To talk about Internet businesses, it is essential that our readers know its most basic aspects. That is why in this article we are going to clarify what we consider to be the "a" of the alphabet of business on the Internet: Domain Names.
To explain about domain names, let me compare it with our names and our identity documents as persons before society. Each of us has a first and last name, but at the same time each one has an identity number (cédula). Well, have you thought if everyone who knows us had to learn our identity number to refer to us; it would be too difficult to remember each identity number. That is why we normally use their first and last names to refer to others. And on the Internet it is exactly the same.
On the Internet, each computer or device that is connected acquires a fixed or temporary identification that differentiates it from all other devices connected to the network. This identification, instead of being called a cédula, is called “IP Address” and is nothing more than a set of numbers separated by periods (eg 192.168.1.0).
If we wanted to communicate with a computer connected to the Internet, it would be enough to refer to its IP Address, however, we would have to find out what those numbers are and this would be difficult to remember for each site that we are going to visit on the Internet.
It is for this reason that Domain Names were created, which are nothing more than the names assigned to the computers where the information of a certain entity (company, organization, etc.) is handled. That is, instead of remembering numbers that are difficult to learn, we refer to the names of these entities through their Domain Names.
The word Domain has been added to it because it indicates that said name applies to a specific area on the Internet for said entity.
Due to the large number of existing entities worldwide; from for-profit or non-profit companies, government and educational organizations, to natural persons, among others, it has been necessary to classify domain names with an extension. This is how extensions such as “.com” arise, which originally indicated that said name belongs to a commercial company, “.net” indicated that it was a company related to the Internet and networks in general, “.org” referred to a non-profit organization, etc. In this way a domain name is presented as “name.extension” (eg name.com, otronombre.net, yotromas.org).
Additionally, due to the abrupt growth in Internet use, it has been necessary to create second-level extensions that associate domain names with a specific country. Thus, a domain such as “nombre.com.ve” indicates that it is a commercial entity in Venezuela (since the second-level extension “ve” corresponds to Venezuela, and so on with the rest of the countries.
Domain Names are registered for those who request them, through companies specialized in this type of services on the Internet (eg www.tecnohost.net) and have very accessible prices. They are normally registered for periods between one to five years and must be renewed at least 30 days before their expiration in order not to lose them.
Now that you are clear about what Domain Names are, it is essential that you know who and why should register domain names.
Every organization, governmental or not, for profit or not, must register as Domain Names on the Internet: the name of its business name, its main brands and the keywords associated with its products and / or services. This should be done to make it easier for your current and potential customers or users to quickly locate on the Internet everything related to you and your company or institution, and in turn to prevent your competitors and / or other entities from registering these names before you and confusing your users when they try to locate your organization by those names. On the other hand, having multiple Domain Names pointing to your site or web portal will help you achieve a better positioning in Internet Search Engines (see our previous article).
An important detail that you must take into account when registering a Domain Name is to ensure that it is registered in the name of the entity that has acquired it in order to demonstrate that it is its owner, that is, that the Holder or the Administrative Contact of the Name Domain has your data and not those of a third party. Among such data must be an email address to which only you have access. There are also other related contacts that could be in the name of your provider, such as the Technical Contact and / or the Registrar or Billing Contact.
When you buy a Domain Name, be sure to do so through a formally established company that will deliver an invoice (as it will serve as legal proof) and that the invoice is issued in the name of the entity that acquired the domain and not in the name of an intermediary.
There are multiple cases in which there is conflict with the ownership and renewal of a domain because it was registered and / or invoiced in the name of an employee who is no longer in the organization, of a partner of the company that is no longer a part of it, from an intermediary who made his website for him and disappeared, among others.
On the other hand, it is important to note that the competition to register Domain Names has a worldwide scope. This implies that the most common names under the most common extensions have usually already been pre-registered by other people. This is why the sooner you register your Domain Names, the greater the chance that it has not been taken by a third party.
Finally, in the case in which you try to register a Domain Name and are informed that it is not available due to having been previously registered by a third party, try to use the tools that the provider provides to locate similar names that are available. A good provider will give you tools for global search (one name with multiple extensions) or a name helper (combine up to three words and search for that combination for a particular extension).
Success for all…
