Protect your company's identity and maintain control of your domain name. Own your domain name — buy it yourself. Package deals for hosting your website and getting your domain name free sound inviting. However, you may not own or have control of your domain. Clarify this detail before signing or buying anything.

What happens when you want to move your website location?

What if the company offering your hosting package doesn't renew your domain name or they go out of business? These are examples of why it is important for you to take responsibility and protect yourself and your domain name.

Common steps to take when selecting your domain name(s):

• Go to WHOIS (http://www.internic.net/whois.html) or any domain registrar's website (like Godaddy.com or NetworkSolutions.com) and enter the various domain names that you generated. Find out the domain name availability for purchase. Some registrar's will even suggest additional variations for domain names.I like Godaddy.com for the low prices and easy to navigate domain manager (if you purchase from them).
  
  
• Before you buy the domain, thoroughly read the terms and conditions of the registrar.
  They need to abide by the guidelines of the ICANN and make sure you can redirect name servers or DNS if needed in the future.
  
  
• Don't feel like you must buy the domain immediately, unless you feel the name is in high demand. Short and to the point domain names are good - you may have more than one domain name point to the same website. This is helpful when using various marketing strategies...
  
  
• Consider purchasing the common misspellings for your domain. The price for domain names is fairly low when you consider missing a customer because they can't spell well. You would then point that misspelled domain to the one correctly spelled.
  
  
• Before you press the BUY button, make sure you have spelled the domain name you want correctly! In most cases, you type it wrong, buy it, you own it!

There are several good places to buy your domain name and usually, buying more than one year is less expensive per year. Read the terms and go for it!

Neal Resources will gladly work with you through the process of domain purchase. By helping you understand the technology involved and assist you have the control you need to maintain.

You may want to consider a private domain registration if you have a home business or are using the website for a personal website. This may help limit the amount of spam or unwanted contacts that come as a result of registering a domain name. It does cost extra.