How to Get a Free Domain Name in 2021

How to Get a Free Domain Name

In this article, we are going to discuss how to get a free domain name in detail. Most people want to have their online presence current era of the internet boom.

Covid -19 bring this revolution with a fast face as most of us working from home and mostly saving the commute time that prevails us to utilize the time more efficiently.

So are you planning to start your web presence? It is a really good time to go ahead with the same? Best time to have a website?

Do you have an idea on how to start a website?. The very first stage in this process is finding and registering a domain name. Remember before even finding the domain name you need to decide on a niche.

What is a niche?

Do you have an idea of what is a niche? Not a big deal we will explain it to make it clear for you. The current era is of niche era which in general terms you can understand like specialization. In technical terms, you can say subject matter experts.

You have to select the subject in which you have good knowledge and keep sharing details about that subject on regular basis.

You have to be very careful at the starting itself in the selection of your niche. There is a niche of two categories one has a broad audience and the other may have less audience.

It is totally based upon your long-term goal in which niche you want to enter. I can share a proven and almost guaranteed kind niche with you which has a great probability of success if you work hard and maintain consistency with quality content.

Refer to this list of the top 15 niches for your authority website.

For those who have never done this before, it can be a bit challenging but it is quite easy to believe me it is just a matter of time once you become aware you can start guiding others.

It is exactly the same as starting anything new in your life apart from making a website.

There is too much on this but let us come to our main topic how to get a free domain name. So you might have already finalized your niche.

Like everything in life, you must have standards already been set here as well. Like, keep the domain name as short as you can be based on availability, not more than 15 words which must be easy to remember.

Users can easily remember. Also if possible include some main keywords in it.

For example, suppose your broad niche is related to housing and you want to start a website in renting a house website as a micro-niche you may select renthousing.com or so. Consider it after your setup completed and ready to go.

Google is dominating completely in the search sector you must be aware that more than 92% of searches happen globally via Google. If someone searches how to rent a house on google there is a high probability your website gets displayed on top.

SEO is a too huge topic we will not go too deep in SEO-related stuff especially in this article as we need to maintain the core idea of this article.

Avoid Traps with Free Offers 

The free world is too much confusing and often ended as nowhere. Quite often people who have a great sense of humor also get attracted even by knowing the fact that there is nothing free in this world.

“There is always a reason behind each and everything in the world. There is no good or bad reason as the same reason may be good for someone and bad for others. Each coin always has two faces either you realize it or not.“

If you simply google it you will find millions of options on how to get a free domain. It totally depends upon your requirement if you want to learn and test something it is always better to go with the free domain option as your objective is just learning and gather good knowledge in that space but if you have enough knowledge in space it is always recommended not to look for free domain options as it always comes with some kind of objective associated with it.

How To Get a Free Domain Name in 2021

Well as explained above both options is available free and paid. There are hundreds of domain registrar who have the license to sell the domain names but are not free they have to pay to the authorities.

So the matter is here how they can give you free?

• Free Domains with Hosting Plans

You can get free domains with some other services like web hosting. This is the only category recommended for a professional website. All the other options have major drawbacks. You will come to know once you read down.

• Free Sub-domains with Brands

You can get free domains or you can say sub-domains from many popular vendors like WordPress, Weebly, Wix, Blogspot, and many more. For example, you can refer to formats how it looks like.

In this case, the trap is that they will get free advertisers for them if your blog or website gets popular because of your content. So you end up their free promoters unknowingly.

wessitename.wordpress.com OR username.blogspot.com OR user.wixsite.com/websiteaddress

• Domain Registrar Ad Programs

you may find that few domain registrars sometimes offer to give you a free domain in exchange for running ads on your website. That`s their reason.

As I said no reason is right or wrong. There’s nothing wrong with it. I mean running their ads on your website because they are giving it free to you from their investment so they also need something from you instead of money.

But you won’t have any control over the ads and their placement in this model. This will give a bad experience to your website visitors and not good at all for your website SEO ranking.

For example, if your website got a million views? You will get nothing from those ads. All you get is a free domain.

• Free ccTLD Services

This kind of domains you can have from freenom.com.But these are not at all recommended for professional websites.

• .tk — Tokelau
• .ml — Mali
• .ga — Gabon
• .cf — Central African Republic
• .gq — Equatorial Guinea

So it is obvious as stated earlier nothing comes free. In case 1 objective is that they need to increase their client base and if they are confident about their services they will retain the client for a longer period.

If the customer is happy with their services they may exist longer as there is no end as long as a website exists. Do you sense their objective?

