A lot of people ask me what is this "ICANN"? You might have seen their logo at some sites that register domain names, or some sites that state they are ICANN accredited. But what does it mean?

Let`s see what is ICANN and how can you benefit from it?

ICANN is short for Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, and they are the organization which organizes the Domain Name System.

What is the purpose of ICANN?

It was formed in October 1998, mainly because of a need to manage domain names at international level. Before that time each country managed its own domain name system. Can you imagine what mess it was when there were different conditions to register .com domain names in every country? Thats why ICANN was born.

Does ICANN register domain names?

ICANN itself does not register domain names, but has the power to authorize institutions for specific domain extensions. So for every extension, like .com, .jobs, .info there is a company that takes care for all registrations under it. For example, VeriSign is the authoritative registry for .com and .net domain names. Anyone who wants to sell .com domain names must have an agreement with Verisign or sell domain names through reseller companies.

What means if registrar is ICANN accredited?

ICANN accreditation means that accredited registrars are doing business that complies with rules and regulations set forth by ICANN. It also means they are a reliable domain name seller and you, as a customer are protected by ICANN.

An ICANN intervention happened on March 31 2007, when ICANN degraded Registerfly and it no longer was an ICANN accredited registrar, because they RegisterFly was providing a horrible service for their users. All users were transfered to other registrars and their domain names were saved.

Conclusion: What you need to know about ICANN?

1. ICANN manages domain name system and protects domain name owners.
2. ICANN charges a small fee (about $.20) for every domain name people register. So at checkout page you might notice the price for domain name is slightly higher. Thats ok! Everyone has to pay this fee, but I don`t mind because I know if there is trouble, ICANN will take care of it.

So next time you hear about ICANN, you will know what is about.

Register your domain name with reliable registrar

We are proud that Hosting Residence is providing a safe and secure services to our customers. See Legal Agreements.

 

TOP 3 Mistakes when registering a domain name

1. Do not reserve domain name unless you are positive registrar will be putting your information in the WHOIS (that’s the record every domain name has). Whoever`s address is listed in the whois is the real domain owner. You can check it by searching here. This is very popular with some web hosts that offer free domain names, so make sure YOU get what you pay for.
2. Do not show your contact information to hackers. Instead – Protect your PRIVACY! When reserving a domain name you will have option to keep your domain name private – this will keep your name, email address, … hidden from the global database. A private registration will prevent a lot of spam so I warmly recommend to select this option.
3. Do not settle with bad support. Support should be available to you 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Period. They should be knowledgeable and answer your questions in time.

Register your domain name with Hosting Residence and have a great sleep, because your domain name will be safe.

Great tips to choose a good domain name!

Keep in mind that domain names are meant to help users find you more easily. If you want a good domain name follow these simple rules:

1. Shorter is better
   Reserve domain name that is as short as possible as long it remains recognizable. For example usedcars.com is far better than weofferusedcarsatlowprices.com. It is easier to remember and it also minimizes the risk of typing it wrong.
2. Make it simple and memorable
   Avoid using abbreviations, hyphens or anything that could put your visitors in doubt how to spell or say it. If you can, choose domain name with less than 3 words. If you need to register a name with 3 words or more, use hyphens, but do it with caution. Domain name should be easy to remember. This is especially important when people try to find you the second time. The easiest way to follow this rule is to read your name over the phone to your friend and see if he got it right. If you have to explain anything than you have a problem. Change it, you will thank me later. 🙂
3. Your domain name should tell users about you
   Really. The name of your domain should reflect the content of your website. Why? Because when people think of your website lets say its name is Rare flowers they will try finding you by that name. In this case rareflowers.com would be a good choice for your domain name. If you follow this rule you also gain some advantage with the search engines.
4. What about extensions?
   My advice is use a .com. If you are serious about your site you should avoid various new domain extensions. It takes a bit more time to register .com since it is the most popular extension but you wont regret it. Dot coms are good domain names because its what people first think of.

Following these simple rules will put you way ahead of those who will register just the first name they can think of.

Understanding Hosting Packages

When building your first website, you will probably go for a hosting package that includes a free domain. That`s ok. Lots of companies nowadays offer it, simply because everyone else in the industry does. It is just a part of the marketing offer.

Changing hosts in a year or two?

But what if some day you decided to change your host? You will send your host a cancellation request, trying to move your site to new host. But hey, what about my domain name? Whos domain name? You got that domain name for free.

Domain Name Reality check

Thats when you get into trouble. Your old host will no longer receive money from you, but you still want to use that domain name. Why shouldn`t you? Search engines indexed your pages, you got some nice links from directories and social bookmarking sites, everything was going just great. Until now!

Who is the real domain owner?

Domain name that was so free, suddenly becomes unplesantly expensive. You find out that domain name is not even yours! The worst scenario that could happen, is that hosting will not release domain name, so you would have to wait for (not so yours) domain name to expire and then register it again.

Possible solution – Domain Transfer

Since hosting companies usually provide domain names only to their clients, you could also transfer your domain name to another domain registrar and pay a nice fee for that to your old host.

