Cheap
Domain Guide
If
you would like to build a website, having your own domain name will help your
website look for professional. Domain name is the unique name that identifies
an internet site. Domain Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots.
The part on the left is the most specific, and the part on the right is the
most general. The left part is different from a site to another, which
normally is the name of the site. The right part which is the general one
sometimes is refer as the suffix (the right part after the dot). It can be
name.com, name.net, name.biz, name.org etc. The
suffix also can be more specific to the country of origin for example is name.com.my
(for malaysia site), name.com.sg (for singapore site), name.co.th
(for Thailand site).
You can choose which
type of domain that you prefer based on your target visitor. For a company, I
think it is good if they choose the domain with country original (for non
international company), so people know which country they are from and what to
expect from it. For individual, it is also depend on preference, if your would
like to target visitor from specific country you may want to choose this
specific domain name. For me personally, if I want to search for some topic or
issue, I will prefer to visit the site that I think will give me the most
relevant information which is the site near my area (in one country).
However, the general domain name is cheaper compared to the specific country
domain name. For example, for a .biz domain name, we can get it from only USD
4.95 only which is very cheap domain while specific country domain name, price
will range from USD 30.00 onward depend on the country. It is your choice
based on your business model or business plan. Just remember that you able to
get cheap domain name if you want.
Here
are some site that provide cheap domain name:
www.godaddy.com
- sometimes you can get domain name from USD 6.95 only.
www.active-domain.com
- sometimes you can register .biz domain name from USD 5.95
www.luckyregister.com
- provide domain registration from USD 4.95 for .biz suffix.
A
given machine may have more than one Domain Name but a given Domain Name
points to only one machine. In other word a domain name is an address of your
website. One domain can only refer to one site at one time. However, one site
can have many domain name pointing at it.
What
domain name should I use?
You can choose your domain name as you like, i.e. it can be anything (it is a
name…). However, there are some tip about choosing your domain name. Most
people will look for domain name which is easy to remember and it is also can
give some clue to the visitor about what can he expect if he visit this site.
For example site : www.pet-cockatiel.com
is providing lots of information about pet cockatiel. Visitor can expect to
have information about cockatiel in this site and not about other species of
birds. If your site is regarding computer, then it is good if you have the
word ‘computer’ in your domain. For example, if You use www.suannamtip.com
nobody will know what is the site is regarding to except if they visit it
first.
Second tip is register a domain name that is easy to remember. If your domain
name is very long, it is very difficult for a visitor to remember the domain
name and he may have some difficulties to get back to your site. (you can
attract many repeated visitor if your site provide interesting information and
value to his time).
How
to register a domain name?
After you have decided about your website topic and the domain name, you can
start to search for a site that provide domain registration service. As
mention earliar, there are lots of website that give this service with
different price. Normally I will choose the lowest price avaiable to
register.
Before you register your domain name, you have to check whether the domain
name has been registered or not. You can not register a domain again if it is
not avaiable (has been registered by others). In the site that provide domain
registration, you can type your desired domain name in the textbox provided.
If the domain name has been registered, then you have to choose another name
for your site. However, sometime, the name has been registered for only
certain suffix while some other suffix it is still avaiable. For example :
www.money-guide.biz is not avaiable
because it has been registered (by me of course). If this is your desired
name, you may choose to register it under different suffix, say money-guide.org,
or you also can change the name to be moneyguide.com etc.
When you found a domain name that is still avaiable, you can proceed to the
next step. You have to provide your information on the form of this site.
Actually this information can be view by others if you not choose to
‘undisclosed’ it. The domain registration site normally have an option
where you can ‘undisclosed’ your information (your contact information),
but you have to pay extra for this service.
The minimum period to register for a domain name is a year. However, you
can choose to register for longer period. There are option to do this.
If you choose to register for longer period, say 5 years, the domain name will
be yours for this period of time and no one else can register it. If you
choose to register for only one year, near the end of the period, this site
will send a reminder email to you to renew your domain name or else it will
expired. Domain name that become expired will become avaiable again and anyone
can register this name.
When you complete the step that require in the domain registration, the domain
registration site normally will send a confirmation email to you to inform you
that your desired domain name has been registered and it is yours. In this
email, they will give you a password to log in to your domain account. Please
keep this email (do not delete it) because it has all the information of your
domain name, you may need some of the information later.
How
can a domain name point to your site?
After you have register your domain name, you have to make this domain
point to your website. I will show you roughly how to do this. After we
register our domain name, we will received our password to manage our domain
name from the website that we have register it. We have to log in to
this account to do this.
In each domain name, there were one section (it is different between a
different site) that we able to choose the DNS name. Normally we can found
this section in ‘manage domain’ section after we sign in. Some site
will provide 4 textbox, while other will have 2 textbox avaiable. There
were two DNS which we should key in, which is “Primary DNS name” and
“Secondary DNS name”. You can get the DNS name from hosting site
where you register for hosting your site (keep your html file). Please note
that the changes will take effect by 24 to 72 hours. Therefore, do not worry
if there is not affect to your site even after you change the DNS name.
Before you change your DNS name, your domain name will not point to your
website but will normally point to a temporary page which is provided by the
site that your register the domain. For example, the page wil have some
picture and will have some statement like “ name.com is coming, please
check this site later”. Some domain registration site will also provide
“for sale” site for you, this is very useful if you only want to buy the
domain to resell it at higher price to anyone interested. For example
you may buy a cheap domain name say, money.com but didn’t want to
build any website. You may choose to put up a “for sale” page and anyone
interested to buy this domain name can contact you to buy it at a agreeable
price. The point that I would like to show here is that there are many option
here.
Good
domain name can get very high price and you may able to make a handsome profit
selling it – even you buy a cheap domain. Do you know why the buyer
willing to pay the price ? it is because they know that good domain name can
attract lots of visitor and lots of visitor may turn into good money!
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