How to buy a web domain

If in the past few days you have followed my guide on how to create a free website, at the time of creating your online space, you have surely been assigned a third-level domain of the type nomesito.piatografo.it. As I also explained to you in my previous article on free domains and free hosting, by purchasing a domain completely free you will be assigned a Web address consisting of three parts: the name you have chosen to give your website, the name of the online service you used for its creation and the top-level domain.

If this is the case and if you are now reading my guide on how to buy a web domain I imagine that reading my previous guides has managed to clarify your ideas a bit about the vast world of website creation. At this point, if you are wondering how to buy a web domain, you have probably decided to buy your own shorter and more professional web address for your online space. Well, I’m happy: so know that by reading the following lines you can find out how to do it.

Buying the Web domain is the first fundamental step to take when you want to open a new website or after creating a space on the net, using the special free services I mentioned in the aforementioned guides. Buying the web domain is a very simple operation to carry out in itself, but for its execution it is advisable to carry out some very important preliminary steps. Having said that, then take a few minutes of free time to dedicate to reading this guide to find out immediately how to buy a web domain. You will see that in the end you will agree with me that it was nothing that complicated.

Index

• Choose the name and extension
• Check the availability of the domain
• How to buy a web domain

Choose the name and extension

As I have already mentioned before being able to buy a web domain it is essential to carry out some basic steps. Before buying a web domain, it is first of all advisable to choose the name for the domain to use.

The choice of the name should not be underestimated as it will be through the domain name that other users will access your website. Consequently, you can opt for a name that is easy to remember in order to facilitate other users to access the site, or you can use a name that is descriptive of the business or topic your website is about. In both cases, however, remember to be extremely concise and short, try to avoid long domain names or those consisting of words separated by hyphens. Furthermore, if your website is aimed at an Italian user, my advice is to use a domain name with an Italian word: it will be easier to remember and there will be less chance of typing mistakes.

If, on the other hand, you are a freelancer, or if your company refers to you, you should consider registering a domain with your name, surname or both. In case you find a domain name with these characteristics available, I recommend that you register it without hesitation, as I believe it is the right option for a company based (or referring to) a natural person.

At this point, after choosing the domain name that you think maybe most suitable for your business, you will also have to think about what is the best extension to adopt for the same: the choice of the extension is also important.

Keep in mind that basically there are three different types of extensions: the generic ones, the national ones and the new gTLD extensions. The generic extensions are for example the most famous and used ones of the type .com, .org and .net and are usually used for generic Internet sites.

The national extensions are for example those of the type.it (for Italy), .uk (for the United Kingdom) and .de (for Germany) and indicate that a website is almost certainly written in a specific language and designed for an audience belonging to a specific country.

Finally, there are also gTLD extensions. These are particular extensions that, mainly used by companies, are used to identify in an extremely simple way the recognition of the activity of an Internet site. Just to give you an example, if you have opened an e-commerce site, you may want to buy a .shop domain. Other examples of gTLD extensions are the .blog or .news extensions.

Check the availability of the domain

Once you have chosen the name and extension to use, before buying a Web domain it is advisable to take one last fundamental step:  check the availability of the domain. In fact, even if you think that the domain name selected for your website is original and all your own thing, it cannot be ruled out that other users may have already chosen it for their online space.

To check the availability of a domain I suggest you use the DomainsBot Web service thanks to which you can also get alternative ideas based on the keywords to be entered in the search field.

To check the availability of the domain name you have chosen, click here to connect to the main page of Web Domains Bot, type the chosen domain name in the search field and then press the button depicting a magnifying glass located on the side.

Once the search results page is displayed you will be able to view any extensions for which the domain name you have chosen is available in addition to the suggestions provided by the online service. Furthermore, if you wish to make changes to your search, you can use the appropriate commands on the left to choose the extensions to include, any synonyms and much more.

At this point, if the domain name you have chosen for your website is available, you can finally dedicate yourself to the actual purchase of the Web domain. Otherwise, I suggest you think of another domain name and always check its availability through Domains Bot.

How to buy a web domain

Having defined this, to buy a Web domain you have at your disposal different options offered by various companies. Among the most renowned companies through which it is possible to buy a Web domain, I point out Aruba, a well-known Italian company that operates in the sectors of Web hosting, cloud and online practices.

With Aruba you can get your domain in just a few clicks and at affordable prices, with the possibility to choose from over 700 available extensions and to add 5 personalized 1 GB mailboxes complete with access via Webmail and antispam and antivirus protection. The price also includes the Swite service (to create websites updated automatically from your social profiles), DNS and redirect management and 24-hour assistance.

Prices start at € 0.99 + VAT the first year and then from € 9.99 + VAT/year for the domain only or from € 15.49 + VAT/year for the domain with email. Personally, I would highly recommend this second option, as having an email address with a custom domain gives you greater professionalism in the eyes of the public.

That said, to register your domain with Aruba, just access this page, type the domain to buy in the text field you see in the center of the screen and press the magnifying glass icon, in order to check its availability.

