This Guide is for beginners who need help understanding
how to get their website on the Internet.

STEP 1: Domain Names

First you need to pick a name. A domain name provides you with a unique name to use on the Internet. Although we can manage to live in this world with other people having the same name, the Internet can not. If you type www.myname.com into your browser and there are 2 or 3 websites with the same name, the Internet would have no way of knowing which site you wanted so your domain name must be unique.

Thankfully there are a few ways to check potential names and one such way is by doing a search on www.domainsurfer.com . Even if your name is taken under one Top Level Domain (TLD) such as .com, you can always try other TLDs. E.g. If the domain name you wanted was www.newname.com but it was taken, try another TLD like www.newname.net or .org or can use your own countries TLD. So if you live in Canada you can use www.newname.ca

If you are wondering what some of these TLDs mean, here are some examples:

.com = Company
.org = Organization
.ca = Canadian websites
.edu = Educational Institution
.gov = Government
.net = Originally for networking companies but can be used now for anything.

TIPS:

• Use your country's suffix so that people will know where your business is generally located. So if your business was in Canada, I would recommend that you register a .ca domain name. This is quickly catching on as the preference of choice for many businesses, schools, organizations, churches, individuals, etc.
• Keep it simple. Simplicity is the key to users remembering your website's name. If it is too long, they may not even bother typing it in.
• Avoid cryptic names, hyphens "-" and underscores "_" if possible. They add a layer of complexity that is not easy to remember nor easy to explain. Acronyms will work and perhaps even help people remember long company names. E.g. Tom's Lawn Care could be shortened to www.tlc.ca
• Avoid names that are too similar, if possible. Many small businesses will find that someone has already taken their domain name.

  If your business was called Gary Brown Motors and www.garybrownmotors.com, .biz and .net were all taken, then using www.garybrownsmotors.com (with an "s") may be too close to the others and you could loose potential visitors. Instead add or subtract a word. E.g. www.gbrownmotors.ca

• Don't get stuck on just registering your real name. Slogans work well too.

For Gary Brown Motors above, they could have considered using their slogan, "Drive A Deal" for their domain name. And their website could then be called www.driveadeal.com

• When registering your Domain Name, always put yourself in as the Administrative Contact because the Administrator has the rights to change important information later.

COST

There is a yearly fee for registering a domain name although it is very inexpensive. Plan on spending less then $40 per year depending on the TLD used.

Use these links to find a name that is not already taken.

www.domainsearch.com - (.biz, .com, .coop, .edu, .info, .int, .museum, .net, and .org)
www.cira.ca - for Canadian domain names

HOW DOES IT WORK?

A domain name is just group of characters and/or numbers that have been properly registered. So you could use just about anything for the name (www.anything.com). This name must be registered through a company that is set up as a registrar for the various TLDs. There are thousands of companies who can register your domain name but not every registrar can register every TLD. Once you find an available domain name with TLD suffix, you will then have to find a company that is set up to register that TLD. There are restrictions on using certain TLDs.

When you purchase a domain name, you own it for as long as you pay the yearly fee. You own the name but not the IP address it gets associated to. That way you can change it and point it to a different IP managed by a different web server somewhere else on the Internet. This way, if you want to change Hosting companies, all you have to do is point the name to another hosting service's IP numbers. Unfortunately, you have to transfer all of your files and settings if you move to a new host, but it's the price you pay for ownership.

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