Domain Name Registration Process - Basic Guide

Posted by Nick Niesen on November 1st, 2010

If you are hesitating to read this article, you may surely miss some important information about domain name registration.
Several articles on this subject could be found on the net but the advantage of this write-up is that it's simple and easy to understand. This article provides you with great info on domain name registration.

What is a domain name anyway?

Domain names are the familiar web addresses (i.e. somename.com) that web browsers use to locate a particular website. Domain names, in fact, are pointers to a particular IP (Internet Protocol) address (it is an address servers use to locate each other) and we use them for a simple reason. They are more descriptive and easier to remember than an IP addresses which are presented in just a bunch of numbers (i.e. 125.416.28.7)

The Registration process

If you want to purchase a domain name, first you need to find a registrar who will process the domain name registration.
Currently there are hundreds of registrars you can use. To see the full list of accredited domain name registrars visit the InterNIC website (www.internic.com/regist.html). When you go to a website of the registrar you selected you can use their domain name search tool to verify that the domain name you plan on buying has not been taken yet. If it is available you can proceed with the registration.

Now as you go ahead with the registration you have about 3 more steps to complete the purchase. The domain name registration process may slightly differ from registrar to registrar but the next 3 steps should be pretty much the same for most of them.

1. Decide how many years you want to register your domain name for?
2. Choose Public or Private registration?
3. Enter domain name contact information

Now let me go through the steps listed above in more detail.

1. When you are registering your domain name you can choose the time period of the ownership which is usually from 1 year to up to 10 years (of course you can extend it just before the domain is about to expire so you don't loose it). Some registrars may even require minimum of 2 or more years for selected domain names.
So how many years should you register the domain name for? Well, it depends on what you are going to use the domain for. If it is for your business and you intend to be in business for at least the next five years, I would register it for five or more years. If you are not sure about the future of your website 1 or 2 years should be fine and then you can just extend the registration if your website is doing fine. Nowadays many registrars give you the option of having your domain name renewed automatically so you don't have to worry about it. Using this option will allow you to avoid loosing your domain name just because you forgot to renew it.

2. Choosing public or private registration is another step you will go through, however, some domain registrars may not offer this option. Public registration is the one where you use your personal information in the domain name contact. This type of registering is more convenient but also less secure than the private one simply because your detailed contact is widely and easily accessible including your address, phone numbers and email address which would make you an easy target for email spammers and fraud.
Private registration is on the other hand giving you the security but at the same time it could cost you some extra money over some period of time. The way it works is basically that your registrar is registering your domain name on your behalf. So you are not directly the owner but you have the right to use it. In this case the domain name has the contact information of your registrar rather then yours. Any mail received to the address listed under your domain will be forwarded to you and here is where the extra expense comes in since most of the registrars will charge you extra for this service. If you are choosing private registration I would definitely recommend to closely read the service agreement before you proceed with the registration. You may save yourself some headaches.

3. The last step is fairly simple. If you have chosen private domain name registration you don't have to worry about this step. In case of public registration all you need to do is to enter your detailed contact information. The ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) records 4 types of contacts for each domain name. 1.Owner's contact 2.Administrator's contact 3.Tech person's contact 4.Billing person's contact. You can just have the same contact information for all four unless you have other people managing different aspects of your domain name.

That's all. Now you can just complete the checkout process. It may take up to 48 hours for the domain name registration to be finalized. Once the registration is complete you've got yourself a domain name. Of course there's more than just a domain name registration you need to do in order to get your website online using the domain name you've just purchased. You need to build your site, find a web host, and publish your site to your web host?s servers but those topics are beyond the scope of this article.

Now that you have read this article, we hope that all your doubts regarding domain name registration must have been resolved.