This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Hey, hey, what's up? Chris Guillebeau here. One week until the money tree is out in the world. I am freaking out a little bit because there is so much to be done, but let's not talk about that right now. Let's talk about your questions.
It is the year of interaction, 2020. All year long, I'm taking your questions. In today's caller/today's listener is wondering about registering a domain. Now listen, there's no reason to not have your own domain these days. They are cheap and portable.
You don't wanna have to tell people to go to mysite.wordpress.com or blogspot.com/mylittleponyforever or whatever it may be. And this caller is wondering about the best way to register a domain. If you're like me, the bigger challenge is having too many because even though they're cheap, you do have to pay for them every year. I also wanna give a shout out to Castbox. I have been enjoying using their platform myself.
They are the best free podcast app with over 95 million volumes of content. Just a very intuitive, easy to use interface to access all kinds of podcasts. They're not actually our sponsor. I've just been enjoying using their platform. So check that out.
It's Castbox. Now here is an actual sponsor message, and then we'll talk about the best way to register domains. [Music]
Hey, Chris. This is Brad from Tampa. I've been a big fan of the show since I found it last year.
I'm getting closer to launching my side hustle, but I'm wondering what is the best way to register domains? I found a domain I wanted, and I went to register it on GoDaddy, but then I thought maybe I should go somewhere else. If I register it with one company, do I have to host my website there as well? What if I change my mind? Also, should I get the .com and the .org?
I see there are a bunch of other extensions as well. I don't wanna end up paying $150 a year for a domain with a bunch of extensions, but I also don't want someone else to take them. What should I do? Thanks, and I look forward to your response. [Music]
Hey, Brad, what's up?
Thank you so much for listening. Thank you for the question as well. I look forward to hearing about your side hustle and progress, and now here's a pretty short, easy answer. It honestly doesn't matter too much in terms of registering your domain at the company you mentioned or any other web host. For a .com, it shouldn't cost more than $15 a year.
Sometimes it can actually be less. Sometimes it could be $10, $8, $12, just somewhere in that range. Now, other domain extensions sometimes cost a bit more, so I'm glad you asked about that as well. My perspective is you don't need every extension. Well, in fact, it's impossible, or it's gonna be extremely expensive to have every extension, but even some of those other ones, I think if it's a project you're really invested in and you feel like you actually have a good domain for it, like it's a brand that you have invented and nobody has taken this before, then it might be good to get the .org in addition to the .com, maybe the .net, maybe something else, but really you don't have to worry about trying to get every extension because that is going to add up.
I think the main thing is a good .com goes a long way, so that's what I do these days. I don't really try to capture every single extension. And speaking of paying more every year, here's a tip for everyone who's like me. Regularly prune your domains. Go through, whether it is GoDaddy or some other account, and look at all the domains that you have registered because you are paying for them once a year, even if it's just $10, it adds up.
So when I say prune your domains, what I mean is if you once registered something that you thought was amazing, but then never did anything with, it's probably okay to let it go, right? It's probably okay to say, you know what, if I haven't done anything with this in seven years or whatever the case may be, I'm probably not gonna do anything with it now. So let it go. I will do that myself. I'll try to lead by example.
So thanks again, Brad. And listeners, if you've got a question of your own, just come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. We'll be featuring them throughout the year, along with updates from listeners as they launch their projects. I'll even give you an update about my project as I launch it next week. Thanks so much for listening.
This is Chris Guillebeau for Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
