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Web Books
HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide |
© 2000 by David Karlins. All Rights Reserved.
Domain names are those catchy, easy-to-remember phrases that often end in dot-com. Whether it's amazon.com, unleash.com, or nationalgeographic.com, domain names are rapidly becoming an essential element of even small business and organizational Web sites.
In this article, I'll show you how to find one of those elusive remaining domain names that fits your company or organization. And I'll explain how to register a domain name, and connect it with your Web site.
Do you really need a domain name? Technically you don't need a domain name to publish a Web site. I'll bet that there are at least 100 Web sites without domain names for every Web sites with a domain name. My kid's school project on holistic health doesn't need a domain name - it was set up for her teacher to check out, and her classmates to visit. She used a free Web site service, and has a long URL that works fine, but isn't a distinctive custom domain name.
I got the URL http://members.aol.com/dkarlins with my AOL membership. So I use it. Yahoo offers a similar deal, setting you up with a free Geocities.com Web site as part of their email package. These Web sites are for real, and come with an increasingly powerful set of options, even including the ability to collect data from forms at your site (at Geocities). But don't expect to be able to connect these sites to your own domain name, when you get one of these sites, they assign you a URL that is likely to start with their domain name - like aol.com.
Commercial Web presence providers will also let you set up Web sites without a domain name. But if you're going to pay at least $20/month for a Web site, chances are you will want to pay an additional $35+ a year to maintain a custom domain name.
There are many reasons to register a domain name:
Almost all the combinations of six letters for dot-coms, dot-nets and dot-orgs are already taken. If your last name is Jones, don't count on finding Jones.com available. You'll have to get creative. Is Jonzz.com available? One quick way to find out is to go to Network Solutions, and enter the domain name you want in the search box at their site. As you see below, Jonzz.com is available.
Of course the folks at Network Solutions will offer to sell you an open domain name as soon as you find it. But hold off on that until you read the next section of this article - there are a number of things to figure out before you decide how to register your domain name, and with whom.
There are a couple limitations to looking up prospective domain names
Network Solutions. One is that you have to play "trial and error" until you find an open domain name. The folks at whois.net have a search form that lets you see every domain name containing a string of characters. For example, you can enter "jones," and see a list of (in this case millions!) of domain names that have already used some combination of characters that includes jones. The image below shows the report from whois.net.
Network Solutions only registers domain names with .com, .net, and .org extensions. However, there are now many more domain name extensions available.
You can register a domain name with another country, like davidkarlins.uk.com. If I was a doctor, like my cousin, I could grab DavidKarlins.md. If I was giving driving lessons, I could try to grab Drive.to. In an ironic illustration of the global digital divide, some third world countries have had their domain name extensions bought up by investors, who offer extensions like .to (Trinidad and Tobago), or .md, (Madagascar).
You can look up (and register) domain names with extensions other than .com, .net, and .org at register.com. The image below shows the current list (April, 2000) of available extensions.
As the available dot-com extensions get used up, expect to see more domain name extensions - I just heard an ad on the radio for domain names ending in tv "the most recognized word in the world." So you can go jump on that option now at tv.tv. As I write this article, they're auctioning off Olympics.tv, and you can grab it for just $7,000.
Once you have found an open domain name that you want, the next step is to register that domain name. Here, you have two basic options: register the domain name yourself, or let your Web server provider register the name for you.
The main advantage to registering the name yourself is that you have control over the name. You can grab a name while you shop for a Web server provider. You should be aware, though, that "squatting" on a domain name isn't free - companies like Network Solutions charge a nominal fee to hold an unused domain name for you.
The cheapest place I've found to register your own domain name is at joker.com. The interface isn't the most user-friendly, and you'll need to deal in Euros (not dollars - although you can find a Web site that will give you an exchange rate easily enough).
Caution: If you do register your domain name yourself, think carefully about in whose name the domain will be registered. It's very difficult to change the person associated with a domain name yourself.
If you register your domain name yourself, a Web server provider will charge you to connect that name to the Web space they give you. But that fee is one of the more negotiable parts of making a deal for a Web site. It can't hurt to ask if they'll eat the cost of transferring your domain name to their server. I'll share more advice on making a deal for Web space in the next installment in this series.
The main advantage of having your Web server provider register the name for you is that they take care of the considerable hassle of registering and maintaining the name. In addition, some server providers require that you register a domain name through them, since that acts as "collateral" to make sure you pay your monthly bill.
Domain names are being grabbed up quickly. Like one every five seconds, according to the people at networksolutions.com. So, if you find one you like that is still available, it's probably a good idea to go ahead and register it.
If you end up paying a fee to your Web site provider to transfer the domain name, that might be a small price to pay for saving your favorite domain name. Or, find your available name, and then move quickly to find a server provider. Many of them will negotiate discounts in domain registration fees as part of a contract to provide you with Web space.
In the next installment of this 8-part series on getting your Web site up, I'll share some advice on finding a Web server provider.
Discuss the articles with David in the Graphics Unleashed Discussion Forums
Choosing a Web Authoring Tool · Eight Steps to Implementing a Web Site · Step 1: Grabbing a Domain Name · Step 2: Publishing Your Web Content - Finding a Web Server Provider · Step 3: Develop Your Web Strategy · Step 4: Design and Create Your Site · Step 5: Publish and Test Your Site · Step 6: Promoting Your Site · Part I: From CorelDRAW to the Web · Part II: Creating Web Page Background JPEG Files · Part III: Creating a Hover Button in CorelDRAW
Flash 5 Tutorial 3: Using Masking in an Animation ·
Flash 5 Tutorial 2: Creating a Logo with a Shape Transition ·
Flash 5 Tutorial 1: Create a Splash Screen
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