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.