It is possible to register a free domain name and later regret because the line that separates a real domain from a fake one is very thin. There is this story of a guy got a free domain and optimized it for search engines. After a year, the site was well ranked and was getting considerable amount of traffic. One day, to his utmost surprise, he wanted to log in to the site as usual but discovered that he could not do so. When he later typed the URL of his site into his browser, he discovered that his contents remained as they were but the adverts had been changed. He lost the site and wasted time, effort and money.
In order to avoid the situation above, you should be extra cautious with free domains. You must ensure that you get your domain, either free or paid, from a credible source. There are ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) accredited registrars and it is advisable to deal with them only. Some of them can register a name for you for free but on one condition – you must purchase a web hosting plan. If you are not interested in hosting your name, you have to pay to register it but if you are going to host it, you will get a domain name for free and only pay for the hosting. However, you should be informed that web hosting and domain name registration are renewable. If you go for a year plan, you will have to renew it at expiration and same goes for 2-year plan, 3-year plan, etc.
In addition, you should only get top-level domains (TLDs) and not sub-domains. The guy whose story was narrated above got a sub-domain and that was why the owner of the domain was able to deny him access. Nobody can deny you access to a TLD because the DNS (Domain Name System) control is in your hand. The only exception to this is if you commit an offence with the domain, the registrar or web hosting provider can take the site away from you in line with the laws guiding their operations. With the control of the DNS, you can decide to host or park it, but a free domain attached to web hosting plan cannot be parked until the hosting plan expires.
There are lots of free stuffs on the internet, including free domain names, and if you are not careful with them, they may be baits to scam you. As there are criminals in the real world, so also there are on the World Wide Web and it won’t be funny if you get into their hands. Hence, it is advisable for you not to rush at free stuffs online. You should endeavor to carry out a little research in order to get a clearer picture before committing yourself so that you won’t regret at the end.
