Web Domain Registration

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Author:
Ted Prodromou

When you launch a new website you must register a unique domain name with an authorized registrar. When the internet was first starting, all domain names and IP addresses were registered through one organization, Internic. Eventually Network Solutions took over the role as "keeper" of the internet domain names. Today, there are hundreds of websites where you can register your domain name but Network Solutions still maintains the main database of domain names. Some websites charge as little as $2.95 per year for your domain name while others charge as much as $35 per year for the exact same service. Some even offer one year free if you register your domain name with them and host your website on their servers. Why pay $35 when you can register your domain name for much less at another website? So why does Network Solutions charge $35 a year if they are the keeper of the database and their resellers charge a fraction or even nothing? Who knows and who cares! Register your domain with one of the cheaper providers and you'll be fine. A word caution - be care who you choose to host your website. Getting a free year of your domain name isn't worth it if your webhost is unreliable and your website is down more than it's up. You pay for your domain name on a yearly basis. It's a separate charge from your webhosting bill. When you register your domain name choose the autorenewal option if it's available. This way your domain name will not expire if you forget to renew it. If your domain name expires, it's free for anyone else to register so you need to stay on top of when it's expiring. Also registering your domain name for a 3 to 5 year term will often save you money. For example, godaddy.com charges $8.95 a year for your domain name but only $7.25 a year if you register for a 5 year term. When you register your domain you can create different contact names. The three contacts are Administrator, Technical and Billing. Most of the time the same person is all 3 contacts. If you web designer registers your domain name for you, make sure you are designated as the Administrative contact. This gives you control over the domain name and you must be notified if someone is trying to make changes to your record. If you aren't one of the contacts then someone can transfer ownership of the domain name without your permission. To see a record of your domain name, go to www.networksolutions.com and use their WHOIS utility which is located in the bottom left corner of their home page. Simply enter your domain name and click Search. You'll see the complete record of your domain name, where it's registered and where your website is hosted. For a complete video of how to use WHOIS, visit www.valiss.com/video/whois/whois.html. When you register your domain name you'll have to the option of making it a private registration. I highly recommend paying the additional fee to make your information private. If you leave your registration public anyone can look up your domain information which includes your home or business address and your email address. Many spammers scan public domain registration records to find valid email addresses to spam. I always use a yahoo or hotmail email account when registering my domains. This way if spammers to find my email address, I can just get a new "throwaway" email address and I won't receive spam at my primary email address. Always make sure your domain record remains locked. Locking your domain name is a feature implemented a few years ago. When you want to transfer your domain name to a different registrar you must unlock it. Once it's unlocked the new registrar can "pull" your domain name from your current registrar. Once the transfer is complete, the domain name will be locked to prevent anyone else from "pulling" your domain away from you.
About the Author
Ted Prodromou spent over 25 years in the computer industry working for IBM, Digital, and Cellular One. Today he's the owner of Valiss IT, a consulting firm that provides personalized web design and small business marketing solutions. Visit http://www.valiss.com for lots of free "how to" articles about marketing your business online.

A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to Domain Names... Keyword Rich Vs Branded Domain Names - Which is Better for SEO? Keyword Rich/Targeted Domain Names One belief is that you should have generic keywords you want to target in your domain name. For example, if you are a web designer in Sydney you might choose a domain name such as qualitywebdesigninsydney.com. Branded Domain Names The second belief is that your domain name should represent your brand. You might run a company called Whicked Reality Inc, so your domain name would then be whickedreality.com or something along those lines. Keyword vs Branded Domain Names - Which is better? So which is better for SEO, the keyword or the branded domain name? Branded domain names are the cleaner, safer bet. Sure, search engines analyse URLs for keywords, but they clearly filter out questionable domain names. In the two examples above, qualitywebdesignsydney.com looks horrible to the human eye, so chances are it will look horrible to the search engine algorithms. That is, it will look horrible unless the page contains some great quality content . You only have to look up a popular search term in Google for proof that long, wordy domain names aren't generally the way to go. SEO is a term that would certainly come up with sites that have been optimized to the nth degree. Put it in Google and you won't find any mega-long-silly-domain-names.com. It's a similar story when you search for the term search engine optimization . Some of the sites in the SERPs do contain the term seo but it is always used within a branding context and not simply to boost a search engine ranking. Keywords in Page Names If you really feel the need to have some keywords in your URL, then I suggest putting those keywords in either directory or page names. For example, if you run a web hosting and web design company you might structure your pages...