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What's in a name - Steps to registering a domain
04 Jan 2010
Do you have an idea for a website, but are uncertain about what is required to get your site online? If so, the following points outline the basic steps involved in making your concept available on the internet.
1. What's in a name? Registering your domain...
Your "domain name" refers to the website address or URL (Uniform Resource Locator) that you choose for your site. As the name suggests, URLs are unique, so the first thing you will need to do will be to logon to a website such as http://www.register.com to check if your selected name is available. Simply type the address into the “search” to check if the domain is available.
If the domain is available, then all you will need to register it will be a valid credit card.
An exception to this rule are .ie domains, which identify your website as being Irish. These domains are regulated by the IEDR (IE Domain Registry Ltd) and to register one of these you will need to provide evidence to justify why you have a claim on your required domain name. This is essentially to stop people buying up lots of domain names in order to ransom them back to the internet community.
2. Which type of domain should I register?
Since registering a .com domain is not expensive (they can be purchased for about Euro 10 per annum) we would recommend registering a .com domain and an .ie domain. The latter are a little more expensive (currently Euro 69.00 at www.register365.com) but it is worth it even just to ensure that anyone who hears your company name and types it into a browser, assuming that you are a .ie address, will find your website.
This does not mean, however, that you will have two websites, as typically both domains will bring visitors to the same “location”… which brings us neatly on to hosting….
3. To buy or to rent? Finding a home for your content
All websites are made up of files (documents and images) that physically reside on computers called web servers which are typically stored in specialised data centres around the globe. Your domain registration is essentially a way of letting all web browsers around the world know that requests to go and visit www.yourwebsite.ie should actually send people to a page that is sitting on “computer A” in CityWest, Dublin or “computer B” in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
For most websites, you will be renting space on a computer with a hosting company to store your content. Larger global corporations would be more likely to manage their own IT infrastructure, which entails having the skills to manage networks and firewalls and is obviously a large cost.