What is domains name ?

Website Basics-What Is A Domain Name?

This series of articles is designed to take some of the mystery out of the steps required to start up a website for yourself or your business.

I will attempt to keep my explanations and examples as simple as possible; I fully realize from my personal experience in this business that there is indeed a lot of mystery out there.I will attempt to speak as plainly as possible; don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to insult you or "dumb it down", it's only that I have come to realize through my own experience that the vast majority of the public is uninitiated regarding domain names, and this and the following articles are designed to clear up a lot of the confusion associated with domain name registration and website creation.

And so the first step in building a website is in the choice of a domain name. Whether you are a doctor, lawyer, plumber, real estate agent, travel agent, aluminum siding salesman, or if you want to build a site to feature your family dog Spot, the entire endeavor begins with the choice of a domain name. What is a domain name?

A domain name is really nothing more than a name. It's really just that simple. Each stop along the information superhighway is identified by a number code known as an IP address. Because humans remember words easier than numbers, a domain name (also known as a URL) is just a human-readible IP address. Domain names are designed to make web surfing easy.

When you buy a domain name either online or on the phone through a domain registrar company you are basically licensing the rights to that name for however long you are willing to pay for it. In other words, if I call or visit online my registrar company and pay for "mydomainname.com" for 5 years, that means that I have the exclusive rights to that domain name from the date of purchase going forward 5 years. Domain names are available for up to 10 years at a time. After that, you can renew the domain name again. There are no current laws in the US limiting the amount of time you can continue to renew a domain name, unlike the limitations on copyright or trademark names.

Can you change a domain name? The answer is a qualified NO. After registering a domain name most companies will allow you within the first 5 days to call and cancel a domain name that you have registered, and will allow you to register another domain name. You can't change a domain name, but if you made a mistake and if you're fast enough (within the 5 day period) you can get a refund on the original domain name and buy another.

Can you buy a domain name someone already owns? The answer is a qualified YES. Most domain name registrars provide some process which allows you to make an offer on someone else's domain name or backorder domain names in case the current owner of the domain name decides to let the domain name expire, giving you a chance to bid on the domain name so you can register it when it becomes available.

To clarify further, when buying a domain name, you are licensing the right to that name in a similar fashion to taking out a copyright or trademark. But it is only a NAME. This is an important point. In my career I have talked to countless people who thought that simply by buying a domain name, automatically somehow magically they suddenly owned a website. If that was your thought, let me assure you it is not so. But don't be discouraged, there are really only a few more steps to start up a website online.