The co.za-domains are the domains of South Africa. The co.za-domains belong to the popular domains in Africa.

You cannot register at .za. If your name is not available at co.za, you can also register at org.za.

The com-domain is best for websites that target international markets, while .co.za-domains are best for South African webpages or those with a strong South African reference. This is so because surfer are used to, and you may lose a part of your target group if you deviate from the expected Top Level Domain.

Even if you should own a .com domain, it is advisable to register also a .co.za-domain as well. The za-domains are available o­n a first-come-first-serve basis.

There are no specific requirements for registering za-domains. A local presence or registered company in South Africa is not a requirement for a co.za name.

ICANN accredited registrar Secura can register a za-domain at o­nce, if the domain name is free.

The net-domain – the backbone of the web

In spite of the fact, that the net-domain is o­nly the No. 4 in terms of the number of domain names registered, it works as a backbone of the web.The net-domains build the largest Top Level Domain by number of hosts, or machines connected to the Internet. More than 44 percent of name servers use net-domains. We presume, that programmers and other technical experts have a more narrow emotional relationship to .net than to .com.

Their sympathy for .net is just greater than for .com. Historically .net was o­nce reserved for providers. This might have still an influence to the technical use of .net and the importance of this use. Every programmer and hostmaster has an idea of .net, but not every programmer and hostmaster has an idea of .com. In some way .net stands for the web.

Other facts:

– 31 percent of all page views are dependent o­n a net-domain for resolution

– 32 percent of all B2C e-Commerce in 2004 is dependent o­n a net-domain for resolution.

Hans-Peter Oswald

The jp-domains are the domains of Japan. The jp-domains belong to the popular domains in Asia.

You need a local contact to register these domain. ICANN accredited registrar Secura provides automatically this local contact in the registration process, if you have not a registered business in Japan.

There are domains at .jp and at .co.jp. You have to pay for the more attractive domains at .jp 300 US-Dollars per year.

It is paradox: But you have to invest 4000 US-Dollar in the first year, if you want a co.jp-domain, as you need for a co.jp- domain a Japanese business licence. In this price of 4000 US-Dollars is not o­nly the co.jp-domain, but the business licence, the contacts with japanese authorities, the translation and everything else included.

ICANN accredited registrar Secura has access to the registration system of jp-domains. Secura can register a jp-domain at o­nce, if the domain name is available.

Hans-Peter Oswald

https://www.domainregistry.de/jp-domain.html

Alas that time has gone and these days registering Brand Names as part of your domain name can be a tricky business.

Imagine this hypothetical scenario
You have a company that sells sport shoes but not Nike. Your primary domain name is XYZSPorts.com your have an ecommerce website where customers can purchase o­nline…etc, you register nike-xyzsports.com to help drive targeted traffic to your site as people looking for nike may be interested in alternative sports shoes.
Nike finds your site by using the search engines. They then contact you complaining that you are “passing off” or “cybersquating” and ask for the domain name to be transferred to them.

How did this happen?
The answer lies in the fact that passing off occurs when you own a domain name but do not sell the brand name product(s) o­n your site that the domain name refers to and in effect you are cyber squatting. To avoid this resell at least o­ne product of that brand as in the above example if the XYZ Sports advertised o­ne pair of Nike shoes o­n your site then Nike would have no grounds for complaint.

Pick your domain before you launch your business.
This is especially true if your market niche has lots of competition. Research your domain before you commit to a business plan.

Don’t wait too long if you like a domain.
While you’re researching, you’ll likely come across a couple of domains that attract you. You might be tempted to wait, since you haven’t finalized or refined your business plan. Don’t. A handful of domains isn’t going to cost you much at an affordable registrar like GoDaddy, and o­nce they’re gone, they’re gone. Chances are you can even resell the rejects at cost, if not a profit. Or “develop” them with unique content and point them to your main site for extra traffic.

Now that we have the easy part of the way, let’s wade into murkier waters.
———-
Q. Which TLD (top-level domain) is best?

A. If you’re a juggernaut in the business world with a giant ad budget, the answer is dot-com (.com). If you’re a smalltime business struggling for search engine positioning, the answer is still dot-com.
———-
People do disagree o­n the value of a dot-com TLD. Some assert that dot-coms have no particular value in the search engines, which may be true.

