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Friday, July 04, 2008
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Understanding the Process
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CHOOSING A DOMAIN NAME
Length of the Domain Name is important.
Although you can register a name with up to 63 characters, no one likes typing in a long domain name. Try to register the shortest name that your customers and visitors will associate with your Website. Although the general rule is to keep it under seven characters (Not including the suffix.), this is often hard to do and may not best brand you or your company.
Undertanding dot suffixes
Although there are many different extensions available today, .com is the most common. As an overview, .com was meant for use by businesses, .net for for use by Internet service providers, and .org for use by non-profit entities. This is not a rule written in stone, often people pick a .net extension because the domain name they really wanted was available in this extension but not .com.
What characters work?
Domain names can only use letters, numbers, and dashes. Spaces and symbols are not allowed. Also, domain names are not case sensitive
Searching for and Registering a Domain Name.
There are many places to register domain names. We use network solutions. They are the original provider of domain name registration and they are not likely to go out of business. That is not to say that there are many places to register a site and prices vary.
- Searching for a domain name
The first step in registering a domain name is finding a name that is available. Go to www.networksolutions.com . On the home page you can search names until you find a name you desire. Before purchasing I would think about it a couple of days, perhaps ask friends or coworkers their thoughts. I have often seen a change of mind after a little brainstorming on the subject.
- Registering the Domain Name
Now that you have found a name that is available its time to register it. If at network solutions, its pretty self explanatory. If you need our help and have signed a contract with us, we will be glad to do this for you, discuss the pricing options (3 years is cheaper than 1 year) and bill you for the cost of the domain name. If not, Network solutions are pretty self explanatory. If you are using our product, you do not need web hosting from them, email addresses or anything else they like to bill you extra dollars for. Also if you are using our product, we prefer to host your Domain Name Service Records (DNS). A simple DNS explanation is in the next paragraph. It makes it easy for us to make a quick change for you when sometimes this is like pulling teeth from other providers of this service. To set the DNS to point to our servers, look for the “configure your DNS servers located in the bottom right hand corner on the “View your order” page. Click on this link and where it says “enter name server information” “Name Server 1” enter ns1.fpi.net and where is says “Name Server 2” enter ns2.fpi.net. After this you will proceed to purchase. You will then be asked to register as a user. During this register process you will be asked to enter a user ID and password. Please remember to write this down and keep it in a safe place, or one day you regret it. After this step have your credit card ready to complete your purchase. You have now successfully registered a domain name.
DNS SETUP
Upon completing the domain name registration, we will set up your DNS records on our DNS servers. The cost for this service is included in your setup charge. These servers basically tell everyone on the internet where to find your web site and where to route your mail. DNS servers are like our US postal offices that route mail to your home.
E-MAIL SETUP
Now its time to set up mail if you need it. Most companies use the format of first initial and last name @ yourdomain.com. However you can use anything you want. First name, last name, it does not matter to us. Keep in mind that what you use will probably go on your business card, so the more proffessional, the better.
WEBSITE SETUP
Now its time for you dig into the web builder content organizer and get your content together. Please refer to Step 3
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