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About Domain Names

Your Domain Name is your web site name. Mine is www.digitalmousedesigns.com. The part between the www. and the .com is the site name. In many instances it will be the name of your company or maybe just your own name! It can be whatever you want as long as the name you want isn't already taken. The .com is the domain name extension, with .com still being the most commonly used.

It's sometimes difficult to purchase the exact domain name you want because there are so many web sites on the Internet, thus absolutely bookoodles of domain names already in use.

One very important issue to consider when purchasing a domain name is "how does it read?" That may sound strange, but you'd be surprised at the number of innocent domain names that when viewed as a URL, look totally different than you intend for it to.

Here is an example of what I mean when I say that purchasing a domain name is not something that should be taken lightly. I'm not trying to pick on anyone here nor speak derogitorily of any web site. This is for example only!

Let's say for example your company name is "Speed of Art." Perfectly legitmate, right? Now, put that into a domain name and here is what you get:

http://www.speedofart.com

I think that's enough said about being careful what you select for your domain name.

Registering Your Domain Name

If you're going to have a web site, you're going to need a registrar. The most important thing about your registrar selection is that they be reliable. I could tell you horror stories about unreliable, backwoods and third party registars.

When you purchase your domain name, you do so at what's called a "Domain Name Registrar." There are a number of registrars available to do this, among them is my favorite, GoDaddy. Yes, it's a bit on the odd side for a name considering what they do there. However, not only are they inexpensive — they're also dependable, helpful and very respectable. I keep all my own and my client's domain names registered through GoDaddy.

Registering a domain name can be confusing and overwhelming for the non-techie person. It's one of the most important things you'll do for your web site. I caution people all the time and have opened quite a few eyeballs about purchasing a domain name before totally understanding the process and responsibilities in not only purchasing but in the upkeep of one's domain name. This absolutely needs to be done right! My suggestion is to speak with your designer before proceeding.

Tips to Transferring an Existing Site

If you are transferring a web site from one hosting service to another you will need to visit your domain registrar's site to reset your domain's DNS nameservers to your new hosting server. The DNS nameserver setting is what makes your site viewable on the Internet. This process is also referred to as "pointing the domain." If this setting is incorrect at the registrar level, you virtually have no web site. Search all you want — you won't find it.

If you are transferring a live site, you most certainly do not want to experience down time during the transfer. In my opinion, the transfer of a web site from one host to another should really be left to someone experienced in doing so. This is particularly important if any part of your site runs off a database of any kind.

An existing web site can be transferred to another hosting server seamlessly if you follow these instructions:

The Seamless Transfer of a Live Site

  • Leave your live site intact on the server on which it currently resides.
  • Set up your new, re-done or identical site on your new server.
  • Ensure that the newly set up site is working properly and to your liking (pages links, forms, etc).
  • At this point, do your DNS nameservers transfers at your registrar while leaving the original site in tact on it's original server. This is the final step of what's known as the "setting it live" process.
  • It's live, so why can't you see it? A web site must go through a process known as propagation which means it has to cycle through millions of servers before the world can see it. Web site propagation has increased in speed tremendously over the years. It used to take a week or more! Now it's quite often processed in 72 hours or less. I would imagine we have highband connections to thank for this! You can periodically test this if you wish. A simple test is to make a small change in one page of your site and upload this changed page to the new server only. Type the site URL into your browser. If the changed page comes up, then your site has resolved to the new server but after just 72 hours — may have only partially propagated. You may see it locally or those in the area of it's new server may see it. That doesn't mean Aunt Rita in London can see it as it may not have fully propagated world wide. It's always safer to wait the full 72 hours before removing your site from it's previous server. It's also a good idea to check on the WHOIS for updated information before removing your site from it's original location. After your site propagates fully, you will be able to view it normally like any other site on the Internet. As a rule of thumb, I will not remove a site from service on it's previous server for at least a week after it appears to have propagated to it's new location.
  • If you use site eMail addresses, your eMail should will follow right along with the site propagation. Any new eMail addresses you add to your account will be picked up by the new server.
  • You can now remove your old site from it's location and cancel your old hosting account if you're not going to keep it.