Reserve Your Kids a Piece of the Internet

Each year sees new, unimaginable technological advances. When you taught your kids about clouds, they were places to store data as well as rain. Tablets were called pills, and nobody wanted them.

And it’s not just physical technology. The Internet is constantly innovating, and reinventing norms, whether it’s shopping, job hunting, or even our basic communication with each other. It seems to become more and more important every year.

For children, technology is second nature from a very young age. We’ve all seen babies with tablets where once they would have held rattles. Websites are already a must-have for demonstrating work, or creating an online identity or resume—and all this starts with a domain. Buying a domain for the child in your life is a useful, fun, and quirky gift that you can personalize for them. 

Our Latest Domains

August 13th marks the start of our second wave of domains for this initiative. These amazing discounts will be active until 11:59 pm on September 6, 2019. 

We’ve shuffled them, and added some we think you’ll find even more useful. In total there are 14 TLDs on offer, and we’ve added new country TLDs (ccTLDs), (.co.uk, .de, .fr, .in, .is, .cc, and .us). These are less specific than some of our previous TLDs, allowing your children the flexibility to create a website on whatever topic (or in whichever industry) they want. But we still have the timeless classics too, such as .com, .co and .me.

You can save up to 84% in our current selection. To purchase, go to our promotion page. 

Why Register a Domain for Your Child?

By reserving your child’s domain name now, you will secure a part of their digital future, which they can turn into anything they want it to be. By having their own bit of the Internet marked out and ready, you ensure they get the domain that reflects who they are.

You probably made your online profiles later in life—both social media and professional (LinkedIn etc). But for your kids, everything is going to happen much sooner, and be more important when it does. They will have a digital presence for everything sharing important stuff with friends, colleges, and eventually, employers.

Websites will no longer only be for businesses and bloggers—more and more people will have a personal website as an integral part of their identity. Personal websites are much more flexible, customizable, and creative than other sorts of online profiles. They allow much more detailed demonstrations of skills and are an ideal place to show the world your skills, talents, and opinions.

But What is a Domain, Exactly?

A domain is the address used to access a website. Think of it as the street address your website lives at. You can have the address before you start building the house. And a good address is always a useful commodity. 

Each domain is followed by an extension (or ‘TLD’) like .com, .net, .org, etc. There are a limited number of domains, and once your child’s name is gone with a certain extension, it’s unlikely to come back any time soon.

Finding the Ideal Domain

Having a domain that includes their name is something that will last for life. It’s unlikely to change, and will always hold strong significance for them. So how should you find the right one?

The best way is to have the name as one word (harrysmith.com), and there are plenty of exciting extensions to choose from that might reflect your child’s aspirations or personality. 

However, if you want (for example) the .com, and that is already gone, try adding hyphens (harry-smith.com), or their middle name. Get creative with it!

Watch our guide to registering your domain:

What They Can Do with Their Site

Once your child has their own domain and hosting, what kinds of things might they use their website for? Here are some examples:

1. A place to create online projects & albums for school to enhance their creativity 

A website can be a great way to display your child’s creative endeavors. It could even motivate them to create more—we all remember how much we loved seeing our pictures on the fridge.

2. Somewhere to try out their business idea in the future

 In time, their site will become a training zone for their latest and greatest ideas. It’s the perfect playground to create and shape a vision. Tools and plugins (especially on platforms like WordPress) are ready-and-waiting for them to create an online shop, or even inspire them to begin coding their own apps, or pages.

3. A portfolio to apply to college 

Having a record of work from an early age makes it easier when the time comes to create a portfolio that might accompany a college application. There are loads of awesome, detailed guides on how to create awesome portfolio websites perfect for college, and also places to get inspiration from what others have done. 

4. A resume to apply to jobs 

Employers, especially in the creative industries, love portfolios within job applications. It’s more than just words on a CV; it’s proof that the person can do what they are saying—and what more can they ask for than a website packed full of creativity?

It’s Not Hard to Create an Awesome Website!

Contrary to popular belief, they won’t need to be a coder to get a website online. Anyone can do it, and with Namecheap, it only takes a few clicks.

The truth is, a lot of websites are built around an existing template. Your kid will be able to fill in the blanks with their own material. It’s hardly more difficult than populating a social media profile.

Take EasyWP, for example. It’s Namecheap’s managed WordPress hosting. And with EasyWP you can install WordPress on your domain in a few clicks, allowing you to use one of thousands of WordPress themes to create a professional-looking website.

Check out our guide to EasyWP below:

The Rest is Up to You (and Them!)

Your child doesn’t need to start a website now in order to benefit from reserving the domain. But when they do, it needn’t be them doing it alone. 

You could turn it into something you do together. It can be a way of teaching them about the Internet, and a way of integrating yourself into their discovery of it. Check out other ways to approach Internet usage with your children, and view our helpful virtual kit.

Creativity is boundless, and so are the ways your child can utilize a website. Get them on the right path today by registering their domain.