Creating a website is not enough to have a web presence. You must also find a place where you can host your website. Example: http://www.monsite.fr. To do this, you need to buy a domain, which is what we like to call the virtual address of your company, on the web! In this article, we will teach you how to check if it is available (because yes, as on a physical land there cannot be 2 houses in exactly the same place) and also show you how to buy it!

1. What is a domain name?

A domain name is the numerical address of your website. For example, at Digidop, our domain name is digidop.fr. This domain name is unique. This address allows us to host the code of our web site and therefore our customers, partners, or readers, like you today, to access our content! Now comes the question... But where to buy a domain name safely?

1.1 Platforms for buying a domain name

There are many platforms that allow you to buy and host your domain name. Domain names have a cost to purchase and then an annual cost for hosting. Here is an example of some of the platforms that offer this service:

• Google Domain ( our favourite tool, the easiest to use with the best value for money ❤️)
• OVH cloud
• Ghandi.net
• Ionos
• Wix

⚠️ Some domain names can be more expensive than others. Why? Because it is possible to resell or transfer a name. So there is a speculative market on some domain names that have good marketing / product commercialization potential

2. How to choose and buy a domain name on Google?

You think you have found the perfect domain name? Here are the 2 steps to follow to check its availability and get your domain name.

2.1 Checking the availability of your domain name

URIs are unique. No two domain names can have the same name. The first thing to do is to check the availability of your domain name.

Follow these 3 steps to easily test the availability of your domain for free!

1. Go to Google Domains
2. Enter your domain name in the search bar
3. Click on check

You can check the availability of your domain name under different "levels". Here are some examples of levels: .com; .fr; .eu; etc....

If the domain name is not available, a grey information icon will appear.

2.2 Buying a domain name

Once you have checked its availability, you can now purchase your new domain name.

1. Select your domain level (Example: ".fr")
2. Click on "add to cart".
3. Click on "View cart".
4. Click on Pay

And that's it, you have bought your domain name! You own it and all you have to do is connect and register your website with the DNS parameters to give it life on search engines like Google.

Conclusion about buying web hosting

It is compulsory to buy a domain name in order to host your website and make it visible on the internet. A domain name is like a physical office address for a company. To buy a domain name there are several platforms, the one we prefer and recommend is Google Domain because it offers the best quality/price ratio: simple, secure and fast. In addition, Google can help you for free.

You can now connect your webflow project to your domain name!