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You want to catch up on the News, so you type "cnn.com" or "nyt.com" into your browser's address bar, but just what is "CNN.COM"? It is a domain name. The ".com" part is called the "top-level domain". Besides dot-com, there are GOV, EDU, NET, ORG, MIL and others. There are also country code top-level domains like US, CA (Canada), MX (Mexico) and so forth. The "CNN" OR "NYT" part (or in our case, "SmBizHosting") is called the second-level domain. The purpose of domain names is essentially to make life easier for us humans, because the machines on which the Internet is run don't use them other than to look up the "real address" of a website, which is its "IP address". An IP address looks like this - 111.222.333.444 Every device on the Internet has an IP address. To see what your computer's IP address is, click Show My IP. If you want to have a website, you'll need to buy a domain name. But "buy" isn't really the correct term, since you never really own a domain name. It's more like you are leasing the domain name, and you pay a certain amount (usually around ten dollars) annually for each domain name. Before choosing your domain name, you should think about search engine optimization (SEO) and marketing implications. If your company name dictates a certain domain name, you should probably consider getting one or more other domain names for seo purposes. In fact, this issue is so critical to your website's success that you should consider getting expert consulting assistance before making your decision. Our sister company, CompuSolver.com specializes in helping small business owners make good website decisions like this. Once your decision is made, you'll need to choose a company to make your domain purchase through. Companies authorized to handle domain name registrations are called "Registrars". Though we have no affiliation with them, we strongly recommend GoDaddy as the best registrar to do business with. When you fill out the form for your domain name, on the GoDaddy.com website, be careful to avoid accidentally signing up for any of their "options". All you need is the domain name - period. Watch the form for a place to set your "Nameservers" or "DNS". This is for the database where devices can lookup your domain name and find the IP address for your web server. Our hosting customers will enter the following for their Nameservers - NS1.SMBIZHOSTING.COM Important - Be sure and register your domain name for at least two years. Three to five years or more is even better, but if you register for only one year, search engines will not likely take your domain seriously and you will have a terrible time getting good search engine rankings. SUMMARY You've carefully chosen your new domain name or names with seo, marketing and other considerations in mind. You've registered the name or names with GoDaddy for two or more years and set your DNS to our servers. Now it's only a matter of hours before browsers pointing to your domain name will be directed to our server, so if you haven't already, you'll want to get your website uploaded or installed right away. For information on what to do next, click one of the following:
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