Websites have become a integral part of an organization in today’s world. The only medium to introduce oneself in today’s online business is by his website. Nowadays everyone are smart enough on spending some money to build an attractive website to enhance the business. Along with the appearance the name of the site too must be a catchy one. Here we discuss everything about the domain registration, transfer of domains and their status.
Domain Name
A domain name is essentially your website’s name (without www). Every domain name ends with a top level domain(TLD) name, which is always either one of a small list of generic names (three or more characters).Some instances are .com, .info, .in, .net, .org, .biz etc. For eg : “www.google.com”—->”google.com” makes the domain name and “.com” the top level domain and “www” the lower level domain. As simple as that.
Domain registration
Internet domain registration involves three entities:
Registrant who wishes to register the domain name.
Registrar who provide services to registrant.
Registry that provides services to registrar while serving as an authorative body of all information to resolve names registered in the registry’s TLD.
How to register a domain
An end-user cannot directly register and manage their domain name information with ICANN. A designated registrar must be chosen. We can register our domain with the domain registrars like Mark Monitor and Godaddy. A domain name registrar is a company, accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), to register Internet domain names.
Here are some quickies to clear with the registration
1. Effective name for an effective growth
It’s important that your website name is being found in the major search engines like Google and yahoo. For that you need to chose a domain name that suits the business as well as includes the keywords that visitors would search for in the main search engines. A short, descriptive and catchy domain name may just be money in the bank.
2. Renewal
The registrars assign the domain name on a lease for a particular period of time (maximum is 10 years which varies with TLD). After the period the domain name becomes free and anyone in the internet can register with the same. So it’s neccessary to renew the lease period.Also make sure that your domain registrar will send a remainder when your domain name is about to expire.
3. Prevention is better than worry
It would be advisable to protect your domain name by registering with multiple extensions. For example if you have registered with .com then you can also register with other extensions like .org, .net etc. You don’t need to build a site on all domains and can reserve them from others registering it.
Choosing a domain name
Choosing an effective domain name is very essential in the online business. The domain name can be of any length upto 67 characters, which includes the 26 letters of the English alphabet, numbers 0-9, and hyphens – provided that it can not begin with hyphen. More than 128 million domain names are registered and thousands are added daily. So it is a herculean task to choose a right and apt one. It would be preferable if you select a name that is related to the content in your website. Make a list of these words and try different combinations. Also try to make a name that is short, memorable, not easily confused and related to the content in your website. Make a list of these words and try different combinations. Also try to make a name that is short, memorable, not easily confused and related to the business.
Choosing a registrar
Some of the important aspects that should be considered while choosing a registrar for domain name:
1. ICANN accreditation: The registrar should be accredited by ICANN(Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers).
2. Reliabilty: The registrar must be reliable as they are the ones who protect the domain of domain registrants from losing their domains.
3. Contract Agreement: It’s not like that once you have registered the domain names,is yours forever. The contract that you sign with the registrars may affect in many ways.They have the right to cancel the domain name for for certain reasons, generally when you use the domain for illegal or spamming purposes. So make sure that you have thoroughly gone through the contract.
4. Price: Prices differs from one registrar to other. While comparing prices, you must also look for factors that are provided by the registrar, that are customer support, testimonies etc.
5. 24×7 Support: Make sure that registrar is providing the 24×7 support.
6. Contact Information: One must look for the contact information of the registrar where you can easily get to them without any effort. You might want to test them to confirm whether they are available before you buy from them.
7. Management: Domain management is most important factor to be considered. It’s important that how they manages the domain. Many of them provides a control panel which allows you to simply log in on the web and update the information
Domain Name Registry
The domain name after the registration will be stored in a registry. It is a database of all domain names registered in top-level domain. They actually store the information about your domain name and it’s location so that it is accessible all around the world. A registry operator (also caled as Network Information Center) is the part of the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet that keeps the database of domain names, and generates the zone files which convert domain names to IP addresses. Each NIC is an organization that manages the registration of Domain names within the top-level domains for which it is responsible, controls the policies of domain name allocation, and technically operates its top-level domain. Domain names are managed by an hierarchy named IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority).
Whois Record
It is a query/response protocol used for querying an official database to determine
Registrant: The person who holds the domain or registered the domain name.
Administrative Contact: The person/organization responsible for all administrative issues related to the domain name and the registrant information.
Billing Contact: The person/organization responsible for all the billing issues related to the domain name.
Technical Contact: The person/organization responsible for all the technical issues related to the domain.
The other information that is retrieved by the whois service is
Registrar of record: The domain name registration that registered/approved the domain name.
Record last updated: The last update made to the domain’s whois record.
Domain Creation date: The date the domain was initially registered.
Domain Expiry date: The date on which the domain name expires.
How to transfer a domain name
Domain names can be transferred from one registrar to another. You could save money on domain name renewals by transferring them to a different registrar. There are certain steps to be followed for transferring a domain from one registrar to another.
For domain transfer you need to obtain an auth code from the old registrar. Auth code is a 6 to 26 bit character code (password)assigned by the registrars to the owners as a security measure . Auth code basically is a password for the domain name. This authorised code must be submitted to the new registrar for the transfer. After receiving the auth code the new registrar will initiate the transfer. They will send an email confirmation to the holder which must be approved within 5 days otherwise will lead to failure of transfer. This is the first approval which is done by the holder. Even if you have approved the email and your domain name is locked or suspended for non-payment at the loosing registrar end then the transfer fails.
As a second approval loosing registrar sends you a mail to cancel the transfer request,ignoring the mail will complete the transfer within 5-7 days according to the ICANN. If you cancel the request the transfer will fail.Even on his step if the loosing registrar lock or unlock your domain name then the transfer fails.
Furthermore please make sure that
- If you recently registered or transferred your domain name, please wait 60 days before applying for transfer.
- Domain name is not locked by the loosing registrar.
- Domain name has not been deleted.
The Administrative Contact and the Registered Name Holder, as listed in the Losing Registrar’s publicly accessible Whois service are the only parties that have the authority to approve or deny a transfer request to the gaining registrar. Registrar’s may use whois data from either the Registrar of Record or the relevant Registry for the purpose of verifying the authenticity of a transfer request.
New Registrar’s Requirements
The transfer request must be done by the registered name holder. An authorised code must be submitted by the holder and the authorisation must be done via a valid Standardized Form of Authorisation (FOA). The FOA labeled “Initial Authorisation for Registrar Transfer” must be used by the gaining Registrar to request an authorisation for a registrar transfer from the administrative contact. Another FOA labeled Confirmation of standard authorisation may be used by the registrar for the confirmation of the transfer request which is done through email as explained earlier.
Transfer Disputes
Disputes between registrars over alleged violations of the transfer policy may be initiated by any ICANN-accredited registrar. If you believe that your domain name was transferred to a new registrar without your authorization or consent, please contact the original registrar. If you believe that your transfer request was inappropriately denied by your registrar, please contact the registrar to whom you wish to transfer for assistance.
