Introduction

Decades have passed ever since Symbolics.com, the first domain name, was registered in 1985 by a Massachusetts-based computer manufacturer, making history.

Today, in a digital reality where there is a staggering number of existing websites and as many new ones are added to the World Wide Web every single day, registering an internet address has become mandatory for any site owner.

Domain names are one of the most basic aspects of owning and operating any publically available website of any type.
Each site has an identification string that serves as its unique address, which is used to access it with a browser.

A website’s domain name is a key digital asset that provides users with a more convenient and easy way to remember web addresses.
The user-friendly sequence of alphanumeric characters separated by periods (such as www.example.com) is automatically being converted into its actual unfriendly numeric IP address by the domain name system (DNS).

However, other that providing a useful technical shortcut for internet users, domains offer a lot of additional important benefits.
As cyberspace becomes increasingly crowded and competitive, a good domain name can help any small or new business look more credible, legitimate, trustworthy and professional, build reputation, authority and expertise and signal seriousness to the website visitors.

A catchy website address can also provide assistance in building a brand from scratch, create business identity and form positive image, help it become memorable, play an important role in the marketing, advertising and SEO efforts and generate more user traffic that translates to paying customers.

Choosing a Domain Name

Picking a suitable domain name is an important decision for any website owner who wishes to stand out from the competition and create a successful long-term web presence.
That’s why careful thought and special attention are needed in this brainstorming process that should consider both current and potential future needs.

Here are some of the factors that may affect a good choice:

• Short domain names are easy to remember, spell, pronounce and type and are great for branding, memorability and getting word-of-mouth referrals.
  Good addresses should not contain any symbols, hyphens, numbers or special characters that will only make them more complicated and difficult to remember.
• An internet address that matches or captures the official business’ name improves name recognition and makes getting found on the web easier.
• Targeted keywords in a domain or a URL that are related to the business, location, product, service or industry may indicate relevancy to some search engines.
• The perfect name should reflect the entire agenda or purpose of the website and provide an extremely brief overview as to what to expect.
• A .com extension is the most familiar, established and credible TLD.
  Most internet users see it as the ‘default’ or ‘original’ extension.

What Do Domain Registration Websites Offer?

Domain registrars offer a convenient and easy way to register, manage and host domain names online.
These companies are accredited by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) to provide comprehensive domain registration services to private and business customers through their websites.

Main types of customers include individuals, organizations and businesses who wish to create a website as soon as possible or alternatively, to reserve a domain name for potential future use.

Commercial registrars provide the following services:

• WHOIS search: Ability to conduct a search and see if a desired name is available or not.
• New registration: companies offer both annual and multi-year plans.
• An existing domain renewal: Users usually have the ability to choose between manual or automatic renewal options, to prevent it from expiring.
• Domain transfers: The ability to transfer domains to or from other services.
• Additional services and add-ons: These may range from privacy protection, security tools and email forwarding to DNS management tools, registry lock, free domain parking as well as others.

Domain shoppers are looking for various things when they decide which provider to use.
Common criteria includes cost of new registrations and renewals, reliability, transparency, ease of use without technical know-how, overall customer experience, advanced features, support options, a broad selection of Top-Level Domain extensions to choose from (such as .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .us and more), discounts for bulk purchases and other useful aspects.

Paying for Domain Names with PayPal

Many popular domain registration providers in the market accept PayPal and take a variety of other payment methods such as credit cards, debit cards, wire transfers and more.