Low cost domain name registration

With the internet growing at break neck speed, more and more people are finding ways utilize the net. The domain name market is no different and companies offering cheap and low cost domain names are popping up all over the internet. Most people want the lowest cost for their domain name as one of the ways to keep the cost of getting their web site up and running as low as possible.

Low cost domain name or low value domain name?

The question you need to ask yourself is whether buying a low cost domain name can undermine its business value. Is it worth your while to cut corners trying to acquire a low cost domain name? What about the cost of the time spent finding that elusive low cost domain name? Between buildings the site, maintaining it and promoting it actively, is the cost of a domain name such a big deal?

There are innumerable low cost domain name registrars out there. When you pick the lowest cost domain name from the cheapest domain name registrar you find, you need to hope that the decision does not prove costly in the long run – in terms of cash or credibility.

Here are a few things you should think about before buying low cost, cheap or free domain names.

Type of domain name you need

There are two levels of domain names, top level and second level.

Top level domain names: www.yoursite.com is a top level domain names. A typical top level domain name is broke down into www.yoursite (where yoursite is the name you choose for your site), followed by.com, .org, .co, etc (the domain extension). Top level domain names are not free. If your preferred domain name is a highly searched for term, the domain name can be quite expensive. Depending on the domain registrar you choose, the price of a top level domain can vary, but finding low cost domain name isn’t impossible.

Second level domain names: Many hosting providers allow you to create your website as a subset of their site. This can be done in two ways a) http://www.serviceprovider.com/yoursite:, the name of your site appears after the / that follows the top level domain name of your service provider b) http://yoursite.serviceprovider.com: in this option, the name of your site appears at the start, followed by a dot, followed by your service provider’s top level domain name.

In the case of second level domain names, when your site is hosted by a service provider, both parties share the domain name. The end result is that your domain name is not just YOUR domain name. You share it with someone else. Many times, when a domain registrar offers free domain names, this is the type of domain name you would get.

Really, there is not a problem with this style of domain name and using second level domain names was a common practice some time back, but in this day and age, it is no longer considered an acceptable way to own a website. Most of the sites that still use second level domain names, usually are sites that are used for personal use and non for profit organizations. These are sites where image or recognition is not a vital issue.

Even the extension isn’t important for these sites and that can help get the domain name even cheaper or even free. For a business site though, it can make you look small time and may not be building the right image for your business. You need to decide whether you want to settle for low cost or free second level domain name or whether you need a top level domain name.
Another drawback of a second-level domain is that some low cost to free domain name hosting companies require you to sign up for a hosting plan in order to get your cheap prices. This is not always a bad thing though, if you get the domain name at a cheap or free price along with the domain hosting, you may have just saved yourself some time and we all know that time is money!

Domain Name Sales and Auctions

Domain names frequently come up for sale when domain owners either want to sell their websites or fail to renew the domain name. Many domain registrars will be happy to keep you in the loop on what domain name seems to be more popular over others. When buying a domain name that is for sale or auction, determining the value of a domain name on sale can be the tricky part.

10 points to consider while looking for low cost domain names:

• Keep your domain name short so that way it will be easy to remember, catchy is always better
• Make sure to use keywords relevant to your product or service
• Try to always use .com as the extension. You can consider .org, .net or your country-specific domain extension if .com is not available
• Check for domain name availability: This is where a service provider can help you and make sure you are aware of any important keywords that may be an option
• Keep a list of alternate domain names in case your first choice is already taken
• Make sure you are getting a top level domain name and not a second level domain name
• Make sure the recurring cost of renewing the domain name does not fleece you
• Make sure there is no catch and the low cost domain name is really a low cost domain name
• Consider participating in domain sales and domain auctions
• Consider back ordering domain names that are about to expire.

Once you have settled on your domain name, add in all the other costs and services that maybe offered, like hosting, email, etc., determine what you really need to use opposed to what you need to pay for. Many times domain name registrars will let you custom build your package to suit your needs. Finally, check the available domain names, the domain prices and hosting packages here, at Ballistic Domains. We offer extremely attractive packages and low cost domain names that do not sacrifice your branding needs while keeping your best interest at heart.