Domain Name Registration

Before talking about domain name registration, let’s talk about what a domain name is and why you need one for your website.

I think that the easiest way to think of a domain name is to think of it as an easy-to-understand unique address for your website. For this website, the domain name is prism-ent.com.

A domain name is primarily made up of two major parts: the top-level domain (TLD) and the second-level domain (SLD) separated by a dot. In this example, prism-ent is the SLD and com is the TLD.

There is much more to a full internet address, and if you want more detailed information, a quick Google search will serve up some articles that might solve your insomnia problem.

Obviously, you need a domain name so potential customers can find your website. You’ll put your domain name on your business cards, in your email signature line and on any other marketing media you might use.

Top-level domains, or TLD, like com, org, edu, gov, info, net, and biz are some of the most commonly recognized.

However, there are many more available; over 1,500 TLDs now exist!

Wikipedia has a comprehensive list of TLDs.

Want to register a domain name for your bar or saloon? Register YourBarName.bar.

Got a diner or cafe? Register MyDinerName.cafe.

If you’re a Certified Public Accountant, tax advisor, etc. you may want to register MyFirmName.accountant or MyFirmName.financial.

A word of caution here, most people, at least in the U.S.A., are mostly familiar with domain names with a com TLD, so consider ensuring the com version of your desired domain name (SLD) is available before registering it with your preferred TLD.

You don’t have to have the com version of your domain name in order to register a different TLD version of it, but you might find it useful.

If a competitor already has the com version, people manually typing your domain name may unconsciously add .com instead of your TLD by mistake, sending them to your competitor’s website.

Not all TLDs are available through all domain name registration services, so if you want a really unique TLD, you may have to shop around.

A second-level domain, or SLD, is the unique name associated with your business. In the case of this website, prism-ent.com is the SLD.

Before you head to a domain name registrar, spend some time thinking about what you’d like your SLD to be. Ideally, you’ll want it to match the name of your business, but that’s not always practical. Unless your preferred SLD is very unique, you will likely find that your primary choice is already registered.

All domain name registration services offer the ability to perform domain name searches on their websites, and will let you know if the domain name you have in mind is available. These websites will also suggest alternative versions of what you’re searching for.

If you are setting up a new website hosting account and the hosting provider includes a domain name for the first year at no extra charge, I recommend you go that route.

It is likely that you may pay a little more in the long run but having your domain name registered with your hosting company has other benefits that might offset any extra expense, such as not having to deal with extra technical issues or different billing cycles.

If you really want to register your domain name outside of your web hosting provider, here is my recommendation:

GoDaddy has always been my go-to domain name registration service. It’s easy to search for domain names and they offer several alternative versions you might not have considered.