How to Reserve a Domain Name

As businesspeople, we tend to spend a great deal of time planning how to further our business and increase our profits. We crunch numbers, look for ways to improve productivity, and spend countless hours working on skill sets for our core businesses. Then when it comes time to choose a domain name for our Web site, we take the name of our business and add a .com or .net to the end and wait for the profits to roll in.

It’s not that simple.

When looking at your Web presence, choosing the wrong domain name can be one of the biggest mistakes you can make. You can have all the functionality in the world, but if your Web site is at www.toomanylettersforthecustomertotype.com, you might as well just save your money. You’re going to need it for the bankruptcy attorney.

Here’s a short list of how to get your effective web presence up and running:
• Select a domain name.
• Register the domain name.
• Set up your name servers.
• Post content to your Web site.
• Have your contact information or link on the main page and easy to find. This includes e-mail contacts.
• Design your Web site with color, graphics and easy navigation.
• Brand the Web site with your mission. List your products and services.
• Keep content easy to read and flowing so the visitor can go through content quickly and easily.
• Use graphics or highlighted characters to identify hyperlinks. Many Web sites use eye-catching automated graphics.
• With many Internet users having broadband, you can add more stuff like video, audio, etc. But keep in mind not all users will have broadband or computers; they may have cell phones or other devices. So keep your code optimized and the site easy to download.
• Publish your Web site on letterhead, search services and business cards. When communicating, indicate that you have a Web site. Some Web sites will link to yours if you link to theirs.
• Because there are many devices and computer systems that will access your Web site, ensure your site is compatible with the popular browsers.
• What is your site about? Content is key, so the data you collect or post is very important. Keep your data secure, and ask your hosting company what securities are in place to protect your Web site.
• Some hosting companies will track visitors to your Web site, so check with them to see if this service is available.

Finding a host for your domain entails taking a look at what options are available and the total cost involved. Some companies offer free or low cost hosting when you allow their banner or ads on your Web site. Your registrar will provide you with some hosting options. Many ISPs, (Internet Service Providers) offer the same types of services and also manage the Web site for you. You will want to look at how much space you get and if sub domains are an option (my.domain.com, where ’my’ is the sub domain). Some hosting services have Web site creator software that allows you to create a Web site with little or no technical knowledge, or they (the registrar or ISP) will create the site for a charge.

Other things to consider are “Do I want e-mail with my domain name?” and “Do I want Web mail?” Web mail (a page on your Web site that allows you to sign in to send and check e-mails) is especially helpful when you are not on the same network and want to send and check e-mail from anywhere in the world.

So if you get a good domain name, how will customers find your domain? This is the techie part. Your domain needs to have name servers that tell the Internet world where you are located. This is done by IP address known as an Internet Protocol (IP), and the IP number represents your domain location. The host of your Web site will be able to help you determine the domain name servers, but remember: Without the correct name servers, your domain would not function.

To protect your domain, be aware that the administrative contact of the domain has the decision-making control of the domain. Be sure you are the authorized contact and the e-mail contact information is one you plan on keeping.

You will be given notice when your domain is about to expire, and you will need to renew if you plan to keep the domain. In most cases you are given a 30-day grace period in which to renew the domain after it expires; however, if you fail to renew it, you will also lose ownership of the domain.

Have any Tech questions? Email techcorner@b2billinois.com with your questions for the Tech Team.

Wade LeBeau is the network operations director for The Daily Journal, and a WiFi Kankakee, LLC board member.