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So what exactly is a
Domain Name, and why do you need one? The simple answer is that the
Domain Name is your internet address, such as www.mybusiness.com.
That may be all you need to know, but of course it's a little more
complicated than that.
Every computer connected
to the internet is assigned an "IP" (Internet Protocol) address
by an Internet Service Provider (ISP). The IP address is a string of
numbers, like 12.34.567.890. The contents of a web site normally
reside on servers (computers with huge amounts of memory), which are also
assigned IP addresses. So each specific Domain Name points to a
specific IP address. If there were no Domain Names, we would all
have to remember the IP addresses of our favorite web sites. That
wouldn't be good, since some of us can't even remember the Domain Names!
Domain Names are products
that are purchased and registered, so you can be assured that there are
hundreds of companies out there selling them. One of the first
things many people do when considering a new web site is to find a Domain
Name registration site and find out if the desired name is available (try www.godaddy.com).
Remember, this is the "world wide" web, so just because your the
only Joe's Coffee in town doesn't mean your the only one on the web.
In that example, if www.joescoffee.com was taken, you might try
alternatives like www.joescoffeeshop.com, or www.joescoffeeltd.com.
The key is to make sure the name is a good representation of your
business, and one that your customers will easily remember. And
fortunately there are now laws in place that prevent people from
registering names they have no "rights" to just to sell later at
a higher price. Current competitive pricing for Domain Name
registration is about $8.95 per year for each name.
Many companies offer
complete packages that include Web Hosting and Domain Name registration
together. The problem is that it's not always cheaper to do it that
way, which is why I recommend two different companies for those products
(click the image at the top of this page for Domain Names, and click here
for Hosting information). Each Domain Name is assigned a set of Name
Servers, which tell the various browsing computers which IP address a
particular name is pointing to. This allows you to register your
name with one company while hosting your site with another.
One other consideration
with Domain Names for a business is registering multiple names. In
the Joe's Coffee example, Joe might want to register www.joescoffee.com,
as well as www.joescoffeeshop.com, and www.joescoffeeltd.com
too. The additional names can be pointed to the main site, and will
increase the odds of getting a visitor that might just guess at the
address.
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