Simply put, registration is the act of buying a domain name, and it’s pretty easy to do. First visit a domain registrar’s website and use the available search tools to make sure the name you want is available. Then, you pay a fee to reserve your rights to the domain, which information is kept on file.

As part of the registration process, you will be asked if you want to host your domain with the registrar or somewhere else, or if you want to merely “park” it. (Parking is the act of reserving a name, without attaching it to an actual website, and is often done by resellers – people who make their living buying and selling domain names.)

Even people who have owned, or currently own domain names can be uncertain about which domain name registrar to use, and for the Internet newbie making a choice can be extremely confusing. Asking friends which registrar they use is always a good idea, but so is reading reviews on the Internet. Sites like regselect.com and domainsbot.com offer ratings of most of the popular registrars, and some of that information is provided here.

BulkRegister:

Seventh most frequently used domain registrar, BulkRegister charges $12/year no matter what the length of registration is. Renewals and transfers from other registrars are charged the same rate. Because they specialize in bulk registrations, they also offer a special deal: For a one-time membership fee of $99 (currently on special at $49), those who register 50 or more domain names a month get a discounted fee of $10/year.

DirectNIC:

Coming in at number eight in market share, DirectNIC charges $15/year for new, renewed, or transferred registrations in all the top level domains. As well, with this domain registrar, affiliate programs are available – those who join can earn $0.50 to $2.00 per registration referred via a banner on their own site. This registrar also offers a SSL (secure socket layer) package, useful for web commerce.

DotRegistrar:

While they are primarily geared toward domain name resellers and other bulk purchasers, DotRegistrar, which is at number nine on the top ten list, also offers individual registrations, beginning at $15.99/year for new domains. They offer webhosting as well, for $5.99/month or $59.99 / year, and also offer a monitoring service which emails the domain owner whenever key registration information changes (but only for domains registered with them, of course.)

Dotster:

At the bottom of the top ten is Dotster, which charges $15/year for new or renewing registrations, but offers a discount on transfers from time to time. They also offer free domain parking, offer packages which include email and webhosting.

Enom.com:

Number six on our market share list is Enom.com, which is pricey, at $29.95/year for most of the TLDs, though their fine print states that this includes DNS and email services, for which most of the other domain name registrars require an extra fee. They do not offer a discount for transfers, but do add the new time to the existing registration period, rather than causing paid-for time to be lost.

GoDaddy:

Probably best remembered for their cheesy television commercials, GoDaddy.com is known for being a cheap domain name registrar. With their $8.95/year registration fee for TLDs (and periodic specials like their current $1.99 registration with any non registration service) they are certainly the least expensive on our list, though they are only at number five on the market share list. They also offer a discounted fee of $6.95/year for transferred .com registrations, as well as hosting packages and email services.

Network Solutions:

Though their customer service ratings are often at the bottom on rating sites, Network Solutions commands the top spot in the registration market share, probably because they were the ONLY domain registrar for many years. They are not cheap – registration with them costs $29.95 for the first year – but they offer discounts for multi-year registrations which help to offset their one-year fee. As well, they have a full catalogue of hosting, email, traffic, and even web design services.

Register.com:

Number three on the market share top-ten list, Register.com does not make their price list easily accessible, though all their registrations come with a starter website, and basic email, as well as 24/7 customer support. Their base price is $24.95/year, but they also run frequent specials for lower prices or complete registration and hosting packages.

Tucows:

Last on the alphabetic list, but 2nd in terms of market share, is Tucows, which is really a shareware software site that also offers hosting and registration through Domain Direct. Their registration for just a domain name is $14.95/year, but for $34.95/year they’ll include email service, and for $99/year you will get a website ready for blogging.

But Which Registrar is Best?

In truth, all nine of these companies offer roughly the same services, packaged differently. If you are a reseller, interested only in parking a domain (having the domain not attached to a website), consider choosing a cheap domain name registrar. Conversely, the best domain registrar to choose if you are new to the ‘net, is one with extensive help and customer support. And be assured, if for some reason you don’t like your initial domain name registrar, you can always transfer to a different one.