STEP 03
Your web address
The name people type in to find you, registered in your name.
Your domain. yourbusiness.com. You hold the registration, and you control it through your own registrar account.
- Time
- 15 min
- Approximate cost
- About $12 a year
- When you are done
- You control a web address that your email and your website will both use.
How to set it up
Go to a registrar that sells at cost. Cloudflare or Porkbun are two.
Make an account there first, and save the login in your password app. That account is how you control the domain, so protect it like a bank login and turn on two-factor.
Search the name you want. Try .com before anything else.
If it is taken, do not buy a strange spelling. Add your city or what you do instead.
Add it to the cart and decline every add-on. Privacy protection is free at some registrars and charged at others.
Pay for it. One year is fine.
Turn on auto-renew before you close the tab, and keep a working card on the account. A lapsed domain is a dead business.
Make sure the contact email on the registration is one you will still read in a year. Renewal notices go there.
Before you start, and what to watch for
When you are done
You control a name that your email and your website will both use.
What it costs
Around $12 a year for a .com at a registrar that sells at cost, at the time of writing. Renewal is yearly and the renewal price is not always the same as the first-year price. If someone quotes you $40, you are on the wrong site.
Watch out for
A domain is a registration, not a permanent purchase. You hold it for as long as you keep renewing it. Some sellers charge three times the going rate and add things you did not ask for.
Third-party prices, fees and payout times are approximate, were accurate when written, and can change at any time. Check the provider's own pricing page before you buy.
Educational information only, not legal, tax, accounting, banking or security advice. Requirements, prices and product features can change.