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In this How-To chain, we have learnt about first step of creating website in our previous articles.

We also learnt, What is website? How websites are made? and some basics of Websites.

We have covered overview of above questions in first part of this article How-To-Web series . And we have also  covered about basics of creating simple website using HTML and CSS in second part. Its time to discuss about the next step.

Step 1 – Creating Website (Web Pages)

Step -2  Domain Registration

What is Domain?

Coming to definition, in simple words, Domain is just like your name. It has a surname which is one of fixed group of suffixes. We call these surnames tld (top level domain), sld (second level domain), ccSLD (country code SLD). gTLD (Generic Top Level Domain).

Why Domain?

Well, if you still didn’t have this question, you should have. It is a very much valid query for beginner and sometimes the known person too.

IP addresses

Being general, Internet works in IP (Internet Protocol) addresses. All the computers connected to Network have their unique IP address. For networking devices and other networks, computers are known by their IP address only.

IPv4 (Version 4 of Internet Protocol) is made of four pairs of three digits numbers separated by dot (.). The maximum number if three digit can be upto 255 and can be 0 in some parts except first one.

Example. 192.168.1.100 (Read as 192 dot 168 dot 1 dot 100). This is a valid IP address. Like we said above, every computer connected with network has unique IP Address. Due to increasing number of computers and internet connectivity, newest protocol of IP is in exist and it’s name is IPv6.

Ok, the question is still here, Why domain name?

Its because, IP address are hard to remember. Actually it was only reason why it was brought into existence. But due to evolution in server technology, now hosting companies use multiple domain accounts in single IP address and map them with server software.

Our IP address is 70.39.148.32, but it is very hard to remember. Even for us, we can’t memorise the number and sharing the IP address is more problematic. Possible number if IPv4 address can be 4,294,967,296. This means, we can’t even manage to memorize few 10-20 IP addresses without using a directory.

But due the existence of domain name, we don’t have to remember or share our IP address. We use a  name that explains about website. Domain names are more user friendly and readable as compared to IP address. Its very much easy to remember domain names so that identification of web resources become easy.

So, domain names are very popular and essential part of Internet.

What are Rules for Domain Name?

Domain name registration is available to general public with some fees. But some ccTLD has restriction to allow registration to own citizen only. Lets have a look at few common rules for having a domain name.

1. Domain Names can’t be duplicate. If the same domain name exits elsewhere, you can’t register that name.
2. Domain name can not contain a dot in its name. The TLD part contain dot but the name can not.
3. Domain name can not contain @ symbol.
4. Can not contain white space or blank character (space) in anywhere.
5. Can not exceed maximum length of 253 character.
6. Also, domain name can not contain special characters except hyphen (-). However newer generation domains with Internationalized Domain Names (IDN), it is possible to have special character other than.

Examples of different level domains.

Top Level Domain (TLD) or Generic TLD

1. .com
2. .net
3. .org
4. .int
5. .gov
6. .mil
7. .edu

Country Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD)

A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country, sovereign state, or dependent territory identified with a country code. All ASCII ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all two-letter top-level domains are ccTLDs. – WikiPedia

Others

For full list of TLD, gTLD, SLD, ccTLD, visit this page.

Before proceeding ahead, lets learn about Registrar. These are similar to birth registrar in common world but some different aspects. Domain Registrars are channel between the Registry and common user.

Registry is the top most authority of domain name system, which manages, assigns and handles all operations related to Domain Names and IP addresses. Registry have all records in single database containing relevant information about domain name and other DNS records.

Some of the popular web companies which provide Domain Registration service are

GoDady

Bigrock

1and1

BlueHost

We also provide domain registration service under our domain pyarb.net

And many more other registrars and affiliate partners of domain registrars are providing this service with nominal fees while all the information is updated to Registry database in real-time.

How much Domain Name cost?

Price of Domain name varies on the basis of TLD and registrar. There is a standard minimum fee which is charged by ICANN for maintaining records and being a standard authority. Other than this, the Registrar charges the additional amount for operating their business, paying for their server and staffs.

Approx Cost of Domain Name?

.COM, .NET & .ORG domain costs around $ 10 in market. But due to multiple domain marketplace, some domains containing top keywords and famous word cost higher.

There is no special cost charge by ICANN for such domains but domain registrars or some other marketers register these domains and then resells for higher value.

We can also find many countries offering free ccTLD domain for their citizens in order to promote Digital communication and Digital education movement.

Conclusion

Domain names are alias to IP Address (a physical location of computer) which are used to point users to particular website. This allows user to easily remember web address.

Choosing a good domain name is most important part in current world scenario where search engine optimization (SEO) and ranking is the only thing.

Your domain should be clearly showing what your website is about. Suppose if your website offers Java Tutorials , then if your domain contains Java & Tutorial words in domain, user can simply remember and have trust based on domain name.

While buying new domain, check offers from different provider where always offers running like first year free when buying for two year or something such offers.

What to consider before domain registration (Buying)?

1. Before buying (registering) new domain, you should check the current price, additional services provided like Privacy Protection, Free Email IDs and Domain Management Services along with renewal prices.
2. Most of companies offer first year registration fee in lower amount and renewal price is more than double of purchase price. Until you are comfortable with domain transfer with one registrar to other, do not get attraction of such offers.
3. Consider registering domain from reliable company in terms of performance. Most of domain registrars point domain to their name server and then they allow managing DNS records inside their portal. In case the server where the registrar has put their data is facing some kind of connectivity issue, it will take more time to resolve domain and user will experience slow page or timeout.

Authors Word

If you have any questions regarding Domain Registration or related process, do not forget to ask below as comment. I have almost 10 years of experience with Domain Management and can help you with any kind of domain related problem and genuine suggestions.