Where to register a domain

What is a domain name? - The phrase “domain name” usually refers to an Internet Web site’s registered name. Examples are example.com, cnn.com, mideastweb.org. A domain name is a symbolic, easy to remember representation of an IP (Internet Protocol) address or address range, such as 192.341.626.3xx, used to identify a Web site and all its subsidiary pages and sub-domains to the world. The DNS (Domain Name Server or Domain Name Serivce) translates the Domain Name into the correct IP number, based on the list of domains registered in the world. A single server computer of a hosting company may house several domain names, and a single domain name may be served by multiple computers. In order to be listed in the DNS server, your domain must be registered.

Top Level Domain types - Each domain name has a suffix that is called the “top level domain name.” The suffixes are supposed to tell visitors and search engines something about the Web site. The following are some of the most popular and significant domain types:

ac - An academic research institution Web site.

arpa - a Web site of the old Arpanet

biz - A new designation for business Web sites.

com - Company/commercial.

Country specific: us, .nu, .co.uk, - Country-specific domain extensions that localize your site. They may require the owner or person registering the site to be a citizen of the given country.

edu - Educational Web sites.

eu - European Union

info - A relatively new designation for informational Web sites.

int - an international Web site.

gov - A government Web site

name - Can be used for private name Web sites, as for example John.Smith.name

net - Often used for a network of sites

org - Supposedly for non-profit entities.

store - A retail business store.

Where to register a domain name? You can register a domain through several registry companies. The best of these is undoubtedly Godaddy. Important considerations are price, ease of update, ease of transferring domain name ownership and hosting details and choice of names. Godaddy ( http://www.godaddy.com ) has earned a reputation as the best place to buy domain names for international Web sites. It has slashed domain registration prices to $8 a year and less and provides near real time services. Godaddy is now the number one domain registrar in the world. Its innovative services include free emails and Web logs, free hosting, bulk transfer rates and more.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 13th, 2007 at 3:03 am and is filed under Getting Started. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.