The basics of a domain name

The domain name is the first thing most people think of when it comes to the World Wide Web. Web site addresses are branded as much as anything these days, and it's crucial to lock up your desired domain as soon as you can.

Domains are registered in one-year increments, but even if you don't have immediate plans for a Web site, securing the domain now could save a lot of time and money later for the right domain. There are more than 200 million domains registered and the name that fits your site best, no matter how unique, could be snapped up at any moment.

This is most important for businesses wanting a domain that either is the company name (PizzaPlaza.com), basic key words describing it (SmalltownPizza.com) or anything else that sets a business apart (two4onepizza.com). If you own a business and a Web site is not in your near-term plans, locking up the domain name is still important. PizzaPlaza.com is easier to brand than SmalltownPizzaPlaza.com or Pizza-Plaza.com.

Registering a domain name for a personal site is just as important if you have one in mind, or even just an idea of what the site will be about.

Domain name competition wasn't as fierce in the early days of dot-coms. The first domain ever created was Nordu.net, on Jan. 1, 1985. When domains were made available to register, a now-defunct computer manufacturer secured the first registered domain, Symbolics.com. That was March 15, 1985. It took more than two years before the 100th address was registered.

Web site addresses, or URLs, are actually a series of numbers, known as an IP address. Domain names translate those numbers to an easy-to-remember address.

Addresses ending in .com are the most popular, but we also offer .net, .org, .biz, .info and .us. While the content of a site is the most important, picking the right domain name is crucial. It's what you write down for a person to find the site's content and can include key words, the name of your business or anything you can think up.

We register your domain name for you. You own it, not us.

You may have noticed some Web sites offer deals touting a free domain name. Every domain name is registered through ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. ICANN is a non-profit organization that took over the process of overseeing domains from the U.S. government in 1998. Payment is made for every domain registration, so when a company offers a free one, it just means they make up for it with other charges or have the money already added to the package prices.

WantMyWeb.com offers truly flexible options, including month-to-month payments. That allows anyone uneasy about signing up for a 12-month plan on something they are unsure about the opportunity to start small.

WantMyWeb.com makes establishing an online presence easy. We've broken the process down to three steps, all easy to complete with any WantMyWeb.com package.

CLICK HERE FOR THE THREE STEPS TO GETTING ONLINE

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