WDS - Domain Registration

Domain Registration

Everything begins with the perfect domain name. Not only is it how your customers are best able to find you, but also allows you to present your brand in the best light.

With your new website under your custom domain name with a matching email address, you're primed for success and can now begin using the internet as your personal storefront.

Domain registration information is maintained by the domain name registries, which contract with domain registrars to provide registration services to the public. An end user selects a registrar to provide the registration service, and that registrar becomes the designated registrar for the domain chosen by the user.

Only the designated registrar may modify or delete information about domain names in a central registry database. It is not unusual for an end user to switch registrars, invoking a domain transfer process between the registrars involved, that is governed by specific domain name transfer policies.

Although the dedicated registrar is the only entity that can modify or delete information regarding domain names in the central registry, there are many domain resellers that allow you to sell domains. You do not have to become a designated registrar in order to sell and register domains.

When a registrar registers a com domain name for an end-user, it must pay a maximum annual fee to the registry operator for com, and a annual administration fee to ICANN. Most domain registrars price their services and products to address both the annual fees and the administration fees that must be paid to ICANN. Barriers to entry into the bulk registrar industry are high for new companies without an existing customer base.[citation needed]

Many registrars also offer registration through reseller affiliates. An end-user registers either directly with a registrar, or indirectly through one or more layers of resellers. As of 2010, the retail cost generally ranges from a low of about $7.50 per year to about $35 per year for a simple domain registration, although registrars often drop the price far lower - sometimes even free - when ordered with other products.

The maximum period of registration for a domain name is 10 years. Some registrars offer longer periods of up to 100 years,[2] but such offers involve the registrar renewing the registration for their customer; the 100-year registration would not be in the official registration database.

DNS hosting

Registration of a domain name establishes a set of Start of Authority (SOA) records in the DNS servers of the parent domain, indicating the IP address (or domain name) of DNS servers that are authoritative for the domain. This provides merely a reference for how to find the domain data - not the actual domain data.

Registration of a domain does not automatically imply the provision of DNS services for the registered domain. Most registrars do offer DNS hosting as an optional free service for domains registered through them. If DNS services are not offered, or the end-user opts out, the end-user is responsible for procuring or self-hosting DNS services. Without DNS services for the domain, the registration is essentially useless for Internet services, although this situation is often encountered with domain parking and cybersquatting.

Everything you need for Domain Registration

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