Domain Registrars Part One

What Every Web Site Owner Should Know DOMAIN REGISTRARS Domain Names are the first step to launching a Website. Once you have made the decision to launch a Website, the obvious first step is to pick out and secure a good domain name. This is done by visiting a Domain Registrar. Most registrars have a tool on their Website that lets you check to see if a domain name is available or not. If you find one that you like, then it is a relatively easy process to purchase it. A Registrar will provide Name Servers that will enable your Website to be available online. I am not referring to being “found” by a person using a search engine, which is a subject we will get into later. I am referring to having your domain physically available online. Name Servers and what they do seem to cause a lot of confusion amongst many Website Owners, particularly when changing Web hosts, Registrars or Webmasters. Frequently, the owner does not know the password/user combination, or even worse, the name of the actual registrar. This can cause quite a bit of extra work and delay your project. Therefore, make certain to keep this information safe. In most cases your Web host will send you an email containing all the information that you will need. Be sure to print out a copy and keep in your records. If your Webmaster sets up your hosting account, be sure to have him forward you a copy of the login information I mentioned above. *A decent Webmaster should be able to find the name of the registrar easily, but if you have changed email addresses then it can be unpleasant. Even though in most cases you will be able to access it once you prove that you are the actual owner, it is a hassle that is easily avoided. Congratulations! Once you have set up a domain name, you are officially a Website Owner (see, that wasn’t so hard, was it?). However, at this point, that may not mean much; due to the fact that your Website probably just points to a “parking page”. This page is automatically put in place by your domain registrar. It may have a few ads on it, or perhaps nothing at all. Regardless, it is your Website and nobody else can use that domain name while you own it. Each domain name is completely unique. There can only be one. However, keep in mind the fact that there are several different Top Level Domains or TLDs (.com, .org, .biz, etc ...). Each TLD is independent of the other any domain name may be registered by separate companies or individuals, regardless of the desires of the other Website owner’s wishes. This means that if you own widgets.com, someone else can come along and register widgets.org and still another person or company can be the owner of widgets.net and so on. There have been many unfortunate cases where a Website owner has registered a domain name and subsequent registration of the same domain name with a different TLD has been purchased by a competitor or worse. If an “opposing domain name is either fraudulent, or a competitors domain, your marketing efforts may be sending your clients to their Website. How would it reflect on you or your business if the .net, .biz, .org etc... version of your domain name belonged to a competitor that did poor work, or just had a poorly built Website up ... What if it was a rip-off scheme, or porn? For this reason, it may be important for you to register all of the major TLDs for your domain name. This depends on whether you believe that there may be competition for your domain name. If your competition buys the .org and the .net version of your domain name places a competing Website there, it could be problematic for you.