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Domain Name




In order for your internet website to work, you will have to have a domain name, hosting space and the designed website software.

Domain Name is something with .com, .net, .org, etc. It is what the internet surfer types in his or her computer or cellular phone browser without the "http://www." or "https://www." and without the "/" and anything after that.

Purchase A Domain Name

You can go the any Domain Name Registrar or its reseller website and go to domain name search web page. Usually there is box with a search button. You enter a word or some characters with a .com, .net, .org etc., for instance, example.com and do a search. If the domain name is available, you can follow the instruction and do a purchase. During the purchase, the web page may suggest you to buy extra features with additional costs, for instance, domain name privacy, email (This is the email from the domain name, not the website hosting email), website hosting, etc. If you are not sure, don't buy them at that time. Mostly likely, you can add them later on if you really need them.

The price is on yearly based and it means you have rented the domain name for a year. The price varies and it can be as much as $38 a year without any extra feature. However, you may be able to find a cheaper one. After the purchase of the domain name, you will be assigned a domain name account with a login ID and password.

Note: Don't let your domain name registered at the Domain Name Registrar or Reseller expired because you may not be able to get the domain name back.


Transfer Your Existing Domain Name

If you already have a domain name, you may do a transfer of domain name to another Domain Name Registrar or its reseller. Before that, you will have to unlock your domain name in your current Domain Name Registrar or its reseller and request a an Authorization Code for any transfer. You can go the new Domain Name Registrar or its reseller website and select the transfer option. You enter your domain name and the Authorization Code and you can follow the instruction and do a purchase. If you just want to change your hosting space, you don't need to transfer your domain. You can just do a Nameservers change in your domain name account.


Domain Name Settings


After you login this domain name account, there are several settings but the most important one is the Nameservers setting. You can enter the Primary and Secondary Nameservers which are provided by the Hosting Company. What it meant is that the domain name is set to point to the Hosting Company's computer web space.

If the Domain Name Registrar or the Reseller which you have a account has a phone number, you may also call and ask them to set the Nameservers for you. Usually they won't charge you for the change of settings but you have to ask them first and make sure that no charge will be incurred. WebDesignMonsters.com's Website for $100 promotion includes those settings.

There are other settings, such as Auto Renew, Domain Transfer, etc. For Auto Renew, your will be charged for a new period when your domain name is nearly expired.


Below are some of the terminology related to domain name.

  • Domain Name: It is the address in human language of your website and internet user can type it in the browser URL bar to reach your website. For computer internet network, it uses IP (Internet Protocol) address for website addresses or other IP networks. It is something like x.x.x.x and x can be one to three digits number. In order for IP to be human-friendly, IP address is mapped to a domain name in the Domain Name System (DNS).
  • Domain Name System (DNS): It is the global network of servers which form the Domain Name System and it is the hierarchical and decentralized naming system used to identify computers Internet Address or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks addresses. When you type the URL in the browser URL bar to reach your website, it will go to those DNS servers to look for the Name Servers and the associated IP address. Your browser reaches the website.
  • Name Servers: It stores the DNS records. The record information includes the IP address to the domain or subdomain and information of email. It is essentially a phonebook of the internet. As a result, your web browser can reach your website. The name servers of a hosting company look like ns1.somedomainname (Primary Name Server) and ns2. somedomainname (Secondary Name Server).
  • The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN): it is a not-for-profit entity responsible for the technical coordination of the Internet's domain name system (DNS). It can accredit Domain Name Registrars and its Registry certifies Registrars to sell domain names. Resellers are organizations affiliated with registrars to sell registrars domain names and other services.
  • Domain Name Registrars: It is the ICANN accredited Hosting company. Hosting company can also be a reseller of a Domain Name Registrar.
  • Top-level Domain (TLD): It is the last part of your domain name, the dot and words after that. The common TLDs are .com, .net and .org.
  • Country Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD): It is Top-level Domain which ends with characters look like an abbreviation of a country name. The .us is for USA. The .uk is for United Kingdom. The .eu is for European Union.
  • Sponsored Top Level Domain (sTLD): It is Top-level Domain which has a sponsor represents a certain community. The community can be from a business, government, or other groups. The eligibility of registrants to use the TLD is restricted by the community. The .edu is primarily for third-level colleges and universities. The .gov is for US governmental entities and agencies. The .mil is for US military only.
  • Subdomain: It looks like a child domain of another domain. It is something.yourdomainname. Subdomain can be set by the DNS record of the hosting company name server. For example, the URL is https://www.yourdomainname/directory/index.html. You can set the directory as a subdomain and it will look like https://directory.yourdomainname/index.html. Since index.html is the default file, the URL can be https://directory.yourdomainname. Subdomains can be routed to any file or folder on the server machine.
  • WHOIS: It is an ICANN database. It stores domain name registered users, address, phone number and email address. ICANN requires that all registered users to correct any inaccurate contact data associated with their domain. If you have registered a domain name, Domain Name Registrars is required to periodically send you the contact information on record for verification.
  • Domain Name Privacy: The registered users personal contact information is hidden. The Domain Name Registrars contact information or the information of a forwarding service will be displayed instead.