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Domain names are often confusing to web
hosting customers. Trying to understand the difference between a parked
domain, addon domain, url forwarding, sub domains and more can be
frustrating so we explain domain names here.
It’s been two years since John
started his online business. He is very much satisfied with his current
web host whose services he acquired one year ago. Today John is relaxing
in his chair and thinking about the initial days when he spent many
hours on the Internet collecting information related to web hosting.
Like him there are many John’s out there who are in search of
information everyday, visiting this and that website hoping to find the
most illuminating advice. The problem is that common topics of interest
can be found on most of the websites whereas other relevant issues are
not dealt with everywhere. This article is going to touch on one of
those areas: various concerns related with domain names.
What is multiple domain hosting?
Many times you will see that a web host offers multiple domain hosting.
In simpler words it means that on buying an account you will have the
ability to get multiple websites. For instance, if the plan provides you
with five domain names, you can use one domain for your website and you
will still have four domain names leftover to use. The advantage of this
scenario is that you can resell these four domain names to your
clients.
What is domain parking or parked domains?
If you are planning to build up a website and have decided on a name for
it you then must purchase that domain name from a domain registrar: i.e.
your domain name gets placed on a name server so that you can use it
later on. This is known as domain parking. Even if your website content
is not ready, it’s better to park your desired domain name. Otherwise,
it might be possible that in future somebody else acquires that
particular domain name.
What are sub domains?
Sub domains are ‘third level’ domains in the sense that they are used
solely to organize your website content. They are simply folders under
your root directory, but to access them a special URL is used. For
instance, http://www.m6.net is a regular URL without a sub domain.
http://features.m6.net is an URL with the sub domain name: "features".
Here the:
.net: is the first level domain,
m6: is the second level domain,
features: is the third level domain
What are addon domains?
Addon domains are provided by your web hosting plan. They allow
you to have one hosting plan or account with your provider that has 2
different websites, each with a different URL (domain) for each. Let's
say I own Plan 2 from
Tower Host which
offers 2 addon domains. My main site uses the domain webhostgear.com but
through my control panel I can add a second site with a second URL but
under the same hosting account. So my second domain would be
ramprage.com. As you can see addon domains are very useful if you have
more than 1 website and you want to save on hosting costs!
For how long does a domain name belong to you?
Generally when you register a domain name it is registered for a minimum
of one year. However, you can register it for more years, as there is no
hard and fast rule as such.
What is Domain Renewal?
After one year you need to renew your domain name so that your website
doesn’t get lost. Generally when your domain is about to expire your
domain registrar will send you a reminder mail regarding the domain
renewal. If you do not renew your domain you lose the rights to own it.
After this someone can take over your domain and register it for
themselves - see domain expires below.
What happens when your domain name expires?
When your domain name expires you can renew it within one month. If you
don’t renew it in this period it goes into a redemption phase. It stays
in this redemption phase for 15 to 30 days before it is then available
for purchase again at a normal price. Getting a domain name out of
redemption phase is like buying fifty domains as it can cost around
$200! If you don't renew your domain before it expires somoeone else can
buy it and use it.
How to find out the owner of a domain name?
To find out the owner of a domain name, use the WhoIs search tool on the
Internet .For E.g. Go to
http://whois.sc and type the domain name. It will show you the name
of the registrant/domain’s owner/web host.
What is WhoIs record?
WhoIS record is a domain name search engine/Internet program where users
can enter an Internet entity (e.g. a domain, a network, some hosts) and
it will give detailed information on the domain registrar, the owner of
the domain, and respective DNS records.
Priyanka Agarwal Hosting evangelist http://www.m6.net - Modified by
Steven Leggett
http://www.webhostgear.com |
Can you
really get FREE web hosting?
Yes, there are hundreds of
free hosting web sites, as far as not having to pay any money to have
your website hosted. Generally they either cost you in time, web hosting
restrictions, or modifying your free web pages by adding popups,
banners, or other adverts. When looking for free web hosting (especially
on search engines), you should beware that there are also a large number
of commercial web hosts that claim to offer free hosting services, but
those often have a catch, such as paying an excessive amount for a
domain name or other service, and therefore aren't really free. The free
free hosting guide below will give you some tips for finding the right
free webhosting comapny for you.
How do the
free web hosts make money?
The free website hosts often
make money in other ways, such as putting banners, popups, or popunders
ads on your free webpages. Some free web hosting companies do not put
ads on your site, but require you as the webmaster to click on banners
in their control panel or signup process, or just display banners in the
file manager in hopes you will click them. Some lure visitors with free
hosting in hopes you will upgrade and pay for advanced features. A few
send you occasional emails with ads, or may even sell your email
address. A new method that is becoming popular is requiring a certain
number of "quality" forum posting, usually as a means of getting free
content for them and thereby being able to display more ads to their
website visitors.
Are free
web hosts reliable?
Generally no, although there
are a few exceptions. If the free host is making money from banner ads
or other revenue sources directly from the free hosting service, then
they likely will stay in business, provided someone doesn't abuse their
web hosting server with spam, hacking, etc., as often happens to new
free web hosting companies with liberal signup policies. If the freehost
accepts just anyone, especially with an automated instant activation and
it offers features such as PHP or CGI, then some users invariably try to
find ways to abuse it, which can cause the free server to have a lot of
downtime or the free web server to be slow. It is best if you choose a
very selective free hoster which only accepts quality sites (assuming
you have one).
Uses for
free webspace
Free web hosting is not
recommended for businesses unless you can get domain hosting from an
ad-free host that is very selective. Other reasons for using free
hosting websites would be to learn the basics of website hosting, have a
personal website with pictures of your family or whatever, a doorway
page to another web site of yours, or to try scripts you have developed
on different web hosting environments
.
How to find the right free web hosting site
The best place to search for
free webhosting is on a free webspace directory website (i.e. a web site
which specializes in listing only free web hosting providers). There are
some which add new free hosts pretty much every week (and if it is
updated often, has usually had to delete about as many). There are also
many which almost never update their web site, and a huge percent of
their links and info are outdated. Unfortunately that includes most of
the directories that were the best several years ago. The problem is
free hosts change so often, and most fold up in less than a year (often
even after only a day or two), that it is hard to keep such a
freehosting directory up-to-date. The most recommended free web space
directory is Free Web Hosting
(http://www.free-webhosts.com/), which has a detailed list of over 500
free web
hosting providers with user
reviews,
ratings, and
free hosting
searchable database. It is updated daily, and the
advanced free
web hosting search has 42 options, helping you to find the free
hosting package with all the features you need, such as CGI, PHP, MySQL,
ASP, SSI, Ruby on Rails, FrontPage server extensions, and even
free
cpanel web hosting.
For a smaller, more selective
list of the best free hosts, there are also these free webspace hosting
directories:
Best
Free Webspace (http://www.100-Best-Free-Webspace.com/)
Free
Hosting (http://www.Absolutely-Free-Hosting.com/)
Free Webspace
(http://www.free-webspace.org/)
Other (usually less useful) resources include subcategories of freebies
sites, search engines and directories, and forums. Your ISP might also
supply you with free webhosting.
Hints for finding the best free web hosting service
Generally it is best not to
choose a free hosting package with more features than you need, and also
check to see if the company somehow receives revenue from the free
hosting itself to keep it in business. As already mentioned, it is best
to try to get accepted to a more selective free host if possible. Look
at other sites hosted there to see what kind of ads are on your site,
and the server speed (keep in mind newer hosts will be faster at first).
Read the Terms of Service (TOS) and host features to make sure it
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