Where do I go to register my domain name?

Now that you’ve got your list of possible domain names, it’s time to pay a little visit to a domain name registrar. I use for my registrations. (You can find a search box at the bottom of this site.)

There are hundreds of other domain registrars out there, like ….. just make sure you choose a domain registrar that is trustworthy. If you want to know why, just Google the name RegisterFly. Not pretty!

One reason that I stick with is their Super Bowl commercials. Nope…. I ain’t impressed with flashing boobies. But any company that spends that kind of mega bucks on a commercial year after year isn’t some fly-by-night organization that will disappear with my domain name tomorrow. Who knows? They may go under next week, but I know that they didn’t just open their doors yesterday.

It’s sort of like comparing Wal Mart with the new mom and pop gift shop in town. Twenty years from now, it will be more likely that Wal Mart is still standing while the mom and mom shop is long gone. I’d rather trust my domain name to someone who’s less likely to disappear in a few years.

Now that you’re at the domain registrar’s site, it’s time to take your list of domain names and do a search. Search for your favorite one first. If you’re lucky, it will be available. If you’re not lucky, move to the next best choice. Keep going until you find one that’s open.

PURCHASE THAT NAME ASAP! Trust me….. if you like the name, don’t walk away to think for a bit. I don’t care if the cat pukes a hairball on your foot. Buy the name and THEN clean up the mess.

While you’re at it, it’s a very good idea to buy a few variations. Let’s say you luck up and get dogs.com…. it wouldn’t hurt to buy dog.com and “dogs” with different extensions: dogs.biz, dogs.mobi, etc. This prevents competitors from snapping them up later. You can point them all to your site.

If you can afford to, register your domain for more than one year. This does two things: 1. it shows the search engines that you plan on being around for a while and 2. saves you from the hassle of registering your name each year. Trust me, I forgot to do it one year and I’ve been kicking myself ever since for losing that name!