Registering a domain name is a simple process. Locate a domain name registrar such as NameCheap.com and pay them about $10 per year per registration.

Contact information which you provide to a registrar becomes publicly available via the searchable Whois database. Registrars will generally obscure your personal information if you consent to pay additional annual fees (often $3 to $5 per registration). It seldom costs more than $20 per year to own a domain name.

It is sometimes convenient to register a new domain name with a web hosting provider which has a reseller agreement with a domain name registrar. If you register a domain name as part of the sign-up process for web hosting, the web host will apply the proper Nameserver setting.

Don't allow your domain name registration to expire. Make sure that the contact information provided to the registrar remains accurate in future years. Use Outlook or Gmail Calendar to create an annually recurring reminder to log into your registrar account and confirm the user profile and credit card information. Many websites expire without warning because the email address appearing in the registrar's profile has been discontinued or is no longer monitored, or because the credit card has expired. Thus, the registrar's emailed renewal notice may never be received, and for reasons of non-payment, the registrar will change the Nameserver setting and render the website and email unusable.

There is speculation that registering a domain name for five or ten years in advance is beneficial as regards possibly enhancing page rank with the search engines. After your domain name is registered with a registrar like NameCheap.com, and after your website has been built or you want to begin using email, the Nameserver or DNS (domain name server) setting needs to be set to that which is specified by your web hosting company.

Someday you may change web hosting companies, thus it might be better in the long run to use an independent registrar so that you can later change a Nameserver setting to point to a new web host without contacting the old web host or webmaster. You will rarely need to change registrars. But you may end up switching web hosts at some point in the future, for example when rebuilding an existing site at a new host, and upon completion, then changing the Nameserver to point to the new host.

If you allow your webmaster or web developer to register a domain name on your behalf, be sure to select someone who is highly reputable. In theory, they could hold your domain name hostage at a later date, in the event your relationship deteriorates. It is probably better for the average person to directly register a domain name with an independent domain name registrar than to unwittingly find out at a later date that the webmaster is unwilling to release domain name. Many lawsuits have arisen in situations like this, especially when one party or the other is making significant money from either the website activity or from ongoing hosting and maintenance agreements.

IMHO, keeping your domain names in your own private registrar account, separate from your web hosting, is generally advisable.

If registering multiple domain names, it may be advisable to configure a Forwarder email address in advance, possibly as domains@yourdomain.com which will forward messages to multiple parties (bookkeeper, registrant, IT department, etc.). If multiple individuals receive renewal notices for domain name registrations, the likelihood of crashing a domain name and email service are significantly reduced.

When transferring domain name registrations from one registrar to another, be advised this process often takes several weeks (during which time the Nameserver setting is inaccessible). Do not transfer registrations when nameserver changes are imminent.

Once your domain name is registered, you'll need web hosting. In a nutshell, you need to rent space on a web server located in a remote, state-of-the-art data center. Any idiot can start a web hosting company. All it takes is a few hundred dollars a month to rent a server in a data center, or do it really cheap and hook up a server in their garage. Since no shortage of idiots exists on Earth, this means there are a few good web hosts, lots of mediocre hosts, and some horrific web hosts. Unless you've spent many years doing website development and constantly logging onto servers, you are unable to discern a good web host from a bad web host. Selecting a web host based on monthly fees or the appearance of their website is often a mistake.

Consumer Alert - Domain Name Slamming

Unless you are paying "extra" to disguise or obfuscate your domain name registration information, the registration information is essentially public information which can be used by crooks and con artists.

Disreputable firms may mail you a solicitation to renew your domain name. Solicitations closely resemble an invoice, which many people pay without giving it much thought. Remitting a payment for solicitations will result in your domain name being "slammed" into a new registrar, who typically charges four or five times the going rate.

Know who your registrar is, renew your domain name well in advance (5-10 years), and use a secure password for your registrar log-in. A reasonably priced registrar whose services I’ve enjoyed for several years is NameCheap.com. They currently charge $10 per year for registration, plus about $3 per year to obscure registrant information using something they call as WhoisGuard.