If you’ve ever owned a website or blog chances are, you’ve heard of a domain name. A domain gives your website a unique label when a customer wants a service from your business, your website’s domain name is the first thing that pops up in their head.
The question is: what is the best domain name service out there? Some may think they’re all similar, but the truth is, some can be much more valuable than others.
When purchasing a blog domain, there are many factors such as customer service, price, and reliability. If your site name has problems and you can’t get the problem fixed right away, how does that reflect on your business’s reputation? In this article, I will be going over the best domain name registrars, their price and why they’re worth looking into.
Best Domain Name Registration Companies
1. NameCheap
If you want a domain name provider that is a combination of cheap, intuitive and helpful, NameCheap should be your go-to. As the name implies, NameCheap provides services for as low as $10 per year.
This service is not only cheap but easy to use with the help of customer support. When you encounter a problem, NameCheap’s features and interface should get you up and running in no time. Furthermore, it’s an approved company and domain registrar by ICANN which is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
In our experience, it’s the best place on the web to buy your own website domain professionally. They provide everything you need to protect your domain and build a great website.
How much does the domain name cost with NameCheap?
NameCheap runs for around $10 a year, which is cheaper than most domain registrars out there. If you are looking to purchase a single domain for a short amount of time, GoDaddy may be your go to since they offer single domains for around $2. If you want a single domain, or even, multiple domains for longer than a year, NameCheap will save you more bucks.
Domain name management
NameCheap is one of the easiest domain name providers, with a few clicks you can add any domain name record like Txt for example to verify your blog with Google Webmaster Tools or an advertising company. This advanced tool comes with different options and levels of management that everyone needs.
Here is a screenshot of the DNS of one of the domains we own with them.
Good user experience
The price may be a big factor, but a quality customer experience can save you time and frustration throughout your endeavors. NameCheap has a fairly intuitive user interface, which will make checking out and renewing an easy process. This is important for the times where you are strapped for time and need to get something done quickly.
If the interface is too clunky, you may make some mistakes that will cost you. If you forget to renew a domain, it will cost you. NameCheap won’t give you any of these problems because of it’s easy to use functions.
Customer Service
The customer service for NameCheap has mixed reviews, some say NameCheap was more than happy to help. Others found the customer service reps to be lacking in many areas. This is a fairly big downside because if something goes wrong, you’re on your own. Those with excellent researching skills are okay with this. However, that is not the case with everybody.
To really decide, you have to go with your gut, consider how important customer service is to you and what problems you may encounter down the road. Overall, when it comes to customer service, NameCheap is a bit of a gamble.
The only way to know is to try it yourself. Make up a problem and call their customer service reps. In our experience, their service was adequate enough to solve our problems, your experience may vary.
NameCheap Summary
NameCheap is an overall solid option when it comes to purchasing a domain for your blog or website, or even multiple domains for different projects. The domain purchasing process isn’t usually complicated, but a good user interface can make a big difference.
You probably just want to buy a domain, set it up and forget about it. NameCheap should deliver on that promise without breaking the bank.
2. GoDaddy
This is the world’s largest domain name registrar, GoDaddy has quite a reputation for providing single cheap domains. If you’re looking to put up a website for a few months, GoDaddy will save you more money than most services.
The price isn’t the only consideration. GoDaddy also has phone support that can help iron out any problems you may have. Overall, GoDaddy is good for most website owners.
GoDaddy domain name prices
GoDaddy’s biggest strength is the single domain purchase. For a few dollars, you can have a functional .com domain in minutes.
As for long-term, GoDaddy’s yearly fee is $15, which is $5 more expensive than NameCheap. That’s not terribly expensive, but definitely, something to consider if you plan on having a website for years to come.
Advanced DNS
The DNS management tool lets you add different domain records, like CNAME, A, TXT and more. You’ll need one or more of these records to point your website domain to one of your best web hosting services. In addition, you can use these records to verify your domain name with Google or other companies when they that.
The DNS lest you also forward the domain name to another one or making it parked anytime you want. Furthermore, you can list the domain on their marketplace, and that’s the case when a domain is no longer needed and has value.
