Domain Names

What is a domain name?
A domain name is an address on the World Wide Web. Just as you have a street address in the real world, in the electronic world of the Internet you have an address as well, but instead of ending with Ave, St, or Blvd, your Web address may end with .com, .biz, .net, or a host of others. The domain name is the name everyone associates with your Web site. For instance, one of Amazon's domain names is amazon.com, one of Microsoft's domains is microsoft.com, and one of Website Ethic's domain names is websiteethics.com.

What is a DNS?
You may hear this term occasionally when someone speaks about domain names, but for the most part this is something best left to technical people. DNS stands for Domain Name Server. This is a server that translates an IP Address into a domain name, and vice-versa. While you and I might look for www.websiteethics.com, computers don't speak in words. Instead, at the most basic computer level they speak in numbers. In order to be able to quickly determine where a Web site really is, domain names are translated into a string of numbers called an IP Address. The DNS is where this happens.

How do I get a domain name?
The simplest solution is to ask your Web developer to do this for you, but keep in mind that this can cause minor complications if anything happens to your developer or if your developer is less than ethical. The alternative is to do this yourself. Keep in mind that if you do so, you will need to make sure that you renew the domain name on a regular basis.

I want to register my own domain name. How do I do that?
There are many registrars that you can go to to register you domain name. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the governing body for domain name registrations. You can visit their site www.icann.org for a list of accredited registrars.

Domain name registrations typically cost between $10 and $35 per year. Try to identify a registrar that is reasonably priced and where it is easy to make changes. Some registrars have a long process which can make it very difficult to change or renew a domain.

In order to register a domain name you will need the following information:

• The name, address, and phone number of the domain owner (Registrant)
  Note: This information is critical. This is the OWNER.
  
  
• The name, address, phone number, and E-mail address of the person responsible for performing changes (Administrative Contact) Note: For many registrars this is the ONLY person authorized to make changes.
  
  
• The name, address, phone number, and E-mail address of the person responsible for performing changes (Technical Contact)
  
  
• The name, address, phone number, and E-mail address of the person responsible for hosting (Zone Contact, usually the same as the Technical Contact)
  
  
• The Domain Server names. These are the official names of the servers where your site will reside, and they need to be provided to you by your hosting company. You can usually leave this set to the default until you arrange for hosting, but be aware that if your registrar makes this process difficult, it may take some time to make the change when you need to. It is usually easier to have this information to start with. In most cases, you will need two Domain Server names.
  
  
• A valid credit card

What happens if I don't renew my domain name on time?
If you don't renew, your domain name will expire. This means it can be made available for anyone else to register. Don't let this happen unless you are completely sure you will never need it again! If someone else registers the name, all the traffic you so carefully built up will instantly switch to the new owner's site.

Don't I own my domain name?
In a strict sense, no. You lease it for a set time period. If your business is well established and plans to be around for a long time, register the domain name for a long time as well. This reduces the chance that you will forget to renew or that someone else will try to fraudulently renew on your behalf. In effect, you borrow the name for as long as you're willing to pay for it.

How do I see how my domain name is registered?
There are many WHOIS lookup services available. Here are a few: www.betterwhois.com, Network Solutions, and Net Wizards. There are many more. Visit the ICANN site and browse the list of accredited registrars; most of them have a WHOIS lookup.

What should I look for in my registration?
The key information is who is the registrant, and of secondary importance (but also very important!) is the Administrative Contact.

• The Registrant should be the owner, and the Administrative Contact should be the person authorized to make changes.
  
  
• The Technical and Zone Contacts may vary, but should probably point to whomever your Web developer says they should point to.
  
  
• The Domain Name servers tell you who you are hosted with.
  
  
• Another very important piece of information is the 'Record expires on' date. This is the date that your domain registration expires.
  
  

The most important piece of information is the Registrant. If this is not the owner, you should correct this as soon as possible. Ask the Administrative Contact to correct this. Until this is correct, the domain name is not yours.

There are also cases where all of this information may be correct, but all your efforts are wasted because of the style of hosting being used.


I switched hosting companies and all my visitors vanished! What happened?
A domain name, when used properly, can provide you with visibility and an air of legitimacy that subdomains cannot. Subdomains, as shown below, appear transient and convey a sense that your business is not serious and is using a cheap or free hosting plan, thus implying the same of your business.

Some providers and businesses choose this format to save costs or to try out a new concept, but this should never be the method used for your main business Web site.

Unfortunately, some providers choose this method to save costs without telling their clients that they are doing so. On a darker note, some providers use this method because once you've built up a business using this method hosting, they know you can never leave their service.

