Owning A Domain Name

[KayfabeMan]

Where can I go to actually purchase and own a domain name and how does this work? I want to register a website address and own it as my own, so I can keep the name for an extended period of time. How can I do so?

Thanks :)

[DS]

GoDaddy.com usually has some low prices. If you're just wanting the website address then it's usually less than $5 a year. You select the name, pay the fee, and they set it up for you.

This doesn't include hosting, just the address. If you need hosting you'll have to find another solution.

[gatoconbotas]

I use bluehost.com

They have a shitton of features, and the domain is only like $7 a year.
I think I payed like $150 for two years...I haven't even started building my site, I just use it for e-mail lol.

[TerranRich]

I use Yahoo! Small Business, where I registered and currently host both www.xylot.net and www.xylotspace.com for a very decent price ($12.70/mo for both, $9.95/yr for both). There are several solutions out there, and you have the option of registering the domain with one location (e.g. GoDaddy) while you host the contents of the site on another (e.g. Yahoo!). The host supplies the name server information, and you point the domain to that location.

For example, you register for web hosting only with Yahoo!. They supply you with the domains you need to point your domain to (e.g. ns1.yahoosomething.com). You register your domain with GoDaddy. There, you must point your domain to ns1.yahoosomething.com in order for it to display your content.

[Xero]

Haha, cool. Back to the Future timeline. :cool:

[TerranRich]

Yeah. Stole the idea from a Wikipedia article. ;)

[Xero]

I use bluehost.com

They have a shitton of features, and the domain is only like $7 a year.
I think I payed like $150 for two years...I haven't even started building my site, I just use it for e-mail lol.
Anyway, yeah. Bluehost is pretty good. Had them for a few months and will soon be going back to them.

Though I'd recommend getting the domain itself through GoDaddy or Yahoo, that way you don't have to worry about switching/transferring the domain later (transferring usually costs about the same as registering or more), just need to update the DNS.

[TerranRich]

Excellent advice, Xero. I've lost several domains due to switching and fucking it up: www.xylot.com, www.harbinger-software.com, www.terran-x.com, etc. The list goes on. :(

[Xero]

Surprised terran-x.com isn't a porn site yet.

[TerranRich]

It pisses me off that expired domain names are snatched up by search-engine sites that want thousands of dollars for the name. Seriously, sombody actually PAID over $2,000 for Xylot.com and wanted at least that much when I asked for it back. I wonder if I could take legal action to get it back if I owned the "Xylot" trademark.

But seriously, who's gonna pay $2,000 for Xylot.com beside me? And I have Xylot.net now, so it's pretty useless and a waste of their money. Oh well.

[Xero]

If your site ever became popular enough that you get a shitload of traffic they could benefit off of people assuming it's .com and not .net. That's why so many people try to register stuff like "g00gle.com" or "utube.com".

Even if you owned the trademark, if you didn't own the trademark before they bought the domain, I don't think there there is anything you can do.

[TerranRich]

Eh, whatever. Xylot.com did nothing when they bought it anyway. As it is now, Xylot.net is a link to my web design portfolio. :p