Domain Name Registrations
What exactly are domain name registrations? Here is a simple explanation. A Domain name is a series of letters and numbers separated by dots, i.e. www.domainname1.com, that corresponds to a numerical IP (Initiation Protocol) address of a specific computer on the internet.
Domain names are also referred to as “addresses” or the URL (uniform resource locator) of a website. The process of securing a domain name is often called Domain Name Registration or simply registering a domain name.
Having a Domain name is a bit like having a license or trademark. They allow internet users to locate organizations, businesses, websites and other server based entities on the World Wide Web.
A Domain name allows users to find your website by name rather than searching for a numerical IP address, it basically makes surfing the internet much easier. We offer Domain Name Hosting for each every TLD (Top Level Domain) that you can currently register.
Deciding on a Domain name should be a major consideration for anyone looking to do business on-line. Many users seeking to access the internet in this way choose to acquire their Domain names first, building up their websites once they have one. Should you decide to get a domain name, don't miss our guides on how to Make your own Website and How to make a Website. A good Domain name requires thought and attention, it should be a logical sequencing of words or numbers and above all it should be easy to remember.
For example, www.wildlife.com is much preferable to www.worldofanimals-wildlifesince1963.com. If your chosen Domain name does have potential for confusion, it’s important to try and use logical variations that will stick in the users mind.
Domain names themselves have to be unique, otherwise they are useless, so please keep that in mind when performing your domain search. In general they are restricted to the use of the English alphabet – a-z, numbers from 0-9 and hyphens. However the IDN (international domain name system) has been developed to bypass some of these restrictions for those users who utilize non-English alphabets and at HostOtter we fully support IDN Domain Name Registrations. A Domain name is generally spilt into 3 levels. The www prefix (this refers to your host server) to an address is the third level part of any domain name and is also optional. The second level is the part that contains the letters, numbers and hyphens, the domain name itself. The top level indicates the purpose of your organzation or company. For example, www.students.edu, the .edu stands for educational institute. There are many top level domain names available, the most common are
- .com – commercial enterprise
- .gov – government agency
- .net – network
- .org – organzation
- .info - Informational
- .mobi - Mobile (for mobile devices)
Top level domain names can also constitute countries of origin, language, nationality, technical and many others. Please note that just because you have a .org, .net, info etc type of domain name that it can be used for commercial use. For example, if you owned domain.info, you do not necessarily have to have a website dedicated to the information of domains, you can host your commercial site on it.
There can only be one of any Domain name in the world, so don’t be surprised if your original choice has already been taken. Once you have determined your Domain name you will then have to register it. The registration of Cheap Domain Names can incur very little fees for the first year and some registrars even offer a free domain name with the purchase of web hosting.
Registration is normally the first step towards building your website but it also very important that you purchase Web Hosting in order to have a web presence. Also, if you are would like to build your own site, then please review our article on How to create a Website. Registration can be achieved in one of two ways, although ultimately the outcome is the same. You can find a suitable registrant and register yourself or you could have your Web host (the people you pay to maintain and update your website) do it for you. Most individuals like the control over their domain and cut costs from hiring someone by going with cheap web hosting and using their own Website Builder.
By registering you are officially purchasing the right to use your chosen Domain name. Once registered no-one else can use this name unless it expires or you sell it on. Registration is normally for a minimum of 1-2 years.