Conclusion

Anyway it would cost you far more than it would, if you bought a stand alone domain name from a Domain Registrar . I hope you can learn this little story`s lesson or you can always try it yourself:)

 

 

List of generic Top level domain names with explanations:

These are generic Top Level Domains. Some of them need special credentials to be registered.

• .aero domain is reserved for members of the air-transport industry and cannot be registered by anyone.

• .biz domain is intended for businesses entities and can be registerd by anyone. Save on .BIZ Domains at GoDaddy.com – $7.99

• .cat domain is reserved for the Catalan linguistic and cultural community.

• .com domain is intended for commercial organizations and can be registered by anyone. It is also the most popular topl level domain name in the world. You can register it right now .

• .coop domain is a tld for cooperative associations. Not very common.

• .info domain is open for everyone to register and is meant to be for informational websites.

• .jobs domain is designed jobs companies and for human resource managers.

• .mobi domain is a more recent domain for websites connected with mobile products and services and for mobile-compatible sites. .MOBI Domains from GoDaddy.com

• .museum domain is restricted only for museums.

• .name domain is reserved for individuals that want to establish their name as a brand. It can be freely registered here.

• .net domain is also a popular tld and can be registered by anyone. It is inteded for entities connected with networks, networking.

• .org domain is tld of organizations around the world. It is designed for the noncommercial community, but can be registered by anyone.

• .pro domain is restricted to professionals: doctors, attorneys. Applicant has to provide credentials in order to register.

• .travel domain is reserved for travel related entities and cannot be registered by anyone.

4 special Top Level Domain Name extensions

These four are somewhat special since they are reserved for special needs:

• .gov domain cannot be registered by public. It is exclusive for the United States Government.
• .edu domain is reserved for US educational institutions.
• .mil domain cannot be registered by public. It is reserved for the needs of the United States Military.
• .int domain is used strictly by organizations endorsed by international treaties between governments.

International Domain names are sometimes referred as country codes or contry-code domain extensions.

Buy International domain names:

We buy them from www.GoDaddy.com or Dotster.com.

Here are International Domain Names listed alphabetically:

