Friday, October 3, 2008

Cheap Domain Names - Useful Information

By Bruce Hoover

To get to a web site a web browser needs some instructions on where to look for it, so a user must enter a hostname. Usually this URL is a word such as a business name or a phrase describing what the site is concerned with, or perhaps a word or phrase that is the site name. When thinking about a domain name be aware of the big difference between buying from a specialist company that sells cheap domain names and free web hosting companies that often offer domain names. Whilst second level domains can be offered by domain name companies the domains offered by free web hosting companies are usually in the form of sub domains.

The free web hosting company's domain name is part of the address for a new third level domain, so you will need to type that in as well. This causes a bit of trouble with the name being long and with the extra bit tricky to recollect. Buying a new domain name will get around this difficulty. With the number of cheap domain companies it is easy to get one that is economical.

The usual price range for a cheap domain name is from free up to seven dollars. To get a free domain name a customer must usually pay for web hosting, so it is still being paid for. Paying for a domain name usually means that you can get it without a bundles web hosting package. You can pay anything from one dollar up for a paid for domain name.

Whether a person buys a normally priced domain name or a cheap domain name the registration process is the same. The first thing a customer needs to do is check whether their domain name is available. The customer must enter the name they are looking for into a certain text box and then decide on and select the extension chosen. They will then be given a result, if the domain is still available they can purchase it, if not they must select another. Some company's are helpful and will suggest alternative domain names when the one chosen is unavailable.

What are the disadvantages of using cheap domain names? Unfortunately dishonest companies are the biggest one - a person may not receive their domain name at all if they use one of them. What often happens is that the company tells the customer that they have to wait, typically less than a week, for the domain to activate. Unfortunately after waiting a few days the domain is still not active, and it is no use emailing an unscrupulous company as they won't do anything.

A person will want to ensure that the cheap domain name company isn't fraudulent - a good first step here is to check with the Better Business Bureau to see if the company is registered. This is an organization that will make sure that all registered businesses are operating in an acceptable way. Suspicious companies will not usually have the normal land based contact systems such as an address or phone number, so checking for these is a good second step to see if the cheap domain name company may be fraudulent. Thirdly, visit some message boards that cater to webmasters and see if the company has a bad reputation there.

Conclusion

A good reason to stay clear is if you are unable to find someone who has dealt with the company you are considering. If you have found a legitimate and reputable cheap domain name company then there is no other shortcoming to using them as a supplier for your discounted domain name. All domain names work in the same way whatever was paid for them, so if a person can take advantage of a company offering cheap domain names then they should.

About the Author:

No comments: