Member Avatar for ryy705

Hello,
I am trying to get my own(paid) website. But I am not sure about what steps I should take. I understand that signing up with a hosting company will get me storage and scripting functionalities. But I don't understand the process of getting a domain name of my choice. Can I sign up with one hosting company and then buy a domain name from a different company? I can't figure out why different companies charge different prices for the same domain name. Thanks in advance.

  • 4 Contributors
  • 3 Replies
  • 114 Views
  • 2 Days Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by mwasif

Dani AI

Generated

Short checklist and practical notes to get a paid domain and connect it to hosting (builds on points from , and ):

A domain registrar and a web host are separate roles: the registrar records your ownership and controls WHOIS and nameserver settings; the host serves the site files. When you register a name you either tell the registrar to use your host's nameservers or keep DNS at the registrar and add A/CNAME/MX/TXT records that point to the host. Research first (as advised) to avoid buying a name you later regret.

Step-by-step, practical:

  1. Pick a name, check trademark history and previous use (avoid brand conflicts).
  2. Register at an ICANN-accredited registrar (you control WHOIS, privacy, auto-renew).
  3. Point DNS: either set the registrar’s nameservers to the host, or keep registrar DNS and add records for the host. Lower the TTL (to ~300s) a day before a planned switch to speed propagation.
  4. Configure email (MX), add SPF/DKIM/DMARC TXT records if needed. Verify with whois yourdomain.com, dig +short yourdomain.com, or nslookup -type=mx yourdomain.com.

Why prices differ and what to watch for:
Registrars set retail prices based on wholesale registry fees for each TLD, promotions (first-year discounts), renewal pricing, included extras (WHOIS privacy, DNS management, email), and support. Always check renewal cost and transfer policy before buying. Enable auto-renew, two-factor authentication, and registrar lock to avoid accidental loss or theft.

Troubleshooting and references:
If a domain does not resolve after changes, check nameserver delegation and propagation delays (often a few minutes to 48 hours). If transfers or locks confuse you, contact the registrar and confirm the account email is current. For DNS basics and propagation mechanics, see Cloudflare’s DNS guide and authoritative TLD info at IANA or ICANN: Cloudflare - What is DNS? ICANN IANA root zone database.

Recommended Answers

All 3 Replies

Member Avatar for ryan_vietnow

Yes you can buy a domain name from different company than your hosting company.

Member Avatar for gpdrums

I highly recommend researching this topic before securing a domain name.

First of all, if you go to certain domain name search engines, you're likely to end up having to purchase that domain name from a company you don't prefer at a possibly unreasonable price. Whatever you do, resist the urge to search for available domain names until you know you are ready to purchase and build. Try to buy the domain from your preferred hosting company.

If you are going to build your own website and you have zero experience, I'd recommend yahoo as a good place to start and learn. Other folks might disagree, but there are some benefits to hosting a new site with a giant search engine company. Plus, they have some easy-to-use commerce features.

If you have web design experience, search for the best deal on hosting and purchase your domain from the same company. You don't have to, but it's fewer headaches. The company I use quite often costs $45 for domain name and 1 year hosting and comes with 20GB monthly bandwidth, plenty of storage, unlimited email addresses, and so on. Subsequent years are $6/mo/yr. There are many good companies from which to choose; just look around.

Finally, if you are going to have your website built by an agency, you might as well just buy your domain through them. If you pre-purchase from somewhere else you will probably pay a fee to transfer the domain to their servers anyway. Either way, you're gonna pay. Besides, they might have some suggestions for branding your website with a catchy domain name.

Hope this helps a little.

Member Avatar for mwasif

Godaddy and are selling domain names in very reasonable price. They are providing good services as well.

You don't need to worry about web hosting cost. Some companies are providing free PHP and MySQL web hosting like this one. I am also using this free web hosting.

So you just have to pay $9/$10 for your domain name and then host your site with free web hosting company.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.