“A better domain name will lower your lifetime marketing costs” - Frank Schilling

Congratulations on deciding to build an online business! Whether you’re building a brand new online presence from scratch or moving your existing business online, chances are you’ll need a little help with getting your domain and hosting all set up and ready to go. Read on to find our quick list of tips and tricks in buying a domain name on a budget, or click here to skip ahead and get set up with your hosting account on Bluehost- and point an existing domain to Bluehost’s servers instead (note: if domain costs aren’t a factor and you’d rather just do whatever is easier/ quicker, you’re welcome to skip to the next post and choose to purchase your domain name straight from Bluehost!).

But first, a little disclaimer: we use Buttr CRM to host and build all of our websites and sales funnels, since it includes unlimited websites and free hosting and it doesn't get much better than that. But if you're hooked on Wordpress, Bluehost hosting is the way to go.

Disclaimer #2: this post includes tips that we have found useful in securing some great deals on domain names through our own experiences. In no way are we guaranteeing that following the guidelines provided here will ensure that you get the cheapest deal possible, and we encourage you to always do your own research on current pricing schemes at various domain sites as well, to find the best deal possible.

Buying a domain name

A simple Google search for “cheap domain name” results in 31.5 billion listings. And with the results page showing multiple listings advertising $1 domains, it’s no surprise that people find it hard to decide on which domain provider to actually go with. We hope that these tried and tested tips (which we have personally used to buy several domains in the past) will help make it easier for you to get your dream domain- quickly and easily. Before we get to our list of tips, we have found the best long-term domain deals so far on porkbun.com, namecheap.com, ionos.com & domains.google.com. All things equal, we recommend starting your search with these 4 domain providers, while also keeping these 5 things in mind:

1. Don’t be fooled by super discounted first-year value schemes: Many providers offer domains for under $5/ year for the first year. What we encourage you to also pay attention to is the annual renewal fee they charge. Choose a provider that has a lower renewal fee so that you may be able to maximize your savings in the long run.

2. Look for providers that offer 3-5 years (or longer) for lock-in periods: This way you are more likely to be locked into a lower rate for a longer period. At the end of the contract, your domain will renew at the then-current fee (usually a higher amount).

3. The WhoIsGuard Fee: When you register a domain, your personal information (name, address, email, etc.) is stored with the domain provider (registrar) and is available to the public. This means that you may get targeted with ads and emails from other digital agencies offering to create a new website for you. The WhoIsGuard service, which is usually made available as an add-on purchase at the time of checkout, makes your information private if you choose to purchase it. Many providers have now started including this as a free add-on, and we prefer to stay away from the ones that charge you a fee for this service.

4. Spend a little extra time looking at prices from different providers: We recommend looking at offers from most if not all the links listed on the first page of your google search. While we have found some of the best deals on the 4 sites listed above (porkbun.com, ionos.com, namecheap.com & domains.google.com), the best deals are by no means limited to these providers. Take the extra few minutes to compare the most current offers available to you from various providers and pick the one that makes the most financial sense for you.

5. Consider also buying common typos for your domain name, along with the actual domain name itself: If you can afford it, consider adding the domains for common typos to your domain name to your order. Buying these and having us set up a redirect to your main domain from them can help re-capture traffic that you may have otherwise lost to a typo.

Ready to set up your hosting? Let's do this!

Choose from the two options below:

1. Set up Bluehost for Wordpress, or

2. Grab free-forever hosting from Buttr CRM

See you domain-side!