When it comes to starting a business online and launching a website, one of the first steps you’ll take is to purchase and register a domain name. If you’re a first-timer this process may seem a little daunting. The good news is, domain registration is not a difficult process. You simply need to follow several simple steps. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps how to buy a domain name for your business. At the end of this blog post, you’ll be fully equipped to purchase your domain name. Let’s get started.
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Choosing the Right Domain Registrar
A domain registrar is a place you purchase and register a domain. This is a crucial step in the process as all domain registrars are not created equal. When it comes to domain registries you need to do your research. Additionally, a lot of hosting websites offer domain packages coupled with hosting or as a stand-alone fee. Pro-tip, choose a reputable company with a proven track record of reliability and excellence. Launching your website means you need hosting so our advice is to buy a domain from your trusted hosting provider for the best in domain registration.
Here are some quick tips for domain registration:
- Pick the most affordable TLD/domain extension. If you want a .com, .net, or .org they might carry a higher price tag than other TLDs. If you have space in your budget you can opt to purchase all the domain extensions for your domain.
- Set your domain to automatically renew. You can purchase a domain for a year or two years and then set it to automatically renew the domain registration so that your site never goes offline.
- Always register your domain name yourself and choose to add domain privacy at check out. This ensures that no one can look up your information when searching your domain.
- Lock your domain to avoid theft. This is a feature offered by some domain registrars that keeps your domain in Registrar-lock status, this will prevent unauthorized domain transfer attempts from happening. With this enabled, your domain registration information and DNS configuration can’t be modified unless you unlock your domain name. No worries, this can be done in your hosting control panel.
- Encrypt all passwords associated with your hosting and domain registration.
Easy Steps to Register and Buy Your Domain
MonsterHost is a reputable and trusted hosting provider. With a myriad of web pages across the internet hosted on their platforms. MonsterHost has a bevy of services and domain registration is one of them. If you opt-in to use MonsterHost’s site-builder package you get a free domain for a year!
Since you already need a hosting platform for launching your website, you can use MonsterHost as your one-stop-shop and bundle hosting, a site-builder, and domain registration into an affordable package. We highly recommend this option for beginners just starting a business and launching a new website from scratch. Here’s how to start in four easy steps:
1. Navigate to MonsterHost
Easily the first step involves heading over to the MonsterHost website.
Once you’re on the homepage you can click ‘Domains’ from the top navigation (this is if you’re registering a domain separately without a hosting or site builder package). Don’t worry about hosting right now you can add this later.
2. Add your Domain name and Search
You will be taken to the domains page with a search bar. Type in the domain name you’ve chosen to represent your business and click search. This will tell you if the domain is available and a list of domain possibilities will populate the screen with different TLDs (i.e. .com, .eu, etc.).
3. Register your domain and add a Hosting Package
Click add to cart next to the domain you want to register. You can also add your hosting package at this stage if you scroll down to the bottom. It’s best to bundle both together so add the package you want.
If you want to build your site with their easy-to-use site-builder, as we said earlier, you can get a FREE domain (.com, .net, .org, .biz, or .info) for 1 year when you sign up for an annual site builder plan.
It will ask you if you want to use the same domain in your cart, click yes and you’ll notice the domain is free once you check out.
Once you select a hosting package you will be taken to the page called Configure. Click the dropbox menu under Billing Cycle and choose monthly or annually. If you choose to pay monthly you will have to pay for the domain.
Click continue, you will be taken to a page called Domains Configuration. It will ask you to please review your domain name selections and any addons that are available for them.
At this stage you can add on other things like DNS management which is free for a year (highly recommended) and ID protection (at a small fee) to keep your information private (highly recommended). Click the checkboxes to add them and then click continue.
4. Fill in Your Info
You will be taken to your shopping cart page. Review your order.
Once everything looks good click continue. You’ll be taken to the page to enter all of your information. Scroll to the bottom and enter your payment details and click that you have read the Terms and Conditions and then click Complete Order.
And voila! Your domain has been registered along with your chosen hosting package. You can now begin building your website and preparing for launch.
That’s a Wrap
There you have it! Now you can have your very own domain and web hosting package fast and easy. Take the step to launch your online business today, sign up for MonsterHost ecommerce plan and get started today (domain and hosting included when you select the annual plan).
We look forward to seeing your brand on the web!