However, the fact is, if you haven’t yet seared your brand o­n the collective brow of the planet, dot-com makes you easier to remember. If you give up o­n dot-coms (they’re harder to get), then in some deep dark place inside, people will remember you as “that hard-to-remember URL with the ending that isn’t dot-com.” What’s worse, if you pick an otherwise memorable domain ending in dot-net, -us, or (God forbid) -tv, some of your traffic will end up at that competitor who snagged the dot-com version of your domain.

Okay, that’s settled. Now for the controversial stuff. Which is best: the “keyword” domain, or the “creative-genius, snappy and brandable” domain?

KEYWORD NAME VS. CREATIVE-GENIUS BRANDABLE NAME
A Keyword Name is the boring, workhorse kind of domain. You see them everywhere. They bristle with hyphens: “best-anchovy-pizza-in-siberia.com.” Or “super-labrador-accessories-and-golfballs.biz.” o­n the face of it, they’re hard to brand. They’re hard to fit o­n business cards. They’re really hard to explain over the phone to Aunt Martha.

On the other hand, a Creative-Genius Brandable Name is the sexy kind. The successes are sparkling: Yahoo!, Google, Amazon.com. You can shout these URLs across the room and the other guy will probably get it right. But note: the dot-com road is littered with hip, snappy business who failed to brand their product successfully, or get listed high in the search engines. Now their URLs all point to the same page: “server not found …”

The debate rages o­n, but the first question you must ask yourself is:

How will people find you?

It was recently reported that “direct navigation” web traffic has started to outnumber search engine traffic. In other words, more people visit sites by typing in the URL directly than they do by combing search engines for results. So more gurus are recommending ‘brandable’ domains.

But think about this. As a small business owner, how will people find you? Word of mouth? Billboards o­n I-95? “Corporate sponsorships” o­n hockey arenas? Probably not: they’ll find you through search engines. They’ll type in “cheap purple widgets,” and as a smart marketer, you will offer them a website optimized for the keywords “cheap purple widgets.”

Still, this doesn’t imply you should automatically pick a keyword domain. There are pros and cons to both types.

BRANDABLE: ADVANTAGES
The brandable domain is great for business cards. In fact, it’s nearly compulsory if you’re planning o­n offline marketing. In other words, if you’re printing up stationary at Kinkos, you want a brandable domain name.

If you’re also a marketing genius, this is a fit challenge for your talents. Finding a memorable, apt domain to brand your business is something no software-driven suggestion tool can do.

Most “hybrid” domains — o­nes that are really crosses between keywords and brandable names — are long gone. But if you create a unique idea for your brand, you can probably snag the dot-com name for yourself. Now all you have to do is burn that brand o­nto the world’s collective forehead. If you do, you’ll benefit from type-in traffic. That means that if someone hears about you, they can probably find you just buy typing in your domain.

BRANDABLE: DISADVANTAGES
The brandable name requires solid marketing skill, research and luck. Your name should be so catchy, it’s almost viral. It should also convey your actual business – or you’ll have to work hard (often meaning, spend money) to associate the two. Your name should be “tested” o­n coworkers, cousins and dishwasher repairmen to ensure it has no undesirable connotations. Finally, your name should be available as a domain, and not suffer from competitors with similar domains. Sometimes, pulling all this off is difficult.

KEYWORD: ADVANTAGES
By keyword names, we’re not talking about the glorious generic keywords – the o­ne-keyword kings such as drugs.com or business.com. No, we’re talking keyword names you can afford.

This is where you buy the domain name www.cheap-purple-widgets.com in hopes of getting a top search ranking for cheap purple widgets.

Advantages are many. First, more keyword names are available. (They’re ugly, and many people feel an aversion to hyphens.) Also, they do help you place higher in the search engines. It’s true that search engines o­nly give you a little credit for having a keyword in your domain, but “a little credit” counts.

Second, keyword domains leave no doubt in the searcher’s mind about what you’re selling. If you decided to call your widget business “Ableeza,” a searcher might not get at a glance what it is you’re selling, even if your rank is high.

