Registering Domain Names - 6 Things to Look For Before You Register a Domain Name

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Author: Mark Shin

Article source: http://www.articledeshboard.com/. Used with author's permission.

Thinking about registering domain names for your website? Trying to find a good, cheap domain name?

If you have a look around, you'll find that registering domain names can cost between $2.99 - $34.99 per year. It all depends on whether your domain name ends with .com and what features are included.

As a general rule, good .com internet domain names cost around $10 per year to register. For this price, you should get the following features:

1. Free domain name forwarding and masking. This is when a visitor types in your website address and gets automatically redirected to a different website address.
2. A personalized email account. An email account with your domain name that you can access from both your email program (POP mail) and a website (webmail).
3. Unlimited email addresses (aliases) that you can forward to any email account. For example, you could create three accounts with your domain name (i.e.  info@... , sales@..., and feedback@...) and any mail that was sent to these addresses would automatically get forwarded to whatever email address you want.
4. Full DNS access. Be careful with this one. Not all registrars provide you with complete access to your DNS settings. You should be able to point your website to the Domain Name Servers of any web host in the world. For example, if you have a free blog at Blogger or WordPress, you should be able to change your DNS servers so instead of typing in yourdomain.blogger.com, they just type in your domain name. (But if you don't have complete control over your DNS settings, it won't work.)
5. Free Parking. If someone tries to visit your internet domain name, they can be sent to a temporary generic page that says your site is coming.
6. You may or may not get free domain privacy. When you register a domain name, all of your contact information (full name, mailing address, email address, and telephone number) is published in the WHOIS database that can be accessed by anyone. Some registrars offer a privacy feature where they will list their corporate contact information instead of your personal information to protect your privacy from spam and prying eyes. (You still retain full control of the domain name)

If a company is registering domain names for less than $10 per year, then look at the fine print to see which services you are missing. Remember, no registrar will give you a refund when registering domain names.

If you're ready to register domain names, we're here to help at domainnames.webdiggin.com where you'll find this information and everything else you need to know in order to find information about absolutely free domain names.