The Common Problems With Domain Registration

The Common Problems With Domain Registration

Twenty years back, you could have waltz into the website of a domain registration agency or registrar and got yourself a domain name and extension to your liking. There were very few domain registrars. In mid nineties, there was only a handful around the world. Today, there are innumerable domain registration agencies or hosting companies that can facilitate the registration of domains, but you cannot get just about any domain name or even extension for that matter.

• The biggest problem with domain registration today is the name you may want along with the corresponding extension you choose might not be available. There was a time when companies with vested interests purchased domains using commonly used words to name businesses. It was in anticipation that those companies will look for those domain names and instead of paying, say a dollar, would have to pay ten dollars. The strategy worked. The prices of domains were in cents back in the day and today some premium domains cost hundreds. Some domain names that are in demand or domain names for businesses looking for very specific combinations of words and being unable to settle for any other fetch millions. They are a rarity but reality nevertheless.

• You may notice that the domain name you want with the extension you desire may already be purchased. If it is in possession of a domain registrar or agency then you can purchase it at a relatively reasonable cost. But if it is presently in use or owned by a company that is not into the domain business, then the cost could be fairly high. It is not uncommon for companies to register domain names anticipating the registration of new business names and venturing into new verticals within or beyond the industry they are in already.

• The other problem is with the extension. A domain name may be available but the extension may not be. You would have to compromise on the extension or you may have to opt for another domain name. The problem with this compromise is that the other domain name using the other extension and perhaps extensions will still exist. Hence, you would not be the only one with that website name. Despite the difference in extensions, the domain names are the same so people can always get perplexed, may not follow the address to the end and may get lead to type in the wrong extension, thereby landing on a different site than yours.