About Domain Names

 

Importance of a Domain Name

There are a number of good reasons for having a domain name:

  • If you ever change your web host, your domain name goes with you. Your regular visitors or customers who knew your site name as www.thesitewizard.com (for example) would not have to be informed about a change of URL. They would simply type your domain name and they’d be brought to your new site. Email addresses remain the same as well.
  • If you are a business, a domain name gives you credibility. Few people would be willing to do business with a company with a dubious URL like http://www.geocities.com/whatever/12345.
  • If you get a domain name that describes your company’s business or name, people can remember the name easily and can return to your site without having to consult their documents. In fact, if you get a good name that describes your product or service, you might even get people who were trying their luck by typing “www.yourproductname.com” in their browser.
  • If you want good sponsors (advertisers) for your website, a domain name is usually helpful. It tends to give your website an aura of respectability.

What is a Domain Name Registrar

A domain name registrar is an organization or commercial entity, accredited by a generic top-level domain registry (ICANN for .com, .org, .net etc.)  and/or by a country code (CIRA in Canada for .CA ) top-level domain registry, to manage the reservation of Internet domain names in accordance with the guidelines of the designated domain name registries and offer such services to the public.

How to Register a Domain Name

The easy method is to contact me and I will take care of all the complexities for you. I will suggest appropriate names and check availability. I use Go Daddy for most domain registrations and transfers. Once the name is registered, I will park it for you for free.

How to Transfer a Domain

A domain transfer is, in effect, to transfer domain name from the management under one registrar to another registrar. As a registrar is only responsible for the management of your domain records, this transfer should in no way affect your website, relevant email or DNS.
In order to process the transfer of your domain, you need to have domain already under your ownership and a registrar that you want to transfer that domain to. While the process of a domain transfer is a fairly simple procedure, it is important to understand the workings such a domain registration transfer so that things don’t get more complicated than you can handle.
Before authorizing your domain name transfer, be sure that:

  • The domain name is unlocked at your current registrar.
  • You have an authorization code from your current registrar, if required. Some domain name extensions, primarily country-code top-level domain names (.ca), do not require an authorization code.
  • The administrative contact for the domain name has a valid, published email address in the Whois database.
  • You have the transfer authorization email I sent to the domain name’s administrative contact right after the transfer purchase.

Note: For most domain name extensions, the move between registrars takes from 5 to 7 days once the transfer is authorized. The process and time required for the transfer can vary for certain extensions.

Definitions

ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is a non-profit corporation given responsibility from the US government to manage the Internet domain name system. ICANN regulations prohibit transferring domain names registered or previously transferred in the last 60 days.

CIRA
The Canadian Internet Registration Authority .ca country-code top-level domain name (ccTLD) is an extension that represents Canada. A .ca domain name broadens your site’s audience to Canadian residents, as opposed to .com, the generic top level domain name (gTLD) designating commercial activities. This extension is particularly beneficial for companies that conduct business in Canada by making their URLs more recognizable for Canadian residents and businesses.

The Whois database is a repository of information associated with registered domain names and is available online. Domain name information like creation and expiration dates, the registrar of record, and its various contacts (administrative, technical, etc.) is stored in the Whois database. It’s public information. The Whois information is available to anyone who does a Whois search for a particular domain name. All information entered in the Whois must be valid.

Parking a Domain Name
When you park a domain name, a temporary Web page displays when visitors browse to your domain name. You might want to park your domain name to indicate you are reserving it until your website is ready to go live.