Choosing Your Domain Name

Choosing and Registering Your Domain Name

Choosing your email domain name is a two step procedure. Firstly you must decide on the TLD i.e. a .com or a .name , and then the second level domain name and in some circumstances a third level name.

The .Name TLD

Because the Internet authorities have already pre-assigned a domain name for use by individuals it would seem like the ideal choice. But is it? The .Name address has some strange quirks.

.Name Second and Third levels

The .name TLD was previously (pre January 2004) only available as a third level domain.

That is, you couldn't register doe.name but had to register john.doe.name. this was to stop one person taking the entire namespace for "doe" (in my example).

The problem with it is if you wanted to register a name for the entire family the only way was the register the names individually i.e.

frank.doe.name -dad
jane.doe.name -mom
john.doe.name -son1
julie.doe.name -daughter1

This is far from a ideal situation as what happens when son number 2 (steve) comes along and his name is already taken. Besides which, it is very expensive as each one requires a separate registration.

Second level .Name Domain Names

However since January 2004 you can also register second level domains. Which means that you could now register doe.name ( if still available) and assign email addresses like anyone@doe.name as you need them, just like with any other domain name.

Second or Third Level Domain Name?

Always when possible go for a second level domain name as it makes your address shorter, easier to use, and is much cheaper. However when using second level domain .name names we have the same problem as with other TLDs (top level domain names) ... Many are already taken.

Choosing a .Name or .com Top Level Domain Name

Although the .name TLD was specifically meant for personal usage it doesn't mean that you should completely dismiss using other alternatives. If you are using it for a family/personal purpose then .name would be the best choice but if it is more for business purposes then I would stay with the .com.

Second Level Domain Name

This is basically deciding whether you want to have for example :

johndoe.com
doe.com
doe-family.com

You are free to make up an use any name that you desire provided you use only allowed characters (a-z,0-9,and the hyphen character (-)). Domain names are case-insensitive and can only have a maximum of 63 characters (excluding the TLD extension).

So whether you choose johndoe.com or doe.com comes down to choice and availability. If doe.com is already registered then you will need to chose an alternative.

All domain name registrars have a facility for researching the availability of the chosen domain name before you purchase it. so how do you go about Choosing a domain Name Registrar and Registering Domain Name.

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How to Get and Create Your Own Email Address