How to pickup a domain?

The original and still biggest domain name registrar is Network Solutions / VeriSign .  They held a monopoly over domain name registrations until several years ago.  NetSol still operate the global .com and the .net registry though. However there are a lot of registrar companies that offer registrations in the .com and .net space. Check the ICANN(Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) list above.  We recommend using less expensive registrars like NameCheap or GoDaddy. You can register a domain name for less than $10/year as compared to around $30/year that NetSol currently charges and you will get no difference in the quality of service.

A domain name can be registered for at least 1 year. You need to make sure to renew a domain name before it expires, or your site will stop working and you might lose the domain name itself. In general after a domain name expires the registrar company keeps it for at least a month and you will be able to renew the domain name.

If you do not have a website but you have found a nice name to be available you can always register it and simply place there an "under construction" page. Most of the registrar companies offer such service for free. Even some of them offer email forwarding. So you will be able to receive email at your new domain name. Simply all email sent to that domain name will be forwarded to a mailbox of your choice. For instance the email messages can be forwarded to your local ISP mailbox or Yahoo and/or Hotmail mailbox.

Once you register a domain name, you will be able to modify its Name servers /DNS information. This information defines where the domain name will be pointing to. These are the addresses of the Name servers that are responsible for your domain name. These name servers tell your browser where to look for your site (which hosting server to send its requests to). Usually when you open a hosting account, you will receive the hosting company Name servers in your Welcome email. Probably, you can also find that information on the webhost FAQ. If such information is not provided, contact the company and ask them to provide it to you. Once you have the webhost Name servers you will need to enter this information for your domain name. Once the Name servers are updated, it will take 24-48 hours before the domain name starts pointing to the new hosting server. Once the propagation is complete you will be able to access your new hosting account by a domain name and you will be able to receive email messages there.

Usually you will be able to access your hosting account before the Name servers are updated. Most hosting companies provide an IP address or a temporary URL(for example username.hostingcompany.com) address where you will be able to test your site.