Couple newbie questions re: Purchasing my first domain name

I personally dont worry about the privacy options on the domains I buy. But if you do want to hide your details then yes thats what you should go for. With godaddy it costs extra but i think some others (maybe namecheap) include privacy for free. and in answer to your second question yes you do own the domain as far as i know they cant take it away (unless maybe you are doing something illegal).

Generally when I buy with godaddy (I have 20 domains with them) I just go with the default options and dont purchase any of their extras. Then I just set the domain servers to my hosts ones (I use hostgator) and I'm all good to go.

Hope that helps.

Yeah don't cave into all the extras that they ofer you, none of it is required.

Just a tip: If you go for a hosting plan that is separate from your domain name company, you'll need the nameserver(s) from your hosting company to point it to your domain name (sounds techy but it's simple to do)

If you register at NameCheap, which is a lot easier to navigate and use compared to GoDaddy, you will receive free WhoIsGuard (protects people from seeing who you are) when you purchase your domain.

I personally use GoDaddy for all my hosting and domain services. I find them easy to use and really like the fact that they are open 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Even on Christmas!

Their support team has been extremely helpful with any problems that I had plus I don't need to do as much of the technical stuff with them like having to manually set up a Wordpress Installation.

The benefits of having the same company for both your hosting and domain purchases, is the fact that you will not have to worry about changing nameservers and dns records which to some newbies may be intimidating.

Good luck.

Jim,
To answer one of your latter points. With domains you are buying the right to lease the domain for a minimum of 1 year upto 10 years. It is your's once registered. However there is a caveat in that if you register a domain that includes a trademark (i.e. ebaygoods.com) and you are using it to makr profit from said trademarked company then the trademark holder could request you stop using the domain and likely request you hand it over (it can be removed from you by icann, the domain authority for .com's, .net's and .org domains). So as long as you are not infringing on anyone's trademark and using it in a way to profit then you're good.

Rich

Yes, and there is a reason for this. If for some reason your host were to lock up your sites, you could redirect the domains to another host. It's along the lines of all the eggs in one basket.
If you want your name hidden, then yes - you are going to have to do a private listing. No way around that. Other than to have someone else register for you, or use a business name and PO BOX - but someone can still figure you out with that.

Here is a secret - you'd have to test if it still works. GoDaddy used to have it set up that if you bought 5 domains in one shot, the privacy came free (for the first year). I use to get the cheapo dot infos added to an order and it would come out cheaper than paying for the privacy.

Ha, this is a sticky statement. You need to make sure you are not infringing on any trademarks of any kind. In most cases you won't have an issue. But it's not like I can go out and buy ilikesonyipadmacintosh.com and not have someone get a bit upset about that somewhere down the line.
So, here are your bonus Tips:

1. Always google "godaddy coupon" before making a purchase
2. Don't do searches on godaddy unless you are prepared to put stuff in your cart and buy within the hour.
4. Have a list of domains you'd like to buy ahead of time.
5. Determine the marketing needs of the site before you pass up a not dot com domain. You may not need a dot com. If the dot com is taken, always look it up and see what site is using it. Sometimes people buy a dot com and never develop it or have no clue how to rank it. You can easily buy a dot net and be on your merry way. But if you are looking for serious branding purposes, then do try to stick to the dot com.
6. You don't need to buy all the other extensions when you get that message "You've found a great domain!" - you need only one site in most cases, and if this is your first I'd suggest sticking with just one and make that one work for you first before venturing out.
7. Avoid if possible any domains over 24 or so characters.
8. Remember in the end that the domain name is just one small piece of the whole SEO equation. What is going to be more important in the end is what you do on the actual site.
9. If you get hosting first, you can sometimes get a free domain from the host. I like to use this for a dot net version of my domain, and grab the nameserver information. Then when you go to register your primary domain you can immediately change the nameserver during the checkout process and the name will kick over to your host very quickly.
10. Write down you customer number, password and pin for safe keeping.
11. Purchase from a registrar that has 24/7 free phone support
12. Know that al ot of hosts will let you create a bazillion sub-domains, so you can make a lot of different sites off of one domain. This is done for free and done on your hosting account.
13. Set your email address up from the server, not from the domain registrar
14. If you don't have a full marketing plan yet, just get a year paid up to start. You can always pay for more years later once you make the site work for you. If a year goes by and you still don't have a site up or are using the domain you may need to re-think your plan - unless you are buying it to sell just the domain at a later date.
15. If you do purchase from godaddy, expect someone will call you within a day or two after your first purchase - trying to sell you something else.


That's all I got for 5am.

if you buy domain from normal registrator, you'll have full rifhts for managing domain.
Don't let fooling you by paying extra fee only for hiding your name. Many registrars today providing this feature for free.
Buying domain is not a rocket science. Simply pick a big registrar. Buy new domain. Don't buy domains for 500$ or so - they are only for big sure business, not for start-up. Preferably buy new domain, not used. If you purchase old domain, you can encounter a situation when google doesn't want to index such domain because of a bad history.
Use keywords in your domain. Study how DNS system works, what is A, CNAME, MX, and so on...
That's it. Nothing complicated