Consumers Digest

What is the best website to buy your first domain?

I'm thinking about buying my name's domain, but was wondering what is the best website to get it from, such as GoDaddy, or is that a bad monopoly? What should I be aware of before I buy and after? Should I buy from a website that also offer combined hosting or better to buy separately? THANK YOU!

Public Comments

Since this is your first domain, I'd suggest using godaddy because they have a (bloated) control panel that manages everything for you real easily. I wouldn't suggest getting a web host and buying a domain through them. I lost one when I quit using the host I registered it through. Turns out, they owned it, but let me use it.....
http://www.domaincityhosting.com Cheap domain names without losing quality. You own the domain with full control and can transfer if you wish. (Some of the cheaper guys register it under their own name and hold your domain hostage so you can't switch) It is a good idea to use their hosting, tons of features @ great prices. If you order the hosting too the domain is just $1.99. And they use one of the fastest DNS servers on the market (quicker load times).
Buying a domain and the hosting are two different decisions. I've bought over a dozen different domains from 3 different registers. The only one I will buy from now and in the future is Godaddy. You want a domain register who is reliable, dependable, ethical, and inexpensive. Godaddy is all of these. They have a very good dashboard and workspace for managing your domains. They have plans where you can automatically renew, guaranteeing you will not loose your domain in the future. The only thing I do not like is the checkout process. They keep offering you additional items to purchase on every screen. Items like hosting, search engine submission, email, etc. Pass on these. Sometimes the link to move forward is small while the buttons to accept these items are large and well place. Buy the domains and the domains only. Godaddy has a sale on .com domains for only $7.49 per year. Here is a link with the sale code. http://www.jdoqocy.com/click-3551730-10386909 For hosting that all depends on what type of web site and what client and server side programing languages you plan to use. If it is just a informational html only web site many hosts will be adequate. If your site will be dynamic, then you need to get a host who specializes in your sites programming code. It could be Asp, asp.net, coldfusion, javascript, php, etc. If we know more about your site code then we can help more with your host. Here are a few hosts I use. Siteground (good php hosting) http://www.siteground.com/atrack.php?referrerid=125124 Hostmysite (I use them for ASP.net and Coldfusion sites) http://www.hostmysite.com If you are wanting to start a online store here are two sites that host it and help you build it at a reasonable price. Yahoo Small Business (Big name, reliable, good place to start your first online store) They are offering a 35% discount for new customers: http://www.jdoqocy.com/click-3551730-10656357 ProStores - An Ebay company (Another big name, reliable company. Another good web store site) They are offering One month free with certain programs. http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-3551730-10408753