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1.
What
are domain names?
2.
What does the acronym DNS
stand for?
3.
What is a registrar?
4.
How do I choose agents or
contact people?
5.
What happens when domain
names have recently expired or are about to expire? Can I step in and
purchase them?
6.
Do I legally own the domain
name that I've registered?
7.
What's the difference
between .Com, Net, .Org domain names?
8.
May I own more than one
domain name?
9.
What if I find out after
registration that one of my domain names is trademarked?
10.
What is Link Popularity?
11.
What is a Top Level Domain
(TLD)?
12.
What methods of payment
does DomainIcons.Com accept?
13.
What is an IP Address?
14.
What does Cybersquatting
mean?
15.
What does .US mean?
16.
What is an example of
Domain Name Trademark Infringement?
What are domain
names?
A domain name is
your address on the Internet. Much like your home address, you give your
Internet address out to people you want to visit you. A domain name is
linked to a numerical address, called an IP address (e.g. 216.121.247.199) through domain name servers. A domain
name server is used to translate a domain name into an IP address.
Domain names consist of at least two parts, the actual name, and the
hierarchy to which it belongs. The hierarchies available for public use
are .Com, Net, and .Org. There are now also other top level domains
available such as .Cc, .To, .Info, .Biz, and more.
A
domain name is your identity on the Internet and selecting the right
domain name or grouping of names is very important. There are many
factors involved with selecting your domain name and since many good
names have already been taken, you may have to be creative or make some
compromises in order to come up with a name that fits your needs and is
still available.
Your
name does not have to be related to what you do, for instance the word
"Yahoo" has nothing to do with searching, yet it was chosen as
being easy for people to remember. If you are a business that deals with
the public, then a short easy to remember name is recommended like
(neojersy.com, antiguans.com etc.). Another common technique is to
create a name that is memorable and describes what you do such as
neoyork.com or ilakegeorge.com etc. On the other hand, if you have an
established company, then your company name may be the best and most
unique name to use like Staples.com, ABC.com etc.
[[Back]
What does the acronym DNS stand for?
It could translate
as the domain naming service or the domain name system. It is the
computer action of changing domain names into numeric Internet protocol
(IP) numbers which enables computers to locate web sites and e-mail.
[Back]
What is a registrar?
The Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has approved over 100
Internet companies that have met their criteria and have given them the
authority for registering and updating domain names. These companies are
called registrars and perform their duties under the Shared Registration
System (SRS). They compete among each other for the business of
registration of domain names.
[Back]
How do I choose agents or contact people?
During the
registration process, you will be asked to give the name, e-mail and
postal address, and telephone number of an administrative, billing and
technical person. These people are called agents or contacts and
represent the owner of the web site. Questions addressed to these people
are very rare. Those of an administrative nature could involve
trademark disputes. And those of a technical nature may simply be
referred to the web site host. The billing person pays the yearly
renewal fees. It is the owner of the web site and/or e-mail
address who is responsible to the registrar.
If the web site is
for a small operation, the owner's name could be listed as one or both
of the agents. If the web site represents a company or organization,
it would be appropriate to list different individuals. The important
thing is to update the information as changes take place. Some
active and profitable web sites have been lost because the renewal fees
were not paid. If the billing contact information is not updated,
then the notices are sometimes returned unpaid by the post office to the
registrar which then cancels the registration.
[Back]
What happens when domain
names have recently expired or are about to expire? Can I step in and
purchase them?
Unless you deal
directly with the owner, you have to wait until the domain names have
been made available by the particular registrar involved. The owner
typically has one month to renew from the date of billing.
[Back]
Do I legally own the domain names that I've
registered?
The registration
means a place on a particular register is rented. As long as renewal fees
are paid and it does not interfere with someone else's trademark, in
Internet jargon, you own it.
[Back]
What's the difference between .Com, Net, .Org
domain names?
Originally,
the three letter extensions after the dot (or Top Level Domain/TLD) were
meant to denote whether the domain name was being used for business
(.Com) charity/nonprofit (.Org) or for a technology based company (Net).
