Check Domain Availability and Register a Domain Name

Before you register a domain name you need to check if your desired domain name is available, and if not, you have to choose an alternative.

To check the domain name availability you need to go to any domain registrar and simply enter the domain name of your choice in the domain name search box.

I use the 1&1 UK domain check tool on the 1and1 website. Using the tool doesn't mean you have to buy the domain name from them.

Remember you are only checking the availability at this stage you are not registering the domain name.

Once you have found a domain name the next step is to register it so that you can use it. The process will vary from registrar to registrar but the example below should illustrate the process.

How to Register Your Domain Name

The domain registrar I used was www.1and1.co.uk who also host this website. The procedure shown consists of approximately 9 basic steps all carried out using the Web browser:

Choose Domain Name (see above).
Check if Domain Name is available (see above).
If free proceed to registration
If you have an existing account with the registrar then sign in
If you are a new customer enter your personal details i.e. name, address etc.
Choose a username and password so you can sign in latter to manage your account.
Enter credit card details.
Review order and agree registration policy of the registrar.
Receive confirmation screen and follow up via email.

Note: Exact detail may have change slightly since this was done

The following show the process of registering a domain name The screens that you will see when doing this may not be the same but the process will be very similar. In this example only the name was registered.

a If you are an existing customer there is no need to register and you use your user name and password to logon and order the new domain name. Otherwise you must register by providing your name, address and credit card details.a

aYou may be asked to choose a user name and password at any stage between or you may be provided with one by the registrar. You are usually notified by email of the name and password. You will use this to logon and manage your domain name later on. Make sure you keep a copy of any emails.a

Managing Your Domain Name

If you now connect to your Website you will probably see something similar to that displayed in figure 1 below.

This is what is known as domain parking. Because you haven't told your registrar what to do with you domain name he has given you a temporary Website with a default Under Construction notice.

Most Domain Name registrars provide this facility as part of the registration fee. If they didn't then when you attempted to connect to the Website you would get a browser error message saying domain not found which tends to imply that it doesn't exist when you know that it does.

You are now in position to manage the domain .Most Domain Name registrars will provide a control panel facility that allows you to do this via a Web browserl.

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By Steve Cope