Slightly Off-Topic: How to get domain name I own?

Elmer_Lang

Elmer_Lang

Well-known member
Hi

Sorry to be slightly off-topic but wondered: I need a website and see GoDaddy has domain names for $.99? Will I own that or am I just renting? Btw, I am not going to get a website there.

If just renting, where can I go to register a domain name and own it?

Or am I being stupit?

best
elmer
 
You can only ever rent domains as far as I know, because they all need to be renewed each year.

Also I think it's best to get the domain registry and hosting done at the same place. Is there a reason you aren't going with GoDaddy?

Craig
 
You can purchase for multiple years, and there is a setting to automatically renew (at least on the registrars I use). You will typically get advance emails but by doing that you help avoid losing the domain if you forget and it expires. Then someone picks it up and puts a hefty purchase price on it. I am a little different than Pickthorne. I purchase domains from 2 registrars but I host elsewhere. Personal preference for me.
 
Thanks, everyone, for your posts, I appreciate the info and personal preferences!

Happy New Year!!
 
A bit late adding to this, but I just joined this forum. I'm a professional web developer so I can help you out with some info.

There is no problem with "purchasing" a domain name (yearly or multiple-year renewal) at one company and hosting it somewhere else. I've been doing it for years. The reason being that some companies used to have better rates for domain names and others better rates for hosting - I don't know if this is still the case, you have to research it. But beware of the special "2 years free" or 2 years for 99 cents or whatever they say. You need to look at the fine print and find out what the annual rate is after the promotion is over. It's took difficult to move a website later and they are counting on this when you sign up. All you need to do to host at one company and have your domain name at another one is find the DNS (usually 2 sets of numbers, sometimes just one set) of your hosting company - somewhere in your control panel. When you setup your hosting account make sure you choose the option that says your domain name is somewhere else (3rd party) and then in the control panel of the company where you have your domain name the DNS numbers in "3rd party hosting." Again, be careful when you sign up for the domain names that you choose the option that says you do NOT want to host your website there.

I'm not a big fan of GoDaddy, mainly because their interface is so full of advertising and not very intuitive. Depending on your experience a lot of the extra bells and whistles that hosting companies try to sell are not necessary. I presume if you're in this forum you want a lot of bandwidth for videos so a plan with unlimited space is essential and today not very expensive. Otherwise in most cases more than enough databases and email addresses are already included in the most basic plan.

Hope that helps.

Charles
 
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