Purchase Domain and Hosting
How to Purchase Your Domain Name and Web Hosting
Before a website can go live, you must have a place for it to live. It’s similar to owning a place in the real world; you’re going to need an address. On the internet, your home is your domain name and the hosting company is the property your home was built on.
You can buy your domain name and web hosting separately. Some web hosting companies offer a free domain.
Choosing a Domain Registrar
What to Watch Out For:
- Renewal Rates
When choosing a registrar domain, always check its renewal rates. The price of your domain name in its first year may be low. But don’t be caught by surprise if it’s suddenly higher the next year.
Below are examples of renewal rates from well-known domain registrars.
Domain.com |
BlueHost | HostGator | GoDaddy |
NameCheap |
|
.com Domain Price |
$9.99[4] |
$11.99[5] | $12.95 | $13.73 |
$9.06[6] |
Renewal Rate per year |
$13.99[4] |
$15.99[5] | $12.95 | $16.41 |
$12.98[7] |
Difference |
+40% |
+33% | None | +20% |
+43% |
- Add-On Costs
Registrars should not charge a fee to users who wants to change their domain registration details in the public WHOIS directory.[1]
Upon purchasing a domain name in a registrar, you may be pushed to buy additional domain endings (such as .info or .tech) that you may not need.[1] Registrars may also suggest monthly services that you prefer somewhere else such as web hosting and website building. Pay attention that they’re not added to your bill.
- Premium Privacy Services
Domain details are public in the WHOIS directory.[1] Spammers and scammers usually take advantage of unprotected details such as email addresses.[1] But users can choose to keep their information private with WHOIS privacy.[1]
Be on the lookout for registrars who offer to put their details on the WHOIS directory instead of yours.[1] Though this would make your information private, it would give them ownership of your domain.[1]
What to Look For
- ICANN Accredited
The domain registrar that you would choose must be ICANN accredited (a non-profit organization that oversees domains) to receive a reputable service.[2]
- Reliable Customer Service
To avoid a lot of grief in the future, it is best that the registrar has a live chat or toll-free phone support that you can use any time.[2]
- Domain Privacy Protection
To keep your details private in the WHOIS directory, look for registrars who offer WHOIS protection.
Domain.com | BlueHost | HostGator | GoDaddy | NameCheap | |
Data Privacy Protection per year | $8.99 | $11.88 | $14.95 | $9.99 | Free |
Do You Need an SSL Certificate?
This is a nice to have feature. If you are concerned about the perception of your site visitors, the answer is probably yes.
Some domain registrars offer an SSL certificate so that your domain name will be considered by web browsers such as Google Chrome and Firefox as secure. HTTPS websites tend to rank better than those without the security certificate.[3]
With an SSL certificate, your website will begin with “https” instead of “http”.[3] The “s” in “https” stands for secure encryption, which is needed if the website is going to be handling sensitive information such as credit card data.[3]
Domain.com | BlueHost | HostGator | GoDaddy | NameCheap | |
SSL Certificate Starting Rate | $39.96+ a year | Comes with a Hosting Plan | Comes with a Hosting Plan | $60.05+ a year[9] | $3.88 a year |
Renewal Rate | $59.99+ a year[8] | $60.05+ a year | $8.88+ a year[10] |
Domain Registrar Comparison
Below are common features offered by domain registrars.
Domain.com | BlueHost | Host Gator | GoDaddy | NameCheap | |
Data Privacy Protection | $8.99 per year | $11.88 per year | $14.95 per year | $9.99 per year | Free |
Email Forwarding | Yes[11] | ||||
Premium DNS | $4.88 per year | ||||
Domain Lock | $24.96 per year | √[12] | √[13] | √[14] | √ |
Auto Renewal | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ |
SSL Certificate Starting Rate | $39.96+ a year | Comes with a Hosting Plan | Comes with a Hosting Plan | $60.05+ a year[9] | $3.88 a year |
Renewal Rate | $59.99+ a year[8] | $60.05+ a year | $8.88+ a year[10] | ||
.com Domain Price | $9.99[4] | $11.99[5] | $12.95 | $13.73 | $9.06[6] |
Renewal Rate per year | $13.99[4] | $15.99[5] | $12.95 | $16.41 | $12.98[7] |
Choosing a own domain registrar can take a while, but worth the research.
