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How to pickup a domain?

Web Hosting Articles » How to pickup a domain?

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The domain name will be the Internet address of your website. It is the name that users will type in their browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla, Opera, etc) to access your web site. The domain name usually contains two parts separated by a dot. They are called TLD (top level domain) and SLD (second level domain). For example our site domain name is besthostratings.com. "besthostratings" is the SLD and "com" is the (TLD) top level domain. There are a lot of top level domain names available(.net, .org, .biz, .info, .us, .tv). You can see the full list at http://www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html. There you will also find the list of accredited top level domain name registrars. Registrar is a company that handles the domain name registration. These are the international top level domain names. There are also Country top level domain names. They are referred as CC (country code) TLD. Full list of these is available at http://www.iana.org/cctld/cctld-whois.htm

It is up to you what TLD you will choose for your domain name. In general .com are for commercial sites, .org are for organizations, etc. Really, it does not matter. It is up to you. Of course as .com are the most popular the available words and names in the .com space are already registered. So it is worth it to check the other TLDs like .biz, .us. .info, etc. You will have to be creative or use a domain name generator such as NameBoy to come up with a good name.  You need to make sure that your domain name doesn't contain any trademarked phrases or you could lose it to the company that holds such a trademark later on (regulations usually go in favor of the trademark holders).  You can see how domain name disputes are handled at this page.  

Most of the web hosting companies offer domain name registration along with their hosting packages. However our advice is to register your domain name separately on your own with a registrar company of your choice. There are several advantages here. First, you will get familiar how and where to manage your domain name. Second, if you decide to move your site elsewhere you can do so on your own, you will not have to ask the host to make changes to your domain name, etc. And last you will have full control over your domain name.


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Comments 2 >>

ZaVaZ Said,
Aug 08, 2006 @ 16:01

I like dotster.com search way better that nameboy... try it out and see for yourself
ron moody Said,
Feb 13, 2007 @ 20:37

Finding a knowledge base primer for creating a web presence was what I was looking for and found this to be a helpful article. I'm preparing to create a web presence for my company and prefer to avoid as many pitfalls along the way as possible. Knowledge is power. I'm looking forward to reading through the other areas of your site. Thank you, RM.
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