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Overview of What you Need to Know to Have a Web Presence
The Web can get complicated pretty quickly, but it can also be easy. This is information about the easy part, specifically how to get your own domain (http://www.willhikeforfood.com, etc.) with ease and very little money. What you do with the domain is also addressed here.

I'm going to focus this discussion on companies that provide DNSs, because they allow you to easily and inexpensively get an easy-to-remember domain with lots of advantages. But first, some background. Click here to skip the background. There's a lot of information here, but I've tried to keep it simple and structured. The concepts may be foreign, but they are not rocket science.

Domains are what we call Web addresses or URLs; we all are familiar with them. This site's domain is walkingwired.com. The part of a domain after the dot is called the top level domain. There's a short list of these commonly available to the general public. You are familiar with the top three: .com, .org., & .net. The top level domains .info and .biz are also available. There are a bunch of other top level domains, but explaining what they are and how they work is beyond the scope of this paragraph and page, plus, for the average US user, they are hard to get.

Of course the real meat is what comes before the dot.

Why would you want your own domain?
The main reason is that they can be easy to remember for people who want to visit your site. Most people who have an ISP (AOL, Earthlink, Cox, etc.) have Web space that comes with the account, but the addresses can be unmanageable. For example, at AOL, it might look like http://members.aol.com/hikinghome06/, or Cox.net might look like http://www.cox.net/~hikinghome06/.
And that's to just get to the site. Once you build the site, they can get even more complicated. http://members.aol.com/hikinghome06/journal/may/mojavetokm.html says it all.

Domains must be registered so that everybody knows where to find you on the Web. So when setting up a Web presence, the first thing you do is register your domain. In case it's not obvious, only one person/company can register any given domain. So you must find a unique name. That unique name is a combination of the part before the dot and the part after, so hikinghome.com and hikinghome.net are each unique.

The company that registers your domain can be your ISP, a Web hosting service, or a company that just registers domains. (There may be other permutations..) Registration is entirely separate from the Web space hosting, although many companies often offer packages to register a domain and provide hosting/space for your Web site.
Whoever registers your domain will need at least two numbers from you: DNSs or domain name server addresses. You get these from whoever is hosting your Web space or from a company that provides DNSs as a service.

I'm going to focus this discussion on companies that provide DNSs as a service , because they allow you to simply and inexpensively get an easy-to-remember domain with lots of advantages.

I know of one service, NameSecure, that does this, but I'm sure there are others. I'm going to discuss how this works using NameSecure, and the concepts are the same with any service you might use.

In short:
NameSecure (or similar company) registers the domain for you. You own the domain, but they provide the DNSs. You then 'point' your domain to another place, for example, the Web space you already have with your ISP. (It's the complicated address we were talking about earlier.) OR you could point it to your blog (for example at your Blog*Spot) OR your home page on a group site (like trailjournals.com). Frankly, you could point it anywhere you wanted. With NameSecure, it costs less than $10 a year to have your own domain.

Permanent email address too
The advantages don't stop there. Now that you have a domain, you now also have an easy-to-remember and permanent email address. Actually you have a nearly infinite number of email addresses with most services. When you register hikingtohome.net, you can create email addresses with that domain, for example, .

The email usually has an option that works in the same way as the Web forwarding: Someone sends an email to your permanent address ( ). The service (Namesecure or other) then automatically forwards the email to another email address that you specify. Usually it's your 'real' address with your ISP or a Web email address, like at Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail. This means that you can control who knows your real address, but more importantly, you can always have address from the domain that you own. When you switch ISPs or get a new Yahoo address, you do not have to notify everyone that you have yet another new address. All you have to do is change the forwarding address with the service. The change invisible to everyone but you. Here's a page I prepared on email.

Details:
When someone types in your domain, the infrastructure of the Web routes it to the correct DNS, which is, in my example, the unique DNSs that NameSecure provided; the one that's registered and 'known' to the computers on the Internet. NameSecure (or another service) then directs the request to another address, the one you specified in NameSecure's management page.
You have the choice with NameSecure (and others) whether to let the user see the URL of where they are going, or to keep it masked. If they you allow them see it, their browser shows the complicated address (like http://members.aol.com/hikinghome06/journal/ or http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=723) once they are on the site. The advantage to this is that it allows them to bookmark a specific page in your site.
If you choose to block it, when the user type in your domain, the forwarding will happen in the background, but the URL will remain the same (http://www.hikinghome.net) in your visitor's browser no matter what page they are on. They will not be able to bookmark any page except your home page, even if they have the impression that they are bookmarking a specific page. I don't recommend this for journals.

Most places have a two year minimum for registering. That's what's mandated by the system. If a company offers you one year, they are probably picking up the cost of the second year by hoping to make the money from you another way.

You can go to NameSecure on your own if you want to. If you send me your email address, I can arrange it so that you get a 10% discount on your initial order with them if you follow simple instructions. I get a dollar or two for the reference. I mention the discount with only one motivation: to save you money. NameSecure is in the business of making money, and I think they do it fairly. I have no financial stake in the company.

My Web host is DreamHost. They provide lots of good stuff for not much money. They have hiccups now and then, so you don't want to run the enterprise on them. For basic, personal Web hosting, they are who I chose after a bit of research. I wanted to run Gallery, needed disk space for lots of photos, and needed an acceptable email interface.. I'm happy with DreamHost given the price I pay. I get some money for a reference. Either follow the DreamHost link here, or us my WebID (cupcake) as the reference during sign-up.

I hope I've been clear. Email me with questions:

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©2004 John E. Brennan