An overview of what is a domain name, who owns it, where to get one, etc.

1. www.sixdegreeswebdesign.com
Websites 101: Domain Names
Your Domain Name
The first thing you need when setting up a website is a domain name, which is the main part of the URL
(address) of your website. The domain name for my site is sixdegreeswebdesign.com. The rest of the address you
see when visiting various pages, along with the domain name, makes up the URL.
Ownership
When registering for a domain name make sure your domain name is in your name, not your designer/
friend/whoever. If your relationship goes south, or someone forgets to mention your domain name is up for
renewal and doesn’t renew it, you could potentially lose your domain name and your website along with it. I
know of one man whose designer skipped town, unbeknownst to him, and the next thing he knew his domain
was expired and his entire website was gone. When this happens you have to wait 90 days to buy your domain
back and hope no one else buys it first! (He managed to get his back) There is an option to get on a sort of
waiting list for domain names that are expiring soon so someone could potentially buy it out from under you.
Who to Register With
When registering your domain name, go with someone big such as GoDaddy, Network Solutions, or 1 and 1.
Your domain, although yours, technically belongs to the registrar (who you registered it through). If your
registrar goes out of business, and you can’t get ahold of them to transfer your domain name, you will lose
your domain name.
.com and .net
Try to get both the .com and .net extensions for your domain to keep your site from being confused with
someone else’s site that has the other one and may have a similar business. I had this happen with an old site of
mine which was my web portfolio (.net) when someone else bought the .com and started an art site. It wasn’t
a big deal, just people got confused when they went to .com (which most people will do) instead of .net. If you
have a non-profit or some sort of organization you are registering the domain name for, try to get .org.
Domains such as .biz and .info are cheaper because they aren’t nearly as popular as .com and .net and may not
get your site as much attention as a result.
Private Registration
One option when registering your domain is to opt for private registration. When you register a domain
name, unless it is registered as private, your information is public under the WHOIS database listing domain
name ownership information. This database shows information such as your name and address to whoever
looks up the domain using WHOIS. Whether or not you want private registration is up to you.
SSL Certificate
Another option they may try to sell you, though this may just be offered under hosting, is an SSL Certificate. An
SSL Certificate is only necessary if you are going to be taking credit card information through your website.
Part 2 will explain hosting and some of the jargon you may come across when selecting a hosting plan.