In another case, it will always have its brand name associated so it becomes almost impossible to make your own brand as another huge brand is already associated with it.

You can not establish authority which is not at all recommended apart from your testing objecting with the intention to learn or create any learning projects only.

Well, those who are providing any free domain name that will be also only for one year. Renewal is always costly as compared to the first-year cost.

This is because the domain name is not a free identity and it always attracts per year maintenance fees.

You can consider it as an offer from hosting vendors to get clients if they purchase any of their services based on the offer as stated above.

So as per our recommendations do not fall into the trap of free word itself. Nothing is free in that scenario what best you can do choose your vendors wisely and get a free domain with their hosting plans.

There are a few other specific items you need to see before booking hostings.No website gets popular so fast so you can start only with a shared hosting plan.

You can scale it with new requirements later unless you are already a big brand and have enough budget to scale it from starting by running huge campaigns which is not the case in 99% of cases.

Even though nowadays free plans also available to have SSL certificates. But if it is offered in your hosting plans it will be convenient for you and reduce your time to maintain certificates which are mandatory now to have.

Also, look for space and number of website options and a number of emails with a number of databases you can have.

So for a professional website, you have left with only one recommended choice how to get a free domain in 2021.

In that sector also there is a lot of competition. On daily basis, there are a number of hosting providers getting introduced on the internet.

There is no surety how long they will survive and have the risk of losing your content. It has been observed many fails as they expect immediate profit which is very rare as some struggle financially to keep it running due to operational cost.

A lot of cheaters scammers also creating their websites and pretending they are providing free domain names and hosting’s but actually they do not provide either domain or hosting.

They have malicious intent with their start itself. Many of them treat this as their strategy of e-mail marketing and they collect e-mails and sell it.

So considering all the scenarios and based on our experience, we will recommend one and only one service provider which is rated as reliable, trusted, and best web hosting providers.

You can go with them without any regret and reduce your tensions related to the web hosting part as it may create frustrations.

If you choose any wrong web hosting providers in terms of speed and security. It will be a pure white strategy and you can create your own brand and will have full control over it and fully owned by you.

How to Get a Free Domain Name from Bluehost

Bluehost is one of the best web hosting services providers and they offer you a free domain for one year. Apart from the domain, you will also get a free SSL certificate included.

This way basically, you will kill two main hurdle first free domains and second free SSL. Their basic plan includes 5 parked domains and 25 subdomains you can have.

Bluehost ranks first on our list of the best web hosting provider recommendations. When you opt for hosting with Bluehost, you’ll get a free domain and free SSL. 

Let us walk you through the step-by-step process of getting a free domain name with Bluehost.

Step 1: Go to Bluehost.com

First, you need to visit the Bluehost Website. When you are there, you will see many different menu navigation options. There are menus that say, “Domains.”DO NOT select the “Domains” page.

This is a common mistake done by visitors. The target is to get a domain name so this would seem like the right page to refer but if you take this path you will not get your domain for free.

Instead of domains go to the “Hosting” menu and select “Shared Hosting“. Bluehost offers three different types of web hostings services.

• Shared hosting
• VPS hosting
• Dedicated hosting

All kinds of hosting come with a free domain for one year. Shared hosting is the best option for most people as explained earlier. This is especially true if you’re starting a website from scratch.

The other hosting types are more expensive and provide resources you likely won’t need right now and end up wasting your resources as initially, you can not expect more traffic.

Step 2: Select a Bluehost Shared Web Hosting Plan

Now you need to choose a hosting plan you need. Bluehost has come up with four different shared hosting plans. 

Step 3: Quick Overview of Bluehost Shared Hosting Plans

A quick overview of the features and benefits of each plan to help you decide which one is the best for your website.

Basic

• You can host ONE Website
• 50 GB of Disk Space
• Unmetered Bandwidth
• Free SSL Certificate
• 5 Parked Domains and 25 Subdomains

Plus

• You can host UNLIMITED Websites
• UNLIMITED Disk space
• UNLIMITED Parked & Subdomains
• Spam Protection
• Office 365 Mailbox free for 30 days

Choice Plus

• UNLIMITED Websites
• UNLIMITED Disk Space
• Domain Privacy and Protection
• Site Backup – CodeGuard Basic

Pro

• UNLIMITED Websites
• UNLIMITED Storage
• 2 Spam experts
• High performance
• Dedicated IP

A basic plan is sufficient for most of the people who are just starting. You always have the option to scale so it is advised to start with the basic plan only. While scaling again, you’ll get a free domain name for one year regardless of the plan you choose.

