I am looking at setting up a small web based business and I began looking into registering a domain name and now I am completely confused.
What is the straight dope on registering?.
Unclviny
Go to a domain registrar (there are thousands so look for a cheap one), I’ve heard godaddy.com is good and cheap.
Enter the domain name you want.
Give them your credit card details.
They register the domain name in your name
This is probably for 1 or 2 years.
Then each time the name expires, you get to pay again to renew it.
When you want to have the domain name point to your website, you will need to go back to your domain registrar and set up the nameservers to point to your host.
To add to that, depending on how the registrar has set up their registration process, you may have to send them a seperate email with details for the WhoIs. Although most of the time you can enter this information online at the time you register.
(WhoIs is basically a list of information that people can find related to your website. This is an example of the WhoIs for google.)
Most top level (e.g .com .org) domains are registered for one year only, most country specific (e.g. .co.uk) are registered for two years at a time.
The Registrar can be different to the Host, or they can be the same. Really depends more on you and what sort of deals you can get.
DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT sign up with a web host who promises to register your domain for you.
Not that this is a fatal mistake (I’ve done it), but it means that your host is in control of your domain’s details. And you don’t want that.
When you sign up with, for instance, Godaddy (I use them), they will have a section of your user area where you submit the “nameservers” of your host. This information is provided to you by your host and is pretty straightforward. By putting in the nameservers, you are directing that domain to go to your host’s servers. But if you get sick of that host and want to switch, you have to go into your registrar’s (like Godaddy) user area and change the nameservers to direct your domain to the new host.
However, if your old host is in control of your registrar and domain inforation and is doing all of the nameserver setting stuff for you, they can drag their heels giving you the information you need to switch. I’ve had to wait a week or so to get a host to give me the information I needed to unload them. They are not in a big hurry to help you dump them. Who knows—some unscrupulous hosts may make you wait a really REALLY long time before they give you your info. It’s a very vulnerable position to be in.
So, don’t do that. Sign up for godaddy (or Register.com or whoever) and then deal with setting your nameservers yourself. You are in complete control that way.