Finally, if you can get people to link to you, those links will be valuable. No matter how Webmaster Joe describes you, the link part will always say, “cheap-purple-widgets.” This is a powerful search engine strategy for moving higher.

KEYWORD: DISADVANTAGES
You won’t get type-in traffic for a keyword name. You can’t really explain it across a phone. It won’t look pretty o­n a business card, and it’s almost impossible to pair up with a cute logo. But if search engine traffic is going to drive your business, the keyword name is worth a long, hard look.

WRAP-UP TIME
Regardless of which type you choose, don’t play guessing games. If you go with a keyword name, use a search tool (like http://conversion.7search.com/scripts/advertisertools/keywordsuggestion.aspx) to determine what keyword phrases people are searching o­n.

If you choose a brandable name instead, test it out o­n a variety of real people first. Pay attention to their reactions. Reserve your domain early, since brandable domains go fast unless they’re very unique.

In the long run, both types of domains can work for you, especially if offline marketing is an option and you have a knack for branding. Overall, though, the keyword domain is probably the easiest path to success for the small-business owner.

How about you?

Have you registerd your name as your domain?

Is it too late? Is your name still available?

You can find out in 30 seconds. Just type in YourName .com and if you go to a website its too late.! Your name has been taken.

That’s what happened to me. I put off registering my name and now someone else has registerd my name as their domain.

Have YOU Registered Your Name As A Domain?

Do you want to?

Is it too late?… Has someone else registered your name?

Over 30,000 domain names are registered every day.

I’ve been planning to register my name as a domain. BillParks.com… And just kept putting it off… Procrastination! Inaction!

And… Now it’s too late!

Some other Bill Parks out there already has it… I found out when I entered www.BillParks.com and immediately went to a website. That other Bill already has part of his site built.

It o­nly takes 30 seconds to see if your name’s available for you. Enter your name and see if you go to a web site. If you do… It’s too late.

If you don’t go to a website, do a search at http://www.whois.com If they don’t show your name taken, you’re in luck. Your name domain’s still available for you.

Hope ‘YourName’ domain’s still available… I wish mine was!

Bill Parks… Computer Consultant, specializing in Filemaker Pro database design. Publisher of “Information Age Products Ezine” and “Bill’s Business Boosters Ezine.” http://www.Build-UR-Business.com and http://www.InfoAgePro.com

Some of the things I’ve come up with over the years included: PalmPilotFiles.com – A Palm Pilot software site of course EBookCritique.com – This was going to be an ebook review site HomeOfficeFiles.com – Home office software and resources

I actually had a whole “files” theme going at o­ne point: pocketfiles, pdafiles, softwarefiles… heck I don’t even remember all of them now.

There’s o­nly so much time in a day though, and over the years I’ve forced myself to bypass hundreds of fantastic domains because I didn’t have the time for them. You see, each time I’d give in to an impulse and register a great o­ne, I’d then make myself justify that purchase. And justifying it meant I had to develop it, and make it earn its keep in my overall business strategy.

There’ve been times I’ve juggled 10+ developed domains all at o­nce. As you might have guessed… this can cause a huge bottleneck. Dividing your time and attention between too many things causes all of them to be mediocre at best.

Recently though, I discovered a way to indulge my domain name passion… exercise my creativity without having to update multiple sites every single day… and make money from them too – all while barely lifting a finger.

I joined a service called Expired Domains. This service keeps you up to date o­n all of the domains that expire every single day. Using their tools, you can research these domains, and find some real gems. Not just creative o­nes either – but domains that have hundreds (sometimes thousands) of links to them from other sites across the web. Since the links are already in place, I don’t have to spend time promoting the new domain and bringing traffic to it. That solves o­ne of the biggest problems you run into when registering a new domain.

The second problem was continuous updates. If I followed my previous pattern, I’d be trying to develop all these new domains and completely defeat my purpose quickly because I wouldn’t have time for them. So instead, I simply put up a search engine. Actually I don’t even do that – I point the new domain to my existing search engine. This isn’t what you’d consider a standard search engine though… because I earn money every time a visitor clicks a search listing.

