Internet Domain Registration - Establishing and Transferring
Your Domain Name
If you're in business, one of the most important things to you
may be your ability to establish an internet presence. Operating
some type of functional web site for your business helps your
customers find you, can present additional marketing
opportunities through e-commerce, and offers advertising
opportunities that you can not get elsewhere. Companies that do
not have a web site lose business to companies that do all the
time.
Of course the real key to your web site is the internet domain
registration. Everybody wants mybusiness.com - the problem is
that domain names are unique and can be taken by anyone. If you
don't register your desired domain name right away, someone else
could take it. The fact is that internet domain registration can
turn into a sneaky competitive game. In many cases business
owners have gone to register a domain name and found that it had
been registered years before they every started the company by
some group that is in the business of registering domains and
then turning around and selling them for exorbitant rates.
A humorous story came from the 2005 municipal election in North
Las Vegas, Nevada when one candidate realized that the incumbent
mayor had not registered an internet domain name. The incumbent
registered the mayor's name dot com and as many variants of it
that he could come up with, literally stealing the Mayor's plans
for a web site out from under him. The tactic didn't win him the
election, but the candidate managed to annoy the mayor quite a
bit and still owns the internet domain registration names to
this day.
The key to avoiding these sorts of problems lies in early
registration of your desired domain name. If you find the one
that you want (or a close variant of it), register it
immediately. Even if you're not prepared to set up a web site
yet or won't be for several years, register the domain right
away anyway.
Registering a domain name before being ready to set up its web
site will require the domain name being transferred to the
servers of your desired host when you are ready to establish the
site. Transferring the domain name once you have selected a web
host is a very simple process, but does require you to establish
the change with both the registration company and the new host.
The new host will provide you with the server information that
you, in turn, will need to provide to the company with whom you
originally registered the domain. There may be a short waiting
period (typically 24 to 72 hours) while both servers get the
information updated. Once that process is complete, you'll have
your domain safely residing on your host's servers and your site
(as long as it's been built) will be ready to go.
The internet domain registration and transfer for your business
web site is a simple process and can be completed through
automated online systems in most cases. Clearly the most
important part of this process is the registration of the domain
name and this should always be done as soon as possible, even if
it is going to be years before you're ready to get the actual
web site up and running.