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What is a domain name?
The Internet is made up of millions of computers from around the world that all are connected together.
Each of these computers has its own numeric address, called an IP address,
so it can be found on the Internet.
This address is made up of a series of numbers that are grouped into
four blocks of numbers like this: 169.71.200.243. These numbers are given out by Internet Service Providers (ISP)
when you sign up for web hosting.
You can be assigned your own number or your ISP may provide you with a
number that you can share with many other websites on a rotational basis. If you have your own number that doesn't change, you
have what is called a static IP address. If you share an IP address
with other websites, you have what is called a dynamic IP address
IP numbers worked fine as Internet addresses while the Internet was small and everyone had a static IP address.
But the Internet has grown astronomically and there are lots of people who don't have static IP addresses.
Also, numbers are very hard to remember.
The Domain Name System (DNS) was created so that websites could be
found by an easy-to-remember name instead of a number.
An example of a domain name is www.somesite.com.
When you tell your browser to go to www.somesite.com, the domain name system finds the domain name in its
lookup system and gives out the IP address so you can get to that website.
You can try this out with Yahoo.
First type in www.yahoo.com and you'll be directed to Yahoo.
Then type in
Yahoo's static IP address, which is 216.32.74.50.
Both of these take you to Yahoo.
Domain names solve the problem of having your IP address change whenever you change from one ISP to another.
When you change ISPs, you are assigned a new IP number.
With the domain name system, your domain name stays
the same no matter what IP number it has been assigned.
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Is a domain name required to have a website?
No. Your ISP can give you a free website address when you sign up with them or you can get them from
other website address providers on the Internet.
The problem with free website addresses is that you won't have control of
the name. If you move your website or something happens to your ISP, you will lose that name and your past
visitors won't be able to find your website.
Also, free website addresses are usually a sub-name that
uses someone else's domain name like yahoo.com.~yourname. Many Internet users will recognize a
name like this as a free name and will not take your website seriously.
If you are planning to invest considerable time and effort into your website, then you really should
purchase your own domain name.
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Do I have to have a website to purchase a domain?
No. You can buy a domain name and hold it until you are ready to use it.
In fact, you can buy as many domain names as
you want to for various projects or websites. As long as you pay the annual fees on them, they are yours.
Caution: don't put off buying a domain name you like, thinking that you'll buy it later. Keep in mind that thousands people are
registering domain names every day and the domain name you want may be gone when you come back to register it.
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Will I own the domain name if I register through you?
Yes. Your name will be registered in your own name, not ours. This means that you will be able to control
the use of your domain name.
If you decide to register elsewhere, make sure that they do register the domain
name in your name. Some services register the domain name in their own name on your behalf. When this happens,
you can't control the domain name and you can't change to a different service without their agreement.
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Can I use a domain name that I already own?
Yes. When you sign up for our services, your sign-up kit will include instructions for setting up your
domain name to use our services.
If you have an existing website that you want to move over to our services,
you'll want to copy your files onto our system and set up your domain name on our system. When your
website becomes active on our system, you take down your old website. Doing it this way ensures that
your website is never down during the transfer process.
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What do I have to do to transfer a domain name?
If you are transferring your domain name to our domain name registration service:
Step One: You have to request a transfer from your current registrar.
In most cases we can initiate the transfer process for you, but in some
cases you'll have to use your current registrar's form instead.
Step Two: Your current registrar will send you an email or a form requesting your authorization to transfer
the domain name.
Step Three: Your current registrar transfers the domain name to our system.
The actual transfer
process can take as little as 48 hours and as much as several weeks. How long this will actually take
depends on the registrar you are currently registered with.
If you aren't transferring your domain name to our registration services, then you have to change your domain name
information that is on record with your current registrar.
Each web hosting service has their own unique
set of domain names that are often referred to as "nameservers". There are always two nameserver names.
You have to change
the nameserver information for your domain name on your domain name record so it will be directed to the correct
web hosting service. This is called "pointing" your domain name.
If this is the method you choose, we'll
provide you with our nameserver information so you can set up your domain record to point to our system.
Whichever method you use, your web hosting service has to also make a record of your domain name on their
nameserver system.
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If I transfer my domain name, how long will the process take?
If you are just pointing your domain name, usually between 24 to 48 hours. This is how long it takes for your
changes to be recorded in the main domain name registry and for your web hosting service to refresh it's name
server information.
If you are changing registrars, it will take 24 to 48 hours from the time the name is actually transferred to the new registrar's
service.
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Can I have more than one domain for my website?
Yes you can. You can point any number of domain names to your website but only if your web hosting service
offers this service. We do offer this service but we do charge a small fee for each name that you set up
for your website.
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Can I use a country specific domain name?
Yes, but country specific domains such as; .co.uk (United Kingdom),.ch (Germany/Switzerland),
.co.jp (Japan), etc. can only be hosted with web hosting companies that are located in the country
they are related to. The generic domain names such as .com,.org, .net, .biz and
.info aren't related to any specific country and can be hosted anywhere.
We can provide web hosting for country specific domain names for the United States.
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How do I check to see if a domain name is available?
There are thousands of websites that offer domain name search services. You just type in the domain name you
are looking for and the search system tells you if the name is available or not.
A word of warning: Register your domain right away. Someone else may register it if you don't
register it while its still available.
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