Domain name registration requires more than just selecting a catchy name for your website. It also involves selecting an "extension" which is the suffix as the end of the domain name.

The most common of these is .com -- in fact, it has become a recognized "word" in our everyday vocabulary as a way to express Internet activity - ("I am developing a dot com jewelry business").

Dot Who?

Some of the other extensions include .biz (for commercial web sites), .org (for non-commercial organisations), .net (for organisations involved in Internet infrastructure) and .name (for personal names).

Dot What?

There are also extensions with more specialized uses such as .museum, .aero, and .coop and are used exclusively by members of certain organizations.

Dot Where?

Besides these common extensions, there are also country code extensions such as .us (United States) or .de (Germany). The rules for using country extensions vary, so you need to check with your domain name registrar to find out if you'll be permitted to use them.

Only registrars that have been certified by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) are authorized to perform domain registration. There are hundreds of certified registrars around the world and the prices they charge to register a domain vary widely.

Although domain registrars are carefully regulated, they are permitted to offer domain registration and webhosting services via third parties. This explains why most web hosting companies provide domain web hosting even if they are not a certified registrars.

Bundled Packages

The price will often be higher when registering a domain through a third party, but not always, as many web hosts offer domain web hosting as an enticement to signing up for one of their web hosting packages.

Use It or Lose It

The minimum period for which a domain name may be registered is one year, although you may register a name for up to 10 years. Longer registration periods usually are accompanied by slightly lower prices.

So if you intend to be on the web for a long time you can save some money, and avoid the need to reregister every year, by selecting a longer registration period.

Most domain registrars also offer a discount on bulk name purchases so, if you own multiple domains you may also reduce costs by transferring all to one registrar and save on the cost of domain name registration.