When you put together a website, one of the first things that you will have to take care of is the domain name registration. This can be a complicated process, especially when it comes to renewing the registration at regular intervals.
But some people may be asking themselves if it is easier and cheaper to take care of the registration on your own or to handle the paperwork yourself. As with many things, that’s a complicated question with a few different things to consider. Let’s look at what this entails so you can make the best decision.
What’s a domain name?
The domain name is the actual web address that your visitors will have to type in to access your website. If your company name is Acme and you sell roadrunner traps, you might want to register www.acmeroadrunnertraps.com.
This is a short, descriptive domain name that can be easily remembered. But, let’s say that the domain is already taken. You could instead opt for www.acmeroadrunnertraps.org or even something slightly different like www.roadrunnertraps.com.
Regardless of what address you choose, you must register that name and that takes paperwork and the payment of a fee.
How much does a domain name cost?
This is actually a difficult question to answer because there are such wide ranges. You can get a cheap domain with a .xyz suffix for as little as $0.89 a year.
Other domains can run as much as $25 a year. But the majority of the domains go for around $15 a year on average.
However, if you take advantage of web hosting and domain registration bundling, then you can actually get this registration for free.
What are the advantages of registering your domain with your hosting provider?
There are two major advantages of getting your domain from your webhost—ease and cost. If you have your provider handle the domain name registration, then you don’t have to handle the paperwork to take care of this.
They will also handle the coding that is necessary to set up your website at this web address. But many of the web registrars are now offering bundled prices for your hosting service.
If you sign on, then your domain registration is handled as a matter of course as part of the total package. This also makes it easier because you have everything in one neat, compact bundle with one company.
What are the disadvantages of registering your domain with your hosting provider?
The biggest disadvantage of having the two services combined is that in most cases, the hosting provider “owns” the domain name. If you decide to leave your hosting provider, then you may not be able to take your domain name with you.
Most companies are not going to hold your web address hostage, but it could conceivably happen. In this case, your website would lose traffic because customers who are used to the one address will not be able to access that one.
This would cripple a business as most people would just assume that you had closed shop. Finally, if you have multiple websites, it is generally a good practice to spread them over different servers with different hosts so that if one crashes, you won’t lose all your websites. In this case, it may be best to consolidate all your registrations together and handle this on your own.
Get Started with Domain Name Registration
If you wish to make the domain name registration easier and more streamlined, then you should consider the options from InMotion Hosting. They offer one- and two-year hosting plans that come with free domain registration and transfer. All of this will make your website setup easier and take the hassle away.