Setting up a website is an important task that deserves all the necessary attention and professionalism.
The domain name will be associated with your business for many years. Hence it is necessary to think long term to choose it from the point of view of brand image, context and cost. Because it is necessary for a leader to control his budget.
OVHcloud and Codeur.com offer the benchmarks for keeping your domain name up to date at a low cost.
Domain name cost, a criterion to be evaluated over many years
Reserving a domain name for its activity with a registrar (the company that manages the registration of domain names) is a cost that must be taken into account when establishing its communication over the Internet.
If this cost seems minimal for the first year, most registrars apply a much higher price during the renewal.
Actually, a domain name will be used for many years or even for the entire life of the company. That’s why it’s important to take this growth into account over time. And in the first year not to succumb to the sirens of very aggressive appealing prices.
An entrepreneur is there to grow his business, not to lose money. A domain name is an investment. As such, it should bring added value, not an unneeded expense.
OVHcloud stands out on this point and offers more competitive prices over the long term.
Domain name renewal, a must
When you reserve a domain name, you do not own it. It is used for a fixed period, which is chosen at the time of order. This period ranges from one to ten years.
By default, this upgrade is not automatic. So you have to do it before the end of the chosen period.
The consequences of forgetting to renew your domain name can be significant:
- greater access to your website and associated email addresses,
- loss of relationship with your customers and prospects,
- extra steps to recover it with a higher cost than refurbishment,
- Impact on your brand image.
domain name renewal reminder
Fortunately, registrars will notify you by email several weeks before the deadline.
For example, OVHcloud sends alert emails 60, 30, 15, 7 and 3 days before the due date.
automatic domain name renewal
Another solution is to subscribe to auto-renewal.
No worries about delays, but you need to make sure that you have registered a valid means of payment (for example, ensure your bank card has an expiration date).
Domain name, a reflection of your brand image on the web
The choice of a relevant domain name is a point that should be given a lot of attention.
Your domain name is an integral part of the image of your business on the web. This is often the first thing visitors to your site see, and often in search engine results.
It will also be in the emails you send and all of your communication channels such as social networks and paper documents.
The criteria for making the right choice are:
- rather short (maximum 30 characters, and preferably less than 15),
- easy to spell and pronounce (memorize, voice search),
- Easy to type (direct entry in the address bar of the Internet browser).
- Above all, it should be related to your company name, your activity or your brand. Visitors to your site should make sure they are in the right place, or risk seeing them go elsewhere.
Find our white paper to learn all about choosing and reserving your domain name.
Domain Name, an SEO Asset?
In terms of SEO, the presence of keywords in a domain name has little effect on positioning in search results (natural context).
This effect can also be negative if the domain name is made up of a series of keywords. Google, which has more than 90% market share in France, includes a filter to reduce the value of these keywords for natural context and thus significantly reduce their visibility of the site on the Internet.
In a global adaptation strategy to the natural context, the domain name brings little, if any, benefit.
To do this, you must focus on the relevance of the content of the pages on your site, both from the point of view of SEO and of interest to your readers.
Also read: SEO: 5 Steps To Change Domain Name Without Losing SEO
Things to remember to make the right choice over time
The financial investment for a domain name seems less compared to the overall budget when setting up a website. However, it is a post that deserves a lot of attention.
If you allow yourself to be seduced by very tempting offers in the first year the bill can add up over the years. Because these offers often hide large price increases for the following years.
On OVHcloud, you’ll find offers with prices specifically designed for the long term. Without the (bad) surprises for your budget.