For those who don’t know which country these domains belong to…

.ly is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Libya. Wiki link

.li is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Liechtenstein. Wiki Link

My hunt for a registrar started. I usually register domains with Indialinks or GoDaddy but none of these registered a .li domain. I asked aalaap and also did a google search and found a couple of sites like

• Netim
• Webnic
• 101domain
• EuropeRegistry
• Marcaria
• Domainr
• AfricanRegistry

Switch - Official Registrar for .li and .ch Domains

The prices on all these sites varied from 16 USD at Netim to 100USD at 101domains. Luckily on the wiki page for .li Switch was mentioned as the official registrar… I was surprised that the price was not as high i had expected.

They had two options Switch Basic for 17CHF [15USD] and Switch Guard for 34CHF [30USD]. In 10 minutes i was able to register the domain and pay for it.

One thing which i would have liked was registering for multiple years. At the moment i noticed that max you could register was for 2 years on some sites.

Anyways it took me a couple of days but i think i got a good domain at a fantastic price!

Some previous related articles

Domain name Woes & some Fantastic prefix/suffix!

How-To Kick Start your own website

To calculate price in your currency head here Price Converter

Cheers!

• Domain Name

  Do you know what you want your website to be called? Figure it out first and then check if that name is present or not. Most of the domains are gone so it mite take a while before you finalize the domain name you want.Go for a .COM domain if not then a .IN but choice is your there are lot of exotic domain extensions available like .ME, .Asia, .CH and so on for every country in this world.

  It would cost any where between 10USD for a .COM to 15USD for a .IN to 100+USD for the exotic domain extensions.

  You can register your domains at  one of the million websites offering you the service but i prefer indialinks or godaddy or yahoo domains.

  To know about all the top level extensions available Click here or here

• Hosting

  Once you register a domain name comes the task of giving it a home or host it on one of the millions of websites which offer these services. Again every hosting company will also allow you to buy your domain and most of the times for FREE if you host it with them.

  You have two types of hosting Windows Server and Linux Server. You will have to go for Linux which is cheap (since linux servers have all open source software where as Windows servers need all licensed software)

  Hosting can cost you from 6USD/Month to NNNUSD/Month. Every hosting company has a return money back policy if you are not satisfied.

Once  you are done with buying your Domain name and hosting it you are good to go!

One piece of advice host your mail@domain with Google. Its free, gives you 6GB space, its fantastic and has the same GMail interface. [Click here]

Some companies which offer the above services

• Indialinks
• GoDaddy
• MediaTemple

Have i missed anything here? If you are using any hosting service and happy with it Please comment about it along with the link. Thanks

Click here for all the free Open Source Software for your website.

Cheers!

I have used various tools provided by domain registering websites but never have they come up with a good or close match to what i wanted.

The worst was when .me registration begin within hours anything and everything you can think of was gone!

90% of them are squatters. I doubt i will see any .me website coming up soon. So.me people who would/could really do wonders with that particular domain and would add value to their idea are left high and dry.

But the search goes on I still go and look for domains for my ideas and register them. Most of the times i am not lucky and have to come up with innovative ways to add some prefix/suffix and still have a cool domain.

I found this very interesting link “200 Prefixes and Suffixes for Domain Names” do check it up maybe it will ease the time to come up with a fantastic domain.

One piece of advice go and book yourname.com (or any extention available) domains asap before someone else does. I am regretting not registering kunalsheth.com. Sooner or later it will help. If nothing else you can put up your resume or start a blog.

Some tips are available here “12 Rules for Choosing Domain Names“.

Some sites where you can search and register your domain for cheap.

• indialinks
• godaddy

Some cheap hosting companies

• Dreamhost (will update more later)

Till later

Cheers!