Domain Name Definition
A domain name is a text name that points to a server on the Internet; basically it is your text “address” or URL on the world wide web. For instance, www.ohmystinkinheck.com is my domain name. If you were to key www.ohmystinkinheck.com into your browser bar, the browser will direct you to my home on the internet.
The purpose of a domain name is so internet users like you and me can more easily find websites on the world wide web. The actual location of a website on a server connected to the internet is indicated by an IP address. IP addresses take the form of four sets of numbers separated by dots or periods. For example, the IP address for www.ohmystinkinheck.com is actually 72.52.163.184 – which is certainly not as easy to remember or key into a browser as the actual domain name.
Registering for a Domain Name
A domain name is “registered” with a Domain Registrar. A domain name can be registered for 1 to 10 years at a time. Contrary to popular belief, a domain name is not yours indefinitely; you do not buy or own your domain name – you “rent” it. If you fail to renew your domain name it will expire and be available for anyone else who wants to register for it. Keeping tabs on your domain name renewals is an important part of being a website owner.
My preferred domain registrar is GoDaddy, found at the domain, www.godaddy.com. They charge $10.96 per year to register a .com domain and offer price breaks and discounts for bulk domain purchases, domain transfers, etc… as well as different rates for domain names with different suffixes (.net, .org, .biz, .name, .us ). It is always my recommendation not to purchase a domain name in any suffix other than .com if the .com version of the same domain name is unavailable. In other words, get the .com version FIRST, and then if you want the .net, .biz, .whatever, get it too.
Whenever I register a domain name, I purchase both the .com and .net version, but again, I will not purchase the .net version if the .com is unavailable.
Steps to Register a Domain Name at GoDaddy
Please note: GoDaddy modifies their website set-up regularly. Some of the screenshots may differ over time, but the basics are the same.
1. Go to www.godaddy.com.
2. Enter your domain name (without the “www” prefix) in the Domain Name Search Box. Then, select the suffix of your choice – it defaults to .com, but you can use the drop-down menu to select any suffix. Click “Go!”
3. GoDaddy will tell you immediately whether the domain name you entered is available or not. If the domain name IS NOT available, you will be given options for available domain names. If your domain IS available, GoDaddy will offer you choices for alternative suffixes, along with the annual rate in a table (see below). Check the box of any additional suffix you require.
4. There are a slew of options available to you when registering a domain name. GoDaddy will show you many of the different available domain names related to the domain name you entered. For instance, when I keyed in “enter-domain-name-here.com” I was also offered the chance to register “enter-domain-name-heres.com, theenter-domain-name-here.com, enter-domain-name-heresite.com” and so on. You can certainly skim through their recommendations and add them to your cart, but for the purpose of this tutorial, I’ll skip it by scrolling a bit further down the web page and clicking “Continue to Registration”.
If you want to register more than one domain name at a time, you may do an additional Domain Name Search using the box below the “Continue to Registration” button without losing what you have already found to be available.
Once you have found all the domain names you desire to register, click “Continue to Registration” to complete the registration process.
5. GoDaddy will offer you a wide variety of services before letting you get to your shopping cart. The image below will show you one such offer. If they interest you, you can click either of the “Add” buttons or if not, click the blue text link, “No Thanks”, at the bottom.
6. You may receive more than one offer as you proceed to check-out. Be sure to read carefully or you will add items to your cart you did not intend to add. At this point, you will be taken to a page to enter your personal information and set up an account with GoDaddy, as well as your credit card or PayPal information, to complete your transaction.
7. Special Note: When giving a contact email address, select an address that is unrelated to your domain name. For instance, I would not select info@enter-domain-name-here.com for my contact information. You can use a free webmail account like gmail or yahoo. This way, if your domain name expires, or you have any issues with your web host, you can still receive email concerning your domain name.
Written by Heather (OMSH) as part of the Ditch Your Blogging Training Wheels lab segment from the Blogher ‘07 Transitioning to a self-hosted blog.
