How to Choose and Buy a Domain Name for Your Business
How to pick a domain name customers will remember, where to buy it, what to watch for in the price, and the settings that keep it safe in your name.
Your domain name is your address on the web: yourbusiness.com. It goes on your van, your cards and your Google profile, and it’s the one part of your website you’ll probably keep for as long as the business runs. It’s worth ten minutes of thought before you buy.
What makes a good domain name
Say your business is called Rossi Plumbing.
Close to your business name. People should be able to guess it. rossiplumbing.com is ideal.
Easy to say out loud. Imagine reading it over the phone. Avoid spellings people will get wrong, numbers that could be written as words, and hyphens, which people forget.
Short enough to type on a phone. Shorter is easier, but clear matters more than short.
A word added, if your name is taken. If rossiplumbing.com is gone, rossiplumbingnyc.com or rossiplumbers.com can work. Adding your city or borough helps local customers remember it, as long as you don’t plan to move far.
Clear of other people’s trademarks. Before you buy, search the name in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s free trademark search. A domain that matches someone else’s registered trademark can cause trouble later.
.com or something else
For most US small businesses, .com is the safest choice. It’s what people type by default, and it’s what they’ll guess if they only half remember your address.
If the .com is taken, other endings such as .co or an industry ending can work, but expect some people to type .com by mistake and land somewhere else. The .nyc ending is available to people and businesses with an address in New York City, and it tells visitors where you are. Whatever ending you pick, buy the .com of the same name too if it’s available.
Where to buy it
You buy a domain from a registrar, a company accredited to sell them. Namecheap, GoDaddy and Spaceship are three well-known registrars, and there are many others. The domain is the same product wherever you buy it. What differs is the price, the extras on offer and how easy the account is to use.
We don’t sell domains. Our clients buy their own, from whichever registrar they like, at that registrar’s price, so the name always sits in their own account.
What to watch in the price
A standard .com has a yearly fee. Three things change what you actually pay:
- Renewal prices. Many registrars offer a low first-year price and a higher renewal price. Check the renewal price before you buy.
- Add-ons at checkout. You’ll be offered hosting, email, website builders and more. Only add what you’ve already decided you need.
- Privacy. Domain privacy hides your personal contact details from public domain records. Many registrars include it free. If yours charges for it, compare.
Set it up safely
- Register it in your own name, or your business’s name, with an email address you’ll keep. Don’t let a designer, a friend or an employee hold it for you.
- Turn on auto-renew and keep the card on file current. A domain that expires can end up in someone else’s hands.
- Turn on two-step sign-in for the registrar account.
- Leave the transfer lock on. It stops the domain from being moved to another registrar without your approval.
- Write down where it’s registered. Years later, many owners can’t remember which company they used.
Connecting it to your website
Once you own the domain, it has to point to wherever your website is hosted. That means changing a few settings called DNS records. Whoever puts your site online will tell you which records to change. The change usually takes effect within a few hours, occasionally a day or two.
With us, putting your site online is free, and the domain stays in your own account.
Email on your domain
An address like hello@rossiplumbing.com looks more professional than a free email address. Email providers such as Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, and many registrars, can set it up, usually for a monthly fee per inbox. It’s a separate service from the domain, so check what’s included before you pay.
If you’re planning the website itself, our post on how long it takes to build a website covers timelines. With us, a website is $2,000, with every page you need, and you can tell us about your business whenever you want to start.