In my last article I mentioned the old numbered email addresses that were given to the original CompuServe users. Can you imagine meeting someone who moved to your community, talking about your church, and then telling them your email address--when that email address was a long string of numbers? Aren't you glad you can have an easy to remember email address?
Now, imagine if domain names didn't exist, and instead your website was identified by a long string of numbers and dots, called an Internet Protocal (IP) address. You'd never be able to get the word out about your website--nobody could remember how to find it. While your website still lives on a computer that's identified by its IP address, everyone expects you to have an easy to remember domain name that will help other computers in the world find your webserver.
An essential part of any website or web application is your domain name. Your domain name is the first part of your Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A URL points to a specific file or resource located on the web. For instance, this blog is located at the URL:
http://www.yourchurchblog.net/index.html. The domain name that begins that blog is
www.yourchurchblog.net.
A domain name is divided into three parts:
- Top-level domains (TLDs) refer to the last part of the domain name: .com, .net, .org, etc.
- Second-level domains refer to the middle part: yourchurchweb, yahoo, msnbc, etc.
- Third-level domains (commonly called sub-domains) refer to the very first part - www, email, blog, etc. For instance, your email will be accessible at email.yourdomain.com. If you had a blog, you could assign a third-level domain to that folder, so that it appeared at blog.yourdomain.com.
Top-level domains (TLDs) are controlled by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). ICANN provides accreditation for registrars, which register domain names to end users. YourChurchWeb.net uses an ICANN accredited registrar for all of your domain purchases.
At YourChurchWeb.net, you register your domain name in the name of your church or ministry. While you register it through us, your church retains ownership over the registration. You can transfer it to another registrar, point it to another web-host, forward it to another domain, or (as most of our customers choose to do) continue to register/renew it through us, and point it at one of our other products (
Web Hosting,
WebSite TonightŪ,
Online Photo Filer,
Quick Blog, etc.)
Registering a domain is fairly simple--as long as it's available. You'll want to have payment information available when you start your search (I've seen domains get registered by someone else between the time a customer found the available domain and was ready to purchase it). You'll start your search by using our domain search box (either at our
home page or in the bottom right corner of this blog. Enter the domain name you're interested in, and see if it's available. If it is, simply choose it and begin to work through the checkout process.
If the domain you want is not available, our program will tell you if it's available in any other TLDs. (For instance, you might not be able to register yourchurchname.org, but yourchurchname.net might be available.) We also have a tool that will suggest other possible domain names for you to consider. You might want to brainstorm with other leaders in your church to see what other names you might consider.
YourChurchWeb.net offers one of the lowest domain registration and renewal rates in the internet industry. I'm always amazed to visit websites of other registrars and see prices like $35 a year, when we offer our domain registrations at $9 a year. And then I stumble across the occasional registrar that doesn't even make their prices publically available. We make our prices available to you before you setup your customer account, so you know what you're getting.
From time-to-time, we may even offer some special pricing on new domains. Promotional and sale pricing will generally only be available for the first year of a new registration, but your renewal rate will be the standard retail price of $8.75/yr (plus an ICANN mandated fee of $0.22/yr). You can't go wrong with registering your domain at YourChurchWeb.net.
Once you've registered and paid for your domain, you can do a variety of things with it, including: assigning it to hosting space (or other product), parking it, creating a (free) starter webpage, forwarding it to another website (or a subfolder of another site), or assigning a third-level domain (subdomain) to point to another website or online service.
Don't hesitate to
contact me if you have any questions about the registration process. I'd also be happy to help you brainstorm a domain name which will work well for your church or Christian ministry.
Grace and Peace,
Jonathan Twitchell
YourChurchWeb.net
Labels: domains, products, renewal
