While you can always continue to use your IconoSites Site Address (yourname.iconosites.com) with your free website as long as you want, the truth is that no business website is complete nor is it truly professional without its own custom domain name (i.e. www.yourdomain.com). What you may not have realized is how affordable a custom domain is — you can buy a .com domain from GoDaddy for $1.99!
Before you can use a custom domain name with IconoSites, you first need to purchase one. Finding the right domain name for your business can be an art form in and of itself. It’s something you should really think through, because once you decide on it and implement it, it’s really tough decision to reneg on.
For example, just imagine if we felt we needed to change our name from IconoSites to something else. We’d not only need a new domain name; We’d need a new logo, we’d need to change all of our text, emails, and we’d need to notify all of our customers of our name change. We’d also lose all the brand value we’ve established to date. That’s a pretty costly move to make.
Therefore, the best advice we can give is to get your domain name right the first time and never plan on changing it.
Where To Buy A Domain Name
Domain Names are very cheap and can be purchased about anywhere. And, they’re pretty much sold at the same prices everywhere and while you could save a couple dollars here or there, don’t plan on saving a lot of money by shopping around.
We have found that the most important aspect to consider when buying a domain name is the level of customer support you will receive from the company you are buying it from, otherwise known as a “Domain Registrar”. This is because when you buy, or “register”, a domain name, you are somewhat stuck with the company you bought it from unless you go through the tedious process of transferring the domain away from them. Therefore, with good customer support, you can get all your questions answered and your solutions fixed which will save you hours and hours of time and frustration in the long run.
A couple examples of of Domain Registrar’s that we recommend are GoDaddy, Yahoo! Small Business, and Network Solutions (for international, we list some more here). First, they have great support (in our opinion, GoDaddy is by far the best). Second, they have great software that allows you to easily manage all aspects of your domain (i.e. “DNS Management”. Many Domain Registrars either don’t offer this). And third, since they are all well established companies in the Domain Registrar market, you can count on them to offer the latest and greatest domain services that you will need now and in the future, all at very competitive prices. For these reasons, we urge our members to register new domains with one of our recommended Domain Registrars.
A final word of warning. There are a lot of Domain Registrar’s out there. In fact, there’s thousands, and they’re all over the world. The vast majority of these are small local companies and are therefore highly risky when it comes to managing your domain over the long haul. What happens if they go out of business? What, then, happens to your domain? Frankly, we don’t know. We’d sure hope the responsibilities get passed to another company. But who knows. It’s really a scary thought.
The safest approach is to follow our advice here and find a well established Domain Registrar who provides great customer support.
How To Set Up A Custom Domain
Setting up a custom domain name with your IconoSite is a 1-2 minute process. Keep in mind, this feature is available for paying members only. Please follow our step-by-step instructions on How to Setup a a Custom Domain.