For any serious web project, registering a domain is crucial. You can, of course, use a free or cheap shared hosting service (e.g., blogger, GeoCities, etc.) without having your own domain name. But, given the audience I will assume you plan to have a dedicated domain name.

Choosing a name

There are two primary considerations for registering a domain name – the choice of the name itself and the choice of a registrar company. Naturally, you must first decide on a viable name. Some issues to consider include:

• Search-engine friendliness – does it contain commonly searched keywords relevant to your site's topic?
• User-friendliness – this issue primarily revolves around the length of the domain name (shorter names will be easier for users to remember, but longer names may be more search-engine friendly) and the general ease your users will have in remembering the name (e.g., are common words used, are words that are often misspelled used, etc.). If you're name is long but is mostly comprised of common words, you may want to choose to used hyphens between the names.
• Prior life – was your chosen name previously used by someone else? If so, was that person/organization reputable? Did the old site have in-bound links (IBL) and, if so, how valuable/useful were they?
• Scalability – will the name you choose support any future business plans (e.g., will you be expanding your product line, opening physical stores, expanding your geographic coverage, etc.)
• Related domain names – you may wish to register multiple domain names, especially if the name you choose can have expected misspellings. You also have to decide whether you only want one domain ending (e.g., .com) or multiple (e.g., .net, .biz, .org, etc.)
• Trademark violations – you want to make sure any name you choose doesn't infringe upon the legitimate trademark of another organization.

If you are looking for some domain name inspiration, there are several sites that purport to help you come up with something clever and useful. One such site is the Web 2.0 Name Generator and it's related site, Dot-o-mator.

Registering Your Name

All domain names are registered through a group called InterNIC but are done via various third-party registrars. Registration fees and services vary greatly for these different registrars, with prices for a one-year registration ranging from US$7 to US$35. You must renew your registration every year or, alternatively, you can choose a multi-year registration. You may want to verify any differences in prices for renewal rates versus first time registration rates.

Some registrars also provide web hosting services and some web hosts will register a domain name. In fact, it is common to see web hosts include domain name registration for free with the purchase of a hosting package. I prefer to register the name myself with a registrar separate from my web host provider. This ensures that I am registered as the owner, the administrative and technical contacts. The registered owner basically controls the domain so you can see where this could become a problem if you decided to change web hosting companies. The other contacts of record are less important but still a concern so the safe bet is to be the contact of record for all. And, even though many web hosts suggest that you put them as the technical contact, you may prefer not to, so that when you want to transfer your name to a new web host, you don't have to wait for your old host to approve the transfer (this could slow the process down or, if you were using an unethical host provider they could refuse to make the transfer).

Once you have considered the above, you can actually register your name. If you are curious, I currently use GoDaddy.com and am happy with their services and prices, but there are others that are worth considering as well. I leave it to you and your credit card or PayPal account to navigate the buying process on the website of the registrar you choose but I do offer a few pieces of preparation advice:

1. You can often find a coupon code online for discounts so it might be worth a quick Google search prior to registering.
2. Consider privacy issues. Some registrars now offer an option to keep your registration details private for an extra fee (the default is to make them publicly available). Many spammers and other marketers troll the domain registry database for contact information. I recommend you create a dedicated email address on a free service (e.g., gmail) to use. You'll definitely want to forward this to a more regularly used account or you will want to check it regularly (so you don't miss renewal notices, etc.) but by using it you can track and filter unwanted spam.
3. If you already have chosen a web host provider, you will want to make a note of their primary and secondary DNS servers (see below). If you don't have a web host provider yet, most registrars will offer a free parking and forwarding services. A parking service means that when someone types in your domain name they will be taken to a standard page hosted by the registrar saying that the domain has been registered and that a site is under construction. A forwarding service will direct people who type your domain name in a browser to any other domain you may specify.

Specifying DNS Servers

Did you ever wonder how it is exactly that when you type in a web address the correct page is displayed? The answer is something known as the Domain Name System (or Service or Server) and is not as trivial a question as it seems because in fact the true underlying address system for websites is numeric. The number is referred to as an IP address and is usually in the form of xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx. Each block of numbers (xxx) has some meaning I won't bother explaining but you can easily see why nobody wants to go around memorizing long blocks of numbers for their favorite websites. So, the solution developed is to use translation machines known as DNS servers or sometimes just nameservers. Basically, when you type in a web site name, a nameserver is contacted. That server has a table that can translate the name to the proper IP address. Truthfully, it is a bit more complex than this but you get the idea.

So, what is the relevance you ask? Well, when you register a domain name you have to tell the world what nameserver has the translation information for that domain. That nameserver will be maintained by the hosting company you choose and you should get that information when you signup with the hosting company. If not, you can always call them for it.

As mentioned above you can have your hosting provider register a domain name for you and they will then automatically specify the nameserver. But, if you register your domain name via a third party as I recommend, you will need to provide the nameserver information to them. Typically, a nameserver format looks something like NS1.WEBHOST.NET. In fact, there is usually a second nameserver specified so that if the first fails there is a backup. That usually is the same with NS1 replaced with NS2.