How to Get a Domain Name

In order to get a domain name, you will need to go to an official domain registrar to register a domain name. We recommend using Iowa-Host. The domain name registration process is fairly simple.

Domain names can be purchased for one year or any length of time (up to 20 years). It is best to register the domain name for as long as you can because the search engines will look more favorably on these domain names due to the fact that they will appear to have more staying power ... in other words, your domain name probably won't be used for spamming purposes if it is registered for multiple years. Often times, spammers buy domain names in bulk and only use them until the search engines quit allowing them to spamming or cheating people.

To buy your domain name, you will first need to see if it is available. So, go to a domain name register. Click on the link and you will see "Start your domain search here ...". Go to that box and enter the domain name that you would like to have. Then, choose the extension that you want (.com, .net, etc.) and click 'Go!'.

If the domain name that you want IS available, you can purchase it. While it's not real important to get a '.com' extension, I would still recommend it, if at all possible. Generally, .com extensions are the easiest for people to remember and they usually go to that domain name first. You won't want to send your potential clients to a competitor. Although it is getting harder and harder to find good .com names, you may luck out once in a while. A word of advice ... If the domain name that you want is not available, let me know because I can usually help you to get a better domain name or the same domain name you are interested in. There are tricks to this. :-)

When you find a domain name that you want, purchase it - or let us know what you want and we'll help you to register it. If Hunter Creative Group helps registers your domain for you, we can generally get you a less expensive price than most registrars offer because we deal in a very high volume of domains and get a bulk-discount price - which we, in turn, pass on to you.

Once you have purchased your domain name, you will get a couple of registration emails for each one. If you have Hunter Creative Group helping you, you will forward the emails to us and I will get your domains set up and pointed to the correct location of your web host.

Domain names will take approximately 1-72 hours for propagation throughout the internet (before your website is visible to the public). Once your website is visible, if we are helping you get your website set up, I will have a website placeholder set up for your business to let people know that your website is coming soon and that they should check back to see your website, when finished.

If you have ANY questions on registering a domain name for your business, please don't hesitate to contact me. I will be happy to walk you through it, if needed. :-)

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