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Domain names are a hot commodity on the Internet. They are like the company sign
in cyberspace. Many people do not complete understand what it means to own a
domain name. They cost money to purchase and maintain and, like any marketing
tool, need to be carefully selected to be used effectively. So where do you
learn about these strange commodities that only exist on business cards and
Internet software? Well, you want to begin by first understanding the structure
of a domain name.

Your Domain Name

The domain name is used for both your Internet address and
your email routing. In your email address it is located as the final two fields
of your e-mail address. For instance, webmaster//0Grief.com, (@ replaced with //
to stop address harvesting), has a domain name of 0Grief.com.

The purpose of your domain name is to make the Internet easier to use.

Without domain names we would have to type in ugly things
called IP addresses into our web pages and e-mail addresses. For example,
without a domain name your e-mail address at 0Grief would be
username@209.172.35.46 Yuck! On top of that, whenever we upgraded or moved
computers, that number would change so you could lose e-mail!



With a domain name, whenever an IP address is changed, we change it in some
records on our end. So people on the Internet always know where you are. Imagine
if the US Postal Service automatically forwarded all your postal mail the rest
of your life, no matter where you lived. That is what domain names help do. In
addition, domain names are also used for FTP access, web page access, and more.

WebMaster Tip:
Register multiple domains. If you are going to
register a .com domain, consider also registering spelling variations and .org and .net to protect your
investment.

Changing Domain Names

Many people want their own domain names. Having your own
personalized domain name can be a valuable marketing tool for a business. Having
one for a personal web site or organization can make it easier to maintain the
site.



Right now, most domain names in the United States are organized through the
Internic. The Internic is an organization created as a clearinghouse of many
Internet issues. Their primary service is maintenance of Internet name space,
basically a list of domain names in use.



Domain names, also known simply as domains, used to be free. But now they cost
(up to) $35.00 (US) per year. The money is paid directly to the registrar.



After your name is approved and hosted by an ISP. You can begin advertising your
web page as http://www.yourdomain.com/ and your e-mail address as username@yourdomain.com.
You can also feel free to print business cards and other marketing media, since
no matter whom you use as your ISP, the domain name will remain the same!

WebMaster Tip:
Consider using a
Top Level Domain icon to
replace the domain extension in your printed materials.

Choosing A Name

You want to choose a domain name that is closely related to
the purpose of the site. If you want to peddle the Acme Gizmo Company you may
want a domain name of acme.com. Or possibly acmegizmo.com or even acme-gizmo.com.
If you want a domain name for your family try the last name such as smith.name .
If that is taken try a different form such as thesmithfamily.name



The point here is to be creative, but not deceptive.



The first thing you want to do is see if the domain has been taken. You can do
this at the page at
networksolutions

Whois is a client program on the Internet that searches for a domain name you
provide. Just type in the domain name you want to use and press enter. The
gateway will tell you if it is taken or not.

Go ahead and try it, type in 0grief.com and you will get the info on
our company!



As you may have noticed, most domain names end in a three-character extension.
You must choose one that fits the purpose of your site.

Here is a list of the extensions you may choose from:

.COM is for commercial, for-profit organizations.

.NET is for network infrastructure machines and organizations.

.EDU is for 4-year, degree granting colleges/universities.

(schools, libraries, museums register under country domains)

.GOV is for United States federal government agencies.

(state and local governments register under country domains)

.ORG is for miscellaneous, usually non-profit, organizations.

(orgs/individuals that do not clearly fit in any of the above)

.ca or .bc.ca are "Country Specific"
extensions



What's the difference between a .CA and a .COM
domain?

In function, there isn't any. Contrary to common myths, the .ca name is fully
accessible by users worldwide (not just in Canada), just like a .com name. The
only difference is that you must be a Canadian Corporation or resident to
register for a .ca name.

The only valid characters for a domain name are letters, numbers and a hyphen
"-". Other special characters like the underscore "_" or an exclamation mark "!"
are NOT permitted. A domain name can be up to 22 characters long not including
the extension.

Finally, Obtaining That Domain Name

To get your domain name is fairly simple.

Once you have your name chosen and are sure it is available, you may go to one
of the discount domain name registration websites

(http://registrar.godaddy.com/default.asp?isc=ZDNded1)
or to the main website at Internic (http://www.networksolutions.com)
for .com domains.

For .ca domains see (http://www.canreg.com/index.html) or
(http://hosting.searchbc.com/domainname/registerandrenew.html)

WebMaster Tip: SHOP AROUND. Since the domain registrars deregulation many
websites offer discounted registration fees.

Domains usually only take a week or so to process but Internic has been known to
take as long as a month before processing, so do this far in advance of the time
you may actually need the domain name in service.

WebMaster Tip:
Most registration services offer free domain "Parking".

Parking means that the domain name is registered but not active.

This service can be used until you have a virtual server setup.

It can also be used to forward one domain to another, active, domain.

GoDaddy offers this service for free.

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