So you want to build a website, but you don’t know where to start. You’ve heard all these buzzwords like domain name, IP address, e-commerce and they have your head spinning. Well don’t worry, in this article we’ll walk you through the basics of domain names. In it we’ll cover what a domain name is, how to pick one, the importance of extensions, where to buy one, and of course, cost.
What is a domain name?
One of the first things that you have to consider when you’re building a website, is how people are going to find you online and this is where a domain name comes in. It is the name that people will use to find you online. Take us as an example, touchinspiration.com is our domain name. If you want to find our website, you’ll type touchinspiration.com when you type it in the address bar and if you want to send any of us an email, it will be in the format of [email protected]
Basic guidelines to choosing a domain name
It must be unique
The most important quality of a domain name is that it has to be unique. That being said, there are different parts to a domain name. There’s the name itself and there’s the extension. The extension is the .com, .org, .net, etc part of the domain name. Which means that as far as uniqueness goes, the name has to be unique per extension.
It should be memorable
Selecting a domain name should be personal to you. There are so many rules about how it should be short and sweet, etc. But I say most of all, it has to be memorable. If you have a company called ABC, don’t call your website xyz.com. Call it abc.com and it will make sense to people and stick in their minds.
Pick an extension that works for your cause
.com is the oldest and most used extension in the world and so you see it a lot. Originally it was supposed to refer to American companies, while .org to American organizations and .net to American networks, all different domain name extensions for different designations. As use of the internet grew, a lot more country specific domain names started becoming more common. In our experience, while the domain name extension doesn’t matter, it sets expectations. A domain name with a .com extension gives the impression that you are doing business worldwide, while a .co.ke or .co.ke website gives the impression that your focus of business is the local market. Our rule of thumb is that if you want to serve the world, go with .com. If you want to serve your local industry, UK, whatever, go with your .co.uk or .co.ke.
How much does a domain name cost?
There are different aspects that come into cost.
Ubiquity
The common extensions like the .coms, .nets, and .orgs, will run you between $15 to $25 a year.
Country specific regulations
Country specific domain names, which are .co.uk, .co.ke, .co.br, .br, .ke, .uk, are determined by that country’s price and rules and regulations. A .co.ke costs $7.99, both co.uk and .uk will cost $11.99, while a .ke extension will cost $30.
Domains are charged and renewable per year.
Perceived Demand
The other factor that determines the cost of domain name extension is of course demand. You will have your .io running you at about $40 per year, and your AI will hit you with a whopping $200 per year.
Where to buy a domain name
To find a domain name registrar, type in “where to buy a domain name” into google and it will pull up all the domain name registrars where you can purchase a domain name from.
If you’re looking to buy a local domain name, add the country name after that search and it will put in your local domain name registrars, which of course is an advantage to you because in Kenya they’ll accept M-Pesa, in other countries they’ll accept that local payment, the local common payment system that they use.
We at Touch Inspiration buy our domain names from HostAfrica and goDaddy.