Buying a domain name for your social venture

After I’ve worked out a name for my social venture I go ahead and buy the domain name. Simple, right? But, where should I buy it from?

In the past I always used Google Domains but this is no longer an option (Google Domains has been bought by Squarespace). Although, I’m a big fan of Squarespace, unless I am planning on building a website on Squarespace, I don’t use it as a domain registrar.

If I am going to create a website for the social venture, and the website will require more than a few pages and a blog, I tend to choose Squarespace as the website provider. It’s easy to use and the off-the-shelf templates are pretty.

If I use Squarespace, they provide a free domain (for the first year), so I sign up for Squarespace and choose my domain after subscribing for the website plan.

In all other cases, I choose Porkbun. It’s super affordable and is really easy to use.

Buying your domain on Porkbun

I would say that Porkbun is a terrible name but a great service. I type the domain I am trying to find in the search bar and follow the instructions to purchase the domain at a great price. Unlike some other domain registrars, their pricing is clear and they don’t try dirty tricks to keep me locked in to the service.

Takeaways

For 90% of social ventures or projects I am involved in, building a website using Squarespace is good enough so I just choose the free domain after I’ve signed up.

The other 10%, usually where I am building a custom platform or using some third-party service, I use the rather wonderful Porkbun.