Domain Names

What You Need to Know

A domain name is the unique name you use to identify and access websites on the Internet. Read these domain name tips to choose the right one for your business or organisation.

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Obtaining a domain name is almost essential nowadays for businesses, clubs and organisations. Not only does it allow you to promote your business name or brand to the ever-increasing online market, it is the gateway for the world to find you on the Internet.

What is a Domain Name?
For the non-technical person, a domain name (or website address) is the unique name you use to identify and access websites on the Internet. It is also how you describe the name that is to the right of the @ sign in an email address.

A slightly more technical explanation is that a domain name is an alias for a numeric web address. Each web site on the internet has a numeric address that functions like coordinates on a map. Instead of pointing to a geographic location on earth, these numeric addresses, called IP (Internet Protocol) addresses, point to a graphical location on the Internet. Computers have no problems with locating and remembering numeric addresses. In contrast, most humans have trouble remembering long, complicated sequences of numbers. So, to make surfing the web easier, the domain name system was invented. This system allows people to use easy to remember names for websites instead of those number sequences.

Domain Name Extensions
Primarily domain names are broken down into two main categories:

• Generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) – this group of domains do not have a geographic or country designation. These include .com, .net, .org, .biz, and .info.

• Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) – these domains are generally used or reserved for a Country and identified by a two letter country code e.g. .nz, .au, .uk, .cn.

In addition to the Top Level Domain (TLD) most countries also offer a range of Second Level Domains (2LDs), based on ‘communities of interest’ within their domain name space. An example of 2LDs in the New Zealand domain name space are .co.nz, intended for commercial entities, .org.nz for non-profit organisations, and .net.nz for Internet related service providers. Although each second level domain name extension is intended for a particular group, these are guidelines only and there are generally no restrictions on which extension you are allowed to register (except for a few moderated 2LDs like .govt.nz for government agencies and .iwi.nz for Maori tribes).

Target Audience and Protecting your Brand
When registering domain names for your business or organisation you need to think about your target audience. Is it New Zealand only, Asia-Pacific or Worldwide? Securing your brand or business name across several countries and extensions now may save you from the frustration of finding out somebody else has registered the variations of your domain later on.

In New Zealand, the most common domain extension by far is .co.nz, so it is recommended that if you can’t get the .co.nz extension for the name you want you should consider an alternative name.

You should also think about the risk of others registering variations or misspellings of your name and using them to ‘steal’ traffic that is intended for your website. If you are in business and your target market is New Zealand only, you should register at least the .co.nz, .net.nz and .org.nz extensions of your domain name. If you consider protecting your brand to be important, also consider registering common misspellings and perhaps hyphenated versions of your domain name.

Registration of a Domain Name
You must be very careful to specify the correct legal Registrant details when you are registering a domain name. If you are a registered company or other properly constituted organisation, you must ensure that your domain name(s) are registered in your organisation’s name, not in the name of the person who completes the registration process, or in any individual person’s name. If you make the mistake of registering a company domain name in a person’s name it can be very difficult to gain control of the domain if that individual leaves the organisation or decides they want do not want to give it up.

The individual or organisation that has rights to use a domain name is listed in the domain name registration records as the Registrant Contact. The Registrant contact details are made available in a public whois database provided by registrars and/or the registry.

Making the Most of your Domain Name
The most difficult thing about having a website is getting visitors and then turning those visitors into sales (or whatever the value proposition of your website is). The more you can advertise your domain name the more visitors you will get, so you should have your domain name on your business cards, sign-written on your vehicles, on any marketing material you produce, as well as submitting it to all the major Search Engines.

You should also use your domain name for all of your business email addresses – it’s senseless to have a business domain name and still use @xtra.co.nz or @someisp.co.nz for your email addresses. What you are basically doing is advertising your ISPs business and website instead of your own!

Domain Name Security
Once you have registered the domain names for your organisation you need to ensure that you don’t let anybody ‘hijack’ them without your knowledge. This commonly happens when domain holders do not understand the implications of giving away access to their domain names to a web designer/developer or ‘IT Guy’. Some web designers or developers will ask you to provide your .nz domain name ‘UDAI’ or your gTLD domain name ‘EPP Key’ to “activate your website”, and in most cases they will just transfer the domain name to their preferred Registrar and point it to the IP Address where your website is being hosted. However some unscrupulous ‘IT Professionals’ use the access to your domain name to change the Registrant into their own name so they can hold it for ransom if something happens to sour your business relationship down the track e.g. if you don’t pay their fees.

And of course, make sure you are aware of when your domain names are due to expire, and that you keep all contact details with your domain name Registrar up to date so they can remind you of upcoming renewals.

Domain Name Disputes
If you have a dispute regarding the incorrect or unlawful registration of a domain name which you believe you are entitled to, you will need to either take legal action against the current Registrant, or for .nz domain names there is a Dispute Resolution Service provided by the Office of the Domain Name Commission. Information on the Dispute Resolution Service and an online complaint lodgement form is available at http://drs.dnc.org.nz/drs

Credit:
Freeparking
Freeparking - New Zealand Domain Names

Tips and Tools images from Flickr: url, magic and question.