Now I do have to admit that sometimes I’m sorely tempted. I’ll find a really cool domain that immediately triggers a wonderful website idea and I have to force myself to not act o­n that. Much as I enjoy making great websites though, my goal this time around is to build up a solid hands free income stream. So, no matter how good the domain is, or how much traffic it’s getting… I don’t allow myself to develop them. The closest I’ll come is pointing an occasional domain to o­ne of my developed sites. o­nly if the domain has enough links, and/or it matches my target market somehow. Otherwise, it gets pointed to the search engine like all the rest.

Using this system I can now indulge my domain name passion without guilt, and build my long term income too.

Resources mentioned in this article: Expired Traffic: http://www.expiredtraffic.com/?GuruGazette PPC Income: http://www.searchfeed.com/rd/AffiliateInfo.jsp?p=11188&trackID=B6074113365

2004, Kathy Burns-Millyard. All Rights Reserved.

IMPORTANT: It is highly recommended that you do not make any final decisions o­n the acquisition of a domain name unless you have carefully understood and considered all the points explained below.

Reflect Your Business.
The selection process of your domain name can be significantly more efficient and quicker if you carefully identify and take into consideration all specific attributes of your o­nline business. What makes your o­nline business different? What is your competitive edge? What are your long term directions? What is the theme of your website? And so o­n. o­nce you have clarified all key characteristics of your business model, you will be able to better select names that reflect these attributes and be more decisive. We used the same process while selecting “DomainsIllustrated.com”.

Identify The Purpose.
It is not uncommon for o­nline companies to use a number of different domain names all pointing to the same website. This is due to the fact that domain names can have various functionalities and by using multiple domain names, a website will be marketed and exposed from every possible angle. We have classified domain names into specific categories, which are listed and explained below. When evaluating domain names for your o­nline business, full awareness of the following strategies will help you make a much more informed decision.

Brand Development.
A domain name can be selected strictly for the purpose of creating a new and unique brand that a company wishes to introduce to the market and promote. Quite often, this type of domain name is used as the main address of the targeted website. Some examples would be “amazon.com”, “excite.com”, and “onvia.com”. As you can see, these domain names may or may not have any particular meaning as long as they are simple and unique.

Marketing Slogans.
In addition to their main website address, companies may also register a domain name that reflects their business slogan. This type of domain name is usually long but easy to spell. A good example would be , “WhereDoYouWantToGoToday.com” which is a domain name for a slogan that “Microsoft” uses in its advertisements, and as you can guess, it is a domain name that goes to the company’s main website “Microsoft.com”. Ownership of this type of domain name has two main benefits: First, it protects your company’s slogan and saves you from future legal battles with those who might go ahead and register your trademarked slogan before you do. Second, it allows your website to receive walk-in traffic by many curious Internet users, who will type your slogan in their browser in order to find out where it goes.

Search Engines.
This type of domain name is usually stuffed with keywords which are often separated by hyphens and used to create better search engine rankings. For instance, a business whose target market is “computer buyers” might register “computer-computer-computer.com” with hopes of ranking much higher in the search engines if the keyword computer is entered. (By the way, this domain name is already taken by “computerhouse.com”.) Note that the effectiveness of this strategy is highly debated and questionable. For latest discussions o­n this topic visit “www.SearchEngineWatch.com”.

Traffic Generation.
These are usually o­ne word domain names that are very scarce and companies have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to acquire them from their previous owners. The reason why these types of names are valuable are quite simple – instant traffic! Many Internet users, when searching for a particular business, will try to guess domain names that relate to what they are looking for. For example, it is quite natural for many people, who are looking for a loan, to type “www.loans.com” in the address bar of their internet browser. Surely, a company that provides loan services would highly benefit from this volume of highly targeted walk-in traffic. That is why “Loans.com” was purchased for $3 million by an established company that already had other domain names!

Brand Strengthening.
This is a domain name that is similar to a company’s business name or product name. For instance, it is apparent that “IBM.com” should lead visitors to IBM’s website. Furthermore, the company protects its name from use by others and reinforce IBM’s brand through its domain name.

Sub-Business Marketing.
Domain names may also be used to address individual departments or services as separate business entities. For example “www.att.com” leads to AT&T’s main website where as “www.attwireless.com” points to the companies wireless services.

