Better Websites. SEO. Marketing. Business.
Your digital project starts with a domain name. Your domain name is the foundation of your brand. It's your online identity - and how people and search engines navigate to your content.
But choosing the right domain registrar is tough. There's dozens if not hundreds of providers. And choosing one to register and handle your online identity is a big deal. Oh - you also want them to be affordable and convenient.
There is no such thing as an overall "best" option for everyone. There is no "best web hosting" or "best domain registrar" - there is only the best option for you based on your goals, expertise, resources & situation.
Factors in Domain Registrar Reviews
I've been able to look at a range of domain registrars as part of my or my clients' projects. There's a lot of factors that go into my domain registrar reviews, but the main factors are:
Price - How competitive is their short-term pricing? What about their long-term pricing? Are they offering real value or just a short-term "bait" type pricing?
Ease of Use - How daunting is their process? Is purchasing and managing seamless and intuitive?
Selection - What top level domains (TLDs) do they have? Do they have access to all domains currently for sale?
Support - How much does the company invest in support? Individual experiences can be anecdotal, but it's usually possible to tell if a company views support as an investment rather than a cost.
Management - How seamless and intuitive is their management options? Is it straightforward to make domain changes and manage the behind the scenes?
Culture - What does the company value? Are they all about lock-ins and upsells or do they value long-term relationships?
Options - Do they have an array of complementary services such as DNS, SSLs, etc?
Highlights from Domain Registrar Reviews
Here are the companies that are usually a good fit for most based on my experience.
GoDaddy - Good pricing for short-term projects. Culture, upsells and pricing make them unattractive for long-term projects. See GoDaddy's current promo here.
NameCheap - Excellent long-term pricing with solid management and good company culture. No phone support though. See NameCheap's selection here.
Google Domains - Very simple and intuitive management. Pricey both long and short-term. Support and options are lacking. See Google Domains here.
Next Steps
Browse my domain registrar reviews below (all based on how recently they were published). Or -
Take my domain registrar quiz which will generate the best domain registrar for you based on your goals & preferences.
Google Domains is a domain name registrar owned and operated by Google. Google rolled out the product in 2014, and it’s still in “beta” as of 2016.
Google Domains is not my primary domain registrar (which is NameCheap). As a Googlephile and SEO consultant, I pretty much had to register a domain with Google Domains the day they started.
Here’s my my experience so far and my full Google Domains review with pros & cons…[Continue Reading]
Namecheap or GoDaddy? I get asked the question a lot. I’m a customer of both GoDaddy and Namecheap. So this review is based 100% on my experience with both companies so far as far as domains.
EDIT 1/04/2017 This post was originally published March 31, 2013. I’ve made changes throughout the post to make it relevant for 2017.
Notes: If you are just looking for discounts, coupons, or promo codes – here’s what I’ve got for you. I’ve got links with promo codes built in from both GoDaddy & NameCheap. I get referral fees from any companies mentioned in this post, but any opinions are based on my experience as a paying customer.
If you click this link for GoDaddy – you can get a .com for $0.99 for the first year and if you click this link to Namecheap, you’ll get free WHOIS Guard for a year.
Still with me? Great! Let’s dive into the full review! Because you’re already the type of person who knows that your domain name is your name on the Internet – and it matters who provides it. I’ll break the review down to 6 categories that actually matter – price, user experience, interface, extras, upsells, and principles.[Continue Reading]
So you’re wondering “how many domain names should I buy?” Well here’s a quick story before we dive into 10 rules I use.
Let’s say that a person – let’s call him Fred – decides to learn a little bit about websites and marketing online. He finds how easy it is to install WordPress and setup a website. He learns all about keywords. He installs Google Analytics. Fred writes some content and gets some traffic.
Oh wow! This deal is so easy, fun, and might make me money someday! And I’ve got a million other website ideas!
So Fred goes over to his domain registrar of choice, and see that most of his website ideas are available! And they’re only $10 per year! He buys several.
But what about misspellings? Buys a few of those too.
What about the .net and .co versions? Buys a couple of those too.
And so on and so forth. And before you know it – Fred has spent $600 on domain names…without building out a single website idea.
Here’s the deal – “Fred” is really Nate (me) back when I knew little about how websites and digital marketing worked. I had this idea that thinking of an idea and buying a domain counted for something.
It doesn’t. But your domain name is still important – but important relative to other factors.
So whether you’re a freelancer, DIY type, someone getting your feet wet, or a small business owner concerned about your online presence wondering “how many domain names should I buy?” – Here’s 10 lessons I’ve learned to use when researching and buying domain names.[Continue Reading]
Network Solutions is one of the oldest consumer Internet companies still operating. They are most well-known as a domain registrar, though they offer a full suite of business Internet solutions.
In fact, from 1993 to 1999, they were the only company authorized to register domains. If you wanted a domain in the ‘90s – you had to buy it from Network Solutions. Because of that, they’ve built a brand around being “the Internet’s domain provider.”
Network Solutions is not my primary domain registrar (which is NameCheap). But I’ve had enough clients purchase their domains with Network Solutions that I wanted to try them myself to see if there was something to their branding.
Here’s my experience and my Network Solutions review with a focus on their domain registrar service.[Continue Reading]
In October 2015, I took ShivarWeb.com 100% sitewide HTTPS/SSL. The site runs on WordPress, and while there were a couple quality WordPress SSL tutorials out there, there wasn’t a complete start to finish guide.
So this is how to set up HTTPS / SSL for WordPress based on my experience as a marketer & non-server admin.
Disclosure – I receive referral fees from any companies mentioned in the post. All opinion & data is based on my experience as a paying customer.
Let’s start with a couple definitions.[Continue Reading]
