Domain Registration - How to Register A New Domain Name for Your
Website
Domain names are site names that provide rememberable names to
stand in for numeric IP addresses. Before getting a web site on
line you need to have a domain name. These are the familiar web
addresses such as yahoo.com that most browsers use to find a
particular web site. Domain names, in fact, are pointers to a
particular IP address and we use them because they are easier to
remember than a series of numbers. The Domain Name System (DNS)
is a system that stores information associated with domain names
in a distributed database on networks, such as the Internet. The
DNS is what makes it possible to attach hard-to-remember IP
addresses (such as 193.456.28.8.) to easy-to-remember domain
names (such as "web-hosting-guide.org")
All websites have an IP address in the form 193.456.28.8. The
domain name system translates these numbers into names such as
google.com. All domain names are registered in a central
registry maintained by InterNIC, a subsidiary of ICANN - the
organization which certifies domain name registrars. Domain
names are filtered through Domain Name Servers (DNS) which link
IP addresses with domain names. Each web site usually has a
primary and a secondary DNS - duplicates that increase
reliability.
The first step in registering a domain name is to choose it. The
name can be almost anything you want, but to be most effective
it should reflect the nature of your website. If you are selling
scented candles, for example, it helps to have a domain name
that has some reference to candles - scented-candles.org.uk for
example.
The rules for domain names are simple - only letters, numbers or
hyphens are allowed. Other than that, a domain name is limited
to 70 characters, but you are advised to keep it as short as
possible. Domain names can be upper or lower case - case is
ignored by DNS but you can use a combination to make the name
more recognizable. Since DNS is case-insensitive, yahoo.com can
be advertised as YAHOO.COM.
Every domain name ends in a top-level domain (TLD) name, which
is always either one of a small list of generic names (three or
more characters), or a two characters territory code. There are
several extensions available. The most common is .com - it has
even entered common vocabulary as a way to express Internet
activity - (I own a dot com business). Other extensions include
.biz (for commercial sites), .org (for non-commercial
organisations), .net (for organisations involved in Internet
infrastructure) and .name (for personal names). There are also
extensions with more specialized uses such as .museum, .aero,
and .coop and are used exclusively by members of certain
organizations. In addition to these common extensions, there can
also be a country code extension such as .us (United States) or
.uk (United Kingdom). The rules for using country extensions
vary, so you need to check with your registrar to see if they
are available to you.
All domains must be registered with a registrar that has been
certified by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and
Numbers). There are hundreds of registrars and their prices vary
considerably. Although registrars are closely regulated, they
are permitted to offer their services through third parties; so
many web hosts offer a domain name registration service even if
they are not a registrar. The price of a domain name will
usually be higher when dealing with these third-party services.
Domain names are usually registered for a minimum of one year,
although you are permitted to buy up to a 10-year registration
contract. Usually the longer the registration contract, the
lower the price, so if you are sure you will be on the web for a
considerable length of time you can benefit from a longer
registration period. Most registrars also offer a discount on
bulk purchases. If you own a number of domain names you can save
money by transferring them all to the same registrar.