How to Buy a Domain Name for a Business (and Not Lose It Later)

Your domain name is the one piece of your online presence you should never lose. Here's how to buy a domain name for a business the right way, and the mistakes I've seen cost owners their website and their email.

Pick a name people can say and spell

Say it out loud on the phone. If you have to spell it, explain a hyphen, or say "the number 4, not f-o-r," pick another. Short beats clever. Your business name is best. If it's taken, add your trade or town: smithroofing.com, smithroofingtampa.com.

.com first, usually

People still type .com by habit. If the .com is taken, a local or trade ending can work, but check who owns the .com first. If it's a competitor, or something you wouldn't want to be confused with, keep looking.

Register it in your own name

This is the big one. The domain should be registered to you or your business, in an account you can log in to, with an email address you control. Not your web designer's account. Not your nephew's. I've seen businesses lose their domain because the person who registered it left, and the business had no way to prove it was theirs.

If I register a domain for a client, it goes into their own account, or I transfer it to them.

Turn on the protections

• Auto-renew, with a card that won't expire soon
• Registrar lock, so it can't be moved without you
• Privacy, so your home address isn't public
• Two-factor login on the registrar account

Understand DNS (just a little)

DNS is the set of records that tell the internet where your website and email live. Your website, your email and things like Google verification all depend on these records. When you change hosts, the records change, and if someone deletes the email records by mistake, your email stops. Before any change, write down what's there.

You can search and buy on my site

On sbarron.com/domains you can search for a name and see live availability and prices from the registrar.

Questions people ask

Where should I buy a domain name for my business?

From a well-known registrar, in an account under your own name and email. Avoid bundles that lock the domain to one host.

How much does a business domain cost?

Most .com names cost a modest yearly fee. Premium names that someone else already owns can cost much more.

Should I buy more than one domain?

If your name has common misspellings, or you want to protect your brand, buying a couple of extra names and pointing them at your site is cheap insurance.

Can you set up my domain and email?

Yes, including DNS and business email that lands in inboxes, not spam. Start a project.