by Seth Metoyer

Created on: October 05, 2009   Last Updated: October 08, 2009

What Is A Domain Name?

If you already have a website design or are planning on having a website, you should absolutely consider registering your own web domain name. A domain name is like "MyWebsite.com" or "ThisIsMySite.com", which you can use to send people to your website. You don't have to be a company or business to register a domain name. Any individual can do it, and it's really very simple and can be extremely cheap.

The Importance of having a Domain Name

There are a many good reasons for having your very own domain name:

If you ever switch your web host company, your domain name will always goes with you. Your frequent visitors or customers who know your site name as www.MyDomain.com (for example) would not even have to be informed about a change of your hosting company. They would simply type your same domain name and will find the location of your new site automatically.

If you are a running a business, a unique domain name will give you professional credibility. Not many people these days are willing to do business with a company that has a URL like http://www.someoneelseswebsite.com/mycompany/999000. It looks unprofessional and is confusing to your potential customers.

If you obtain a domain name that describes your company's business or name, visitors will remember the unique website address with ease and will be able return to your web site without having to consult their notes or remember a crazy web address that doesn't have much to do with your website's purpose. In addition, if you find a great web name that somehow describes your product or services, you run a great possibility of having a visitor try typing in the website url "www.yourservicename.com" in their browser or a search engine like google.com, bing.com or yahoo.com.

If you are interested in drawing advertisers to your site, a personal domain name can be very profitable.

Domain Registration Overview

Obtaining a domain name requires you to register the domain name you are wanting with a company called ICANN, through a domain name registrar (such as GoDaddy.com). For example, if you choose a name such as "newwebsite.com", you must go to a registrar, pay a registration fee that costs approximately $10 to US$35 for that name a per year. Most registrar companies' offer discounts if you purchase your domain name for multiple years at a time.

Some web hosting companies will register the name and will include the domain registration fee with your hosting purchase (this is usually commercial web

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