When creating a new website, you will need to purchase a domain name for your website. Many other web hosting or web design businesses offer domain registration as part of their service. They may even offer it for far less than what you would pay if you went through the proper channels.

However, I have found, in several instances, that upon registering your domain name for you, they (the host or designer) are actually registering it for you, but they own it. So, what does this mean? What this means is that the domain may be registered to you, but the ownership of the domain may not be yours. The problem doesn't manifest itself until you try to move your domain to a different web hosting service. That's when you discover that what you thought was yours really isn't.

I don't opperate that way. I won't offer to register your domain name for you because it's easy to do yourself and it ensures that you are the legal owner of said domain name. What I will do, however, is direct you to the most reliable sources for domain name registration. Currently, I only support Network Solutions and GoDaddy.

Network Solutions has been the standard go-to source for domain name registration. They have been around the longest and, in my opinion, are the most reliable means of registering your domain name. Their fee usually averages around $35.00 per year for a domain name, however they do run specials throughout the year and, of course, if you register for more than a single year, you can save additional money on your registration.

Another, more recent, addition to the domain registration business is GoDaddy.com. Although not as long-lived as Network Solutions, I have found that GoDaddy has become a very reliable means to purchasing and registering your domain name. GoDaddy also offers web hosting at reasonable rates — however, it's rather difficult to maneuver around their customer account interface and their hosting can have some limits... so I don't encourage using their hosting services.

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