Obtaining Domain Registration

You have just completed the building of your website. You’re now ready to launch it and put it on the internet. But before you do there is one important step you must complete to legitimize your website and give it an address so users can find you. Before actually launching your website you must secure a website domain. This is done by completing the domain registration process.

Before you actually start the domain registration process you should check to make sure no one else is using the name you plan to use. This easily done by going to a WHOIS database and entering the IP address you intend on using. If the IP address you intend on using is not available you will need to modify your IP address in some way to make it unique.

IP Addresses

The IP, or Internet Protocol, address is what tells a user’s computer where to find a website on the internet. Each IP address must be unique as ICANN, the international manager of the DNS, or Domain Name Server database, will not be able to register and map that IP address into the internet web. If you find that the IP address you want to use is not available there is a way to modify the last portion of your address to make it unique to complete your domain registration.

Every IP address has an extension after the dot that follows the name. When choosing an IP address the name can often remain the same without causing replication if the extension is not the same as another IP address. For example, www.jaybeejourno.com and www.jaybeejourno.org are not the same IP address and therefore there’s no conflict for domain registration purposes. The most commonly used extensions are .com, .org, .net, .biz, .name, and .info.

Selecting A Domain Registration Service

There are many domain registration services available on the internet and selecting the right one to accommodate your needs is vitally important. Most domain registration services charge a nominal fee, generally not exceeding ten dollars for their service. But there are also less expensive ones you can take advantage of, even free services. For example, you can purchase domain registration services from Yahoo.com for fewer than two dollars for the first year of a subscription and they will provide support twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Some domain registration services will want to have ownership over the domain address they register. What this means is that, for whatever reasons, you stop using that IP address the registration service can sell it to any buyer they choose.

Private Information

Most often in the registration application process you will be required to provide the registering agency with personal and private information. If you are not comfortable with this idea then you might want to consider registering with an agency that will use their own information in your behalf. Generally, you will be charged extra for this service, but if you don’t want your personal information out on the internet then the slight fee might be well worth it.