However, with the explosion of the Internet (and specifically, the world
wide web) as a new business medium, the lines were blurred, and
companies and individuals alike started cross-registering domains (i.e..
NeoYork.Com, NeoYork.Net, NeoYork.Org) just to protect their interests.
Now, .Com, Net, and .Org names (the generic Top Level Domains) can be
used for any purpose.
[Back]
May I own multiple domain names?
You may own as
many as you want even if they are not active. If you have chosen some
special domain names you want reserved only for your use, you might find
it wise to register using different global and country top-level domains
(TLDs). You could also use hyphens and plurals. e.g., missantigua.com,
miss-antigua.com yournames.ws.
[Back]
What if I find out after registration that one of
my domain names is trademarked?
If you have
registered it in good faith, if it's not the name of a famous company or
person, and if you had some logical reason to choose it, you will
probably be able to keep it. However, if it can be shown that you purchased
the name with the intent of selling it later to a company or person who
had a legitimate claim to it, then you could lose it in court
litigation. For details on the uniform dispute resolution policy that
all ICANN-accredited registrars follow see: http://www.icann.org/udrp/udrp.htm
[Back]
What is Link Popularity?
Since many search
engines now use link popularity in their rankings it is important to get
as many links as possible to your site. Link popularity is the
total number of web sites that link to your site. Many of the major
search engines now factor link popularity into their rankings so
increasing the number of links to your site can improve your search
engine rankings. While link popularity is only a measure of the
number of pages linking to you, it is important because it is used by
some search engines to gauge your Web site's importance or relevance.
Google pioneered the idea of using link popularity to determine a site's
ranking.
[Back]
What is a Top Level Domain (TLD)?
A top-level domain (TLD) is the suffix that is attached to the end of a
domain name. For instance, in the domain name domainicons.com,
".com" is the TLD.
There are two
types of top-level domains: global and country code. Global Top Level
Domains (gTLD) were created to be used by the Internet public, while
country code Top Level Domains (ccTLD) were created to be used by each
individual country, as they deem necessary.
The global Top
Level Domains are as follows:
.com
.net
.org
.edu
.mil
Some
examples of country code Top Level Domains available as follows:
Country Codes & Top
Level Domains
·
AD
= Andorra
·
AE
= United Arab Emirates
·
AF
= Afghanistan
·
AG
= Antigua and Barbuda
·
AI
= Anguilla
·
AL
= Albania
·
AM
= Armenia
·
AN
= Netherlands Antilles
·
AO
= Angola
·
AQ
= Antarctica
·
AR
= Argentina
·
AS
= American Samoa
·
AT
= Austria
·
AU
= Australia
·
AW
= Aruba
·
AZ
= Azerbaijan
·
BA
= Bosnia and Herzegovina
·
BB
= Barbados
·
BD
= Bangladesh
·
BE
= Belgium
·
BF
= Burkina Faso
·
BG
= Bulgaria
·
BH
= Bahrain
·
BI
= Burundi
·
BJ
= Benin
·
BM
= Bermuda
·
BN
= Brunei Darussalam
·
BO
= Bolivia
·
BR
= Brazil
·
BS
= Bahamas
·
BT
= Bhutan
·
BV
= Bouvet Island
·
BW
= Botswana
·
BY
= Belarus
·
BZ
= Belize
·
CA
= Canada
·
CC
= Cocos (Keeling) Islands
·
CF
= Central African Republic
·
CG
= Congo
·
CH
= Switzerland
·
CI
= Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
·
CK
= Cook Islands
·
CL
= Chile
·
CM
= Cameroon
·
CN
= China
·
CO
= Colombia
·
CR
= Costa Rica
·
CS
= Czechoslovakia (former)
·
CU
= Cuba
·
CV
= Cape Verde
·
CX
= Christmas Island
·
CY
= Cyprus
·
CZ
= Czech Republic
·
DE
= Germany
·
DJ
= Djibouti
·
DK
= Denmark
·
DM
= Dominica
·
DO
= Dominican Republic
·
DZ
= Algeria
·
EC
= Ecuador
·
EE
= Estonia
·
EG
= Egypt
·
EH
= Western Sahara
·
ER
= Eritrea
·
ES
= Spain
·
ET
= Ethiopia
·
FI
= Finland
·
FJ
= Fiji
·
FK
= Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
·
FM
= Micronesia
·
FO
= Faroe Islands
·
FR
= France
·
FX
= France, Metropolitan
·
GA
= Gabon
·
GB
= Great Britain (UK)
·
GD
= Grenada
·
GE
= Georgia
·
GF
= French Guiana
·
GH
= Ghana
·
GI
= Gibraltar
·
GL
= Greenland
·
GM
= Gambia
·
GN
= Guinea
·
GP
= Guadeloupe
·
GQ
= Equatorial Guinea
·
GR
= Greece
·
GS
= S. Georgia and S. Sandwich Isls.
