WHAT IS A DOMAIN NAME ?

DOMAIN NAMES

Brief: It is the name that can be used to access a specific entity on the Internet. Names are issued by a central name authority and there is an annual fee for the use of the internet name. Internet Performance customers: use this as helpful information but don't worry about the details, we can register your name for you. All you have to do is pick an available name and let us know the name. 


Domain names are the dot com names you hear about. For example Microsoft's domain name is microsoft.com, and IBM's domain name is ibm.com.


There are only a few major classifications called root domains. The original ones are:
.com for commercial
.org for organizations like pbs.org or marchofdimes.org
.net for Internet providers like iperform.net or att.net
.edu for universities like mit.edu or stanford.edu
.gov for government like whitehouse.gov or senate.gov


There are also country oriented names like:
.us U.S.
.ca Canada
.ru Russia
.tv
There are codes for every country.


Some newer major classifications are:
.info
.name
There are new major categories all the time. 


Internet Performance's domain name is iperform.NET.
OrangeCountyLocal's domain name is OrangeCountyLocal.com



There has been such a high demand for names in the .com arena that a million names are registered in just weeks, and the rate is increasing. Many people that really should have used a .com name couldn't find one that they liked so they started registering the .org and .net names. The .edu and .gov domains are still mostly as they started out. There are companies that register names and then try to sell them. A good name can sell for thousands of dollars.

There is a central registry of these domain names in the U.S. It used to be a non profit organization called Internic, now it is a company called Network solutions (owned by Verisign). Some people still call it Internic. You can go to the Network Solutions web site and register a domain name. If you want to register a name, they want a credit card number at the time you register. The standard fee is $35 for one year. Your Internet Service Provider or the company that takes care of your web site may do this for you and charge you something more than $35, the extra being a fee for their service.

There are other companies doing name registration now, some good, some not so good. You will find some competition in the prices. If you are not already familiar with registering Internet domain names, we recommend using NetworkSolutions.com
as your name registration company. They are the original authority.

WHOIS

You can also go to Network Solutions to see if the name you want is already taken (it probably is). They have a service called "whois". With the whois service, you enter a domain name and they tell you if it is taken, and a little information about who owns the name. There is no list of names available from Network Solutions.

Many people are registering names, even though they are not using them yet, just to get the name before it is gone. If you have not registered your name you should consider this, even if you are not interested in a web site it this time.

WHAT GOES IN FRONT OF THE DOMAIN NAME ?

You frequently see www.(some business).com. Once you own a domain name, you can subdivide it into smaller pieces. The smaller pieces are frequently computer names, or services. You get to choose what names go in front of your domain name. Some common ones are:

www.somesmallbusiness.com for web site.
mail.somesmallbusiness.com for an e-mail server.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE A DOMAIN NAME TO HAVE A WEB SITE !

You can share someone else's domain name.

Sometimes you will see a web site in this form www.somecompany.com/anothercompany. Internet Performance has several domain names that you can use this way. Your small business can get a name like www.iperform.net/yourcompany or www.businesspros.org/yourcompany. These names are much easier to get than regular domain names because we do not have millions of customers sharing our name. We have a list of names that we own and you can use as a base for your web site if you wish. See Internet Performance domain names that you can share.

WHO OWNS THE DOMAIN NAME?

Ultimately, the central registration authority owns all names. You can lease a name with the option to renew.

When you register a name, they ask for three things. 

Who is the owner, or administrative contact.
Where to send the bill, or billing contact.
Who is the Internet service provider, or technical contact.

The technical contact should be your Internet service provider so Network Solutions knows where to send people that are looking for your web site. If you are just holding the name and do not have an Internet service provider yet, Network Solutions can be the technical contact.

The billing contact is wherever you want the bill to be sent. 

But it is very important that you (or better yet your company) be the administrative contact. This is the actual owner of the name. Some Internet service providers will register your name for you and put themselves as the administrative contact. THEY OWN YOUR NAME if they do that. If you want to leave that service provider and take your website somewhere else, they can cause you a lot of trouble if they will not give you your name back. It is possible to contact Network Solutions and convince them that the name should belong to you but the burden of proof will be on you.

The administrative contact should be a position at your company not an individual at your company. You can register the name as president of the company. If the name is an individual and that individual leaves the company, the name still belongs to the individual. It is possible to contact Network Solutions and convince them that the name should belong to you but the burden of proof will be on you.

HOW DO I FIND AN AVAILABLE DOMAIN NAME ?

Go to NetworkSolutions.com web site. there will be a space to enter the name you want. It will tell you if it is available. It will also recommend similar names that ARE available.

So, WHAT IS THE BOTTOM LINE ?

If your small business does not have a domain name yet, get one (even if you are not going to use it right away). It is only $35/year for each name at NetworkSolutions.com. Consider getting yourname.com, .net, .org if they are all available.

Make sure it is registered with some position at your company as the owner of the name.

Go to Internet Performance home page.

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