How to Register a Domain Name

Websites are everywhere today. There are websites for business, information, blogs and personal reasons. Connect to the Internet and you be able to search for many websites. Each one of the websites has a Domain Name. The Domain Name is the address of that Website.

There are two basic steps to getting your site online and registering/reserving a domain name is the first. A domain name makes up the address of your site and can end in .com, .net, .org, .info, .us, .biz, .tv and more. Throughout this site you will also see the domain name referred to as the "dot com name".

What Should Be Your Domain Name?

Your domain name reflects your name, business, activities, brand, etc. For example, YourCompany.com is the ideal name you could have.

Domain names can be of any length up to 63 characters. Of course, it is better to choose a short name for your website, but as it is getting more and more difficult to have your desired name, you may have to take longer names. If your domain name is three long words or more, it is better to use hyphens between each two words.

Importance of a Domain Name

There are a number of good reasons for having a domain name:

If you ever change your web host, your domain name goes with you. Your regular visitors or customers who knew your site name as www.thesitedomain.com (for example) would not have to be informed about a change of URL. They would simply type your domain name and they'd be brought to your new site.
If you are a business, a domain name gives you credibility. Few people would be willing to do business with a company with a dubious URL like http://www.xydomain.com/whatever/123456.
If you get a domain name that describes your company's business or name, people can remember the name easily and can return to your site without having to consult their documents. In fact, if you get a good name that describes your product or service, you might even get people who were trying their luck by typing "www.yourproductname.com" in their browser.
If you want good sponsors (advertisers) for your website, a domain name is usually helpful. It tends to give your website an aura of respectibility.

How to Register a Domain Name

Reserving a domain name is easy and very cost friendly. The big name companies like Register.com and NetworkSolutions.com charge ridiculous prices such as $20-35/year for one domain name, and you get the same service at HostMonster for free if you pay web host for one year.

If your ideal name is not available and someone else has registered it, you may use another name recommended by the domain registration website. Don't let those recommended URLs keep you away from your main policies in choosing a domain name.

Try to have several alternative domain names or combinations of similar words that could make up one proper domain name for you.

The domain name is quite important so make sure you give it more than a few moments of time.Once you have decieded on a domain name, then it is time to look the hosting company for your site.