What Is It?

Domain registration concerns the act of registering a domain name for a period of time, from one year to up to a decade. This time frame is considered a “lease” on the name for use as identification for a Web site. The Domain Name System (DNS) associates information with domain names, so the domain name serves as a form of identification within the DNS. Basically, the domain name translates IP addresses that contains numbers into a name that is easier for users to remember. Most Web sites require a domain name registration unless a site is hosted within an environment where the domain name already is used as the identification for that site.

Who Is it For?

If Web site content owners or Webmasters utilize an existing domain name for a Web site, they do not need to register a domain name. However, many Webmasters and Web site content owners want to create a unique identity or brand for their materials. At that point, they will need to register a domain name with a domain name registrar. Domain name registrars are businesses that compete with each other for domain name registration business. They have access to certain domain names that the user can ‘lease’ through registration through that registrar. Prices vary from registrar to registrar, and other services, such as hosting, are offered through many registrars as well. Whether the Web site content owner or the Webmaster chooses to host the domain name at the registrar or not is a choice, not a mandate.

Features

Domain names are chosen to reflect the content within a Web site, and visa-versa. A domain name that contains information about football is not appropriate for a site that contains information about food (unless the site focuses on football food). However, domain name ‘purchases’ have become a business within the past decade, as many individuals purchase domain names and the names remain parked without specific content, prohibiting some potential buyer from using that domain name unless an offer is made to change registration information.

The business of purchasing and sitting on domain names, or what often is called “cyber-squatting,” has affected the domain name marketplace, especially for those names that end with the “.com” or “commercial” application. While most domain names can be registered for a nominal fee, the practice of cyber-squatting and the ability to auction or sell domain names outside a registrar has valued some domain names well beyond the average yearly fee.

Additionally, many three- to four-letter “.com” domain names are difficult to obtain. Other top level domains used on the Internet’s DNS have come into use, and these domain levels are expected to be used in the proper manner. For instance, “.com” stands for commercial use, whereas “.org” stands for use by an organization (possibly nonprofit), and “.net” stands for “network.” Other top level domains in the Internet’s DNS include country identifications such as “.ca” for Canada, “.uk” for United Kingdom, and “.cn” for China.

While these top level domains have not gained the value that the .com domain maintains, the lack of names within the .com system have pushed individuals to begin using other top level domain identifiers. The important thing to remember when registering a domain name is that registration will expire after the ‘lease’ is over. Usually, domain name registrants will remember to renew the registration. Otherwise, the domain name returns to the marketplace, where others can register the name.

Compatibility

The domain name registrant can host the domain name on practically any host, depending upon whether than host can accept certain top level domains within the Internet DNS. In most cases, the registrar will allow the registrant to “park” the domain name on a server hosted by the registrar until the registrant is ready to transfer the name to a different server. Sometimes, the registrant may need to renew the domain name for another year upon transfer to another server.

Web Hosts that Offer Domain Registration