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Domain Name Registration
What is in
a domain name and how do you go about
registering one for your B2B or B2C business or
Personal use?
It is as simple as 123 & does not take an IT
services department to do it.
It may seem like a daunting task at first with
all the registrars and hosting companies that
can blackmail and hold you hostage into staying
with them with unethical behavior. Careful
considerations must also be given to B2B v B2C
security when choosing a company to host a web
site. Confidential info will be going through
the mail servers and it is wise to consider the
implications of using an ethical service
provider.
First off, take a look at the suffixes and what
they mean, along with some history of domain
names. When you select a domain name,
you can choose from several different
extensions. These extensions can help indicate
the type of business or service you are
providing online or your geographical location.
Different extensions may also have different
domain names available in inventory. For
example, newer extensions such as .biz may have
more available names than the more mature .com
extension.
- .com represents the word
"commercial," and it is an unrestricted global
domain name extension. Many businesses prefer
a .com domain name because it is a highly
recognized symbol for having a business
presence on the Internet. But, the number of
available .com domain names is shrinking as
more and more businesses go online.
- .net represents the word "network,"
and is an unrestricted global domain name
extension most commonly used by Internet
Service Providers (ISPs), web hosting
companies, or other businesses that are
directly involved in the infrastructure of the
Internet. Additionally, some businesses choose
domain names with a .net extension for their
intranet web sites.
- .org represents the word
"organization," and is an unrestricted global
domain name extension that is primarily used
for non-commercial sites. However, many
commercial entities register the .org
extensions corresponding to their .com domain
names in order to protect their brands.
- .biz is a restricted-use global
domain name extension used for business web
sites. As a relatively new type of domain,
.biz offers a company the opportunity to get
the domain name it really wants and enhance
its presence on the Web with a domain name
that means business.
- .info is an unrestricted domain
name extension that creates an opportunity to
reach a worldwide audience with information
about your business and ideas. .info is
growing in popularity, but still has many
great names available.
Other being .gov = government, .edu =
education, .mil = military. There are even .pro = professional (attorneys,
accounts, physicians), .name = individuals,
.museum = museums, and others. To view the list
of all suffixes go to ICANN.org
Additionally there is a whole slew of country
domains suffixes.
Examples:
.us = United States,
.in= India, .uk = United Kingdom,
.au = Australia etc.,
Most of the domain names can be registered by
individuals (except for some country, military,
and government names). There are some guidelines
for registration.
The best way to go about registration is to do
it yourself. If you have an employee of your
company do it make sure you understand and have
access to the administrative area. Registration
can easily be accomplished by going to a
registrar and selecting the domain of your
choice with the preferred suffix. I have found
this to be a very simple process and at a very
economical rate (less than $10.00/year). Select
a registrar that gives you control to a control
panel which allows you to point the domain name
server (DNS) to the hosting company of your
choice. In essence the DNS is a place which
points to where the URL is being hosted.
There are all types of suggestions for picking
the actual name, from selecting the company name
or initials or picking one related to your
industry. An example of this might be if one is
looking to find law information or related legal
professional advice on the web then it would be
good to consider using legal professional in the
URL. One point to consider is the URL will be
tied to an email address. If is long, then the
email address will also be long. This can make
it very difficult for customers to contact you
if you are giving them your e-mail address or
the website URL over the phone.
A number of the companies for registration even
have a suggestion area for other domains to the
ones that are already taken. In addition, there
are whois look ups where one can view the
information about various domains along with
additional suggested variations. If additional
names are to be considered for your company, I
would suggest registering the names and keep
them parked. Reasons for registering other
domains are to keep them from competitors or
unscrupulous companies that can try to scarf off
your name with similar sounding names.
Once the domain is selected and purchased it is
said to be parked. That is, it is in a type of
holding pattern until an actual website hosting
company is selected. Once a hosting company is
selected then you can go to the control panel of
the registrar and point it to the hosting
network. It can take 48 to 72 hours for the URL
to actually be found and propagated to the
hosted network. It takes time for the servers to
all match up on the world wide web.
Some registrars provide a hosting service, but
do not get locked into a service that says you
can only host that domain name with them. A
number of these types of services charge you 30
dollars or more per year, just for the domain
registration and then on top of this they charge
you an arm and a leg for monthly hosting. If you
try to go to another hosting company they try to
keep you locked into their domain registration
and it makes if very difficult to extract your
name to another service. If they hold you
hostage, it can keep your web site off-line for
a significant period of time. This would not be
good for any B2B or B2C business. By keeping the
registration and the hosting separate it is very
easy to switch in the event of having difficulty
with the host service. If this occurs, start up
a new account at an ethical host and point the
URL to the new service from the control panel.
Once the URL has propagated then the former
account can be closed. Note: Most hosting
companies will offer free setups with the first
month typically free.
It is getting much easier to put a website
together but it still takes significant time and
effort to focus on the information being
presented. If it is your desire to put a site
together consider getting started with a web
blog or weblog. Blogs are coming into the
mainstream as it relates to business websites.
Even CEOs of very large companies are using
blogs to share company information with the
world. You can see our blog site at
blog.funsms.net
Kify offers
domain names for only $3.99/year with every
non-domain product you buy
The importance of keeping your administrative
contact information close to you.
When a domain name is registered one of the most
important details not to overlook is who the
administrative contact is for the website domain
name registration.
I found out first hand how difficult it is to
gain control at a registrar.
This past week I had to do some detective
investigation for a friend who is an owner of a
business that has yet to place his website
online. He has owned his domain name and has
paid for hosting for nearly a year without
actually having the site live. Through a series
of misfortunate events the employee that was
asked to register the domain name was no longer
working for this business.
At the time of registration the employee used an
email contact to another domain that is now
defunct. The employee was the only one that had
access to the control panel for the domain. Now,
it is close to a year later and the renewal is
coming up and if something is not done soon the
business is going to loose their name.
I did a whois search and tracked down the
registrar. I proceeded to call the registrar and
informed them of the whole story. The supervisor
directed me to an important document that needed
to be downloaded and filled out by the business
with supporting documentation attached. Once
this document is completed and returned by
postal mail (not Email or FAX) it will support
the legal requirements for disputes. Additional
information in regard to this can be found in
the UNIFORM DOMAIN NAME DISPUTE RESOLUTION
POLICY at ICANN.ORG/UDRP/UDRP.HTM.
I passed this information to my friend and
directed him through the form.
I know there are a lot of businesses that take
their domain names too lightly. Maybe there is
only one employee at your company that has
access to all the information. What if something
happened to that employee. Even trusted
employees can have untimely ... If the employee
used a personal email location for the
administrative contact that could not be
accessed by others to retrieve a password for a
domain then you would be in the same boat as the
business above.
There are a number of ways to guard against this
and detailed thoughts have to be considered.
Consider having more than one person have access
to all of the accounts. Of course this goes with
out saying but they should be trusted employees.
As a company owner You should place this
responsibility on yourself. If using employees
to handle this important work then there should
be set up a checks and balances system. The
owner or owners of the company should be able to
go in at anytime and verify.
Kify Domains
- Domain Name
Registrations at $3.99/year with every
non-domain product you buy.
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