When you’re looking for a domain, a cursory Google will soon lead you into the arms of Go Daddy. Founded in 1997 they are now the world’s largest domain registrar, and they can offer you a lot of other services too.

Before we start, let’s get one thing clear. I’ve only ever used Go Daddy to buy domains. I can’t speak for their other services, but there’s probably a reason they’re the biggest.

There are two ways to buy a domain through Go Daddy. If you happen to know precisely which domain you want, use the easy search box on their homepage and cross your fingers that it’s available. If not, you’ll be presented with a number of alternatives including other extensions or similar names. The similar names usually consist of putting “best” or “4u” on either end of the original search term but they try their best.

The other, potentially more expensive option is to buy at auction. Go Daddy auctions list hundreds, if not thousands, of domains at any one time and you can search by keyword, extension, price, among other things. For example if you want a short catchy name for a site that’s something to do with beds, search for “bed” as your keyword and limit the characters to 6. As with most auction sites some listings allow you to bid, some to “buy it now”, and some to do both. It’s down to you to know your maximum spend and not get carried away (easier said than done).

If buying an expired domain at auction, bear in mind that after “winning” the original owner will still have a few days grace period to reactivate the domain so you won’t get your paws on it immediately.  Thankfully the previous owner of websiteologist.com declined to do so.

Once you’ve found your dream domain(s), their checkout process is reasonably straightforward even for non-members.

A big advantage of using Go Daddy are their seemingly constant sales. Every week, or so it seems, you’ll recieve a new code for 20% off your next order, or 30% off a .com. This is the primary reason for me and my man owning about 10,000 (slight exaggeration) domains that we have no idea what to do with, but one day they’ll make us rich…maybe.