Registration of a domain name is required. Once you register your domain,
for all intents and purposes, you are the owner of it so long as you
keep your registration up to date. If you allow your registration to
expire, anyone can register it and you would lose it.
There are a few legal matters to take into consideration when you buy
a domain. You do not have the right to own a name that is trademarked
such as Coca Cola which has had some recent battles over such things
in this country as well as others. Generic names are entirely acceptable.
That would be a desciption of a product rather than a brand name. If
you have even a doubt, I suggest you pick up a book on that subject
also or seek legal advice.
At my last report, there were over 130 registrars on the Internet that
are up and running and many more that are going to open up soon. Any
one of these can register a domain name for you. You can find a list
of them at: www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html
The fees vary widely from one to the
other. You can register your name for 1 year or 2, 5, or 10 years. I
have seen fees ranging from $11-60/year. A fair price to pay in today’s
market is $17-25/year, $35-50 for 2 years or $150-250 for 10 years.
You can also buy a web hosting package
that will provide you with web space and your domain name all ready
to go. The cost of such a service ranges from a free set-up plus $10/month
for a one year agreement up to $200 set-up plus $50/month and beyond.
It all depends on what you need and who you buy your service from. A
fair price to pay is about $25-40 for set-up and $15-20/month for a
beginning site with no annual contracts. You will still need to build
a website on it though.
Keep in mind that you get what you pay
for. If you are getting something for free, there will be strings attached.
Some places will give you free webspace (also called web hosting) for
your domain, but require you to maintain their advertising banner on
your page. For some businesses this is an acceptable proposition.
What do you do if the domain or domains
that you want are not available? The next few sections will provide
you with strategies for obtaining them.
