An Introduction To Domain Name Registration

Having a professional website has practically become synonymous with business success. Different businesses across industries are going in for a presence on the web to satisfy and fulfill their customers’ needs and expand their business. One of the first things that you need to do for starting your own website is register a Domain Name. A domain name refers to the name by which your site will be known on the internet. For instance, in www.yahoo.com, the domain name is yahoo.com.

Domain Name Registration

In order for you to have a particular name for your website, you need to get that domain name registered. Once your domain name is registered to you, only you can use that domain name for your site. In other words, only after completing domain name registration do you become the owner of that domain name.

It is always advisable to register your domain name in your own name and not that of someone else, say your web hosting company. Many people register their domains in the name of their web hosts and then face a lot of difficulties when they need to change web hosts.

Make sure that the company you are buying your domain name from or registering with is an accredited registrar for domain names. This means that the company should be registered and accredited with iCann (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers).

Domain names are typically registered for a specific length of time and need to be renewed when such time expires.

Domain Name Transfer

Domain name transfer refers to transferring your domain name from one registrar to another. Various reasons why you may want to transfer your domain name include:

• Cheaper renewal charges at a different domain name registrar
• Not satisfied with the services or charges of your current web hosting company and want to switch to a new one

If you are changing your web host and need to transfer your domain name to the new host, you will first have to download all your files from the old host onto your computer. You then need to create a new hosting account and change your domain name server information to the new server host. After that, you will have to upload all your files onto the new server and complete a test run to see that your site is up properly. Only once you are satisfied that the domain name transfer has been done properly should you cancel your old web hosting account.

Domain Name Parking

If you wish to register a domain name for a site that you may develop sometime in the future, you can do that through domain name parking. This refers to registration of a domain name that is not currently associated with an active website but may be in the future. Often, people park domain names so that they can resell them later.

Recommended Registrars :

• GoDaddy
• Dotster