The user experience
Being the most popular domain registrar company, GoDaddy does have a usable interface. Usable does not necessarily mean the best. In general, GoDaddy has a more clunky interface than NameCheap but does have a decent layout.
In our experience, GoDaddy’s interface is also a bit clunky and confusing at times, but gets the job done. Some actions such as checking out can be a bit cryptic. Overall, the interface should do the trick and is better than most domain providers, but the interface is not quite as elegant as NameCheap.
What about the GoDaddy customer service?
Phone support is where GoDaddy really shines. Text and chat support provides is alright, but if you need help with a problem on the spot, phoning GoDaddy’s customer service reps is your best bet. When it comes to customer service, GoDaddy takes the cake, according to many reviews and in my experience.
If you aren’t as computer literate as you’d like to be, customer service can be a huge help when it comes to setting up a domain name. If this is the case, GoDaddy may be a better option.
GoDaddy Summary
GoDaddy, while not the cheapest, definitely does give you a bang for your buck. On top of that, phone support is fantastic and the user interface is not too bad.
If you don’t mind paying for quality customer support, GoDaddy is the way to go. In general, GoDaddy’s features should be useful to any website owner. If you’re not sure who to go with, GoDaddy serves as a great general-purpose web domain provider.
GoDaddy vs NameCheap
From what we tried and tested, these two excellent domain name registrars provide the best services for the price. We will go over a couple of others, but we recommend going with one of these two. Choosing between these two can be tough since they both provide cheap domains, and easy to use services. There are a couple of things to consider when choosing between GoDaddy and NameCheap.
It doesn’t matter where you purchase your domain
A domain name is just a name for your website, your users won’t know or care where it came from. In other words, there’s no such thing as a ‘quality’ domain name. A domain name from a sketchy provider will serve the same purpose as a domain from NameCheap. When choosing between the two, don’t worry about where the name comes from, worry about the quality of the delivery.
How Important customer service is for domain registration?
The customer service may be a game-changer for you, maybe you won’t even use it at all. It’s important that you decide if customer service will be useful to you. Do you usually have trouble performing advanced web-related tasks?
Do you know somebody who is willing to help you with these things? Have you ever set up a website domain? Questions like these should be asked when deciding which service to go with. If you think you will have trouble, phone service will be a great asset to you.
Questions like these should be asked when deciding which domain name registration service is the best for you. If you think you will have trouble, then, the phone assistance service will be a great asset to you.
In that case, GoDaddy is the way to go. If you know you’ll be able to set up a web domain, you can probably save a few bucks going with NameCheap.
Other Domain Name Registration Services
GoDaddy and NameCheap are solid options for just about any website owner, but some of you may benefit from alternative domain name registration companies. In this section, we will go over a couple of popular alternatives.
One and One
In some cases, 1&1 can give you steeper discounts on domain names. In reality, the first year of the domain registration will cost $4.99, then about $9 for the remaining years, depending on the domain. There is also an email account with free storage space and private domain registration for added security. If you plan to register multiple domains in the future and you could use the extra features, 1&1 may be the best registrar for you.
Domain
This low-cost domain registrar is a bit different from the rest. Many domains on the web are unavailable, which I know can be a pain. As it turns out, many of the unavailable domains may be up for auction on Domain. So, if your business’s domain name is taken, this cheap domain registrar is worth a shot. You’d be surprised how many great domains are generated as ideas.
The website has a brainstorming tool that generates, an automatically different variation of the keyword you type. Then, it shows you all the available domains and the others that are premium or not available. In the end, you’ll get an attractive domain even if your main domain is taken.
Summary
There are many options out there when it comes to registering a domain name. However, many of these options aren’t good enough for typical website owners.
There are quite a few good domain name registrars, but you can’t go wrong with GoDaddy and NameCheap.
In the end, you probably just want to grab your name and get it over with. You need a service that makes the whole process easy and headache-free.
What’s your preferred service to purchase new domains? And if you had the chance to use one of the above recommend providers, what you think about them? We want to hear from you, so, the readers can have more details and reviews from real customers.
