How to register a domain name

Leva Duell

Here's how you register a domain name.

It's best to choose a hosting company first before registering your domain name. Have the hosting company register or transfer your domain name.
You can check the availability of a domain name at http://www.networksolutions.com or http://rs.internic.net/cgi-bin/whois or any of the registrars listed by http://www.internic.com.
You can register your domain name yourself through domain name registration services. Internic provides a list of ICANN-accredited registrars (the organization governing domain names) at http://www.internic.com/regist.html. When submitting a registration or transfer, the registrar will ask for the name of two domain name servers that contain your IP address. Your host will give you that information. Once your domain name has been registered or transferred, it takes approximately 72 hours before it becomes active.

Fees for domain name registration

Each domain name registration service or registrar, sets its own price for registering domain names. Fees range from $2.99 to $35 to register a domain name for one year. You can register a domain name for one or two years. Some registrars offer free or discounted registration services in connection with other offers, such as Web hosting. Make sure they are reliable. Receiving a $10 discount is not worth the delays and hassles you may encounter. Ask your professional Web designer for a referral. To keep your domain name, you need to renew the registration and pay a renewal fee each year.

Parking a domain name

If you want to reserve a domain name but don't have a hosting company yet, you may have to pay a fee to a hosting company or registration service to hold or park your name. Some registrars charge $40 and others offer parking for free. Make sure they are reliable.

IMPORTANT TIP: When registering your domain name, make sure you are both the billing contact and administrative contact. If your hosting company lists itself as the billing contact, you won't have much leverage to keep your domain name if you decide to switch hosts.

More tips about domain names

• A domain name can include up to 67 characters, including the .com, .net, .org, .edu, or other extensions.
• Domains cannot contain spaces.
• Domain names are NOT case sensitive, so you can spell your domain in uppercase, lower case, or a combination of both, e.g. http://www.FiveStarWebDesign.com or http://www.fivestarwebdesign.com.
• You can use numbers, letters, and hyphens (dashes) in your domain name, but the web address cannot start or end with a hyphen.
• Special characters such as ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) and ? are not permitted in web Addresses.
• Avoid confusing characters like 0 (zero), l (one), 2, s, and z to minimize the risk of typos. The number zero (0) can be confused with the letter O, and the number "1" with the letter "l."
• If you register a domain containing hyphens, also register the same name without the hyphens. For example, www.five-star-web-design and www.fivestarwebdesign.com.

Changing hosting

When changing hosting companies, you can keep the same domain name and email address (connected to that domain name e.g. Info@QualityEbookCovers.com). You simply transfer your domain name to a different hosting company.

It is important to protect your business and product names by registering them as a domain name before someone else does.

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© Leva Duell 2006

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