Domain Names

[Giddy Goat]

That's really kind Fluffs - just let me know what deadline you're working to..... ideally the leaves need to be on the trees, just for starters.

[alexia s.]

Alan,
You're a braver man than I am (I know, I know) - have you got any idea what goats expect in the way of hospitality? We had 2 goats as guests about 10 years ago & they nearly ate us out of house & home: brambles, weeds, shoots, leaves, thistles - you name it, it was in the garden when they arrived and missing 24 hours later.
Good luck!

[alexia s.]

WHAT DID I SAY? Just saw Jane's last post - keep her away from the leaves!!!!! Talk about brazen - that goat just takes my breath away.

[Giddy Goat]

Alexia, I thought you were on my side - you should be positively encouraging Fluffs to allow me a visit!

[Alan Knighting]

Come on girls, and on this occasion I am talking to two girls, I do mean what I say. The leaves have fallen but the goat food (thistles) are doing just fine.

Seriously, anyone wanting a stop-over is more than welcome. There’s no better reason than “hello� and there’s no more cost than a bottle of “something�.

Fluffy

[A-two]

It has been suggested to me that I should complete my domain name registrations with one supplier and arrange hosting with another. I am not sure I fully understand the pros and cons of this approach and would appreciate any views on the subject.

I wouldn't bother with this because you will have to transfer your domain from the registrar to the host. Any host worth its salt will also do the registration for you. I use ipowerweb.com and if you pay for a year up front they include the cost of the domain. They are not as cheap as others mentioned here ($8/month) but I like their comprehensive visitor stats package.

OK, this original suggestion came from me offlist and there's some confusion going on here. Although I don't know ipowerweb and have no reason to think they are not very good, Paolo is not correct that you will have to transfer the domain to the host if you were to buy the domain name somewhere else. That's not how the DNS works.

To start at the root, there are a number of REGISTRIES that look after each of the top level domains. VeriSign has .com and .net, People's Internet Registry has .org, Nominet has .uk and so on. Underneath them are the REGISTRARS, who handle sales direct to the public of second level domains. laymyhat.com is a second level domain. eu.com is a second level domain owned by a business selling third level domains, it's not a Registrar. laymyhat.eu.com would be a third level domain that is a subdomain of .eu.com and would not be Registered in the VeriSign Registry database. If the .eu.com corporation ever goes bust, bye bye laymyhat.eu.com domain name. laymyhat.co.uk is also third level domain, but Nominet does not offer second level domains in the .uk Registry to anyone, so these are treated as second level domains and ownership is registered with the Registry in its databases.

When you buy your domain name from a Registrar, let's say a second level .com, the Registrar currently pays $6 to the REGISTRY, adding it's own cut on top. It then submits your contact information to a public WHOIS database for all to see, which is why you might want to check that your selected Registrar offers the privacy option and take them up on it. Privacy is not available on the .us domain because the US government....well, let's not go there.

ICANN regulates REGISTRARS and publish the list on their website. http://www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html Below the REGISTRARS, there are RESELLERS, essentially sub-contractors of the REGISTRARS, who add their cut on top of the Registrar fees on top of the Registry fees, hence they tend to be more expensive. THE DNS is full of pyramid selling, that's why it's important to select the Registrar carefully. Anybody can be a reseller. RESELLERS are NOT regulated and can be fly by night, so unless you know them well, buy directly from an ICANN ACCREDITED REGISTRAR or for.co.uk, directly from a NOMINET Member/accredited Registrar. http://www.nominet.org.uk/governance/members/list/

All ICANN accredited Registrars also offer hosting. If you like their hosting package, buy the domain name from them as well and they may well offer you a discount. If you do not like their hosting package, but buy the domain name from them, you absolutely DO NOT need to TRANSFER the domain name to the host, whoever it may be. All you need to do is change the server settings at the Registrar once your selected host tells you what they are. This is different from URL forwarding, which is simply pointing the domain name to another site that does not require a change of server settings.

When you buy the domain name, it will prompt you for the server settings and if you don't know where the hosting will be yet, click "park the domain" and the Registrar will put up a holding page saying "the future home of..." until you have the host's server settings. When you have purchased your hosting, you log into your account at the Registrar later and change the server settings to the new host, a 2 minute job. Changes to server settings take about 48 hours to propogate thru the net, as does any fundamental change you make to the Domain Name System. That's it.

What I was also cautioning Alan against is going to a RESELLER who will offer you a FREE domain name if you buy their hosting package. ipowerweb may be the exception, but it's not safe territory. Yahoo is one example of how not to do it and it's also lousy host (IMHO), but that's beside the point. The point is that Yahoo will then put itself into the Registry database as a contact for the domain, essentially taking a level of control over your domain name that it can be diffiuclt to remove later. When the domain comes up for renewal in a year's time, they will charge $35 (4 times the going rate) Yahoo is a reseller for Network Solutions, which gets my award for the most expensive and least efficient Registrar in the world. (Can you tell I don't like them?) The problem then comes when you tell Yahoo to get lost with their hosting. Because they are a reseller, not a registrar, you're then stuck with dealing with Network Solutions yourself and removing their contact details. Not a trivial task. In that situation, it's best to go to another Registrar and click "transfer a domain", which is where you could have been in the first place and saved all the trouble.

