A Simple Guide to Domain Names: Buying, Setting Up, and Transferring

What is a domain name?

Before we learn what a domain name is we need to know about other terms like URLs and IP addresses. Imagine that the internet is like a map, the webpages it holds are the actual building and places. The URL of a webpage gives the exact location of the webpage on the internet and the IP address of a webpage would point out the directions to that specific webpage. It is very hard for us Humans to learn the URLs or the IP address of a webpage which is why domain names came into existence. These are simple easy to remember words that are incorporated into the IP address and help us reach the desired webpage. Normally we call them the name of the website such as ‘wikipedia.org’. The domain name system automatically converts these easy to remember words into an IP Address for the web browser to understand it. The domain name is comprised of three essential parts:

1. The top-level domain (.com)
2. A sub-domain (.example)
3. A sub-domain prefix for the World Wide Web. (www.)

Registration of your domain name

Domain names are important for running a website. Some people might think that registering a domain name is hard but in reality it is quite simple and anyone can do it. You can either do it yourself or hire a web development company to do it for you. All you have to do is think of domain name for your website and register it with an organization called ICANN through a registrar. Registrars take online payments through credit cards or PayPal accounts and give you the ownership of the domain name instantly.

Transfer of a domain name

Transfer of a domain name is requires when you move your website to a new host. It’s quite simple but takes up time for all the parties to approve the transfer. Transferring your domain depends upon what you are changing, registrar, email host, web host or DNS hosting. DNS hosting is the simplest. All you have to do is find another firm that would take up your domain and sign up with them. you would also need to transfer your existing DNS values and update your information like contact info and more.