Domain Names
Q: What is a domain name?
A: On the world-wide web, a domain name is a pointer.
Your site is on the internet and every site out there has an address.
This address exists in the form of an IP address and is denoted
by a series of four numbers (each between 0 and 255). Because no
one wants to (or should have to) remember something like 121.14.239.77
for every web site they go to, domain names exist. These are maintained
throughout the world on ‘name servers’ and simply point
to the IP address of your site. Many companies have more than one
domain name pointing to their site.
Q: What are ‘www’
and ‘.com, .net, .org, etc’ parts of a domain name?
A: A domain name itself only consists of the name
itself and the top-level domain. For example, ebay.com consists
of the name itself (ebay) and the top-level domain (.com). The www
can be there or not – going to http://www.ebay.com and http://ebay.com
will take you to the same place as most browsers don’t need
the www. There are instances where something other than www is used
in this place and that’s known as a subdomain. If desired,
any number of subdomains can be used to designate different parts
of a web site. A good example can be found at yahoo.com where www.yahoo.com
takes you to the main yahoo page, search.yahoo.com takes you to
a specialized search area, and mail.yahoo.com takes you to the yahoo
mail login page.
The top-level domain says something about your site. Usually, the
.com meant business or commerce, .net signified computers and networking,
and .org was for nonprofit organizations. There are other top-level
domains (.edu, .gov, .mil, .int) but there are special requirements
to be eligible for one of these. These days, most businesses strive
to have a .com domain name as this has become synonymous with ‘web
site’.
Q: How do I obtain and maintain
a domain name?
A: Acquiring a domain name is easy. First, you
should find which registrar you would like to use to maintain your
domain. Factors such are cost and service should be kept in mind
but overall, your fees should run somewhere between $10-35 per year.
Then, you must search the name records to see if a domain name is
already taken. All registrars use the same domain name records so
if one doesn’t have the name you want, none of them will.
Most registrars provide a simple tool to search for domain name
availability.
Once you find an available name, you must ‘register’
it through the registrar. This involves setting up an account and
providing information about the ‘owner(s)’ of the domain.
Depending of who is desired to have certain control of the domain,
you must choose who is to be the technical, administrative, and
billing contacts for the domain name - this can be three different
people or it can be the same person. When working with a company
that is building your web site, you may want to have them be the
technical contact while you retain the billing and administrative
rights.
Finally, you choose the duration to register the name and pay for
it. This is determined by years and you can usually choose somewhere
between one and five with a potential price-break for longer durations.
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