In geeky terms, a web domain is a sequence of letters or words in front of an extension.  For example website.com – the word website is the domain and .com is the extension.

The 3 most popular extensions for web domain names are:

1. .com, short for commercial and used by both large businesses or individual ventures,
2. .net, short for network, also able to be used by anyone, but was once originally designated for technical websites only.
3. .org, which is short for organization and was once only for non-profit organizations or those that didn’t fit into the other categories, but now, anyone can register a website domain name using the extension .org.

Some of the other extensions commonly used in addition to those that are specific to a certain country include:

• .aero
• .biz
• .bz
• .cc
• .coop
• .edu
• .gov
• .info
• .int
• .jobs
• .mil
• .mobi
• .museum
• .name
• .pro
• .tv
• .ws

The Basic Cost of a Web Domain Name

The basic costs of owning a web domain name will vary depending on a number of different factors, including the extension category, as well as what specific features you select, such as email accounts, monthly bandwidth space, whether or not you want to receive visitor statistics and reports about your website.

Generally, .com, .net., and .org domain names are usually within the USD $8.99 to USD $9.99 range per year, while newer extensions like .info are about USD $1.99 for the very first year and then increase to USD $9.99 each year after that.

ICANN Accreditation

ICANN or Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, is the non-profit corporation that oversees the assignment of domain names and IP addresses.

All domain names are “attached” to the internet’s DNS (Domain Naming System), which serves as a virtual phone book of sorts. The DNS converts the letters and characters used in domain names into their unique, numerical IP (Internet Protocol) address, which allows computers to electronically communicate with one another and share data without the need for using the series of numbers.

Domain name registrars that have been accredited by the ICANN have to go through a stringent accreditation process, which isn’t for small businesses without a lot of money.

If a web domain registrar is not ICANN accredited, chances are they are resellers (distributors) of an ICANN accredited web domain registrar. An example is NameCheap.com – They were resellers for eNom.com before they became ICANN accredited.

ICANN accredited web domain registrars tend to be more reliable but RegisterFly is an exception. In 2007, ICANN ordered about 850,000 RegisterFly web domains to be transferred to GoDaddy. It takes more than just being an ICANN accredited registrar to be considered a good web domain registrar.

I used to buy domain names from RegisterFly and this transition period was a tough time for me because I had to prove to GoDaddy that I owned the domains. Some of the RegisterFly domains belonged to eNom as RegisterFly were their resellers for some time too.

Web Doman Registration Sites I Recommend

Some of the web domain registration sites you may want to use based on their good reputation, service and cost include the 3 companies below.

Netfirms.com is my favourite. The domains only cost USD $7.99 per year with free Whois privacy. The customer’s interface is very easy to use and the customer support is great. This is as good as a steal for this level of service and price.

NameCheap.com offers web domains starting at USD $9.16 per year. NameCheap.com is also now offering their Whois Privacy Protection for free for the first year to new domain names registered or for transferred names as well as a host of other beneficial features. Their interface is very easy to use and they don’t overcharge on their domains.

GoDaddy.com is another reputable web domain registration site that offers web domains $9.99 per year, although including extra services and add-on features can end up being rather expensive. Not to mention they charge an ICANN fee of USD $0.20 per year when others usually waive this charge.

I personally believe their premium prices are for covering their excessive marketing campaigns of hiring pretty models to advertise their services.

Web Domain Registration Sites to Avoid

• Avoid web domain registrars with a history of bad service and complaints from customers. E.g.  RegFly.com, also known as RegisterFly.com.
• Avoid purchasing web domains directly from web hosting companies who will more than likely ask that you sign up for their hosting service, or require that you pay many months in advance, which “locks” you in to a service you may or may not be happy with over time.
• Avoid purchasing web domains from a web design company who may be resellers of an ICANN accredited web domain registrar. They may even overcharge on the domain name fees if you do not know how much a domain name costs per year.

Benefits of Getting Your Own Web Domain

Buying a domain name proves that you are serious about your online business and web presence. It is simply unprofessional to use a free subdomain like “myname.blogspot.com” or “myname.wordpress.com”.

Not only does this help you to appear to others as a credible and professional source, but it also gives your customers or business associates an easy way to stay in contact with you and your company or service.

Using a free sub domain or domain service has its restrictions and you do not own this domain name. Some of them even display intrusive ads on your web site. If you violate the terms and conditions of the free domain service provider, they have every right to delete the domain name and your web site will be gone.

This won’t happen if you have your own domain name. You will only lose your domain name if it expires and you do not pay the yearly fee.

Why You Should Own Your Web Domain

When you buy your own web domain, you own the web domain. If someone else buys a web domain on your behalf, he or she owns the web domain.

I never register domain names for my clients.

If I did, I would own your domain name. What that means is your company’s web domain or your web site’s domain name is owned by me. You should never let anyone but yourself own your domain name.

When you own your web domain, you can:

1. Edit your DNS (nameservers) to connect to a different web host
2. Edit your personal or company information of your domain name
3. Ensure that the yearly fee of the domain name is paid on time every single year or pay a few years in advance. Either way you can ensure that your web domain does not expire.
4. Be sure that you do not need to be at someone else’s mercy when you need to do the 3 things above.

What I usually tell my clients after they have purchased their web domain is to edit the DNS settings of their web domain to connect their web domain to their existing web host (if they have one) or the free web hosting I provide.

Sometimes my clients have no clue how to do this and I will either walk them through the steps or do it for them if they need me to. It usually takes 5 minutes or less.

What if Your Web Domain is Currently Owned by Someone Else?

You should request the person or the company who is currently holding your web domain to transfer it back to you.

The process of getting back the ownership of your domain depends on where the current domain name is held at the moment and where it is going to be transferred to. I usually walk my clients through this process to make sure that they control their own domain name.

This could take a few minutes to months depending on whether the current owner co-operates with you in an efficient manner. Sometimes you can’t get back your domain name because the current owner refused to do so.

This is a lousy position to be in and should be avoided right from the beginning.