Why you should absolutely own a domain name and how to buy one without paying more than you have to.

If you spend money on nothing else, you should absolutely purchase your own domain name for your web site.  There are loads of reasons for this: so that someone else doesn’t take the name you want, so that if you move your site you can take the URL with you, so that you can have something easy for your readers to type and remember.

Again, this is absolutely the one thing that you should be shelling out some cash for.

You don’t have to pay a lot.  More expensive doesn’t really buy you anything.  Most of the companies that you will buy a domain name from are just resellers for one of a handful of big companies, and basically what you are paying for is having the authority to point that particular domain name wherever you want.  The differences between various resellers are going to be pretty minimal.  They may have different types of control panels or some may have better customer service than others.

It is very important when you buy a domain name that you be listed as the owner and technical contact.  If you aren’t, and you break off association with your web consultant or change hosting companies, you may lose control of your domain name.

One thing to remember: if you are planning on purchasing hosting as well, many hosting companies will offer a package deal.  Check their pricing first before you decide to go with a second company.

But you need to be careful, and verify the following:

• Check pricing for renewal as well–some companies offer a good price for the first year but charge two or three times what other companies do for renewal.
• Make sure that you have control over the registration information for your domain name.  You should be listed as the registrant, administrative, and technical contacts for your domain name and a good host will provide you with a control panel where you can set the contact information.

Don’t be afraid to email companies and ask if you can’t find this information on their web sites.

A Word on Private Registrations

When registering a domain name, you are supposed to provide accurate contact information such as name, address, and telephone number.  This information is publicly available in the Whois directory (it’s sort of like a reverse phonebook for domain names).   Often this information will be filled in automatically based on the billing information for the credit card you use.

This information is increasingly being accessed by marketing companies to send junkmail and is available freely to anyone (even those Annie Wilkes types!) so providing a post office box or your publisher’s mailing address instead of your own is a good idea.  You can change the personal information after the registration through a control panel provided by your registrar.  Keep in mind that the information you provide should be a legitimate way of reaching you.  It may be necessary for resolving issues with your domain name and providing false information can lead to the domain name being revoked under some circumstances.

There is also a “private” option increasingly available for domain registrations.  Sometimes it’s free, but more often it’s available for an additional cost.  This will list information for a proxy in the Whois directory, rather than your own.  Be aware that if this information does not include your name as the registrant, you may lose your domain name if there is a dispute with the company that registered it for you.

Choosing A Domain Name

It’s important that you choose something easy to type and remember.  Shorter is good, but clarity and memorability are better.

For a writer, your name is a good investment.  Same with the titles of your books.  Pen names, names of your inventions, and things specific to your work are also good choices.

You will have to pick a TLD (Top Level Domain).  These are the endings you see, like .com or .net.  The name you want may not be available with all TLDs.  If your name is very common, for instance, it may already have been taken with the .com and .net endings.  There are lots of TLDs available.  Some are for specific countries or regions, like .us or .eu.  Others are for specific purposes or organizations like .edu or .gov.  Still others, like .com or .net, are more general purpose.

In general, a .com TLD is the best choice because it’s universally recognized.  It’s also the TLD most people will try first if they are typing your website address from memory.  You might want other TLDs for a specific reason, like a .ru domain name for your book’s Russian translation.

Price can vary a great deal for different TLDs.  Usually .com, .net, and .org are at the lower end while some country specific designators can be extremely costly.

Domain Name Registrars

Always check to make sure any domain name registrar is ICANN accredited.  You shouldn’t pay more than $10 USD for a .com, .net, or .org domain name.  If a company charges more than that, go somewhere else.

• Aplus.net – Registration of .com domain names for $6.95 USD per year.
• Moniker.com – This one is slightly over the $10 limit for .com, at $10.49 USD.  They are on the list because they offer a wide array of country specific TLDs for with reasonable pricing, like .co.uk for $6.95 USD.
• Yahoo! – Also included on this list because of their popularity.  Domain names for $9.95 USD per year.
• Name.com – $8.99 per year for a .com. Offers a variety of other TLDs as well.

(Prices were accurate at the time this document was uploaded.  Check the registrar for current pricing information.)

Why isn’t GoDaddy on this list?

More Domain Name Resources

Gina Hughes has written excellent articles on How to Choose a Domain Name and What You Should Know About Domain Registration for Yahoo! Tech.

Dave Piscitello and Kieren McCarthy of ICANN wrote a must-read paper on the Top Ten Things to Consider When Registering a Domain Name.

Thesitewizard.com has an extremely informative article on Buying a Domain Name.