.ac – Ascension Island
.ad – Andorra
.ae – United Arab Emirates
.af – Afghanistan
.ag – Antigua and Barbuda
.ai – Anguilla
.al – Albania
.am – Armenia
.an – Netherlands Antilles
.ao – Angola
.aq – Antarctica
.ar – Argentina
.as – American Samoa
.at – Austria
.au – Australia
.aw – Aruba
.ax – Aland Islands
.az – Azerbaijan
.ba – Bosnia and Herzegovina
.bb – Barbados
.bd – Bangladesh
.be – Belgium
.bf – Burkina Faso
.bg – Bulgaria
.bh – Bahrain
.bi – Burundi
.bj – Benin
.bm – Bermuda
.bn – Brunei Darussalam
.bo – Bolivia
.br – Brazil
.bs – Bahamas
.bt – Bhutan
.bv – Bouvet Island
.bw – Botswana
.by – Belarus
.bz – Belize
.ca – Canada
.cc – Cocos (Keeling) Islands
.cd – Congo, The Democratic Republic of the
.cf – Central African Republic
.cg – Congo, Republic of
.ch – Switzerland
.ci – Cote d’Ivoire
.ck – Cook Islands
.cl – Chile
.cm – Cameroon
.cn – China
.co – Colombia
.cr – Costa Rica
.cu – Cuba
.cv – Cape Verde
.cx – Christmas Island
.cy – Cyprus
.cz – Czech Republic
.de – Germany
.dj – Djibouti
.dk – Denmark
.dm – Dominica
.do – Dominican Republic
.dz – Algeria
.ec – Ecuador
.ee – Estonia
.eg – Egypt
.eh – Western Sahara
.er – Eritrea
.es – Spain
.et – Ethiopia
.eu – European Union
.fi – Finland
.fj – Fiji
.fk – Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
.fm – Micronesia, Federated States of
.fo – Faroe Islands
.fr – France
.ga – Gabon
.gb – United Kingdom
.gd – Grenada
.ge – Georgia
.gf – French Guiana
.gg – Guernsey
.gh – Ghana
.gi – Gibraltar
.gl – Greenland
.gm – Gambia
.gn – Guinea
.gp – Guadeloupe
.gq – Equatorial Guinea
.gr – Greece
.gs – South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
.gt – Guatemala
.gu – Guam
.gw – Guinea-Bissau
.gy – Guyana
.hk – Hong Kong
.hm – Heard and McDonald Islands
.hn – Honduras
.hr – Croatia/Hrvatska
.ht – Haiti
.hu – Hungary
.id – Indonesia
.ie – Ireland
.il – Israel
.im – Isle of Man
.in – India
.io – British Indian Ocean Territory
.iq – Iraq
.ir – Iran, Islamic Republic of
.is – Iceland
.it – Italy
.je – Jersey
.jm – Jamaica
.jo – Jordan
.jp – Japan
.ke – Kenya
.kg – Kyrgyzstan
.kh – Cambodia
.ki – Kiribati
.km – Comoros
.kn – Saint Kitts and Nevis
.kp – Korea, Democratic People’s Republic
.kr – Korea, Republic of
.kw – Kuwait
.ky – Cayman Islands
.kz – Kazakhstan
.la – Lao People’s Democratic Republic
.lb – Lebanon
.lc – Saint Lucia
.li – Liechtenstein
.lk – Sri Lanka
.lr – Liberia
.ls – Lesotho
.lt – Lithuania
.lu – Luxembourg
.lv – Latvia
.ly – Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
.ma – Morocco
.mc – Monaco
.md – Moldova, Republic of
.me – Montenegro
.mg – Madagascar
.mh – Marshall Islands
.mk – Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of
.ml – Mali
.mm – Myanmar
.mn – Mongolia
.mo – Macao
.mp – Northern Mariana Islands
.mq – Martinique
.mr – Mauritania
.ms – Montserrat
.mt – Malta
.mu – Mauritius
.mv – Maldives
.mw – Malawi
.mx – Mexico
.my – Malaysia
.mz – Mozambique
.na – Namibia
.nc – New Caledonia
.ne – Niger
.nf – Norfolk Island
.ng – Nigeria
.ni – Nicaragua
.nl – Netherlands
.no – Norway
.np – Nepal
.nr – Nauru
.nu – Niue
.nz – New Zealand
.om – Oman
.pa – Panama
.pe – Peru
.pf – French Polynesia
.pg – Papua New Guinea
.ph – Philippines
.pk – Pakistan
.pl – Poland
.pm – Saint Pierre and Miquelon
.pn – Pitcairn Island
.pr – Puerto Rico
.ps – Palestinian Territory, Occupied
.pt – Portugal
.pw – Palau
.py – Paraguay
.qa – Qatar
.re – Reunion Island
.ro – Romania
.rs – Serbia
.ru – Russian Federation
.rw – Rwanda
.sa – Saudi Arabia
.sb – Solomon Islands
.sc – Seychelles
.sd – Sudan
.se – Sweden
.sg – Singapore
.sh – Saint Helena
.si – Slovenia
.sj – Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands
.sk – Slovak Republic
.sl – Sierra Leone
.sm – San Marino
.sn – Senegal
.so – Somalia
.sr – Suriname
.st – Sao Tome and Principe
.su – Soviet Union (being phased out)
.sv – El Salvador
.sy – Syrian Arab Republic
.sz – Swaziland
.tc – Turks and Caicos Islands
.td – Chad
.tf – French Southern Territories
.tg – Togo
.th – Thailand
.tj – Tajikistan
.tk – Tokelau
.tl – Timor-Leste
.tm – Turkmenistan
.tn – Tunisia
.to – Tonga
.tp – East Timor
.tr – Turkey
.tt – Trinidad and Tobago
.tv – Tuvalu
.tw – Taiwan
.tz – Tanzania
.ua – Ukraine
.ug – Uganda
.uk – United Kingdom
.um – United States Minor Outlying Islands
.us – United States
.uy – Uruguay
.uz – Uzbekistan
.va – Holy See (Vatican City State)
.vc – Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
.ve – Venezuela
.vg – Virgin Islands, British
.vi – Virgin Islands, U.S.
.vn – Vietnam
.vu – Vanuatu
.wf – Wallis and Futuna Islands
.ws – Samoa
.ye – Yemen
.yt – Mayotte
.yu – Yugoslavia
.za – South Africa
.zm – Zambia
.zw – Zimbabwe

 

Go global! Register a country-specific domain name.

International domain names can be registered by citizen of the territory for which they are intended, but there are some exceptions which can be registered by anyone.

If you want to found out more about contry code top level domains go to the IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority)

TLD = Top Level Domain = Domain name extension

Every domain name ends with an extension also called TLD, which is short for Top Level Domain.

There are 3 types of TLDs:

• generic
  This extensions are reserved for general categories or organizations.
• country-codes
  This extensions are reserved for a country or a territory and are 2 letters long.
• infrastructure
  This are special domain names and are not used widely.

Here are 7 reasons why:

Plant your Domain Name Success! Its the best investment in your life! Just think about it. The price you pay for domain is so cheap in comparison with visitors and money it can bring you. Remember: google.com and amazon.com and other multi-million dollar companies pay the same price you are paying for domain names. Build your brand If you want to be known locally or globally, you cant afford NOT to have a domain name. Whats more, appearance of your domain name helps building your brand and boosts awareness in peoples minds. Protect your business Even if you do not plan to launch a website you can still register a domain name and reserve it for later (It s called domain parking). With so many registrations each day, your name could be registered at the moment you are reading this article. Sense the freedom of your personalized email How cool is that? You can have as many email accounts as you want, set up how you want to access them and how big your inbox is. Get in control Since you are the owner you can do whatever you want with your domain! You can set your own design of your blog, web store or any other page. No more annoying ads from free providers. You can sell ad space or even sell your domain name and make money. Domain names are cheap! Lets admit it! Domain names are so cheap that even a 10 year child can afford them. So there is absolutely no reason why you should stick with a free provider that gives you a long subdomain like this: http://mywebsite.superhost.freethings.net It makes you feel great! Lots of my visitors are so happy because they can express their selves on their website! It is a great feeling that you can create something.