In order to use a domain, such as “yourname.com” for web and email hosting, you’ll need to register it. Birdhouse can do this for you, but we actually recommend that customers register their own domains. Your domain is your personal property — something you own. Managing your own domain registration is not difficult, and may give you more flexibility and control should you need it in the future.

No matter who you choose, this part is essential: Find the section of the registrar’s interface labeled “DNS servers” and set them to:

ns1.birdhouse.org
ns2.birdhouse.org

Dozens of organizations offer domain registration services. Here are a few of our top (and bottom) picks:

Dotster
Dotster provides basic domain registration for US$8.95/year. We have had very good experiences with this registrar from both an inital satisfaction and support standpoint.

Godaddy
Godaddy provides domain registration for US$8.95/year. The interface is packed with options, which can be confusing to first-time users, but the range of control options can’t be beat. Birdhouse currently uses Godaddy for domains we register on customers’ behalf.

Domain Monger
Domain Monger offers some additional services that Dotster does not, at the expense of costing US$17/year. Again, our experience with Domain Monger has been nothing but positive.

Silent Register
Silent Register ($14.95/year) offers all the same features as Domain Monger, but with additional benefit of keeping your domain name record entirely secret. If you are concerned about spammers harvesting your personal information from your domain name registration record (which is public, and should never contain false information) then Silent Register is for you.

We have had outstanding successes using these registrars, and recommend them equally. Look at what they offer and what your needs are, and choose the one that most appeals to you. You can’t go wrong.

NetworkSolutions/Verisign
It’s tough to go right using these people. They are expensive (US$34.99/year), support is non-existent, transferring your registration to another provider is labyrinthine (if it happens at all) and, in general, they seem to behave as though they still have a monopoly. We cannot discourage you strongly enough from using NetSol/Verisign. If you’re already registered there, that’s fine. But may we suggest you transfer your registration to one of the providers above?

There are also many sites that rate domain name registrars. If none of our recommendations appeals to you, try looking at 100 Best Domain Names or a similar review site. Let others’ bad experiences keep you from having your own.

No matter which registrar you choose, it is imperative that you write down the username and password you used to register. Birdhouse has no way to recover these names and passwords, and if you forget them, you are essentially locked out of your domain. These credentials are 100% your responsibility, and you need to track them just as you would the PIN number for your ATM. If remembering passwords isn’t your forte’, let Birdhouse handle the domain registration for you.

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