Aby Design : Custom Web Design and Development

5 Common Domain Traps & Mistakes

In my experience, here are 5 items to AVOID at any cost before purchasing a Domain Name (well, just about any cost, that is… )

1. Not Actually Owning Your Domain – this is a biggie.  Many ‘design-your-own’ website services offer you a domain name as part of your website subscription, but there’s a catch… YOU don’t own your domain, they do.  Be sure that when you order a domain name, it will be yours.  With any luck, you’ll end up building recognition with the domain you use  and you don’t want to be stuck paying exorbitant fees to purchase that name later once you figure out they’ve trapped you into it.
2. No Access to all DNS Controls – Full Online Account Management is something any domain provider should give you, but if you find someone that doesn’t it will be well worth a few more bucks to go to another company for your domain.  Even if all you plan on doing with your domain is using it for your Blogger (blogspot) blog, you’ll need access to your DNS to set that up.  If you ever decide you want an email address with your new domain, you’ll need access to your DNS.
3. No Domain Forwarding – this may not be as vital as others, but I’ve come across this a few times.  In case you ever want or need to point an existing domain to another one, you’ll need Domain Forwarding.  As an example, let’s say you buy the name abywebsitedesignsandexcellenttips.com and you go out and build an awesome website and start to get a few followers and clients.  Then later, it strikes you that it might be more simple for your visitors to type in a shorter name… and you find that the killer name of :  abydesign.com is available!  You don’t necessarily want to drop the old name, because then your old followers/clients wouldn’t find you.  You’ll want to forward that old domain to the new one.  Typing in that big long name, will now automatically redirect to the much nicer, shorter name.
4. High Cost (we’re talking really high) - Don’t get sucked into using a domain registrar just because they are a huge company (this doesn’t mean you buy from someone that nobody has heard of either).  Your domain should cost you no more than $15 per year.  If it is more than that, you better take a real close look at what you’re getting and make sure it is worth it.  Another mistake along this topic is FIND A COUPON when you’re looking to buy.  Most companies have coupon options at checkout and you can often find discount codes easily with a few quick Google searches.  It is well worth the savings.
5. Poor Customer Support – No matter what business it is, I find that I’m willing to pay more for a product if the service is extraordinary.  Ask around, use Twitter, find out what others are saying about the provider you’re looking at.  Of course, you may not find one that someone hasn’t said something negative about, but use your judgment and you can typically tell if you’re reading a review from an irritated customer that may have just had a bad day and needs to vent, or a true concerning issue that needed to be addressed.  I think you’ll quickly find and separate the bad providers and the good ones.

More tips coming soon for other topics such as Hosting, Content Management Systems (CMS), Custom Websites, Email Services, etc.  Feel free to leave other suggestions below.