Master of Your Domain: How Domain Name Ownership Works

You probably know that the first step in creating your company's website is securing a domain name, but what exactly does that mean? And why is it important? 

 

Quite simply, the domain name is the foundation on which you will build your company’s online presence. So, just like a house foundation, it must be strong and sound in order to support the rest of the structure — in this case, your website, social media presence, and other online activities.

 

At its core, a domain name consists of a top-level domain — either generic, such as com or info, or specific to a country, as us (for the United States), ca (for Canada), or jp (for Japan) — and a second level, which is usually the name of the company or website, such as superiorwebsys for Superior Web Solutions, or google for the Google search engine. These two elements are separated by a period or dot (.), with the second-level domain before the dot and the top-level domain after. The second-level domain is also generally preceded by www, for World Wide Web, but this is generally understood and so is often not specified in conversation (though is still indicated when writing a domain). 

 

So, for example, to direct people to YouTube, we would say “Go to youtube dot com,” but the business card of someone who worked there would list the website as www.youtube.com.

The World Wide Web was once likened to the Wild West in US history, and if we think of it as such, then getting a domain name is much like staking a land claim — you’re essentially carving out your piece of the Internet territory. No two websites can share a domain name, so you’ll need to come up with something unique. Ideally, this would be your company name, or at least a variation of that name, or a main product or service you provide. It should be easy to remember and easy to spell and type. 

 

You have some choice in your top-level domain (com is most popular, but info, net, and several others are gaining ground), but country codes are restricted to those who have an actual presence in the country, and other so-called generic top levels, such as edu and org, are restricted to certain types of organizations.

 

If the domain name you want is already taken, you may be able to purchase it, but it is likely easier and almost certainly cheaper to simply choose another.

To get a domain name, you must go through a domain name registrar. These are companies who can access the list of available domains and assign them to companies or individuals. Think of them like the phone company — you can’t just pick a phone number and take it for your own; you have to go through a registered phone service provider. For domain names, that’s a registrar. 

 

As with phone numbers, you don’t actually own your domain name outright — it is simply yours to use for as long as you want (and for as long as you pay). Once you’ve claimed a domain name, though, you don’t have to worry about somebody else taking it unless you give it up. You can do this by not renewing your registration, either purposely or accidentally. Domain names are essentially rented for a certain period, usually one to five years. When that period is up, domain name “owners” can either renew their registration or let it expire. If a domain name registration expires, the name goes into a holding account for some time (usually 30 days), during which only the previous owner can retrieve it, and then becomes available to the general public once again.

 

If you’ve hired another company to create your website, you’ll want to make sure the domain name gets registered in your name, with your contact and billing information. Otherwise, the company building your site will have control of the domain and could let it expire, or demand more money to keep it from expiring. They could even sell it to your competitor! Even though domain names aren’t really owned outright, the person or company on the domain name registration is essentially the owner — he or she determines what happens with that domain name. So when it comes to the domain for your company’s website — the centrepiece of its online presence — you’ll want that person to be you.