We all know the importance of having a .com domain name for our business website or blog. Unfortunately, due to high competition for getting a .com name, most online services charge excessive costs to buy “premium” .com names.

Similarly, it is very costly and difficult for a newbie to bear the entire cost of such a domain name, SSL certificate, and a custom email address altogether.

When I started blogging in 2015, I searched for many online services to find one which would provide me wth a domain name for less, and I ended up buying one from GoDaddy.

Recently, when I was searching to buy a new domain name, I came across a deal which provided .com domain names with a free custom domain email (free 2GB space) and an SSL certificate for only $0.99.

Yes, you heard it right. You will get all the above three features for just $0.99.

But why do you need all of these things?

Let me quickly walk you through the benefits of having a custom email ID and an SSL certificate for your domain.

Benefits Of Having A Custom Email ID

Business name branding and brand recognition –

Your custom domain name will promote your brand when users see your email ID. For example, I have a custom email for my blog- Sreejith(at)whizblogger.com. Whoever sees my email ID will also come to know about my blog.

Building trust among customer –

We all know that it is very easy to get a Gmail or Yahoo ID. Having your own custom email ID will show how serious you are about your profession and will increase trust between you and your users.

Increase chances of AdSense approval –

Many AdSense experts suggest that having a custom email ID matching your domain name will increase your chances of getting approval. See AdSense approval tricks here.

Save money on marketing –

You do not need to spend additional money on promoting your business by printing business cards, flyers, etc. Your email ID will market your business for you.

Benefits Of Having An SSL Certified Domain Name

An SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate for your domain name will increase the trust level of your website for users and search engines.

If you are selling a product or eBook through your website, it is always better to have an SSL certificate to increase your customer’s trust in your site.

Similarly, search engines like Google and Bing increase the page rank for domains which have an SSL certificate. You can read more about SSL certificate here.

Getting Your Doman Name For 99 Cents

Now that we know the benefits of a custom email ID and an SSL certificate, let’s go through the steps of grabbing your .com domain name for $0.99.

• Go to the 1&1 home page by clicking this link- https://www.1and1.com/free-domain-name

Note: Please make sure that you follow the above URL to get this deal because if you go directly to the website, it will charge you $10.99 for a domain name.

• Enter your preferred domain name in the box and click on Check.

• Once you find your preferred domain name, click on Continue.

• Ignore everything here and click Continue to cart.

Now you can view your cart which shows $0.99 plus the $.18 ICANN fee (you can’t get out of this).

• Hit Continue at the bottom of the screen.

Remember this a welcome offer only.

If you are already a 1&1 customer, please use an alternative email id when you Create a new account.

• Please enter your details and click Continue to Payment.

• Now select your preferred payment mode and click Continue Order Review.

Soon after you finish payment, you will receive your confirmation message and login details in your email.

Now, login to your 1and1 account and follow the below steps to get your custom email ID and SSL certificate.

How To Create Your Custom Email ID

• Click on Use Your Domain to create your email ID.

• Click on Set Up E-mail Address.

• Take the first package by clicking on Set up mailbox.

• Enter your preferred email address and all the other necessary details.

• Unclick the last option and click Save.

Hurray!!!!!

You got your first custom email ID.

I was very excited when I got my first custom email and I hope you are excited too.

Moving on…

How To Activate Your Free SSL Certificate

• Go back to your control panel and click on SSL Certificates on the left side tab.

• Then click on Set up SSL Certificate.

• Now select SSL Starter and activate it for your domain.

It will take 1 or 2 days to fully activate your SSL certificate and the “Status” will change to reflect this new change once it’s done.

Now you have a .com domain name with a custom email address and an SSL certificate that you got for just $0.99. This works for all top level domains, so if you want something other than .com, you can follow these steps, too.

I hope this article will help you start your blog or website for virtually no investment.

If you still have any questions or queries, please feel free to ask me in the comments. Let me know if you used this tutorial and found it helpful!

Like this post? Don’t forget to share it!

Also read:

• How to save money on Web-hosting renewals
• How to save money on domain buying or renewals

This is a guest post by Sreejith. If you would like to submit a guest post, read our submission guidelines.