A great domain name is important to almost any website project, person or business. Having said that, this next statement would seem obvious. Make sure you own your domain name! Many persons, groups or businesses who are not involved in the Internet day-to-day might not realize the significance of that statement.
A website really consists of three separate things –
- A registered domain name;
- Web hosting on a webserver with access to the Internet;
- Web pages with content, images, maybe some video.
AnglerHosting.com can provide all three of those things through one source, making it easy for you to get online, increasing your exposure and/or business through the 24/7, 365 days a year miracle called the World Wide Web on the Internet. For this article, we’ll just cover the first need – the domain name – since that step needs to be understood to ensure your long term success.
Many web hosts include a domain name if you host your website with them. Some independent designers also provide that ‘service’ to you. It is surprising how common it still is actually. It seems convenient. All you do is make one payment and have no further worries. The problem is, the web host or developer owns your domain name, not you.
Your domain name – the name like AnglerHosting.com – is your identity really. The words your visitors and/or customers will associate with you on the Internet. You simply do not want someone else to own or control that identity. To explain more, normally if you decide to stop using that particular web host company, say to transfer to a new web host company – you may be forced to change your identity! You may have to buy a completely new domain name and start over.
Many of the most common ‘.com’ domain names, the TLD (Top Level Domains such as ‘.com’ ‘.net’ ‘.org’ etc) most Internet users are most familiar with are already taken. No company wants to have to change their identity unnecessarily. Especially after you are established.
There are actual unfortunate instances of small businesses who used the domain name that matched their company name exactly only to find out for various reasons their web host or developer holds their name hostage, loses it for them or even takes it away. Whomever is the registrant and administrator of record on a domain name controls that domain name with the governing registry. They can do whatever they want with it.
You may not be able to get your domain name back, at least not without a legal battle that many individuals, small businesses and groups can’t easily afford to pursue. AnglerHosting.com wants you to own your domain name. We recognize the value of your identity and want you to gain from that value.
How a domain name works basically is that companies are licensed as a registry with ICANN, an international non-profit group that is tasked to watch over all domain name TLDs. The registries for each TLD then license registrars such as GoDaddy, eNom, AnglerHosting.com and many, many others to register (lease) domains names to users such as you.
You pay your registrar a yearly fee to register and control your domain name so you can do what you need to with it. You can pay for multiple years in many cases and this is a good way to go for names that are important to you. Just make sure you do not forget to pay before your registration period ends or the domain quits working, meaning your website installed on that domain name quits working.
Many registrars allow you to use automatic payments with a credit card. Then you just need to remember to keep your credit card information up to date with your registrar. Luckily, most also include automatic reminders and there are grace periods to get your domain name back for a short time if you forget to pay before expiration. After this period elapses though, anyone else can register what was once your domain name and then do what they want with it.
AnglerHosting.com is a domain name registrar as a reseller through eNom – one of the world’s biggest. So we can handle helping you find the right domain name if you don’t already have it, make sure you own your domain name and then keep reminding you to renew your registration before it expires each year. Once you own the domain name – which you can register from whomever you want independent of web hosting – AnglerHosting.com can help you get online with a great website that meets your needs with website design and web hosting!
Choosing the best domain name should be the first step for a successful website or online promotion. Followed by making sure you own the domain name as registrant and administrator. Make sure you use contact information that stays valid such as address, telephone and especially email address!
