Sometimes the internet is confusing as hell.

For instance, remember when Beyonce dropped Lemonade in 2016 and we were all confused as to which Rachel was Becky with the Good Hair? All the bee emoji’s left under photos on Rachael Ray’s Instagram account instead of Rachel Roy was such a dark time. What can be just as perplexing is trying to figure out domains names. If you find yourself with a glazed stare when people talk about domains, then I’m here to help you out. Let me break it down for you, tell you what it is, and even give you a major tip that I seriously wish I knew when I started.

If you’re ready for this simple crash course to explain domains, then let’s go!

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A domain name is the name you type into your internet browser’s URL to visit a website. They are the words that come after ‘www’. With this site in particular, the domain is followmygut.com. Essentially, it is the way a person can find your website and all the content you create. It’s equally important to end your domain name with the proper suffix. I’m a big advocate of Bluehost and as an affiliate I encourage you to use them for your own site, because they’re awesome. With that, if you want to get a domain, you can sign up for one here by clicking here. When it comes to purchasing a domain alone through Bluehost, you can choose any of the options you think is best. Keep in mind, purchasing a domain with hosting (we’ll get to that one in a different post) offers the domain for free.

If you’re in the United States, the most common web domain suffix is ‘.com’ ($11.99 per year) followed by ‘.org’ ($8.99 per year), ‘.net’ ($12.99 per year), and ‘.co’ ($9.99 per year). Since ‘.com’ is the most common I would suggest going with that one, especially if it fits within your budget. Because your domain name is how people will visit your site, I really hope you take the creation of it seriously.

If you have the name you really like for your website and you’re ready to secure your domain, then you should search to see if it’s available. Whichever website you choose to purchase your domain from can also do a simple domain search for you. Skip Google and go direct to the place where you want to purchase it. Since I mentioned Bluehost before, you can check to see if your domain is available here. Type in your preferred name as you want it to appear and select the suffix you wish to have. In a matter of seconds, Bluehost will let you know whether your domain is available or not. If your domain is available, that means you came up with a name that no one else in the world has chosen and you can secure it for your preferred time. Go you!

If your domain isn’t available, then there is something you can do about that.

Here’s the thing: if someone has your domain and you really want it, then you can figure out who owns it and reach out to them. It’s a bit much and borders stalking but trust me it’s not. Figuring who owns a domain is different from seeing if your domain is available. In the search to see who owns a domain, you already know the domain name you’re looking for is unavailable. At this point, you want to know who has it. In particular, you’re looking for some sort of contact information so you can reach out to that person. Cross your fingers and pray that a name, phone number, email address, or even a physical address isn’t restricted or held private.

To find that kind of information there are a handful of websites to do the searching for you. I use WhoIs. Simply type in the website and in a matter of seconds you’ll be given the contact information for the website owner and purchase detail (i.e. purchase date of the domain and expiration). If the information is not listed it’s because the owner has Privacy Protection attached to their domain. Privacy Protection blocks the contact information of a domain owner from being viewed by another person. Ahem, you. However, if there is a phone number but it’s tied to a hosting company then you can call them and ask for the domain owner’s contact information or to have your contact information given to the domain owner. If the contact information is listed, you can reach out to the person to purchase the domain name if you really want it.

Watch Out for Domain Flipping

One thing to know when trying to purchase a domain that is unavailable is that you may run into domain flipping. It’s a type of “industry” where people buy potentially popular domain names, sit on them for months to years, and wait for someone to buy it from them. Once they do, they can increase the price drastically to make a profit. A popular instance of this was when Tramall Ferguson was offered upwards of $80,000 for the $10 domain he initially purchased: kanyeforpresident.com. While he didn’t sell it, he did have the chance to make an insane profit.

On a personal reference, about two years ago I tried to buy the domain GenerationFoodie.com and someone else had it. Even after multiple calls and emails the owner never responded. I say that to let you know there can be instances where you reach out to a domain flipper (or the person who owns the domain) and they give you a price or they never respond. In my case, I never got the domain.

But I also didn’t want it about 6 months later so I guess it all worked out.

There is a component to domain registration that I didn’t think about until it was too late and that’s: Parked Domains. A parked domain is a domain name that points to a different domain name. A simpler way to think about it is a parked domain is a website that directs people to a different website. A perfect example of this was my exact situation. When I first registered the domain, FollowMyGut.com, I also knew people may think of Follow Your Gut. What I should have done when I purchased the domain name FollowMyGut.com was to purchase the parked domain, FollowYourGut.com so if a person confused ‘my’ with ‘your’ in the name, they would still be transferred to my primary website. A parked domain is ideal if your domain name can be confused or spelled incorrectly and you want to alleviate a person going to the wrong website. While I wasn’t able to secure FollowYourGut.com as my own parked domain, I wish I knew to do it so another company wouldn’t have it today.

With that said, I want to emphasize that if you even somewhat think your domain name may be easily confused with another name or could be misspelled, park that domain and route it to your site. Doing that will be one regret you’ll never have.

Understanding what a domain name is, registering your domain name, and even seeing the importance of parked domains is good to have in your mind before you make the domain purchase. It’s essential to have a name you love and even crucial to find it online. With that, I hope this post helped you when it comes to all things domain related. When you find a few letters that come together perfectly to create the site name you love I hope you snag that domain name and keep it with you forever.