When you display your site with your browser, does it look like this:

http://www.websiteethics.com,

like this:
http://www.ahostingcompany.com/websiteethics,

or like this:
http://www.websiteethics.ahostingcompany.com?

If it looks like either of the last two, your Web site is not truly your own. In both of the last two cases, visitors who come to your site and bookmark it, or other Web sites that decide to link to you, and even some search engines, will actually be linking to a page under ahostingcompany.com, not to YOUR domain name!
One name for this is subdomaining.

What this means is that if you should ever decide to switch to another vendor, or if your vendor should ever close up shop, you could lose the vast majority of your visitors, and thus a major source of revenue. It could take years to recreate the traffic...

Most vendors who use this method do so deliberately. They know that after you've paid and worked hard to have your site promoted and built a business based on that traffic, you can't afford to lose that business by going to someone else. As a result, they know you'll never leave their service, no matter how bad it is.

Before signing up with a vendor...

• Ask if they also provide the hosting.
• If they do, ask to see completed sites that they host.
• Ask about the style of hosting.
• Make sure they use the first method, above.
• If this style of hosting is not available, then go somewhere else.

My domain name has been subdomained. How can I fix the problem and have my domain name back?
The first thing is to check with your provider. It is, after all, possible that they chose this method simply to save money (it is cheaper for them), or possibly they chose this method because they didn't know how it would affect their clients.

Ask them to switch you to domain hosting where your domain name shows in the Address Bar. They may ask for a little more money to do this, but that solution is better than the alternative. Make sure that they install redirects for every one of your old pages, from the old address to the new address. A redirect is a piece of code that forces the viewer's browser to go to another Web page.

If they won't do this, then you have problems. The solution can be expensive and may take a long time.

Unless you just started up your site, you probably can't just switch to someone else without losing all of your traffic.

Here's how to retain your existing business while slowly weaning your traffic away from your old business.

1. Identify a reputable Web developer.
   
   
2. Pick out a new domain name. Note: We recommend registering a completely different domain name. If you'd rather, you can register your old domain with a new extension. For example, if your old domain name was websiteethics.com, you can register it as websiteethics.net. There is a risk in doing this, however, because many people are used to the .com extension, and may key in the wrong extension. This will take them back to your old site and thus prolong your problem.
   
   
3. Now that you have a domain name picked out, register it and point it to your new provider.
   
   
4. Copy your old site to the new location.
   
   Note: check your legal documents with your old provider. They may not allow you to copy your site! In this case you will need to develop a new site.
   
   MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE THE OLD SITE ACTIVE! Taking it down too soon will lose all that traffic you're trying to keep!
   
   
5. Stop promoting the OLD Web site.
   
   
6. Start promoting the NEW Web site.
   
   
7. Identify which Search Engines and directories list your old site. Ask them to change the address.
   
   
8. Send out a notice to everyone on your mailing lists letting them know about the new Web site, and ask them to change their bookmarks or favorites to the new location.
   
   
9. Track your traffic so that you know when your new site has become much more successful than the old site.
   
   
10. When you feel comfortable with the business coming from your new site, and are satisfied that the traffic from the old site is negligible, then shut down your old site. WARNING: It could take a few years to build your business on the new site!
    
    
11. Switch your old domain name to point to your new Web site.

As you can see, there can be several costs involved in this procedure. Parallel Web sites and developer costs will probably be the most significant, but other factors, such as tracking your traffic and changing business cards may make this prohibitive.

Do I need to switch?
No, you don't, but there are several risks in staying.

• Most providers who use this method are small. They may even be a sole proprietor. What happens if they die or don't pay their bill? You then lose all your traffic in an instant without any warning.
  
  
• If such a proprietor is using one unethical practice, how many others are they using? Is it possible that they could be shut down for legal reasons?
  
  
• If someone else provides a great service that your site could use, you may not get to use it.
  
  
• Can you trust someone who threatens you? You are at the complete mercy of this provider.

You may be able to convince your provider to switch by reminding them of the effect that word-of-mouth advertising can have. You can, after all, tell all your friends and associates about this unscrupulous provider, so long as you stick to the facts.

If all else fails, you may be able to take legal action. In some cases the mere suggestion of legal action may suffice. Companies such PrePaid Legal can provide some assistance in this area. Should you choose to proceed, you may not need to do so on your own. If, for example, you are a real estate agent, you can look up other agent sites to see who else is using this provider, and contact them. You can then proceed to your attorney or post your complaint on Web sites such as www.classaction.com, and see if the case is likely to proceed and see if others might join your case.