How to choose a Web Hosting Service
“One size fits all” doesn’t necessarily apply with choosing a Web Hosting Service.
Each company will create a website based off of a unique set of needs. For instance, a blogger’s website wouldn’t require a dedicated server while a website with a large database wouldn’t work well with a shared hosting. There are also features one must look for in a web hosting service.
Consider Site Size Before Buying a Web Hosting Service
-
Small to Medium Sites
Shared hosting is likely best for small businesses based on an expectation that the site’s traffic will grow in correlation with the business. It is very common for websites share the same server. In the shared scenario, the server is similar to an apartment building. Each apartment is available for rent but only takes up so much space within the whole building. Due to the sharing of the server, it is important to watch for your site slowing as you grow. It may indicate that it is time for your own.
Once your website grows, you will need to upgrade to VPS, a cloud hosting or a dedicated server.
-
Rapid Growing Sites
Depending on your needs, your website can be hosted in a VPS or in a cloud hosting.
Virtual Private Servers (VPS): A server is divided into virtual machines that act as independent but also dedicated servers. A website still shares a server with others but you have a larger portion and greater control of usage, compared to a shared hosting plan.
Cloud Hosting: Its hosting resources are spread out in multiple servers instead of one.
For businesses who simply want to launch a website, VPS hosting may suit them. But for sites that scale quickly and demands a high level of site performance and storage, cloud hosting may be the one that they are looking for.
-
High Traffic Websites
In this type of hosting, an entire server powers the website or applications. The website owner can customize operating systems, security and more. This is the most expensive hosting service with 24/7 support, high caliber hardware, automatic migrations and more.
Web Hosting Resources to Look For
-
Email Hosting
An email address linked to your website domain name allows you to have more feedback and even subscriber conversions. Make sure your web hosting service offers spam protection.
-
99% Uptime Rates
Never choose a company that has a annual uptime score below 99%. Low server reliability causes your site to go offline, as well as push your ranking lower on search engines.
-
Technical Support
Look for a service that offers live support to customers 24/7 by live chat, toll-free phone and email. Services with in-house support would be more effective in helping customers (compared to outsourced support) for they have a better grasp of the web hosting’s operations.
-
Security
Security is a priority especially for e-commerce websites. Even if the business site is a blog, it still should have an SSL certificate. Most web hosting services provide advanced encryption levels for hack protection.
-
Site Backups
There are times that servers will fail and you may receive cyberthreats. However, you have nothing to worry about if your web hosting service has a site backup that can restore your full site (or most of it) in a short time.
Backups aren’t the same for all web hosting services. Some aren’t as regular. Others are done by customer support or by the users themselves. Before choosing, ask the web hosting service about the details of their site backups.
-
Storage, RAM and Bandwidth
Most web hosting services offer “unlimited” storage. This is actually a marketing gimmick. Most hosting services have enough storage for an average customer. If a websites exceeds the average need of storage, the hosting service may charged for more or would advise the website owner to change to another plan.
Before, storage and bandwidth is a priority when looking for a web host. These days, it is something to be less worried about. Media sites (such as Flickr and Youtube) and cloud storage sites (such as DropBox) exists where people can store web content independently and as much as they want.
-
Renewal Rates
The signup price of your web hosting service may be sweet. But always check their renewal rates! Make sure they don’t go beyond a 100% price jump. For example, if you sign up for a hosting service for $3 a month, the renewal fee shouldn’t be beyond $6 a month.
-
Add Domain
Once your website grow, you may want to add more domains. You can choose a web hosting plan that allows you to do so.
Always consider the website that you are building in order to find the perfect fit of domain registrar and web hosting service.