos for my domains. I mean if somebody can't even spell right why do I want them on my website anyways? Most people who actually want to go to the website they are typing in, will spell it right eventually.

7. This one is kind of implied. Why would you buy a domain unless you were going to do one of those anyways? Hehehe.

I really appreciate you posting this though as some of these are good things to keep in mind, but are by no means important or necessary to being successful online.

[Geoserv]

I haven't seen too many registrars offering domains for $5.99 or less, unless you purchase hosting most will give you the domain name free.

Geoserv

[Jerlene]

They probably offer low prices because of their poor customer service.

[Taylor Hewitt]

I'm confused. I thought you were saying don't buy domains unless they are under six bucks?

[Dave Zan]

Originally Posted by Taylor Hewitt

I'm confused. I thought you were saying don't buy domains unless they are under six bucks?

Jerlene didn't say that. The article s/he posted here did.

Considering the VeriSign COM NET Registry currently charges each registrar $6 for every .com registration, renewal and transfer they accept within their systems, I wonder how whoever wrote that article arrived at item no. 1. Then again, the source gives an idea.

[Taylor Hewitt]

Well unless you object to content in an article it's implied that you support what's written in the article otherwise you wouldn't have posted it.

If not, no biggie. You just confused me that's all.

[M Nabil]

I'd rather pay 2-3 dollars more to register with a reliable registerar such as Namecheap.

[Miss Miaow]

That article is not good at all. Maybe that was written 1-2 years ago.

[Taylor Hewitt]

Originally Posted by Miss Miaow

That article is not good at all. Maybe that was written 1-2 years ago.

More like five is what I'd guess.