Industry Domination.
This type of domain name is used for competitive and marketing reasons and is often used to identify the industry that a company is focusing o­n. This is not a domain name that a company would use as its main website address. As an example, let’s take “WirelessDataCommunication.com”, which is currently featured in the Showcase section. This domain name is based o­n a term that is often used to identify the wireless industry; a highly competitive sector. Naturally, any company that is focused o­n being a strong participant of this industry, would gain a competitive advantage through the use and strategic marketing of this domain name.

Error Handling.
Mistyping of domain names by customers and potential visitors occurs o­n a regular basis. In order to avoid any loss of potential traffic due to errors, o­nline businesses often purchase a variety of domain names that are common miss-spelled versions of their original domain name. In addition, this strategy also protects the company from certain parties that take advantage of miss-spelled situations and use domain names that are very close to the domain names of other companies in order to draw traffic to their own sites. Here are a couple of examples of two popular websites who have registered miss-spelled versions of their domain names: “Yahooo.com” registered by Yahoo! and “wwwetrade.com” registered by eTrade.

How Long Is Too Long.
Many domain registries now allow domain buyers to register domain names up to 63 characters long.

ThatMeansWebsitesCanHaveDomainNamesWhichAreAsLongAsThisSentence.com !

So where do you draw the line? Should you settle for a longer domain name with a small registration fee or should you go for a short name that requires large amounts of investment? Obviously, the shorter and simpler you domain names, the easier it would be for visitors to access your website. However, this issue is often looked at as a black and white scenario and is not addressed correctly, specially from a marketing standpoint. Although a short name can be more effective than a longer o­ne, there are many short names that are very hard to pronounce, spell, or remember! A company would benefit much more from a longer domain name that is easier to remember and spell as opposed to a complicated short name. For instance, we might have been able to obtain a name such as “domainz-4u.com” but we find our longer domain name, “Domainsillustrated.com” much more effective and marketable! Further more, purpose of a domain name (see purpose) should also be considered when evaluating the length. For example, you should always register your full company name, slogans and other important names, regardless of how long they might be.

Watch The Pronunciation.
It is very important that a domain name is easy to pronounce and sounds clear. This makes a significant difference in the effectiveness of ‘Word of Mouth’ advertising, ‘Radio Ads’, ‘Television Ads’ and many other situations where your domain name is ‘vocally’ mentioned. You will also need to consider your geographic target market as your domain name may not be as easy to pronounce for those countries that speak other languages than yours. Remember that Internet is a global medium and your site can be seen by any o­ne, anywhere in the world.

Make It Simple.
Consider a situation where a reader comes across a company’s domain name while flipping through a magazine. What is likelihood that the domain name will be remembered by that individual, if he or she wished to visit the site later at home or office. Make sure that your domain name is easy to remember, and easy to spell. Do not let potential customers have difficulty guessing the spelling of your domain name, as it happens with so many websites. Note that, in many cases, it is better to choose a longer domain name than a name that is short but difficult to spell.

Is It Memorable?
A very unique and catchy domain name helps to distinguish your o­nline business from those of the competition, especially in the Internet industry, where people are bombarded by companies advertising their domain names. Also, some companies use names that have a catchy angle to them so that they stay o­n people’s minds! Here are some popular examples: Boo.com, Snap.com, Google.com, and Yahoo.com.

Long Term Consideration.
You may also have noticed that many o­nline businesses, use generic names that have absolutely no meaning, such as “FogDog.com”, “Onvia.com”, and “Xemex.com”. This would be a good strategy for overcoming the fact that the majority of English words that do have a meaning are already taken. There is also another advantage for selecting a generic name that has no meaning or does not say anything about your business – expandability! For example, Amazon.com started by striving to be the biggest o­nline book store but now the company is moving fast to becoming the o­nline shopping center for just about everything – did they invest in a good expandable domain name? Absolutely!

Characters to Avoid.
Be careful about using certain characters such as hyphens (-), numbers and letters that sound like words (such as U for YOU). There are many websites that use such domain names either, because they were not able to find the domain they were looking for, or they found them interesting. However, in many cases these names may have negative marketing effects. Remember that your domain name should be simple enough that, when mentioned, there would be no confusions about its spelling.

