Why Do I Need A Domain?
1. Domains are affordable to own - around $10 a year.
2. Domains increase in value over time.
3. Some one else may (or probably will) get it if you don't.
You
need your own domain if you want
to secure your personal or
business web presence for the
future. Think of it as a piece of
Internet Real Estate. There can
only ever be one "BillSmith.com"
or "SuperCoolLady.net." If you
host a web page (or website) at
your domain to allow it to get
internet visitors, your domain
will be worth more in the future.
The longer it is registered and
the more traffic it receives over
time, the more it could
potentially be worth. To learn
more about hosting web pages
please visit
Jimbo's
Big Hosting
Page.
How Do I Get A Domain?
To get a domain you must register it with a domain registrar. You must pay the registrar for your domain. You own it for as long as you pay for it. This is a very simple process that takes about five minutes. There are many companies on the Internet that do this. You may choose to own more than one domain in the future and will want to keep them all in one place. You can also buy existing domains from current owners or resellers. Domains are not websites but merely addresses for websites.
Jimbo's Domain Tips
A .com
(dot com) is always best. If
you can afford it you may
also want to get the .net
and .info of the same
domain. If you own different
versions of the same name
you can redirect
YourName.net and
YourName.info to
YourName.com.
It is best
not to get your primary
domain name for "free" or
"included with" a hosting
package or something. This
may make transferring or
even selling it at a later
date difficult.
It is best
to buy your domain from a
reputable company with a
free and easy transfer
policy (so you can transfer
your domain to a new
registrar if you ever want
to).
You can
"park" your domain (if you
aren't going to put a web
page on it) and possibly
earn a few bucks from
advertising.
Registering
a domain and hosting a web
page are two different and
separate things. Many
companies do both - don't
confuse the two. You can
register your domain with
any company and host any web
pages for it with a
different company if you so
choose.
The terms
"domain", "domain name" and
"URL" are almost synonymous.
A domain or domain name is
just the actual part you
chose --yourname.com-- and
URL is the exact web address
for a web browser to find
your web page --
http://www.yourname.com --.
You can
write your domain name with
a mixture of upper and lower
case letters but your URL
will always be all lower
case. On your business cards
or any printed material you
may want to use caps - ie.
YourName.com instead of
yourname.com. The three
letters 'www' prefix is no
longer really relevant. You
can decide whether or not to
use it.
Try to get
a domain that has letters
and numbers only. Domain
names are easier to say
verbally the shorter they
are and when they don't
contain special characters
like "-" or "_". If the
exact domain you want is
taken, you can usually get a
variation of it by adding a
dash or two.
I use Sedo to park my unused domains and find out how much they are worth on the open market. It is also a great place to look up used domains that are for sale. It is free to open an account with Sedo and there are no monthly fees.
Where Do I Get A Domain?
I
use and recommend to
anyone
1&1 and
DomainMonster. You can
register your domain with many
different companies and I've used
at least a dozen over the years.
I narrowed it down to these two
companies because I simply like
them better than all the others
I've used. Once you've registered
your domain with one company you
can transfer it to another in the
future but keep in mind this is a
tedious process. Free domains are
often offered with web hosting
packages. If you don't need to
host any web pages and are just
buying a domain name to have for
the future, don't get a
hosting
package you won't
use.
You can use this easy
form to do some domain
name research right now
and see if your domain
name is available.
There is no need to use "www" or the "http://" prefixes, just type exactly what you would like the domain to be before the "dot". If you want to look up "Bill Smith dot com", type "billsmith" (without the quotation marks). Use the drop down menu to check other top level domains like .net or .info.
There is no need to use "www" or the "http://" prefixes, just type exactly what you would like the domain to be before the "dot". If you want to look up "Bill Smith dot com", type "billsmith" (without the quotation marks). Use the drop down menu to check other top level domains like .net or .info.
1&1
has great sales all
the time on both
domain names and
web hosting. If you
just need one
domain and one
website right now
these guys are
great.
Excellent prices, free trials & great specials all the time (although they will try to sell you more add ons). If you see your self possibly owning more than 5 or 10 domains down the road you will probably want start with a company like Domain Monster to keep track of them in one place.
Excellent prices, free trials & great specials all the time (although they will try to sell you more add ons). If you see your self possibly owning more than 5 or 10 domains down the road you will probably want start with a company like Domain Monster to keep track of them in one place.
DomainMonster
is great for
managing 1 domain
or 100. They also
give a discount if
you pay for more
years up front
instead of having
to renew every
year. This makes it
even more cost
effective to own
more than one
domain for long
periods of time.
DomainMonster doesn't sell web hosting which is actually better if you aren't planning on hosting any web pages yourself - that is you are going to register them yourself (which I always recommend) and pay someone else to host any web pages on them for you.
DomainMonster doesn't sell web hosting which is actually better if you aren't planning on hosting any web pages yourself - that is you are going to register them yourself (which I always recommend) and pay someone else to host any web pages on them for you.
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Any of the links
on this site may be my affiliate links. I can
honestly say I use, am very happy with and
recommend all the products or services linked
here. This also allows me to intelligently answer
questions about them. ~Jimbo
