---
title: "How to Choose and Buy a Domain Name? A Guide to Extensions, Registration and DNS Connection for an E-Commerce Site"
description: "How do you choose and buy a domain name? Covers the 8 criteria for e-commerce, choosing between .com and .com.tr, registration steps, DNS connection, renewal and security, step by step."
url: https://www.faprika.com/en/blog/how-to-choose-and-buy-a-domain-name-a-guide-to-extensions
language: en
site: Faprika
---

# How to Choose and Buy a Domain Name? A Guide to Extensions, Registration and DNS Connection for an E-Commerce Site

> How do you choose and buy a domain name? Covers the 8 criteria for e-commerce, choosing between .com and .com.tr, registration steps, DNS connection, renewal and security, step by step.

When you decide to build an e-commerce site, the first concrete step you take is often to find a name and register it on the internet. **How do you choose a domain name?** The question looks innocent, but the name you pick stays with you for years in your ads, your emails, on your packages and in your customers' minds, and changing it later is both expensive and a risk to your search engine history.

In this guide we explain, step by step, what a domain name is, how it differs from hosting, the 8 criteria of a good domain name, how to choose an extension, how to register a domain name, how to connect it to your e-commerce platform with DNS, the renewal and security rules, and the most common mistakes. With the tool in the article you can check your candidate domain names right away, and with the checklist at the end you can confirm your choice.

Key Takeaway

“A good domain name ties your brand to a short address that is spelled correctly and remembered. Instead of stuffing in keywords, choose a name that can become a brand, because once an address has spread, changing it is one of the hardest decisions.”

## What Is a Domain Name?

A domain name is the readable address by which a website is reached on the internet; it turns the numeric IP address that computers use into a name people can remember. When a customer types "www.markaniz.com", the DNS system directs that name to the address of the server where your site is located.

Once a domain name is registered, it is rented to you for a set period: you do not own it, you hold the right to use it, and you must renew it before the term ends. This difference will be decisive in the renewal and security sections.

*Görsel: The parts of a web address: protocol, subdomain, the brand's name part, extension and page path (A web address consists of five parts; the domain name is the name part together with the extension.)*

We recommend reading

What Is a Domain? (Glossary)

## Are the Domain Name, Hosting and Site Address the Same Thing?

No. The domain name is your site's address, hosting is the server where the site's files and data are kept, and the SSL certificate is the security layer that encrypts the connection. The three work together but can be bought separately and managed separately.

| Concept | What is it for? | Analogy | Who provides it? |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Domain name | The site's address on the internet | The store's street address | Domain registrar |
| Hosting / server | Where the site's files and data are kept | The store itself, the building | A hosting company or an e-commerce platform |
| DNS | Records that point the address to the server | Directions to the address, a signpost | A registrar or a DNS provider |
| SSL certificate | Encrypts the connection and shows the padlock icon | The store's security door | Hosting company or e-commerce platform |

This distinction matters in practice: you can buy your domain name from one company and host your site on another platform; to do so, you point the domain's DNS records to the values your platform provides. We have also explained the concept of hosting separately.

Okumanızı öneririz

Hosting Nedir? Ne İşe Yarar?

## E-Commerce Domain Name: Why Is It So Important?

In e-commerce, the domain name is one of the first signs by which a customer decides whether to trust you, and it is your brand's permanent identity on the internet. A name that is long, complicated or similar to a competitor's brand damages trust at first glance.

- **Trust:** A short, professional address that fits the brand gives the customer the impression of "a real store"; addresses with odd extensions or full of digits raise suspicion.
- **Memorability:** When a customer can type the address correctly the first time, direct visits and repeat purchases increase.
- **Permanence:** Links, catalogs, ad accounts, marketplace store profiles and search engine history are all tied to this address.
- **Email:** Email addresses tied to your domain, such as info@markaniz.com, look far more trustworthy than free email addresses.
- **Search engines:** A keyword in the domain name does not by itself bring rankings; what really counts is the quality of the content, the site's credibility and brand recognition. So choosing a name that can become a brand is more sensible than stuffing the domain with keywords.

## The 8 Criteria of a Good Domain Name

A good domain name is short, easy to say and type, free of hyphens and digits, consistent with the brand, free of conflict with anyone else's trademark, and one that lets you grow over the long term. Apply the 8 criteria below to your candidate names one by one.

*Görsel: The 8 criteria of a good domain name: short, easy to say, free of hyphens and digits, fits the brand, the right extension, no trademark conflict, fits social media, and a clean history (Evaluate domain name candidates against the 8 criteria.)*

### 1. Keep it short and memorable

The shorter the name, the lower the chance of typos and of being forgotten. Aim for names that are easy to type on a mobile keyboard and readable at a glance; very long phrases are both mistyped and too big to fit in ad spaces.

