Free Domain Name Registration and Web Hosting

Domain names are another piece of the puzzle when it comes to starting a website. Many hosting companies offer a free domain name with the purchase of one of their hosting plans. But we recommend registering your domain name elsewhere. Domain name registration services are fairly inexpensive (usually about $10 a year) so you really aren't going to save a whole lot by taking advantage of the free domain name. The problem is that when you register your domain name through the hosting company, they can use this as leverage if you ever decide to cancel. Even if your web host does handle it in a professional manner, you will need to contact their customer support in order the transfer the domain name. This will be a hassle.

We recommend using actual domain name registration services when registering domain names. GoDaddy is one of our top picks because it is one of the top cheap domain name registration services. With GoDaddy, you will be given an account where you can manage all your domain names. From within this account, you can easily set your nameservers (a nameserver is the number you type in that tells the domain registrar where to host your domain) without having to jump through any hoops. This means you can cancel your old host and get a new one at any time. All you will need to do is log into your GoDaddy account and set the nameservers to the new host.

By using a domain registrar like GoDaddy, you're in control of your entire web business!