So as a follow up to Webhosting 101, this article will be based around domains/domain name and what you should consider/know before getting one. There are really only 2 ways that you can get your domain name. 1st way is to get it through your webhost when your register for a package. 2nd way is to get it directly from the domain name registrar companies. There are both advantages and disadvantages to both of these methods and I will go through them one way at a time. Domain name via webhost: Many webhosts offer free domains for life as long as you are with them. It costs them around 10 dollars a year to keep your domain name and sometimes even cheaper as they usually have discounts. You do not need to worry about setting up your domain so that it points to your webspace. You're able to pay it together with your webhosting in one easy bill. The WHOIS information on the domain name will be set to the webhost's business address as it is required by law to fill out the WHOIS to the owner of the domain. Now from the last statement, the domain is owned by the webhosting company (especially when they provide it to you for free). Depending on the Terms of Service, they can not give you your domain name if you decide to switch companies. If your domain is a hot domain, they can afterwards decide to sell it to you at a higher price or put it up for sale to the public. You may legally own entity to your business name but domain names is simply one of the hardest things to fight over in the court and most lawyers dont fight these cases (atleast from my experience). Domain name via registrars: You're buying directly from the registrars, no middleman, you own the right to your domain name. They usually have random discounts on domain names as well and have more variaty of domain types. Webhosts usually only do .com .net .org as these are garunteed to be the cheapest. However there exists a whole list of different ones including but not limited to .mobi, .info, .us. However, the down side is that you have to set up the domain yourself to point it to the server (which is really just setting up nameservers) however it could relatively be confusing depending on registrar. You're also given access to a lot more options and variables which may become mind boggling. Your home address will come up in the WHOIS (again its a by law thing) and you are required to ensure the information is true and up to date. Despite the downsides of registrars, they usually provide/sell Whois Guard services. These are companies which stores your WHOIS information onto their own server and place their own business address and such to your domain's WHOIS. This is perfectly legal and I recommend it at all times just to keep your privacy safe(r). This service can be provided free or paid per year, so have a look before you choose your registrar. Registrar reliabilities isnt that much of a concern these days as they're pretty much on the ball with everything these days on updating the main domain name servers. The main domain name servers are what directs the users to your web server space. A website request goes something along the lines of the following: You -send domain name-> domain name server -send IP address-> You -send request for page-> IP address -send website data -> You It may take up to 24hours for domains to point to your website because of the cache in domain name servers needing an update of address. The domain name servers would under go something like this: registrar server -push information of domain-> main domain name server -push information of domain when requested-> local domain name server (your internet service provider usually) In general its more complex than that and its not 100% correct as I cant recall all the steps but this is a good enough visualization I believe. When domain names expire, after 30 days it will no longer hold it for the owner, and registrar companies will/probably buy them up to resell. Some domains sell for tons of money and you can estimate the value of your domain by the traffic recieved. Its all linked to internet advertising. Again if you have any questions/comments/clarification, please reply and I will answer in the best of my ability
