One of the pre-requisites for you to run a website or blog is that you own a domain name to uniquely identify your website/blog on the internet. I am not referring to the free blogs hosted on providers like blogspot.com or wordpress.com like YOURBLOG.blogspot.com or YOU.wordpress.com, instead the ones you need to have of your own, YOURWEBSITE.com !
Need for a domain name
A domain name is one which uniquely defines a name on the internet. As they are unique, a person looking for YOURWEBSITE.com ends up exactly on the pages associated with it.
A Domain Name is Just a Name !
Let me distinguish a domain name from a website. You have a set of webpages residing on one of the computers lying somewhere on the internet and a domain name is just a name which binds these files to a name which can be easy to remember for a website visitor. Hope this is clear here.. In a website the domain name is mapped to the IP address of the hosting server using a Domain Naming System (DNS).
So please keep in mind to distinguish a domain name and the hosted files.
How to acquire a domain name?
Domain names and IP addresses on the internet are governed by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and the registry is maintained by Verisign. Getting a domain name involves an entry into the registry maintained by these authorities, just like you getting a registration number for your new vehicle.
Role of Domain Registrars
ICANN cannot reach to individuals sell domain registration services. Domain registrars are agencies who reach out to the customers in order to fulfill their domain registration needs.
Godaddy is a leading domain registrar where you can get a domain name registered.
Domain Registration Charges
Domain registration charges include ICANN’s charges as well as the domain registrar’s fee, hence it vary from a registrar to another.
So have you gathered the sufficient information about acquiring a domain name?