When wanting to start a website one of the most important aspects that have to be considered is which domain name to use and if owning one is really necessary. The answer to this question might seem straightforward to most clued-up internet users but you might be asking yourself if it is really important to purchase a domain name especially seeing as there are so many free services that can provide an equivalent solution for free.
If you are unsure of what is intended by a domain name, think of it as a memorable name that points directly to your site. Every single site on the internet has a domain name that can be comprised of letters and numbers followed by a TLD (top level domains). A TLD is the end portion of a domain name and currently there are two groups that apply to ordinary users, country code top-level domains (ccTLD) (.US or .FR) and generic top-level domains (gTLD) (.COM or .BIZ).
For people not wanting to invest money there are many free alternatives available on the internet but it is very important to state that neither will ever offer the same levels of personalization and security as purchasing your own domain name. Free services usually provide a subdomain (Mysite.freeservices.com) that will serve as the address to your site together with some sort of hosting, usually the bare minimum, to store files. The problems and complications associated with such services are overwhelming especially because user accounts are susceptible to termination without prior warning, given that any content created is property of the service provider.
These and many other problems are completely avoided when purchasing a domain. Once a domain name has been purchased or registered as it is often referred to, no other person may use a similar domain as long as you pay the yearly renewal fees. If the domain is not renewed it will be made available once again for anyone to register. Domain names have become extremely affordable although prices still vary considerably between different registrars and TLDs however most users will undoubtedly find that no matter the cost the benefits presented compensate the initial investment. In some cases hosting providers even offer free domain name registration together with their hosting plans thus eliminating the need to purchase one separately. After analyzing the advantages there is no question that having your own domain name is important.
I notice that most people purchase their domain name from one service and their website hosting from a different service. Why is that?
Thanks.
It’s simple – diversification of the risk. You should not put all your eggs in one basket.
If anything goes wrong with your hosting provider (billing issues for example) you won’t be held hostage. You can point your domain name to another web host, use a recent backup and in a day or so you can have you site up and running.
And the opposite situation – do you remember the RegisterFly fiasco? If your domain registrar screw up – you still have a recent version of your website and database. Well, it’s not that simple to keep your visitors etc. but it’s better than nothing.
I purchase my domains from a different company that I use for hosting because the company that offered the best features for the money did not do a good price for domains. I also buy my .co.uk from a different company to my .coms
could you still use your domain name if you transfer to another web host company?