Now it's time to purchase your first domain! How exciting is that? Before you purchase, here's a few things to consider.

Domain Basics & Costs

  1. Domains cost roughly $10 to $15 a year. We recommend using www.namecheap.com - they are reasonably priced, the back-end is easy to use, and our business domains are also hosted there.

  2. Domains ending in .com are the most common. Canadian domains end in .ca. If you are Canadian, we recommend you get both. You never know what people will try to type in.

  3. Domain registration, ownership, and renewals is 100% up to each client! Brixwork does NOT manage the domain purchase nor renewals for you, as it's your intellectual property. Your accountant wouldn't have your debit card pin # - it's the same dynamic.

  4. We are not responsible for your website/email going down if you fail to renew your domain each year. Most domain providers have an annual renewal cycle, so it's up to you to keep your credit card on their platforms up-to-date, with auto-renewal turned on. 

 

Picking A Domain Name

A domain name is like your address book on the web, so it must be carefully picked. Note that you can have multiple domains. Here's some things to consider:

  1. We always recommend that you have your own name domain - it always comes in handy.

  2. Having multiple domains point to one destination is an option. i.e. having a .ca domain point to your .com domain as well.

  3. If somebody else has already taken the domain, it is most likely unavailable. Even if you feel you have intellectual property rights over a taken domain, reclaiming domains through intellectual property claims is lengthy, expensive and not always guaranteed. You're better off coming up with another clever domain.

  4. If your name is too common, you can variate it to fit your business. For example, Susan Smith could take a domain called susansmithhomes.com, or susansmithrealty.com. Many people will aim to search you by means of Google searches anyway if your name is too common anyway, so ensure that your bio page has the right data.

  5. The shortness of a domain is greatly overrated! It's better to have a longer but easy to remember domain. Remembering a short 4 letter acronym that means nothing unless the words are memorized is much more difficult than just remembering susan smith real estate.com.

  6. That being said, don't use words that are too difficult to spell or remember! For example "Susan Smith Immoveables.ca" A lot of people are bound to misspell "immoveables". Make it simple yet memorable.

 

Purchasing your First Domain Name!

Here we go finally! Once you have a few domain name options, the next step is to see what's actually available for you and start purchasing. 

  1. Go to www.namecheap.com.

  2. Start searching for domains.

  3. When you picked one (or more) domains you like, proceed to check out.

  4. The primary domain you wish to use should be forward to us by a DNS pointer. Click here for a guide by namecheap on how to do it.
    The servers should point to ns1.sonika.ca, and ns2.sonika.ca (you need two name servers).


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