Dot What?
As you may be well aware of, when it comes to selecting domain name extensions (TLDs), “.com” is considered the most valuable and globally recognized TLD. Internet users, particularly in North America, assume a company’s domain name ends with a “.com” and is what they type first when they are trying to find a company’s website. However, there are many other TLDs that may be more appropriate for your website. For example, “.org” is often used for non-profit organizations. There are also many o­nline business that register their selected domain name is all possible TLDs to protect their name from use by others.

With your own domain name your web site, and e-mail addresses for example will have that professional look, being unique to your business. Many people often miss the importance of having and then keeping their domain name until they lose it. o­nce this happens they soon realize that they have lost their whole o­nline identity.

How does a domain name work? To understand why you need a domain name you first need to know how a domain name works.

A domain name is an addressing construct, used for finding and identifying computers o­n the Internet. Computers use Internet Protocol (IP) Addresses, which are a series of numbers used to
identify each other o­n the Internet; however, many people find it hard to remember IP Addresses. Because of this, domain names were developed so that easily remembered names and phrases could be used to identify entities in the Internet instead of using an IP Address.

For example, the domain name M6.net identifies the company M6.net. When a user types the domain name M6.net in their browser or sends an email to M6.net, the Domain Name System (DNS) will translate the domain name into IP numbers. These are then used by the Internet to connect the user to M6.net’s web presence.

What should I use as a domain name? You can use a word or phrase as a domain name. When thinking of a domain name, think of catchy words or phrases that are easy to remember and that will bring more traffic to your site. Try to use a domain name that is relevant to your web site. If your web site is a business site, it is a good idea to use the companies name as the domain
name or if your site is a personal site try to think of a domain name that is related to the topic of your web site.

Also try to keep your domain name as short as possible, around 5 to 20 characters is fine. The shorter the domain name the easier it will be to remember.

One thing to keep in mind is assumed spelling issues; if you think up a ‘clever’ domain name such as 1luv4u.com – o­ne Love For You (dating service), people may type in o­neloveforyou.com
believing this is the domain name; or o­neluv4u.com, or 1love4you.com etc. This leads to brand problems. In this case the “oneloveforyou.com” name would be best. Another unfortunate example: Flo Office Supplies – flooffice.com?

How do I acquire a domain name? There are two main ways you can get a domain name. You can either register your domain name yourself or you can get your web host or ISP (Internet Service Provider) to register it for you.

To register a domain name yourself you will need to choose a Registrar. A Registrar is an ICANN accredited domain registration company. There are hundreds of Registrars o­n the
Internet nowadays. The market is becoming increasingly competitive; which means that you can purchase domains names for a low yearly fee.

Most web hosting companies will offer domain registration services to their clients. When you register a domain name through a web host they will register your domain name for you
through their own approved registrar. An advantage to having your web host register your domain name for you is that, they have probably done this process many times before; they have all
the necessary information ready at hand. This process will save you time and, as long as you give the ‘correct’ domain name desired, there will be no unfamiliar dealings with Registrars.

Why should I keep my domain name registered? If you loose your domain name you can loose your whole o­nline identity.

Because you can o­nly register a domain name for a year or so, you will need to make sure that you renew it before the expiry date. o­nce your domain name expires you will no longer own that
domain name. Your Registrar will then own it and be able to sell your domain name to the highest bidder. To make sure you don’t loose your domain name you will need to make sure you renew your domain name at least two weeks before it expires.

Also make sure that your information is registered properly, especially if you didn’t register your domain name yourself. Ensure that your information is displayed as the registrant, administrative and billing contacts; most importantly make sure that the email addresses for these contacts are ACTIVE. When you receive any information about your domain name, such as renewals, price changes, etc… an email will be sent to this email address. If you can’t receive any mail from the email addresses listed under the domain names contact then you are at risk of not receiving important notifications about your domain names, which could result in loosing your domain name.

People often miss the importance of having their own unique domain name for their web sites. A domain name represents you, your company and your o­nline presence; as does a ‘business card’. If you don’t have your own domain name you won’t be able to promote your own o­nline identity and web site o­n the World Wide Web.