### 2. Make it easy to say and spelled only one way

Choose a name that the other person can write without hesitation when you say it on the phone or face to face. Names with two different spellings, such as "Kafe" and "cafe", or names that repeat a letter, can send the customer to the wrong site.

### 3. Do not use hyphens or digits

Hyphens and digits cause trouble when spoken aloud ("hyphen or dash?", "4 or four?") and make the address look like an ordinary commercial site. Do not use them unless they are genuinely part of your brand.

### 4. Avoid Turkish characters

Characters such as Ç, ğ, ı, ö, ş and ü can be used in some extensions with special encoding (punycode); however, links, emails and some systems may display these addresses broken or not accept them at all. Your customers also type the address without Turkish characters on the keyboard, so a plain name without Turkish characters is safer.

### 5. Make it fit your brand and your business

The address should suit what you sell and your brand, but should not be tied too closely to a product. If you sell only shoes today and plan to sell bags later, a narrow domain name containing a product name will limit you.

### 6. Do not let it clash with anyone else's trademark

A domain name that resembles or contains a registered trademark can lead to a legal dispute and to the domain name being taken from you. Check the name you choose in advance in trademark registers and in a search engine.

### 7. Make it consistent with social media and marketplace names

Being able to use the same name on social media accounts and in your marketplace store name keeps your brand consistent. Before you buy the domain name, check whether these usernames are available too.

### 8. Make sure it has a clean history

A domain name that has been used by someone else before (second-hand) may carry spam links, penalties or a bad reputation left over from the previous owner. Check the history of a name that appears to be available using archive and search engine records.

Tip

Put your candidate names through the "say it over the phone" test

Say your candidate names to a friend over the phone and ask them to write them down. If they cannot write it without errors, your customer cannot either. Every wrong letter means opening a competitor's page or a page that does not exist at all.

## Domain Name Candidate Checker

The tool below instantly checks the basic criteria of the domain name you type, such as length, hyphens, digits and Turkish characters. The tool looks only at spelling criteria; you need to check availability and trademark rights separately.

Domain name candidate checker

Domain name candidate (example: ornekmagaza.com)

Length of the name part**11**

Extension**.com**

Criteria result**5 / 5**

The name is short and contains no hyphens, digits or Turkish characters; it looks suitable by the spelling criteria. Check availability and trademark rights separately.

## How Do You Choose a Domain Extension (.com, .com.tr, .net)?

If your target audience is in Turkey, .com and .com.tr are the safest and best-known options; if you will also sell abroad, .com usually carries more international trust. Less familiar extensions (such as .shop, .store, .online) can be cheap, but customers recalling your address may add ".com" and end up on the wrong site.

| Extension | Strength | Point to watch | Best suited for |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| .com | The best-known and most trusted extension; valid internationally | Good names may already be taken | Any e-commerce site, especially those expanding abroad |
| .com.tr | Signals a Turkish identity and builds trust with a local audience | May look unfamiliar to customers abroad | Those selling only or mainly in Turkey |
| .net | A well-known alternative | Customers often type it with ".com" | When .com is unavailable and you can express your brand well |
| .shop, .store and other new extensions | Describes the business directly; easy to find an available name | Less recognized; customers may type the wrong extension | As an additional or campaign address |

Some of the extensions under .tr, the Turkish domain extension, are registered without documents and some require them. According to Faprika's domain training, documents are no longer required for .com.tr; extensions reserved for institutions and professional groups (for example those allocated to government or educational bodies) do require documents. Because current conditions can change over time, check the registry's rules at the time of registration.

We recommend reading

Documents Required for .com.tr Domains

There is one more practice: when you register your main domain as .com or .com.tr, you can also register similarly spelled names and extension variants (for example .com and .com.tr together) to protect your brand. Remember to redirect the additional domains to the main site; otherwise they look like two separate sites.

## How to Get a Domain Name: Step-by-Step Registration

Getting a domain name consists of checking availability, applying through a domain registrar and completing the payment; the important part is doing it in your company's name and with correct details. The process is usually completed within the same day.

