Skip to content
Preneur Guide
Blog

Buying a Domain Name

Domain names
Anthony Whitford
Anthony Whitford
Chief Curator

The time will come when you need to buy a domain name for that new business idea.

Why I use Namecheap

Friends don’t let friends overbuy for a domain name.

I personally use Namecheap.com to purchase my domains, and have done so for years.

When I first discovered Namecheap, they were significantly cheaper than other options. At that time, I recall buying a .com domain for about $12 USD when other prominent brands were selling the exact same thing for over $30. The cost differences were not limited to domain registration fees, but other add-ons as well.

Competition has since improved, but I still find Namecheap to be competitively priced, feature rich enough, and offers great suppport. At the time of this writing, I can buy a .com domain for less than $15 per year, often around $9 for the first year.

Notable Features

NameCheap offers a simple interface to do things like:

  • Redirect your domain to another site
  • Point your domain to a web hosting platform
  • Email forwarding to an existing email account (like Gmail)

Documentation is abundant, and high quality help is only a click away. You don’t need to be a networking expert to be successful.

Save Your Money

Registering a domain name is an early step to building your online business. There are inevitably other pieces to the puzzle, like:

  • Web Hosting
  • Business Email
  • SSL Certificates
  • Premium DNS

My advice is to just say no. Vendors want to cross-sell, but you can usually find cheaper or better alternatives elsewhere. You can always change your mind and add them later.

Web Hosting

You can always just point your domain to a hosting service of your choosing. Many web hosting service providers offer free tiers that are fine options to get started. For example:

As your business takes off, you may outgrow the free tier, and then you may need to spend a little money. By then, you will have revenue to cover the costs.

Business Email

When you are just getting started, you do not need to sign up for a paid Business Email plan.

Namecheap offers Free Email Forwarding. This feature can redirect email to your domain to another email address, which is often a good place to start. For example, I usually add a catch-all rule that routes any email to the new domain to a Gmail account. When you outgrow these virtual email accounts, you can reconfigure it to support a Google Workspace business plan, or another email provider.

For those not using Namecheap, ImprovMX is a similar service that creates free email aliases for your domain name.

SSL Certificates

Today, every website should be using HTTPS. However, you usually do not need to purchase your own SSL Certificate anymore. Most web hosting services offer free Let’s Encrypt certificates. As a result, you can save your money.

Premium DNS

PremiumDNS has a nominal fee, but I have always just used the included BasicDNS and it has been fine. As a result, I recommend you save your money.

Free Domain Privacy

Namecheap offers Free Domain Privacy. I highly recommend using this because it hides your contact details from the public Whois database, which is often mined by scammers. It’s free, so take advantage of that.

Tags: