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Information About Domain Names and Hosts Having your own domain name (i.e. http://www.yourbusinessname.com) gives your site a more professional appearance. It also has other advantages. Domains can be easily transferred from host to host without changing the domain name.The reason you can switch ISPs and still be found is because a domain name is a human-friendly alias that refers to those dot addresses you see sometimes, such as 24.92.226.135. An IP address, is assigned to you when you open an account with a hosting ISP. When users want to connect to your site, they enter your domain address. The request is then sent to a domain name server (DNS) that looks up your domain address in a big database to find out what your current IP address is. If you think about it, it's like your own name. If you move, your postal address changes but your name doesn't. Domain names are issued by domain name registrars.Your biggest challenge in getting a domain name is to think of one that hasn't already been snapped up. So put on your thinking cap, think of several, and be prepared to compromise. Once you've got your list of possible names, go to Internic's whois service and see if the name has been registered. But what do you do if you want to secure a domain name before someone else grabs it, but you're not ready to use it just yet? You park it! You put it in storage. The vast majority of ISPs will let you use them as your official ISP for registration purposes, and charge you very little or nothing at all for the service. You also are not obligated to use them as your host when you eventually are ready to go on-line. Of course, they provide parking services for free in the hope that you will buy your hosting services from them. Bay Web Designs uses bluegravity hosting service. I charge $15.00/month for hosting your site through Blue Gravity. Their service is excellent. I will set the account up and be responsible for the billing. I will then bill you on an annual basis. I will also arrange for registering your domain name, or if you already have one, I will arrange for its redirection to Blue Gravity so I can host it. Or, if you have your domain name and have a host you already use, I will continue that policy. |