Part 2: I Search, I Buy, I Conquer
It's time to get myself a virtual territory. It is indeed a very daunting task since I prefer to have a dot.com, not the other. Why dot.com? It's the most respectable yet valuable domain afterall. Just read the related articles on this issue and I believe, many of you will agree with me on this. Almost all good names have been purchased. Whatever it is, I still need to get myself one.
Why I prefer not to get a domain name for free like what has been offered by blogspot, angelfire, fotopages, geocities, or even tripod? To clear things out, what I actually get is a sub-domain. It is fine for a beginning but I hate to bombard this website with advertising such as banners, text link etc. as per members' agreement. Thus, the way is shut.
A 'com.my' is a good bargain but it is a 2nd level domain name. Alas, it is available only for business registered in Malaysia. Individual is not permitted. So, the story ended before it starts. At last, I found myself a good name. It may not sound that good for you but it is within my satisfaction. I decided to buy fitzheim.com and it's open for registration! Hooray!! This domain name has its own history but that's another story as well. Perhaps my schoolmates from MRSM Pengkalan Chepa batch 1993/1994 know about it somehow.
So then, a sounding domain name is found. What next? Register it, of course! Again, here comes another challenge--where to register? There are hundreds, even thousands of domain registrar available worldwide. Which one to choose? Previously, I used to buy domain names from GoDaddy. It's cheap and offer lots of package. During the good old days, each dot.com domain priced at USD$6.89 but currently, they offer at USD$9.99/year. This company, however, suffered from poor service and too many 'grey' area in their terms. Gradually, I put them in my ban list. Hey, don't shoot me! My justification is based on my own experience, not from their customers.
Then I moved on to NameCheap. Each domain name priced at USD$9.29/year against their old price; USD$8.88. Not too bad. Plus, they give you free one-year privacy protection. Even they allow their customers to transfer theirs with ease. I bought myself several domains from them. The management console is good and easy to familiarize. However, I refused to spend USD$9.29+USD$2.88 for renewal so there goes another company from my favourite list.
Few days ahead, I found another registrar that offers a very good price and bundled package. Here comes Name.com, another fully ICANN-accredited domain registrar. Currently selling at USD$5.99/year (renewal fee at USD$7.77) bundled with free privacy protection plus Google Apps Standard Edition, this kind of offer is hard to resist. The domain management tools quite confusing at first but I managed to familiarize it not long after that.
Since this is merely a personal website, I don't have the needs to tweak my domain setting to the extreme. Basic setup is more than enough.
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"I'm Assad. A commoner who designed and operate this website.