Register your Domain Name
Your domain name is the address that users will enter in their web browser to access your web site like yourwebsite.com or shoeshine.org or whatever you want as long as it's available.
When you register a domain name, you are inserting an entry into a directory of all the domain names and their corresponding computers on the Internet.
Top-level domain names ending with .com .org .net .biz can be registered through many different companies (known as "registrars") that compete with one another. Their prices vary.
You will register your domain name at an accredited registrar. Most of the webhosting sites can also register your domain name and are priced differently. The cost can be anywhere from $5 and $15 per year to register your name. You can save money by registering for more than one year.
The registrar you choose will ask you to provide various contact and technical information that makes up the registration. It's pretty straightforward.
What are the benefits of registering yourself?
Well let me tell you the number one reason that this is something that you'll want to do yourself. If you were to get "Basement Butch's web design" to do your web site, they might register your site for you and enter themselves as being the administrative contact during the registration process. Well, guess what?
They own your domain name!
Let's say that basement butch was your nephews best friend but you didn't like the way he was designing your website or he and your nephew got in a fight and didn't like each other anymore and you decide you want to use somebody else or do it yourself.
Well, you need to go through basement butch first because he is the administrative contact for your domain name.
If you decide to use someone else, at least make sure with them that they will register YOU as the administrative contact to avoid a potentially ugly situation.
You could eventually change your info and get it back but it could be a royal pain in the butt. Even if you want somebody else to write your web site or host it, you should still register your domain name yourself. After all, it's yours.
How do you do it?
Before you get started with all of this stuff you should create a spreadsheet or something to keep track of everything you do as far as signing up for things. You'll end up with alot of URL's, usernames, passwords, expiration dates, etc. that you need to remember because you will eventually have quite a few of them and it is really frustrating when you need to go in and make a change and forgot what your username or password is.
On to registration
To Register you:
- Find an available name
- Tell them who handles your DNS records
- Fill out some contact information
When you register, you will have to provide 2 name server records. These are the DNS servers that will tell people where your website is located. For now just accept their default name servers. You will go back in later and change them to your DNS provider.
These records point to your DNS records. Your DNS records will be created for you when you sign up at a web host. Your web host will control them. But they don't have to. You can do this yourself also. I'll tell you how later in the DNS section.
If you select park your domain during the registration, the registrar will take care of these name server records for you. You can come back in later after you've signed up at a web host and change the records to point to your webhost or, if your doing it my way...the DNS provider that you choose.
Most of the registrars are pretty similar. You will:
Check to see if the domain name that you want is available. At the main page there will be a blank box where you type in the domain name that you want. Your registrar will then check to see if it's available. If it's not, you will have to think of another name or you can Find available domain names and domain name ideas from:
Nameboy domain name generatorTry it. It's even fun and will come up with a ton of variations for the website name that you choose. It may and probably will even give you some ideas that you didn't even think about.
Nameboy has been around for quite awhile and are totally trustworthy if you want to register there.
Another place is GoDaddy.com
I've used both of them without any problems whatsoever.
If you really want a specific domain name that's already taken by someone else, you could offer to buy it from them. Or if the domain name might expire soon, there are services out there that you can hire that will try to snap up the name before anybody else does. The biggest is SnapNames.
Select the length of your registration. The minimum is 1 year. You can save some money by registering for more that one year.
Fill out your contact information. This is your name, address, etc. This will ensure that you are the registered owner of domain name.
Choose any registration options such as Private registration - When someone does a whois lookup on your domain name, they won't get any of your contact information. Neither will spammers! This is a good thing. Take it if you can. You will have to pay a little extra but it's worth it. Otherwise, expect junk mail at the email address that you specify.
Hosting options. Some of the registrars will offer web hosting along with the registration. The only option that you want now is free parking. This will show your web page as an "under construction" or "coming soon" site until you get it written and find a hosting company. It will also take care of the name server records that you learned about before. You want to keep your registrar and hosting company separate. This is part of your backup plan. So, just continue on through until you get to the payment screen.
Pay. The only thing left to do is pay for your registration through the registrars secure payment site. At some point during the checkout procedure you will be asked to specify a password. This is so you can log back in to your account later and make any changes that you need. You will have to log back in to the registrar after you choose your DNS hosting company so that you can change your name server records to point your DNS host.
Step 1. is complete.
On to step 2. Get a Webhost.