Domain Names - What You Need to Know

Every business should have its own domain name, such as www.yourbusiness.com. But the technical details are often unfamiliar and can be daunting, so we normally register domain names for our clients.

We ALWAYS register a new domain name in your name, not ours. This is important because control of your domain name should be in your hands, not someone else's. We've seen many frustrating situations where a previous web developer was not available or unwilling to make simple changes to a domain name registration, effectively making it unusable to the customer. If it's registered in your name you can avoid such problems.

We can normally use a domain name you've already registered as well, whether you're currently using it or not. Just let us know and we'll help any way we can.

Domain name registrations contain mostly contact information, but most importantly they also include the "name servers" settings for your domain name that point to the location of your website. You don't need to understand how this all works, but it can be helpful to understand that this part of your domain name information is essentially how your website can be found on the Internet.

If you're interested in the basics of how the web actually works, you may find the following to be a useful start:

What is a name server?

A name server is a computer that uses a Web site name (domain name) to route visitors to the actual Web site location. For example, when you type www.adventure-works.com into a browser, a name server uses that name to connect you to the adventure-works.com Web site. Your domain name registrar will have a method by which you can edit your name server settings in order to direct your domain name to the proper hosting facility. We can do this for you as long as we can log into your account with your registrar. Keep in mind, however, that such changes can take up to 2 days to fully "propogate" throughout the Internet.

In other words, once you make a change to your domain name registration, it can take up to 2 days for it to fully take effect. It's usually only a few hours, but it can take longer.

What is website hosting?

On the Internet a website hosting facility provides computers to store websites, high-speed communication facilities to connect them to the Internet, and software to allow the public to view and use those websites. Hosting services vary considerably, but business-quality hosting services typically provide redundant power and data storage, backup facilities, and 24-hour maintenance.

Essentially, without website hosting services your site would never be seen by anyone on the Internet.