Step 4: Choose a Domain Name

What you can do here differently use the best free domain name checker tool and get confirmation about the domain name availability to save time and clarity on what domain name you are going to have as discussed above after considering all the domain names requirement.

So once you select a hosting plan you will be landing on the domain name selection page that time you already have a domain name you need not end up getting an unwanted domain name compared to researched one. 

You’ll have three options to explore. As stated above if you have already done your research for the right domain name you can create a new domain name.

Please keep domain name research confidential to avoid getting stolen.

• Create a new domain
• Use an existing domain (if you already have one)
• Create a domain later

Bluehost offers domains with different extensions. All the domain extensions associated with their own usage. Please consider taking a domain that is relevant to your requirement. dotcom is most widely used for commercial purposes.

• .com
• .online
• .site
• .webspace
• .space
• .tech
• .store
• .blog
• .net
• .org
• .info
• .co
• .biz
• .us
• .club

You will get here for free so go for a dotcom only. There are two reasons why people get an alternative domain extension is a price and availability.

Some domain extensions might be cheaper as compared to dotcom as said go with dotcom only. Keeping Price aside for sometime dotcom domains will be always better for the long-term success of your website.

Another reason why people consider an alternative extension is if the dotcom domain is not available.

For example, if you need to create a domain using webseofox.com, Bluehost will give you this domain is already taken and not available for sale.

Always better not to use the alternative extension better to start with new dotcom which is what I already recommended to do research for the domain name and keep it confidential with you so you can use it while registering for getting web hosting.

Step 5: Create Your Account

Next step you will be prompted to create your account. The account creation is straightforward but mandatory stuff you can not have hosting without creating an account.

Simply fill out the form fields with the required information. This is all pretty standard stuff. You’ll be asked to fill out the same information on most of the checkout pages of nearly all websites used for billing and identification purpose.

Step 6: Choose Your Billing Terms

You will be landing on selecting your plan. Bluehost offers web hosting for 12, 24, and 36-month contracts. The price varies based on your term length.

The 3-year plan will be the cheapest. Cheaper in case of longer tenure you can feel you are getting advantage of an advance payment.

Also, renewals of the plans will be costly so it is wise to go for a longer plan if affordable and less tension of renewals for a longer period of time.

These are the price points for the entry-level Bluehost shared plan

• Basic 12 month — $5.95 per month ($71.40 total)
• Basic 24 month — $4.95 per month ($118.80 total)
• Basic 36 month — $3.95 per month ($142.20 total)

Step 7: Select Add-Ons (Your Choice -Optional)

Before entering your payment details and finalize the contract, Bluehost has a handful of extras offers that you might want to consider.

Get Domain Privacy and Protection. Without it, your personal information will be listed on a public database. Deselect it if you do not bother about displaying your name with the domain.

This includes your all details like name, phone number, mailing address, and email address. So anyone, including spammers, can access it.

With domain privacy and protection, this information can be hidden from public view.

Every other add-on is optional. You could also opt-in for CodeGuard Basic. It handles things like daily backups, automatic monitoring, and one-click version restores.

These features are available through other methods as well, such as WordPress plugins. So don’t feel pressured to get it now.

SiteLock Security Essential is another popular add-on. It covers added malware protection, blacklist monitoring, automated malware removal, file-level scanning, and things like that.

Again, you could always get this extra security at a later time using a plugin or another service.

The final step is entering your payment details. Bluehost lets you pay with a credit card (VISA, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express) or via PayPal.

Once you agree to the terms of service, your hosting account will be set up, and you’ll have a free domain name for one year.

Bluehost has a 30-day money-back guarantee. So you can get a full refund on your hosting costs if you change your mind during that time.

Conclusion

Bluehost is the best way to get a free domain name. So get a basic web hosting plan from Bluehost and have a free domain for one year with SSL included.

There are many other ways how you can get a free domain as discussed earlier but personally, I do not recommend any other method if someone wants to build a professional website.

You can only if you are at the learning stage you can use any platform as mentioned earlier for any of your projects. Suitable only for students or learners.

If you’re considering getting a free domain using a random country code from any island maybe because of the promotion for some less wealthy countries like South Pacific.

I personally don’t advise doing it as it is not all about just creating a website. As I said earlier you also might be created with at least some goal.

So finally I advise you to stick with Bluehost, or check out similar offers from any other web hosting providers and compare their services and decide what is best for you.

I bet the advised option here is the best in the industry and its category goes for a long tenure to minimize cost and free of tension from domain and hosting point of view as you have to do much more after website creation for making people reach it.