By now, you’ve hopefully read Jeff Stolarcyk’s article on choosing and researching domain names. If you haven’t, please head over to “What’s in a name?” and read that article first.
Now that you’ve got your list of possible domain names, let’s look at the technical background behind domain names. Managing your domain names is critical to staying on top of your business.
Management and the
Domain Name System (DNS)
I’ll use a tool like SRSPlus.com to manage domains all in one place, as well as modify and update Domain Name System (DNS) records. DNS is like a nickname system for servers on the Internet. Each domain name is assigned a specific numerical set. Rather than having to remember these numbers, DNS translates words (like yourdomain.com) to the appropriate numbers automatically. If you’re using Yahoo! Small Business, you can register domains at http://domains.yahoo.com.
Once you’re done, you can use the built-in control panels to point your domain name to your website. When you register the domain you are registering the TLD (Top-Level-Domain), for example pretzelbloggers.com. You then gain control of sub domains, like store.pretzelbloggers.com or twisted.pretzelbloggers.com.
The WHOIS System
WHOIS is the protocol used to obtain data about domain names. WHOIS provides contact information, expiration date and DNS Name Server information (often used to explain where the domain’s site is hosted). This information is public data, so there are a variety of services out there to “Protect” your WHOIS data by filling it in with masked data. This prevents spammers from combing the WHOIS database for e-mail addresses.
Your Domain Name
is going to Expire!
If you’ve registered your domain name, you’ll eventually receive a letter in the mail from Domain Registry of America, Domain Registration Company, or some other misleading name. These letters are worded in such a way as to trick domain owners into thinking that they were the registrar of the domain and include various phrases and logos that appear to look official. Highly inflated prices are charged to ‘renew’ the domain. But read the fine print and you’ll see that you’re actually transferring control to this company. You’ll then end up paying higher amounts annually, and losing the majority of control from your site. You also may experience downtime during the transfer process.
