Domain Registration And The Steps Involved

 

If you intend to take your business online, you need to have a clear understanding of what a domain is and what domain registration is. Well, it’s no rocket science.

Take a website

For example, Amazon or Flipkart. The name shown on the address bar of your browser is the domain name. That is, www.amazon.com or www.flipkart.com. Simple!

To define domain name, it’s the unique online identity of a business. A domain name cannot be shared with another website. It’s the name a user has to enter to access a specific website. Finding a domain name and registering it is the first step when creating a website and without it going online isn’t possible.

Now, What is Domain registration?

It’s simply the process of registering a domain with an ICANN-accredited registrar so that the domain will be safe and cannot be used by any other party. ICANN is The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. It’s a non-profit organization whose purpose is to keep the internet safe and secure. They are many ICANN-accredited registrars in India from where you could register your domain easily and cheaply. If you don’t know such companies, simply google ‘Domain registration providers’, ‘domain registration companies’ or ‘ Domain Registration Services India ‘ or any related terms and you could easily find them. Often, these companies do provide web hosting services too. That means if you cannot find companies with the above terms, just type in something like ‘Web hosting companies in India’. Now, if you are looking for a local company, then make sure you are searching with a local term. Say, Website Hosting Kerala or Web hosting companies in Kerala. This way you could find companies that provide domain registration services.

Steps Involved In Domain Registration

Domain registration is actually an easy process and not much technical knowledge is needed for the same. It’s just like online shopping but in a different way. Let us look at the steps.

1. Shortlist Names
The first thing you have to do is shortlist some names for your domain. Considering the genre of the website, you could make a list of names you wish to register. You have the complete authority on choosing a name but make sure to ensure the following things:

Name is apt for your website: Try to make the name as relatable to your website as possible. This is not a rule but doing this will enable the audience to connect easily. So, if the name is apt, the better. Also, make sure the name is easy to pronounce and clear. This point is relevant only if you do not have a brand name already. If you already have a name with an offline store, then the best bet is to go with the same name for your domain.

Name is less than 64 characters: A domain name cannot be more than 64 characters and it should only consist of alphanumeric characters. Also, there shouldn’t be any space in between the name.

Name has an apt extension: A domain name is incomplete without a domain extension like .com, .net etc. So, make sure to determine an appropriate extension. Apart from the above-mentioned extensions and country-level domains like .us (USA), .in (India) etc, you could also have a customized extension like .blog, .shop, .food and so on.

2. Check For Availability From A Registrar
Now that you have a list of domain names you wish to register, it’s time to go to the next step — Checking these names for availability. For this, go to a registrar website of your choice. Some website might have a domain search bar on the homepage itself and if you find one, then type the domain name there and check for availability. Now, the website will display the list of extensions available and their prices. Select the name accordingly.

If there is no search option on the homepage, perhaps there will be a ‘Domain registration’ service page or option. You may access that and do the same step mentioned above.

3. Purchase The Domain
You are almost there!

This is the last step where the domain name becomes absolutely yours. Here, you have to add the domain name to the cart and provide all necessary details to purchase the domain. As per your choice, you could select for how long the domain should be registered. This can be 1–10 years. Upon the completion of the purchase, you will receive a notification from the registrar.

As mentioned above, Domain registration is simple. We hope you have now got a clear insight into its process after reading this blog.