Lets take a further look at domain names.

I shall use another of my domain names as an example:

www.ianmckenziesdomains.com

The prefix, ‘www’ is of course an acronym for the World Wide Web, and most domain names will start this way. But, there are some which don’t.

The suffix, in this case ‘com’, is the most common ending for web sites. But many other endings are also available. For example the domain name could end in ‘net’, or ‘biz’ and many other suffixes.

www.ianmckenziesdomains.net

www.ianmckenziesdomains.biz

If you wish to publish a personal web site you may wish to use ‘name’ as your extension. For example:

www.ianmckenzie.name

Some web sites have a country extension. For example:

www.conferences4one.com.au

The ‘au’ extension at the end of the domain name signifies that the domain name is an Australian site. However, you could also indicate this in the middle part of the domain name. For example:

www.ProfessionalPerformanceAustralia.com

Other extensions could be ‘us’ for USA, or ‘ws’ for Western Samoa, and so on.

So, before you publish your web site, you will need to purchase a domain name.

As I have already said the millions of web sites out there on the WWW each has a unique domain name. Those domain names are obviously taken, and will not be available to you. There is an official body which keeps a register of all domain names. It is called ICANN.

The example of a residential address I gave on the previous page does not really exist, but is a potential address. Likewise, there are many millions of possibilities for web addresses (domain names), which are not currently registered, but could be quite easily.

Ian McKenzie’s Domains is an official Registrar of domain names. And by clicking on the link, you could very quickly see if the domain name you wish to register is available.

First though, I suggest you get some paper and write down a few of your choices for the middle part of the domain name. Type these in the box provided and then click on the ‘search’ tab. It will take a few seconds only for a complete search to be made of the ICANN register. A screen will then advise you if the name you have chosen is available or already taken.

If the name is taken, the page will advise you of similar possibilities which are available for registration. Or, alternatively you can do another search.

It will cost you nothing to complete these searches.

Once you have a domain name which is available and you are happy with, it is time to get that domain name registered. The prompts on the page will advise you how this is done.

Bookmark the page, so you will know where to come back to for future searches. The web site address is:

www.ianmckenziesdomains.biz

 
Ian McKenzie’s Domains prices are very competitive, most domain names costing you less than $10 a year. Other registrars charge $30 to $40 a year and some charge even more*. The best value is to register for a two year period, as this gives you even greater savings.

(* on another of my web sites, I give a price comparison of three other well known Registrars and the prices they charge compared with mine. Click on comparison to go to that web page, and scroll down towards the bottom of the page to view the comparison ) http://www.ianmckenziesdomains.net/html/domain_names.html 

For 'au' and 'nz' extensions, please click here.  

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