If the domain is available, choose the extensions to purchase for (eg .com, it and .eu ), by ticking the relevant boxes. It is always recommended to choose more extensions, in order to gain greater online visibility and reach a wider audience. When you are satisfied with your choice, click on the Continue button.

Now you need to select the services to include in your order. Since you are buying a domain, you may also be interested in purchasing a space on which to host your site (hosting) and/or an all-in-one solution to create websites, blogs and e-commerce with ease.

As for hosting, Aruba offers various solutions based on Linux and Windows including unlimited disk space and traffic, email boxes, SSL DV certificate and a wide range of free software and CMS, such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Prestashop and Magento.

More specifically, there are the Linux Aruba hosting plans, ideal for those who need to program with languages ​​such as PHP, Perl, Python and Ruby and which, through Softaculous App Installer, allow you to easily install over 200 free applications, including WordPress, Drupal and PrestaShop, and Windows Aruba hosting packages based on Windows Server, ideal for using applications that require MSSQL (Microsoft SQL Server) database and ASP and .NET script execution. Prices start in both cases from 11.99 euros + VAT the first year and then 28.99 euros + VAT/year upon renewal.

For those who want to build their site with WordPress, on the other hand, the Aruba WordPress Hosting plans are available, which are divided into Standard WordPress Hosting and Managed WordPress Hosting plans. The latter differ from the former in that they include automatic updating of CMS, themes and plugins, optimized performance, automatic backups, staging environment to test site changes and specialist support.

Prices start at 19.99 euros + VAT/year in the 1st year and then 34 euros + VAT/year upon renewal for Standard WordPress Hosting (with unlimited web space and traffic, domain, 5 1GB email accounts and SSL certificate DV) and from 29.99 euros + VAT/year in the 1st year and then 79 euros + VAT/year upon renewal for Smart Managed WordPress Hosting (with support for 50,000 visitors, unlimited web space and traffic, domain, 5 mailboxes 1 GB email, MySQL database with backup, support on recommended plugins and SSL DV certificate). To find out more, I invite you to consult my tutorial dedicated specifically to Aruba WordPress Hosting.

In the e-commerce field, there is the Aruba Managed WooCommerce Hosting plan, with which you can create an e-commerce based on WordPress and the famous WooCommerce plugin with everything already installed and ready to use. The price is 124.50 euros + VAT/year the 1st year and then 249 euros + VAT/year including domain, unlimited space on SSD, 2GB database on SSD, SSL DV certificate, 12 instances, automatic backups, environment staging, unlimited 1GB mailboxes, 10 PEC mailboxes on domain and more. Find all the details in my guide to Aruba Managed WooCommerce hosting.

If you are at your first experience of creating a website, you may instead be interested in a site builder like SuperSite from Aruba: a service that allows you to create professional websites, blogs and e-commerce without writing a single line of code, using a convenient drag-and-drop visual editor, in which you just need to select the various elements with the mouse to insert, modify or move them at will. You can try it for free for 30 days, after which it costs 39 euros/year + VAT the first year and 99 euros + VAT/year on renewal with the SuperSite Professional plan, which includes a second-level domain, 5 mailboxes, SSL DV certificate and assistance. free. For all the details of the case, read my guide on how to build a website with Aruba.

Once you have selected the services to purchase, click on the Continue button, check that the order summary is correct and press the button again to continue.

Then log into your Aruba account or, if you don’t have one yet, click the Register button and fill out the quick forms you see on the screen to complete the registration.

For logged, indicating whether payable domination to you (by selecting your name ) or a new customer, verify and possibly change the information in the form on-screen, do the same thing with the form for billing information and pay with secure payment methods supported by Aruba (eg PayPal, card or bank transfer).

Mission accomplished! You have just purchased your domain and are ready to create your website with Aruba’s services.

Other companies for the purchase of a web domain

Other popular companies that will allow you to purchase a web domain include Register,  Siteground, VHosting Solution, GoDaddy. Historical hosting companies for the purchase of a domain that you can also consider taking into consideration are Register,  Ehiweb and Tiscali. I’ll talk about it in detail below.

• Register: Register.it is a well-known and historic Italian company that allows you to purchase domain registration and offers hosting services. Register.it offers the purchase of domains with generic and national extensions as well as domains with the new gTLD extensions.
• EhiWeb: historic telecommunications company that in addition to providing ADSL and VoiP services, also offers domains for the creation of a customized website.
• Tiscali: Tiscali is a well-known telecommunications company that hardly needs any introduction. Besides offering Internet services, fixed and mobile telephony, it allows the purchase of domains.
• Siteground: Siteground is one of the best companies that offer domain and hosting that recently also landed in Italy with Siteground Italy. In this way, it will be possible to enjoy the excellent customer support of the site, also in Italian.
• VHosting Solution: Vhosting is another great professional hosting service with affordable prices that features solutions for all budgets for purchasing domains and hosting spaces.
• GoDaddy: GoDaddy is one of the most popular hosting sites in the world and is known for its great service. Through GoDaddy it is possible to register your domain and purchase a hosting space with prices that vary according to the extension and the space required.