Explained | How to register website domain names

Depending on the domain name extension, the price will vary from a nominal Rs 1 to several crores in India.

Last week, the Indian National Congress announced to start crowd-funded donation campaign 'Donate for Desh'.

But, to everyone's shock, INC failed to register the 'Donate for Desh' website domain name and whenever a prospective donor visited the website, they were diverted to INC's arch-rival BJP's donation website. The latter owns 'donatefordesh.org' and a couple of similarly named websites-- 'donatefordesh.in' and 'donatefordesh.com' are owned by OpIndia media company.

Now, INC is urging donors to visit 'donateinc.in' to fund the party. Amid confusion, INC's president Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday (December 18) kicked off the event with a Rs 1.38 lakh donation.

The blunder has caused a major embarrassment for INC, as people panned and joked on social media platforms. With the general election less than six months away, many wondered how can the grand old party be so lackadaisical and fail to do a basic job of registering the domain name before making the announcement.

If you are a new business owner or just looking to set up a blog website, it is advisable to first identify the domain name registration company that offers service in India.

Earlier this year, several domain registrars including the popular company Namecheap, along with Dynadot, Tucows, Sarek and Gransy were blocked in India, as they failed to set up the grievance redressal officers as required under the IT Rules, 2021. And, also they failed to implement orders issued by local courts.

Some of the top domain registrars in India include:

1) GoDaddy

2) Google Domains

3) Domain India

4) Hostinger.in

5) Bluehost

6) BigRock

7) DreamHost

What is a domain name?

A domain name is an easy-to-remember unique identifier for people to search the name of a webpage or website on the internet. For instance, if we consider the recent 'Donate for Desh' goof-up episode, Congress should have got the 'donatefordesh.com', but failed.

Here's how to register a website name via domain registrars:

Once you pick the domain registrar, go to their website. It will offer the choice to pick the name of the website.

If you are lucky and the name is available, you will be offered several options with extensions--'.com' (ex: mydomainname.com), '.org '(mydomainname.org', and '.inc' (mydomainname.inc), '.app' (mydomainname.app) and '.in' (mydomainname.in).

These extensions are a very important part of the website and come at the end of the URL (Uniform Resource Locator). It should be noted that the domain name offered by the domain registrar will be linked with a unique internet protocol (IP) address so that whenever a user types just the website name on a browser or search engine app, it comes on top of the search results.

Domain name extension options offered on GoDaddy website.

Price range of domain names:

For each domain name extension, the price varies. For instance, on GoDaddy, a website name with '.app' (mydomainname.app) costs Rs 899.

For '.inc'(mydomainname.inc), it costs Rs 83,332.50.

For '.com' (mydomainname), it can cost around Rs 949 (MRP: Rs 1,299) per annum.

If you choose to have the website name with '.co'(mydomainname.co) extension, it will cost you around Rs 899.

If you are lucky, some extensions such as '.in' (mydomainname.in), '.biz' (mydomainname.biz), and '.net' (mydomainname.net) are offered for a nominal fee of Rs 1 or sometimes even free too.

And for popular names, it can run in to lakhs and crores. For instance, we tried to check for IndiaFunny.com domain name, it was priced Rs 3,32, 916.66 (one-time payment) and have to pay Rs 1,299 (annual premium payment)

Depending on the country you reside, there will be more extension options.

For Indiafunny.com domain name, it costs more than Rs 3.3 crore.

Key aspects you should know when buying a domain name:

The price quoted above is offered annually and has to be renewed every year. Some domain registrars offer multi-year contracts too. If you go for the annual plan, be sure to tick auto-renewal. If you fail to renew and lapse even for one day, the domain name will be back on the market for sale. So, either enter into to multi-year contract or set in auto-renewal by filing all credit card details and get it renewed on time every year.

If the website name you wish to own is already picked by another person or organisation, the domain registrar if available for negotiation, can put it up for auction and the highest bidder gets to keep the domain name.

Some domain registrar companies offer just the domain name and the owner has to design the website's layout and user interface. Tech-savvy users bank on free services of Wix, Odoo, and others.

Few domain registrar such as GoDaddy offers free website builder along with domain name. But, if you need more personalisation on the website page, it will cost you extra.

Once you make the payment, you will get the login credentials to the backend of the website. Then, you are free to add content and also add payment link (for donation) and do more on the website.

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