Nicholas Montgomery/

My Domain Name Buying Checklist

Before I buy all my domains I do several things to make sure I’m not wasting my money buying a specific domain name. Sure, it might only be 8.99 for .com, but it can get expensive if you’re registering all .info, .com .net and other extensions for a brand. Personally, I think that you should buy all gTLDs if you’re planning on use your domain name for a brand. The cost won’t top $200 a year max and if you can’t afford that cost you might need to re-evaluate your business.

Or, If you’re buying domains with the intention of selling, this list will also be very helpful!

1. Check if your name is available. InstantDomainSearch provides a fast way to check without having to reload the page. (encrypted version)




2. Find a Registar to purchase your domain with. I’ve registered domains on Godaddy, Netfirms and 1and1, and the only I still use is 1and1. I’ve never had a problem with them, and I have to like their great prices and fast support.

   If you’re a teenager like me and don’t have a credit card, don’t sweat. Lots of domain registrars accept Paypal, or you can just ask your parents to help you out.

3. Use Valuate to calculate your domain’s value. Valuate is a free and automated domain appraisal service that gives you an estimated value of your domains. It your domain name’s keyword search frequency, keyword cost per click (CPC), how many searches, how much simliar domain names sold for and other factors.
   
   Even if it values a domain name in the three digits ($000) or higher it doesn’t mean you should jump over to your register and quickly buy it. I put in ExpensiveColleges.com and ExpensiveCollege.com and even though no one would ever use ExpensiveCollege.com for a site it was still appraised $700 and the other at $290, mainly because of the search frequency. (I own both of these btw)

   Estibot also does the same type of thing, but you’re limited to 10 searches a day and can’t enter multiple domains at once.

   

4. Once you purchase your domain name make sure you set it on private registration! Unless you turn this on all of the details you used to pay for the domain will be publicly available. Some laws may require companies to display their registration information, but if you’re an individual and don’t want all of your visitors knowing where you live, it probably is a good idea.
   
   Some registers will provide private registration for free and other can charge up to $30 a year for the same thing. That’s another thing you should take into consideration when choosing a registrar.
5. If you’ve paid for a hosting plan along with your domain name you can get started and start adding content on your site once your name is available. Depending on the TLD, this can take up to 72 hours, but for some extensions it can be a few hours.
   
   If you’re not ready to add content you can “park” your domain and earn money instead of having it sit around. Parking domains simply means displaying ads based on your domain key word. So if I park YourPowerBoat.com (which I own) ads would be displayed for power boat auctions, boating sales e.t.c

   I personally use Sedo to park my domains, but all parking services pay around the same per click and do the same thing.

   
   

   An Example of a Parked Page

Hopefully I helped some new domain buyers and some remember these domain purchasing tips!

Let me know if you have any questions or tips of your own!

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