How To Register Your Domain
Your site’s domain is the “yoursite” in www.yoursite.com. Your
site’s domain name is the human friendly way computers find your
site on the Internet.
Behind the scenes, there is an Internet Protocol (IP) address
that looks like this: 216.239.37.99. The IP address is your
website’s real address that computers understand and is
associated with the “human friendly” domain name you are already
familiar with on a name server. Many times you can get to the
same website by typing in it’s IP address in place of the domain
name. Below is a chart with a few examples of this. Go ahead and
try copying one of these IP addresses into your browser’s
address bar and see for yourself. You will go to the same place
as you would if you typed in the domain name!
Name
7.99
63.90
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When you type in www.yoursite.com, your request goes out on the
Internet to large servers called routers. The routers contain
databases of domain names and IP addresses. Your request moves
up the chain of routers until it finds one that “knows” the IP
address for the domain you are requesting. This process is known
as “resolving” the domain name. Essentially, you are looking for
a computer that knows how to match up the Domain name that you
typed into the browser to it’s IP address.
Once your request is resolved (matched to an IP address), the
request is sent through various routers to the server that
contains your website’s files. That server is the web server.
The web server then processes the request and sends the results
back to your web browser as a web page.
Of course, it isn’t really necessary that you understand all the
details of domain resolution. What is important is that you
understand that your domain is a unique name that is associated
with your website’s location on the Internet, and your website’s
location is a virtual location known as an IP address.
Registering a domain is exceptionally easy to do. When you
register your domain, you specify the length of time you wish to
reserve it for. Typically the longer the term, the less the
annual cost to you. The most difficult thing for most
entrepreneurs is determining which domain to register. Many of
the best domains are already taken, so it takes some creativity
to come up with a memorable domain that is not taken and is
still applicable to your business.
As a general rule, if you are a U.S. company it is highly
recommended that you pick a “.com” address. There are many more
domains that are available in the .net and .org flavors, but if
you are trying to establish a brand that will be perceived by
your visitors as a leadership brand, you really need to have a
.com address.
Back in the late ’90s individuals and corporations began buying
up all the “good” domains. They did this on speculation that the
domains they were purchasing for $30 would one day be worth tens
of thousands of dollars. Certainly a few lucky entrepreneurs
made a quick buck this way, but generally speaking the cost of
purchasing thousands of domains quickly outweighed the benefit
of selling a few at an extraordinary profit. Many of these
companies have since dumped a large portion of their inventory,
and it is once again available on the open market.
In addition to recently expired domains, you can also do
searches on the major registration sites such as:
If you
need some ideas, there are a number of websites that allow you
to search recently expired domains that you can purchase for
just a few dollars. Some of these domains are already indexed in
search engines or directories, and that can give you a certain
benefit since it can be difficult to get indexed by search
engines. A few are:
If your business is already established then you have
less room to maneuver in selecting a domain. However, if you are
just now establishing your business, and haven’t yet decided on
a name for your company, you may want to wait until you’ve found
a top-level domain that is available and name your business
after that.
A few considerations when picking a domain name:
- Make
it descriptive - Visitors should be able to tell what your site
is about by looking at your domain name - Keep It Short and
Simple - Yes the “KISS” theory applies to domain names.
Remember, your domain name will also be your email address. Your
email address needs to be simple enough that you can easily give
it over the phone to a prospect without having to repeat
yourself multiple times. - Don’t use special characters and
modifiers - This means hyphens, “-”, underscores, “_”, or
modifiers like “inc” or “biz” etc. It is next to impossible to
explain to someone over the phone why your domain has a hyphen
in it. Leader companies don’t have such things. - If at all
possible your domain should be: www.yourcompanyname.com. If that
domain is not available, you should consider changing the name
of the company to a domain that is available. It’s that
important. - Pick a top level domain for your geographical
area (i.e. .com, .co.uk, .hk). Feel free to also purchase the
.net, .org, .tv and others, but you should make sure you get the
.com.
Once you have decided on a domain name, you can
register it at one of the registration sites. Regardless of
where you register your domain, the process is similar. You
enter the domain you wish to register, and follow the steps to
pay for it.
In conclusion, registering a domain is an easy process that can
be difficult to execute properly. Your domain name should be
descriptive of the site you are building, and it should also be
simple to remember. You should make sure to have a top-level
domain such as .com or .co.uk. Finally, purchasing a recently
expired domain that is pertinant to your industry may be
beneficial in that you may be purchasing a domain that is
already recognized by the major search engines.
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