How to buy a domain name
Just as a house has a street address, a Web site has an Internet address. When you click on a link for www.yahoo.com, or you type "www.yahoo.com" into the address bar of your browser, you're telling your browser to visit the Web site at the address "yahoo.com." It's the same as telling a friend that you live at 33 Main St. With this information, the browser will find the site and your friend will find your house.
Your domain name and your site name are often the same thing. This site, for example, has the domain name www.theindependentpublisher.com. Its "official" name is TheIndependentPublisher.com. Sometimes there's a discrepancy between a domain name and a site name, particularly if the site is stored through a free home page service like Geocities or Tripod. If this site was stored through one of these services, the name of the site would still be TheIndependentPublisher but its address might look like this:
www.geocities.com/theindependentpublisher
The benefit of this type of address is that it's free to set up and maintain. The downside is that it's convoluted and doesn't carry the same level of credibility as something like www.theindependentpublisher.com. There's a stigma attached to free services because the sites housed by these services are often personal home pages with bad designs and poor content. Not all of the sites are bad -- in fact, some are quite good -- but you can give your site a professional sheen by avoiding the free stuff and making a small investment in your own domain name.
There are hundreds of companies that can secure a domain name, but finding one is like finding a good mechanic -- it takes some digging. A good starting point is the list of accredited domain registrars maintained by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the non-profit organization that manages the Internet's domain system. Accreditation is nice, but you can also find realiable, non-accredited registrars by poking around the entries at TopHosts.com and The Web Host Directory.
Once you've decided on a domain service, you're ready to purchase your domain name. Unfortunately, this process isn't as easy as it used to be. In the early years of the Web there were fewer sites and plenty of available names, but now that we have millions of sites there are far fewer domain name options. What this means is that it's quite possible someone has already claimed your domain name. You'll have to come up with something different.
Once you've sufficiently cursed the person who beat you to the domain name punch, consider the following options:
Register the name with a different extension
When people register a site -- particularly a smaller site -- they usually only register a ".com" version (example: www.theindependentpublisher.com). But there are other extensions at your disposal: .biz, .info, .name, .ws, .net and .org. Before you give up on your first choice, see if it's available with a different extension.
It's also possible to register domain names with international extensions like ".us" (United States), ".uk" (United Kingdom) and ".jp" (Japan). Some of these extensions require residency, so verify your eligibility with your domain company. A full list of international extensions is available through ICANN.
A word of caution: If you stumble upon an available extension linked to a company or trademarked name, such as yahoo.org or yahoo.us, don't buy it. Big companies have big legal departments and these departments are adamant about protecting their company's brand and identity. In the past, people made money by "cybersquatting" on valuable domain names (like business.com) then selling the names to companies for astronomical fees. Congress put a halt to cybersquatting in 1999 by passing the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. With this law on the books, even people with the best domain-name intentions can be targeted for legal action. Avoid the hassle by avoiding these names.
Make a list of alternate names
If the unavailability of your name takes you by surprise, don't make a rushed decision. Many domain name services offer a list of available name variations, but a computer program generates these names so they might not be all that intuitive. Remember, you don't need to secure a domain right away. Take a step back and make a list of other suitable names, then return to the domain site to check their availability. Chances are, you'll find a name that's both fitting and creative.
Securing a name
When you find an available name you'll be asked how long you'd like to reserve it. The options range from 1-10 years, with longer periods incurring a higher price tag. The cost of securing a name is relatively low -- it ranges from $10-$100 -- so if your budget allows for a longer registration period, go for it. You'll save yourself the hassle of re-registering every year.
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