What constitutes a website? Have you ever given it a thought? A website is property owned by you in the world wide web. It is exactly like your own home in the Internet.
In order to create a website, the first thing to do is register a domain name. A domain name is the url identification of your website.
Registering a domain name is one of the first things one does while building a website. In order to know more about creating websites.
A domain name is your own to choose. It can be anything like yourwebsitename.com, yourwebsitename.net, etc.
The second part of the domain name is known as the Top Level Domain, or TLD. It can be any of the many available–.com, .net, .org, .info, .co.
Here are the important things before considering registering a domain name.
1. Read the Fine Print
When you register a new domain, the registrar gives you the fine print that you should read carefully. This involves all the details of the domain name, including the privacy, the data required, and any fees for things like domain transfer.
It also gives you the time required for certain tasks like re-registration, updates, and domain transfer. Without reading this fine print, it is very difficult to get a domain registered perfectly.
2. Hidden Fees?
There may be a transfer fee involved if you are transferring a domain to or from a registrar. For instance, after registering your domain, if you want to get it running under another registrar, this is where the transfer fee comes in.
You should check the fine print to find the details about this. Some registrars may be able to deny your transfer if a fee is not paid as mentioned. And some of these registrars may hide the transfer fee well so that you are unaware of it.
3. Registration Period
When you are registering a domain, your registrar may give you an option to register it for more than a year. It may be two, three or five years at a time.
In fact, after registering the domain, you should actually check if the domain is in fact registered for five years or only one year.
Some registrars simply pay for one year of registration and renew the domain at the end of the year. They may also have a fine print detail saying that the domain registration fee is non-refundable.
Now, they can simply provide you with crappy service so that you cancel the registration after a year. In such a case, the registrar can keep all the money you gave for the five-year registration. Check for how many years your domain is actually registered under the domain Whois service.
4. Anonymous Domain Registration: Whois Edit and Domain Privacy
When you register a domain, as per ICANN rules, you have to display your entire contact information to the world as the owner of the domain.
If you are uncomfortable with displaying your information, most of the web hosting companies provide you with an option to mask your registration by using domain privacy. You should know about these fees if you are uncomfortable displaying your information.
Also, one thing you should know is the name and the email address given in the Whois database belongs to the actual owner of the domain.
5. Domain Slamming
Some unethical hosting companies do something known as Domain slamming. This is done when you are almost nearing your domain’s expiration date, you will get an email in your inbox about renewing your domain name.
Only thing is this particular email is not actually from your hosting company. It is from a shady domain registrar that has taken your email address from the Whois record and generated a spammy renewal notice.
As soon as you click on this and submit a fee, if your domain is not locked, you could easily lose your domain.
6. Domain Authority Code
Whenever a domain transfer is required, a domain authority code is required. This is a unique code that has to be given to the new domain registrar in order to get the domain transferred.
The current registrar may take forever to give you this code if it is not in its best interests to lose the domain.
Conclusion
It is very important, that you work only with professional web hosting companies and domain registrars.
It is easy to find the best domain registrars out there. You have to take maximum care in finding the right hosting companies to get your website running smoothly.