Many people ask us “What is domain registration?”. Here is the short answer without getting into any technical jargon. First you need to understand what a domain is.
- A domain name on the internet is like your “address” and “phone number” rolled into one.
- Just like an address points to your “place of business”, the domain name points to your website.
- Just like a phone number allows people to call you, your domain name is part of your email address and lets people communicate with you electronically.
- A domain name is also part of your brand – when people think of your domain name they should think of your company and vice versa.
- Once a domain name is registered, no one else can use it – you own it. You get to control the website that it points to, and what email addresses are associated with it.
- You can register as many domain names as you like and point them all to the same place if you want (i.e. the same website or the same email inbox).
- The yearly registration fee for a domain name is typically to set up and manage the information that says
- what website it points to, and;
- what email addresses are to be used.
- Domain names are also bought and sold – some people register domain names they think other people might want and then sell them at a premium price. For example someone is trying to sell the domain name “credit-card.com” for $10,000.
- Most people agree that the shorter a domain name the better because it is easier to remember and takes less time to type in.
In my opinion you should stick with one name – ideally the name of your business – and buy at least the key domain names associated with it – i.e. mybusinessname.com and mybusinessname.ca .
For all the nitty-gritty details you can read more at http://learnwhatis.com/what-is-a-domain-name/ or do a Google search.
Should you register a domain name for your loved ones as a personal gift? Well – I suppose that depends on the person! 🙂
