Not GoDaddy.
They may be popular, but in the web world they have earned the nickname “SlowDaddy”.
I use to get all of my domains there because it was easy to get a coupon and buy domains for $1 each, but they started limiting the dollar domains to be customers and then jacking the price up for renewals.
Not only that, but they also nickel and dime on other services that are free elsewhere. Such as domain privacy, email forwarding and SSL certificates.
Their hosting is really slow and tech support is not helpful.
One time I had someone from their support team say they had no idea how to help me and I should just Google it.
No thank you.
My two favorites currently are Namecheap and Google Domains.
Namecheap
Namecheap, because they have good prices, free domain privacy and free email forwarding.
Google Domains
Google Domains is my second option because if you already have a Google account then it’s one less password to remember.
The both have free domain privacy and free email forwarding.
Domain Privacy
Whenever you register a domain name you give the registrar your contact information and money.
They take that contact information and put it in a file called a WHOIS record.
That record is then copied to servers all over the world for anyone to pull up and see.
If you put your home address or personal cell phone number on there then prepare to start getting phone calls and letters from people trying to trick you to give them money to save your domain because it’s about to expire.
When you activate domain privacy then your registrar will replace your contact information with theirs and if anyone wants to talk with you about your domain name they’ll have to go through them.
It’s worth buying, but it’s better to get for free when you can.
Email Forwarding
Seeing someone put an email address on their business website with @gmail.com, @yahoo.com or @aol.com looks tacky and unprofessional.
It gives off this vibe that you don’t really know what you’re doing.
At the very least you should set up an email forwarder that has your own domain name at the end and then have it send your messages to whatever email address you want.
Later you can set up actual email accounts with Google’s G Suite or some other email service.
It’s a small thing, but makes a big difference.