Get Your Own Internet Domain

This web site is www.michaelhorowitz.com. The name "michaelhorowitz.com" is referred to, on the Internet, as a domain. Other domains are nypc.org, yahoo.com and google.com. The domain does not include the "www".

Yahoo and Google are companies. NYPC is a large group. I'm a computer nerd. If you are none of these things, why do you need your own domain? Is it just the Internet equivalent of a vanity license plate?

Having you own domain can be very useful:

By owning it, you are at the least, reserving it, so that no one else can use it. There are a lot of Michael Horowitz's.
You can, optionally, get email with it. For example, michael@michaelhorowitz.com or treasurer@nypc.org. For a business, email at your own domain looks much more professional than an AOL email address.
Needless to say, you can also get a web site with it. This too, is optional.
Your email address is insulated from ISP changes. Many many people still pay America Online $24 a month simply because they don't want to lose their AOL email address which everyone knows. Changing email addresses is a pain. However, once you have your own domain, you will never need to change your email address again. I can be reached with michael@michaelhorowitz.com, regardless of the company I work for or the Internet Service Provider I use.

And it can cost under $10 a year!

Come to the class to learn all about registering your own domain.

Some Topics:

How can you tell if a domain is already taken?
What information is publicly available about a domain?
The rules for domain names. This is mostly important when determining if a domain is really from the company it seems to be.
Email options and features. That is, all about email from the other (server) side of the fence.
Web site options and features including a very easy way to use web site storage space for file backups even if you don't have a web site.
My experiences using a number of companies to register domains. The good ones and the bad ones.
My experiences using a number of companies to host web sites - again the good and the bad
What's all this cost?

If any students want to, I will walk them through the process of signing up for their own domain after class. All that's needed is a credit card.

The class is two hours.

Never trust a computer nerd who doesn't have their own domain. :-)

Mastering your own domain by Ed Bott March 8, 2006