So many of us are in the same boat here. People have the next great idea that we just know is going to be successful or people see a domain name that you know you can flip and make a hefty amount. But in tough economic times, many can struggle with affording an expensive domain name and/or developing a website. I have some good news and bad news. Let’s get the bad news over with. It wouldn’t be a smart from an economic standpoint to risk not being able to pay a bill or take care of a child in order to make an investment in an expensive domain name or developing website. But the good news is that there’s affordable ways to get around paying for an expensive domain name or paying somebody to develop a website for you.

Register your own name for heaven’s sake.

While it would be nice to be able to buy every domain we see, like and know we can profit from, keep your financial situation in mind. Registering domain names is a great, affordable alternative. There are so many different variations of domain names that can allow you to manipulate the word(s) in a domain name into a name that is unregistered. For example, earlier today as I was looking through some domains for sale on DNForum, I found one name, TourCambridge.com, priced at $900. Well, $900 is a lot to pay for a domain name. So I did some manipulating and found that TourOfCambridge.com was available to register. Although I did not register it because this was only for example purposes, had I registered it, I would have spent $7.49 rather than $900 on a name that’s EXTREMELY similar.

Brandable domain names can often save you money (when registering).

Although there aren’t many good, brandable 5 letter .com domain names out there to register, there are plenty of great 5 letter .net domains or 6 letter .com domains. Google is a 6 letter brandable name and look what they’ve built. I’m not saying you’ll create the next Google with your 6 letter name, but I am saying that there are a lot of brandable 6 letter names out there that you can be successful with if you really try.

Remember to keep in mind what I added in parentheses. Some people will charge outrageous amounts for their 5 or 6 letter domain names that they own. And they have every right to do that because the brandability of their names is beyond great. But what this article is focusing on is saving you money; so don’t be pulled into a seller’s catchy sales pitch when there are so many 5 letter .net and 6 letter .com brandable names still waiting to be registered. And this leads me to my next point…

Don’t be lazy.

This last point is short, concise and to the point. Don’t be lazy when registering names. Don’t make a typo or mistake. Every time you make a mistake when registering a domain, a few more bucks went down the drain. Just take your time, and make sure you’re buying the name that you’re actually looking for. And don’t just jump to registering a name you find and like. Put in some good time dedicated to searching for the perfect domain name. It’s kind of like when you go shopping for clothes. If you don’t love your selection right off the bat, you would like it anymore later.

Also, don’t go straight to GoDaddy.com. Go to one of the dozens of domaining blogs, such as DNUnderground.com, where you’ll find a $7.49 .com domain banner. That’ll save you 3 bucks each time you register a domain name. That might not sound like a lot, but when it really comes down to it, and you’re saving $3 for every domain name you register, it really makes a difference. If you register 100 names in a given year, that’s $300 saved, which can be spent on one of your bills or more Christmas presents for the kids.