Even worse, if the host you have chosen happens to go out of business, (and lots do), or gets taken over by a non English speaking corporation with a Swedish voicemail on 24 hours a day (true story), then you may well lose the domain permanently or die of frustration. Dealing with the Registry directly to change the contact details on a domain is not something I have ever attempted, it was easier to pick another domain, but I guess it could take several weeks, if not months to accomplish.

So the first rule of domain name buying is:
You can always replace your hosting, but there is only one of your domain.

Finally, it's a common misconception that the REGISTRANT, who is the owner of the domain name, also has the control over it. Nope, it's the Admin contact. name yourself as registered owner AND Admin contact for your domains, and preferably tech and billing as well. As the Admin contact, you can TRANSFER the domain between Registrars at any time, (maybe someone is offering a cheaper deal, privacy or free email) You can leave the hosting where it is, and last time I did it, I was prompted on whether or not I wanted to leave the server settings as is, so the domain can be transfered seemlessly on a live site. Registrar transfers are not permitted within 30 days of the renewal date, neither 60 days after original purchase.


Hope this makes sense.

[alexia s.]

Joanna,
"Hope this makes sense."
It certainly does. It's brilliant. Thank you.

[Alan Knighting]

Joanna,

Thank you for the time you have taken in explaining all of that. I now understand the structure, which I never did before.

It gives me much food for thought and I will clearly have to plan my first moves very carefully.

My previous experience was all with Intranets where we hosted everything internally and created our own addresses, etc. Registrations and domains were a complete void in my knowledge but not now, thanks to you.

Alan

Alan

[Fraise]

Wow!!Joanna,what a comprehensive reply-coo, I feel quite in awe!!! Thankyou for explaining
www.thepetitmanoir.com

[A-two]

Thank you! Reassured to hear you didn't fall asleep! Alan, I use Godaddy and Dotster as my Registrars, one includes extra features, the other doesn't, hence the difference in price. The hosting is somebody different. I'm currently having problems with bouncing emails and yet to identify the source of the problem, whether it's a universal problem with one of the spam filter packages that all ISPs subscribe to, or particular to this ISP. I'm seriously considering switching hosts because I don't seem to be getting anywhere, and if so, that process is going to be relatively quick and painless for the following reasons:-

1. The domain name is at Godaddy, which is independant of the hosting.
2. I did not use the host's proprietary software to build the website (and would not use Godaddy's either for the same reason), hence I can FTP a copy of my website to a new host from my hard drive without having to rebuild it on new software.

As with all things, if you buy into a package deal, (DN, hosting, website building software) it's easier to set up at the start, but I'm in the camp that prefers to buy the components separately. To use the analogy of a car, you may want to buy a new car if the engine is broken, but you'd also like the choice to keep the car and just replace the engine wouldn't you? That's the difference and there's no right or wrong, It's personal preference. With your IT background, you're not going to find it hard to handle the components, heck, I'm all self-taught and can manage it.

[Alan Knighting]

Joanna,

I'll be diving in shortly and I am sure your advice will prove to be invaluable.

Once I get started I expect it will all flow nicely, it's just that's so many new things to take on board and old ones to remember.

Alan

[Hanorah]

During my seo research a couple of years back I came accross something that suggested putting hypens in to increase your chances of being found. Apparantly dikilvillas would not be picked up in the same way as dikili-villas Of course things might have changed since then and it might have been a dodgy article I read but it might be worth some research on the matter.

[craigkillick]

On the first page of this thread, someone mentioned:

the words in the URL are used by search engines - they play a part but not a major part in results,

I'd have to suggest that they do play a big part. I actually think there is merit in getting a domain name (even if it is a different site) that is the thing you are trying to be found for, ie.:

familyvillainjavea.com
hikingholidaysinfrance.com

In my more recent experience, this is the SINGLE most important factor that google looks for. I could be wrong, because no one knows for sure, but I know that it makes a massive difference.

The more specific the web address and content, the more likely you will be found.

[jess]

I just don't see how in my experience--- I don't see my own searches linking to the url (except in cases where I *know* the name and want the site--- like 'delta sonic' gets me to deltasonic.com--- I know, I'm lazy).

It seems like metatext is what is important...

I'm so confused...

[craigkillick]

This explains a bit more in detail

http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/interne ... actors.htm

Google is working harder to enable people to find what is relevant. That is why web sites need to become more and more specific. Meta Tags (and text) don't play as important a role as they used to.