Nearly everybody is familiar with the Internet. In fact, you may even fancy yourself quite the expert Internet surfer. But would you be able to establish a website of your own? Many people who are familiar with the Internet often believe they have a firm handle on every aspect of it; however, many who attempt to establish their own web presence are often surprised to learn that they know absolutely nothing about the technical side of the Internet. The first conundrum they encounter is the domain name.
What is a domain name?
In the beginning, when the Internet was just a fledgling device that computer programmers generally had access to, the domain name system was established as a means of navigating the Internet. Are you familiar with the term IP address? If you have a computer then you have an IP address. An IP address is a sequence of numbers that are essentially your computer's identification, a sort of electronic social security number if you will. An IP address is how computers identify each other, which is how you are able to visit the millions of websites on the World Wide Web. A domain name is the same as an IP address; however, rather than having to memorize a sequence of numbers in order to visit a site, you only have to memorize the domain name. For example, buy.com and amazon.com are domain names. As you can see from the examples just given, a domain name consists of two parts; there is the name itself and then there is the extension. In the case of the samples above, "Buy" and "Amazon" would be the name, and ".com" would be the extension.
Establishing the perfect domain name for a website has become an art form today due to the fact that the Internet is crammed full of websites. Deciding on a domain name for your website today requires thought and creativity. It should also be mentioned that registering your domain name to ensure it belongs to you is the first step you should take before even developing a website. It would be anti-productive to develop a website around a domain only to find out that someone else already owns it.
A domain name should be one which is easy for people to remember, and which is catchy. If possible, you should keep the domain name to one word. In addition, and for the purpose of getting your website noticed, your domain name should consist of a word (or words) which people are apt to use when running an Internet search. For example, let's say the purpose of your website is to sell books. You would want your domain name to be books.com, rather than something like literature.com. When people are searching for books they are more likely to type the word "books" than use "literature." Try to keep your domain name simple to avoid this problem.
Okay, so now you know what a domain name is and you have an idea of how to create one. The next step is to register your domain name. There are hundreds of domain name registrars on the Internet where you can do this; however, make sure the registrar you use is with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to make sure you're not getting ripped off. You don't want to have invested hours of creativity in developing a great domain name only to have somebody steal it from you.
If you hire someone to develop your website, they will generally register you domain name for you, if you haven't already, but make sure that they register the domain name in your name and with your email address.
It should also be mentioned that registering your domain name costs money. The good news though, is that it costs very little money to do so. Once the domain name is registered and paid for it is yours for as long as you have registered it for (many registrars offer one and two year registration terms). Make sure and keep it renewed so that you don't lose it, especially if your website becomes popular. Some people make a living selling domain names, and it would be a shame if you had to buy it back after it was already yours to begin with.
Domain names are not really as complicated as you might have thought. The entire domain name registration process is not that difficult either. Most registrars have made it extremely simple to do. If you've decided to establish your presence on the Internet, either with a business, or a hobby site, then a domain name is the first thing you will need. Now that the concept of domain names has been clarified for you go register yours. Thousands of people are registering domain names everyday. The longer you wait the more likely your domain name will be gone before you get to it.
About the Author
InfTek, Inc., a Cary, North Carolina based corporation, is one of the US's leading dealers in affordable web hosting solutions and custom tailored computers.
http://www.affordable-web-hosting-solutions.com