E-Learning Hub

Registering for a Domain Name

Many businesses today are finding the need or have a desire to setup a web site to promote their business. The starting point in this entire process is to first register a domain name. By registering a domain name, you are securing the use of the name for a particular period. No person or company actually owns a domain name, but by registering a domain name, you are securing the use of the domain name for a specified time period ranging from 1 year to 10 years.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need

• You will need access to the internet to visit a registrar ( a company that you contract to register your selected domain name with ).

• Although some companies will allow you to send money orders in to pay for registration, a credit card will secure your domain name faster, and will increase the odds that the chosen domain name will be available.

• A List of potential names to check availability against.

• An email address to include on the domain record, and allow the registrar to contact you for whatever reason.

Steps

Step One

Visit a registrars web site ( HTTP://www.namecheap.com ) is an example of a registrar site.

Step Two

Use the registrars site to check to see if the names you want to use are available. most registrars have tools built into their site to allow you to check availability.

Step Three

If you find a name available that you want to use, select purchase as an option on the registrars site.

Step Four

Complete the transaction making sure that the registrar you are using is providing you a secure transaction.

Step Five

Usually within 24 hours the registrar will notify you if the registration was successful or not.

If successful, they will provide you basic instructions on how to access the information and or make changes to utilize it for a web site, email, etc…

Overall Tips & Warnings

• Because of the nature of the internet, sometimes a domain name registration will not succeed because someone else was registering the same domain name as you at the same time.

• Make sure your registrar is using a secure transaction for your cc and personal information by checking the browser for closed “LOCK”, indicating your transaction is being process with a secure server.

• Registering a domain name for multiple years can not only save you money in most cases, but also reduce the chance that you will forget to re-register and someone else takes the domain name from you

• Using a Registrar like ( HTTP://www.namecheap.com) will not only allow you to register domain names, but provide you many other needed services like hosting, email, etc…