4. What are the domain name mistakes to avoid?
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
Register under your own name. How would you like to build a web business only
to find out later that you don't own it? Your contact information dictates
ownership. The same rule applies for using free or virtual domains in portals or
directories.
Avoid trademarked names. Take the time to research your choices. It's just
not worth the aggravation and expense. You'll find yourself fighting an uphill
battle against a cadre of corporate lawyers with considerably more resources
than you.
Pay attention to your renewal notifications. If you allow your domain name to
expire and someone else grabs it, the only thing your registrar can say to you
is, "Sorry." Ignorance is no exception to the rule. You snooze, you lose. Keep
your contact information accurate and up to date.
Don't overdue it. Avoid stringing a bunch of A's or 1's together just to show
up on the first page of a directory. With PPC becoming more and more popular and
profitable for directories, alpha-numerical placement is less relevant.
| Domain Name Fact: In 1998, ICANN
(Internet Corporation For Assigned Names And Numbers), a non profit
organization was formed. Some of it's functions include; management of
the DNS, allocation of IP addresses and resolving domain name disputes.
|
5. How do you register a domain name?
Registering a domain name is a pretty simple. You won't see things like;
"some assembly required" or "batteries not included." All you need is a credit
card and an Internet connection. If you have a name already picked out, just
enter it into the text box and choose your TLD, .com, .net, etc. Some sites
allow you to register multiple TLD's and multiple names at the same time. Click
the button and the name will be checked against the WHOIS database.
If your choices are available, you will be prompted to continue with the
registration. This process moves the name to a shopping cart where your contact
and credit card information is captured for billing and entry into the WHOIS
database. Once the registration is completed, you will be sent confirmation on
your new domain name. Allow up to 72 hrs before your name shows up in the
database.
If your choices are unavailable for the particular domain that you requested,
it might be available under other TLD's or you can try another name and check
its availability. At devNIC and some other registrars, you can have the database
make suggestions based on your original choices.
Make sure your contact email is kept up to date and that you "whitelist" or "safelist"
your anti-spam software to receive confirmations, renewals and other information
regarding your domain name from your registrar. You are responsible for keeping
your contact details accurate and up to date. That's it…..you're done.
| Domain Name Fact: About 20,000
domain names are registered daily and according to Verisign, there are
currently over 60 million registered domain names. |
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