·
GT
= Guatemala
·
GU
= Guam
·
GW
= Guinea-Bissau
·
GY
= Guyana
·
HK
= Hong Kong
·
HM
= Heard and McDonald Islands
·
HN
= Honduras
·
HR
= Croatia (Hrvatska)
·
HT
= Haiti
·
HU
= Hungary
·
ID
= Indonesia
·
IE
= Ireland
·
IL
= Israel
·
IN
= India
·
IO
= British Indian Ocean Territory
·
IQ
= Iraq
·
IR
= Iran
·
IS
= Iceland
·
IT
= Italy
·
JM
= Jamaica
·
JO
= Jordan
·
JP
= Japan
·
KE
= Kenya
·
KG
= Kyrgyzstan
·
KH
= Cambodia
·
KI
= Kiribati
·
KM
= Comoros
·
KN
= Saint Kitts and Nevis
·
KP
= Korea (North)
·
KR
= Korea (South)
·
KW
= Kuwait
·
KY
= Cayman Islands
·
KZ
= Kazakhstan
·
LA
= Laos
·
LB
= Lebanon
·
LC
= Saint Lucia
·
LI
= Liechtenstein
·
LK
= Sri Lanka
·
LR
= Liberia
·
LS
= Lesotho
·
LT
= Lithuania
·
LU
= Luxembourg
·
LV
= Latvia
·
LY
= Libya
·
MA
= Morocco
·
MC
= Monaco
·
MD
= Moldova
·
MG
= Madagascar
·
MH
= Marshall Islands
·
MK
= Macedonia
·
ML
= Mali
·
MM
= Myanmar
·
MN
= Mongolia
·
MO
= Macau
·
MP
= Northern Mariana Islands
·
MQ
= Martinique
·
MR
= Mauritania
·
MS
= Montserrat
·
MT
= Malta
·
MU
= Mauritius
·
MV
= Maldives
·
MW
= Malawi
·
MX
= Mexico
·
MY
= Malaysia
·
MZ
= Mozambique
·
NA
= Namibia
·
NC
= New Caledonia
·
NE
= Niger
·
NF
= Norfolk Island
·
NG
= Nigeria
·
NI
= Nicaragua
·
NL
= Netherlands
·
NO
= Norway
·
NP
= Nepal
·
NR
= Nauru
·
NT
= Neutral Zone
·
NU
= Niue
·
NZ
= New Zealand (Aotearoa)
·
OM
= Oman
·
PA
= Panama
·
PE
= Peru
·
PF
= French Polynesia
·
PG
= Papua New Guinea
·
PH
= Philippines
·
PK
= Pakistan
·
PL
= Poland
·
PM
= St. Pierre and Miquelon
·
PN
= Pitcairn
·
PR
= Puerto Rico
·
PT
= Portugal
·
PW
= Palau
·
PY
= Paraguay
·
QA
= Qatar
·
RE
= Reunion |