Tutorials: Domain Registration

REGISTERING A DOMAIN

What Is A Domain?

A domain name is familiar, easy-to-remember name (such as blogbasics.com) for a computer on the Internet. Each domain name consists of a domain (such as blogbasics) and an extension (such as .com). Amongst themselves, computers identify each other by a series of numbers such as 142.77.1.1. While typing such a number in your browser might bring up a site, remembering numbers like that would be rather inconvenient for humans, so instead of using numbers we are able to use names. We allow the computers to convert that name into a number and work out the details themselves.

What Is Registration?

A company known as Internic manages all of the possible combinations of domain names. While no one can truly purchase a domain name, we are able to "rent" them for up to 10 years at a time. During this period the name will associated with whoever has registered it.

The process of registering a name is quite simple. You simply have to find a company that offers registration services (there are thousands of such companies) and provide them with your personal information, such as address, phone number and email address as well as payment information which will generally be a credit card.

What Does It Cost?

Registering a domain can cost between $5.95 and $50 per year. Companies will often include your first year's registration if you sign up for domain hosting with them. Because of their low costs ($5.99 per year), BlogBasics uses 1and1 for all our registrations.

How To Register A Domain

Because there are thousands of companies offering domain registration services we cannot provide specific tutorials for each of them. For our example we will register a domain with 1and1.

Begin by clicking on this link which will open 1and1's site in a new window.

At the top right of your screen you will see a box that says "Get Your Domain Now." Immediately below it is a space for you to enter the name you would like to register. Remember that each name can only be registered once and with tens of millions of names already registered it may take several tries for you to find an unused name. Go ahead and enter a name in that box. When you have done so press your Enter key or click on "All."

If the name has not been registered you will see a checkmark in a box beside the name you entered along with the word Available. If the name has already been registered by someone else, it will say Already Registered. If this is the case, scroll to the bottom of the screen and enter another name. Continue this until you find one you are happy with and that is available. When you are ready press the "Continue" button.

The next screen allows you to confirm your selection. Make sure you typed the name exactly as you want it to appear and then click "Continue" again.

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