If you’re new to blogging and just considering choosing your domain name, you might feel like all domain registrars are the same. However, there are a lot of factors that you need to consider first. A lot of pitfalls to avoid and other factors that make some registrars better than others.
For instance, consider GoDaddy. Now, GoDaddy is a great registrar – “the daddy of all domain registrars”. However, on the surface it might seem like you’ll only pay $1.99 for a .com domain per year. In real sense, using the service will cost you $10 on the first year and up to $15 for each of the following years. That sounds like upwards of 1000% in hidden costs. But if you consider what else comes with GoDaddy, you might see that it’s actually worth it.
In case I lost you, a domain registrar is a company that helps you reserve an internet domain name. While you own the domain name, it’s this company that manages the reservation. And that’s why you pay an annual fee, for instance.
So, which are the best domain name registrars today?
Let’s look at some of them:
GoDaddy
Despite suffering a major blow on its reputation a few years back, GoDaddy is still one of the best domain name registrars out there.
Established in 1997 (then it was known as Jomax Technologies), GoDaddy is currently the largest domain registrar.
But it was not always one of the best. There was a time when most experts would strongly advise against the service.
However, GoDaddy has had significant improvement.For instance, right now you’ll find domain name recommendations based on a certain keyword(s). This is particularly useful if you don’t find what you were looking for. In addition to registration, GoDaddy also offers web hosting and internet marketing services.
HostGator
HostGator is another of the domain registrars that has been around for a long time – just about 5 years younger than GoDaddy. For bandwidth-heavy websites, this is a fairly viable option. With a powerful control panel at your disposal, you can easily control and manage several names in little time. You can also lock them down to ensure no one can take them in case you, for instance, forget to renew your license. Seeing how hard it is to get a nice domain name nowadays, this is an extremely important feature.
In addition to registering domains, HostGator is also one of the top web hosting services for WordPress sites and is one of the cheapest out there.
HostGator’s prices are surely competitive. But not really the best.
NameCheap
Both individuals and businesses can benefit from NameCheap’s wide range of domain names. NameCheap offers a variety of Top-Level Domains (TLDs) that you can use to make your business domain name more specific – in terms of purpose, location, etc. – and draw attention to it.
A Top-Level Domain is the last part of a domain name. For instance, in http://domainname.com, the .com is the TLD.
A TLD is important in identifying something specific about the website. That’s why having a .io or .uk domain name is preferred to having a .com domain. It identifies your business more specifically. And NameCheap can offer you that.
The control panel is user-friendly making it easy to buy domain names. The company also offers you enough tools to build your website.
iPage
iPage offers hosting services and for the first year, gives you free domain registration. This is a very attractive offer to businesses or individuals on a very tight budget. iPage has a great domain name search tool and gives you a tutorial on any new TLDs. This is important as new TLDs are appearing really fast and it gets confusing. Considering the prices of other domain name registrars on this list, iPage could easily be the cheapest. But price is just one factor.
1&1
Founded in 1988, 1&1 is one of the oldest domain registrars and also one of the most popular among individuals and businesses. On their site, 1&1 prides itself in being “Europe’s largest Web Hosting Provider.”
Like most of the rest, it also offers web hosting services and other “internet marketing services. The domain registration service is really inexpensive too. Couple that with the exclusive discounts that come with the web hosting and you have the perfect plan for a small budget.
SnapNames
Unlike the rest, SnapNames is a domain name marketplace. Meaning, all the domain names on the site are currently owned by other people – who are willing to sell.
The service allows you access to several auctions, including daily and premium auctions. You can also engage in private domain name brokerage and even domain listings where you can buy and sell domain names. How’s that for another stream of income?
In Conclusion
So, there you have it. 7 of the best domain name registrars. If I was starting a blog today, these are the first places I’d check – knowing what I know.
Have you looked elsewhere? What other registrars would you recommend and how’s your experience been with them? Let’s talk in the comments.
