Buying a domain name
tl;dr
A registrar sells you a name and registers it as yours. Skip the upsells, put two-factor on the account, and remember some TLDs are restricted and some belong to countries.
A registrar is a company that registers a domain to you as its owner — Namecheap, Google Domains, and many others. The course uses Namecheap, not because the UI is great but because it has the widest selection at the lowest prices and doesn't push add-ons at you the whole way through.
You don't need any of the extras at checkout. SSL you'll set up yourself, for free, later in the course.
Not every TLD is for sale
Some are restricted and you simply can't have them:
.org | a registered organisation, typically a nonprofit |
.edu | a legitimate educational institution |
.gov | government entities |
.mil | military |
Others are country-level, registered to that country with ICANN — .ru is
Russia's. But a country can sell the rights, which is how .ly ended up
carrying bit.ly and fast.ly during the vowel-dropping startup era. A small
island nation made real money because its country code happened to rhyme with
English.
Part of every purchase and renewal goes to ICANN, which is what funds the nameserver system you've been using this whole time.
Then hook it up
Buying the name is where most people stop, and it's the missing link: the domain does nothing until you point it at something. Next you'll change the nameservers to your host's and add an A record pointing the name at your droplet's IP.
One rule for the name itself, and Jem is serious about it: make it funny or memorable, ideally both.