How To Register A Domain Name
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Registering a domain name is as easy as baking a ready-to-eat pie.
First, seek out a reliable registrar. I personally can recommend GoDaddy, as it’s served me very well in the past (you can use the coupon code CHRIS1 to save some money).
Second, find the domain of your dreams. Every popular registrar out there will have a search field where you’ll be able to search for available domain names. Since most of the common words and company names have been taken, you’ll probably want to use something unique.
Third, register the domain name. This process is rather simple: you open an account with the registrar (this is generally done during the checkout process), enter in the technical details for the domain name (name servers and contact information), then pay for the domain name.
(Name servers are provided by your hosting company. If you don’t already have an account at a hosting company, you can probably get hosting with your registrar.)
You’ll also notice the contact information fields: registrant, administrative, technical, and billing (sometimes more on other registrars). If you have different contact information for each field, then fill that contacts information in there, otherwise just use your information.
Many registrars offer “information privacy,” so your name, address, and phone number are not available to anyone that looks up the domain name. If you’re paranoid about security, then you could get this option, but you should be aware that this can cost more than simply maintaining a minimum-level post office box.
Fourth, Wait up to 48 hours for the domain name to propagate through the Internet. Even though things happen rather quickly on the Internet, there is often a delay of up to 48 hours while your domain name populates throughout the Internet’s numerous DNS servers. It’s really nothing for you to worry about, but you do need to keep in mind that you may not be able to access yourdomainname.com right after you purchase it.
Once you’ve paid, you’re done: your domain name is set up!
[tags]register domain name, godaddy[/tags]
7 Comments
Matt Williams
May 23rd, 2007
at 2:09am
I personally prefer Enom to Godaddy. Their user interface is much better and they don’t hassle you trying to upsell their other services. Admittedly it’s harder to get their prices to compete with Godaddy, but I’ve got a $6.95 reseller account, which makes me feel kind of special.
Jay
May 23rd, 2007
at 7:12am
This article is fine as far as it goes, but sorta glosses over the REST of the process. Getting a domain registered is just the first step. Unless your registrar provides DNS resolution services or you have a box with a fixed IP address to act as a DNS server you can’t really do much with a domain.
lordkat
May 23rd, 2007
at 8:48am
Don’t worry Jay, I’ve got a whole series of articles planned around registering and using your domain name ;)
RG
May 23rd, 2007
at 9:35am
Not to be picky but the days of the 48 hours propagation are long gone. The longest I have seen in the past couple of years is 1 hour.
Scotty
May 23rd, 2007
at 10:21pm
I’ll have to agree w/ RG… I do (did) have a fixed IP address at home so was hosting a few domains, just for fun. I recently moved them all to a permanent (paid) host and the changes all promulgated (gotta love that word!) within an hour.
John Buesing
May 25th, 2007
at 8:16pm
I am currently with DomainDirect but looking for someone to host my domain who does a more responsive job of handling E-Mail for the same price - one account with 4 free addresses attached to the main address. DomainDirect has gone ultra-CHEAP and no longer responds to requests for support and their SPAM filter is no longer user accessible meaning that the high percentage of false positives are bounced back to the sender with clearly negative effects! Any suggestions appreciated!
RNC
May 29th, 2007
at 8:32am
48 hours still a good worst-case estimate. I’ve been doing web hosting support for a while and I have seen some DNS changes take close to that long. The top level servers usually update fairly quickly from what I’ve seen. It’s usually the local DNS servers like your ISP that take longer. Their cached information might take longer before it’s updated. But to the person that just bought their domain it doesn’t matter where the delay is, they still might have to wait a while before they see their domain working.
As for domain registrars, I’ve had good experience with both NameCheap.com (an eNom service) and GoDaddy.com.
Both include Email Forwarding and URL Forwarding with your domain registration so you can quickly forward your email to your current email host and forward web sites references to your current web site or blog.