*Görsel: Steps to register a domain name: preparing a candidate list, checking availability, checking the trademark, choosing a registrar, entering owner details, payment with the term and auto-renewal, and security settings (The 7 steps of getting a domain name.)*

1. **Prepare a shortlist:** Write down at least 5–10 candidates. Your first choice may be unavailable; keep backups.
2. **Check availability:** Check the candidate names and extensions in the domain registrar's search tool.
3. **Check brand and reputation:** Make sure the name does not conflict with someone else's registered trademark and that its history is clean.
4. **Choose a registrar:** Look not only at the first-year price but also at the renewal price, the DNS management panel, ease of transfer, support quality and notifications.
5. **Enter owner details correctly:** Register the domain in your company's name with a permanent administrator email; a domain registered in an individual's name becomes a problem when that person leaves.
6. **Set the term and automatic renewal:** If possible, register for several years and turn on automatic renewal.
7. **Enable security:** Add two-step verification to the account and keep the domain transfer lock on.

Tip

A domain name belongs to the company, not to an employee

Do not leave the domain in the account of the developer, agency or employee who ordered it. The registration account should be opened with a company email, and the access details should be held by at least two authorized people. Losing the domain has the same consequence as losing the site.

## How Do You Connect a Domain to Your E-Commerce Site? (DNS)

To connect a domain to an e-commerce platform, you point the domain's DNS records to the values the platform provides: either you change the domain's nameservers to the platform's servers, or you add an A or CNAME record pointing the address to the server. Your platform tells you which of the two methods to use.

*Görsel: Connecting a domain name to the e-commerce site: the customer types the address into the browser, DNS translates the address into the server's IP address, and the server delivers the site over SSL (Through DNS, the domain name reaches the e-commerce server and the SSL connection.)*

| Method | What is done? | When is it preferred? |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Nameserver change | The domain's nameservers are replaced with the servers the platform provides | When the platform also handles DNS management; everything is connected in a single step |
| A / CNAME record | A record pointing the domain to the server is added in the existing DNS panel | When your email or other services will stay on the existing DNS |

1. **Get the connection values from the platform:** Find out which nameservers or records to enter from your platform's support or admin page.
2. **Log in to the registrar's panel:** Open the DNS or nameserver management section.
3. **Enter the values and save:** Type the nameserver or A/CNAME values without errors.
4. **Wait for propagation:** A DNS change can take from a few hours to a day or two to spread worldwide; during this time some visitors may still see the old address.
5. **Verify the site and SSL:** Check that the address opens, the padlock icon is present, and both the www and non-www versions go to the right place.

For customers connecting to the Faprika e-commerce platform, a step-by-step guide to the nameserver change is included in the training pages. If you still see the old page on your own computer after a DNS change, you may need to clear your computer's DNS cache.

We recommend reading

How Can I Change a Domain's Nameservers?

We recommend reading

How to Clear the DNS Cache?

## With www or Without? Which Should You Choose?

Either can work; what matters is choosing one as the main address and permanently redirecting the other to it. Otherwise search engines count the same site as two separate addresses, and the strength of links and content is split in two.

- **Choose a single version:** "www.yourbrand.com" or "yourbrand.com"; whichever you choose, use it in all ads, emails and links.
- **Permanently redirect the other one:** The other version should go to the main address with a 301 (permanent) redirect.
- **Give the canonical address consistently:** The pages' canonical tag should point to the version you chose.
- **Redirect http to https:** The insecure version should permanently go to the secure version.

## How Do You Manage Domain Renewal and Security?

Because a domain name is leased for a fixed period, if it is not renewed you can lose your site, your email and your search engine history together. Managing the renewal date and the security of the registrar account is as important as getting the domain.

- **Turn on automatic renewal:** An expired card or a missed notification email can take the site offline.
- **Send notifications to the administrator email:** Not to an individual's email, but to an address that several people see.
- **Add it to the calendar:** Put the renewal date in the company calendar and set a reminder a month ahead.
- **Use two-step verification:** If the registrar account is taken over, the domain can be taken over too.
- **Keep the transfer lock on:** The lock prevents unauthorized transfers; a newly registered domain usually cannot be transferred in its first days, which is normal.
- **Keep owner details up to date:** An old email or a wrong company name makes it harder to prove ownership in a dispute.

## Why Does a Domain-Based Email Matter?

Order confirmations, invoices and support correspondence sent to customers should come in your brand's name; for this reason, addresses tied to your domain, such as info@yourbrand.com, should be used instead of free email addresses. It builds trust and also helps reduce the chance of emails landing in the spam folder.

For emails to arrive reliably, email authentication records (SPF, DKIM and DMARC) are set up for the domain; they prove to receiving servers that the sender really is your domain. The values for these records are obtained from the company providing the email service.