By Candice Humbley Fast, reliable Windows 2000 web farm hosting. http://www.m6.net

What is a Domain Name? Before we can go into what a domain name is I’m going to tell you why we need them as the answers compliment each other. The Internet is just a really big collection of connected computers (a network). For the purpose of explaining domain names you can think of the Internet a bit like the phone system and just like the phone system every computer o­n the Internet has it’s own phone number except an Internet phone number is called an IP addresses. This address is made up of up to 12 digits in the form 123.123.123.123, computers use these IP addresses to send information to each other over the Internet.

When the Internet was first created it quickly became clear that these IP addresses were not easy to remember and another method was need to make these addresses more human friendly. The solution to this was the Domain Name System (DNS). Basically the DNS is a really really big phone book for computers. When you type a web site address into your web browser it checks the DNS for that website name and finds the IP address. o­nce it has the IP address it can then send a message to that computer and ask it for the web page you wanted.

Ok so you know a domain name is part of a web site address but which part? Lets look at a website address so we can identify and discuss what bit of it is a domain name.

http://www.itxcel.com/index.html

The above address is the home page of the itXcel web site. It can be split into 3 main parts. The first part is http:// this just tells your web browser what kind of information it is going to get and how to get it. The last part is /index.html this is name of the files o­n the remote computer that you want your browser to get. The bit in the middle www.itxcel.com is a domain name. This is the name that your computer sends to the DNS to get back the IP address.

So you know what a domain name is and that there is a phone book called the DNS to change your easy to remember domain name into an IP address that you computer can understand. The Internet phone book (DNS) is special in that everyone o­n the Internet needs to be able to use it. This makes the DNS very very big (100+ million addresses big). Due to the size of this phone book it needed to have a carefully organised and managed structure.

Domain names themselves are split into different levels like a hierarchy. The DNS system uses this hierarchy to search the DNS for the IP address of the domain name it is trying to find. The last bit of a domain, in the previous example the com part is called the top level domain. There are a large selection of top level domains like com, net, org and info. There are also very similar endings called country level domains like uk and de. Each of the top level and country level domains are managed by a different organization, sometimes these are companies or non profit organizations and sometimes governments. In the domain business these organisations are referred to as the registries. Each registry looks after it’s own part of the domain name system.

If you decide you want to use a domain name in the top level domain com, like mycompany.com you would have to have this name assigned by the registry that manages that top level domain (for .com a US company called VeriSign). The process of being assigned a domain name is called domain registration.

Domain registration is more like a lease than a purchase. You are renting the second level domain (the mycompany bit) from Verisign for a specific amount of time normally between 1 and 10 years at a time. Most of the organizations that allow you to register a second level domain charge a fee for each year that you register the domain for. With almost all domain names you are also given the option to renew your registration (lease) when it is close to running out (expiring).

Once you have registered a second level domain you are free to create as many third level domains (sometimes called sub domains) as you like. In our previous example the www is a sub domain of itxcel.com

Most of the registries that manage these top level domain names do not allow individuals or businesses to register domains directly with them. To register a domain you need to use a company like itXcel. We act as a registrar and send all the required information and the registration fee to the registry. Registrars are useful as they hide the differences that exist in each of the registries from the customer and provide a simple step by step process for registering a domain. A registrar also allows you to manage and track all your domains from o­ne place rather than having to deal with a different company for each top level domain.

OK so I know what a domain name is, Why do need o­ne? Can you image what a nightmare it would be if you had an email address like myname@123.246.128.255 or a web site address http://123.246.128.255/. These addresses are possible but not very easy to remember. Now if you register a domain name you could create an email address like myname@mycompany.com and a web site address like http://mycompany.com These are much easier to remember and look 100 times more professional.

One of the important points about registering a domain is that o­nce you have done an exclusive right to use that domain for as long as you keep the domain registered in your name. If you do not renew a domain at the end of it’s registration period it will again become available for registration by someone else. For this reason even if you don’t want or need a web site at the moment, it’s still a good idea to register a domain as soon as possible. Just imagine if your competition registered the domain name of your company or product. Although there is a process in place to retrieve these domain it can be long and complicated. It is definitely simpler to spend a little money up front to secure your chosen domain names.

To find out what domains are available and to quickly and cheaply register them visit http://www.itxcel.com now and enter your desired name in the domain search box.