How Do I Register a Domain Name?

Once you have selected the domain name you want to register, you can either register the name yourself through a domain registrar or have your webhosting company register the domain and handle all subsequent renewals.

Domain registrars can be found with an Internet search. They all provide the same basic services for the same price.

If you want your webhosting company to register the domain as part of the set up of your new website, you can use a current webhosting company that you might be using for another website.

If you need to select a new webhosting company, you will need to invest some time in reviewing the available webhosting companies on the Internet. You will have to think about what type of use in which your site is going to be involved. Keep your long term goals in mind as its focus may change with time. You will want to select a webhosting company that will provide you with the services that meet your current needs and that also offers services you may need in the future.

Log into their website and review the information they present about their service and then begin the process of selecting your domain and hosting services. Most of the webhosting companies have a utility on their site to check to see if a particular domain name is already taken or if it is available. Check the name that you have selected using this utility and ensure that it is available.

If your search lets you know that the name is already taken, you will need to think up a new name for the domain and check it. Once you have found an available domain, follow through with the purchasing of the webhosting and domain name.

The webhosting company will handle the registration of the domain name for you and will keep all the information current. Each year or two they will bill you for the renewal of your domain name and hosting services. Once your transaction is complete, you have a domain name and can begin building or loading your site.

Most domains utilize a web hosting company on the Internet to host their website and to ensure the site is online all the time. One of the other services these web hosting companies offer is registering your domain name. They will help you purchase the domain, make sure it is available and then host that name and your website content on their servers.

Tips on Selecting a Domain Name

Here are a few tips on selecting a new domain name:

Personal Sites

You will want to select a name that will be memorable and that will be easy for your friends to remember.

Business Sites

You will want the domain name to include the company name or some portion of it to make it easy for customers to find.

Types of Domains

There are a number of different types of domains that are used for different types of information. The most common types of domains are: .com, .net, .org, .mil and .gov. While not all of these are available to just everyone, the first three are ones that you can choose from.

The .com and .net designations are mainly reserved for businesses. The .org domains are reserved for non-profit or small organizations and are not intended for business transaction sites.

Alternative Types of Sites

Once you have selected your domain name and the type of domain, you will want to think about also registering the alternate types of sites (domain extensions) under the same domain name to ensure that someone else doesn’t capture some of your intended audience by using the other type of domain extension.

An example of this would be a lumber company that owns the domain wood.com. They build their website to provide specialty wood to mail order accounts. A competitor could purchase wood.net and hope that some customers would mistype or select their site from a search engine due to the similar name. The best strategy is for the original company to purchase both wood.com and wood.net, even if they don’t intend to use the .net name, just to protect their investment.