Tip

Protect your email during a DNS change

When connecting the domain to a new platform, change only the site records; do not touch the email records (MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC), or carry them over to the new DNS exactly as they are. If these records are deleted, you cannot send or receive email.

## Why Is Changing a Domain Name Risky?

Changing the domain name of a live e-commerce site means changing the address of every page; if the redirects are not done correctly, search engine rankings, links and traffic are lost. That is why getting the first choice right is far cheaper than moving later.

Still, a move is possible in compulsory cases such as a rebrand: every page of the old address is redirected with a 301 to its equivalent on the new address, the search engine is notified of the address change, and internal links are updated. We explained the process step by step in a separate guide.

We recommend reading

Moving an E-Commerce Site: A Guide to Changing Platforms Without Losing SEO

## 8 Common Mistakes When Choosing a Domain Name

1. **Choosing a long name stuffed with keywords:** It makes branding harder and damages trust.
2. **Adding hyphens and numbers:** It causes problems when spoken aloud and when remembered.
3. **Not checking for trademark conflicts:** It carries the risk of legal disputes and losing the domain.
4. **Registering the domain in an employee's or agency's name:** Access can be lost when that person leaves.
5. **Forgetting to renew:** When the term ends, the site and email stop.
6. **Looking only at the first-year price:** The renewal price can be much higher.
7. **Leaving the www and non-www versions separate:** Search engines see two separate sites.
8. **Deleting email records during a DNS change:** Email stops working.

## Domain Selection and Registration Checklist

Before finalizing your domain name and taking the site live, you should be able to answer "yes" to all of the items below.

- Is the name short, easy to say and spelled only one way?
- Does it contain no hyphens, numbers or Turkish characters?
- Does it fit your brand and the products you will sell in the future?
- Are you sure it does not conflict with someone else's registered trademark?
- Are the social media and marketplace usernames available too?
- Does the extension suit your target audience (.com or .com.tr)?
- Was the domain registered in your company's name with an administrator email?
- Is automatic renewal on and the renewal date in the calendar?
- Are two-step verification and the transfer lock on for the registrar account?
- Is one of the www and non-www versions the main address, with the other redirected via 301?
- Is the http address permanently redirected to https?
- Are the domain-based email and verification records working?

## Domain, SSL and Email with Faprika

After you get your domain name, you do not have to deal with separate companies to get the site, the security certificate and email working. The Faprika e-commerce platform includes the following for this stage (you can see which feature starts in which plan on the [e-commerce plans](https://www.faprika.com/en/pricing) page):

- **SSL security certificate:** Included in all plans; your site's address opens over a secure connection (https).
- **Web, database and hosting:** Included in the plans without limits; you do not need to buy a server separately.
- **Email account:** The plans include unlimited email accounts; you can create addresses tied to your domain.
- **Backup and maintenance:** Included in all plans.
- **301 / 302 / 410 panel:** You can manage address redirects from the panel; this feature varies by plan.
- **Domain connection trainings:** Ready-made step-by-step trainings for the nameserver change and DNS cache are on the [domain redirection](https://www.faprika.com/en/tutorials/how-can-i-change-a-domain-s-ns) page.

## Frequently Asked Questions

**How do you choose a domain name?**

A domain name should be short, easy to say and type, free of hyphens and digits, consistent with your brand, free of conflict with anyone else's trademark, and one that lets you grow over the long term. Instead of stuffing in keywords, choose a name that can become a brand, and use a well-known extension such as .com or .com.tr.

**How do you buy a domain name?**

You check the candidate names with a domain registrar's search tool, look for trademark conflicts, complete the application in your company's name with the registrar, choose the term and turn on auto-renewal. The process is usually completed the same day.

**Are a domain name and hosting the same thing?**

No. A domain name is the site's address, while hosting is the server where the site's files and data are kept. The two can be bought separately; the domain name is connected by pointing its DNS records to your platform's server.

**Should you choose .com or .com.tr?**

If you sell only or mainly in Türkiye, .com.tr gives the local audience confidence; if you will sell abroad or build an international brand, .com is the more universal choice. Most businesses register both and make one of them the main address.

**For how many years should a domain name be registered, and what happens if it is not renewed?**

A domain name is rented for a set period and must be renewed before that period ends. If it is not renewed, it is first suspended and then released so that someone else can register it; during this time the site and email do not work. That is why turning on auto-renewal is recommended.

**Will changing my domain name affect my SEO?**

Yes. If every page of the old address is not redirected with a 301 to its counterpart on the new address, your search engine rankings and traffic can be lost. Migrating with correct redirects is possible, but getting the first choice right is far safer.

Your domain is ready, your store is one step away

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