How does buying a domain work?

bswinnerton · 10-21-2007, 07:53 PM

I have a general knowledge of how all of this works, but DNS and such is where it gets a little sketchy in my head. When you register a domain name, where does it go from there? And what is the difference between when you buy the domain name for good and its a couple thousand to where you buy it yearly.

Thanks!

edyst3 · 10-21-2007, 11:21 PM

I register a domain name from registrar when I feel the domain is a good name and has a market. I usually develop some of my names to get traffic and revenue. and others I just parked.

Buying domain that cost you thousand or more has some benefits.
Maybe the domain has traffics so you just parked it and earn revenue. Or you can build a site and put some ads then earn revenue. You can choose which one you like.
If the domain is premium domain you will be able to sell it at high price.

Remember to buy high price domain you should know the domain history and check it how much the domain worth.

You can go to dnforum or namepros to discuss more about domain name. There are many people who is expert on domaining.

bobchrist · 10-22-2007, 07:13 AM

Well, that all depends on your purpose, few people just buy to park and earn revenues while mostly design a website and monetize their site.

Skinny · 10-22-2007, 07:40 AM

Okay let me answer your questions.

a) What the hell is DNS? I'll keep this simple. Basically it points to where you are hosting your website so that when some visits yourname . com they will hit the files that you have hosted with your webhost.

When you set up an account with a host they will want to know the domain name you want to associate with the account. They will then give you their nameservers.

eg. ns1.host.com and ns2.host.com

Then YOU have to go in your domain panel from the registrar and select an option like Forward DNS to webhost. Then you just simply paste the addresses of the nameservers given to you and presto your done.

It might take a while to actually change (about 24-48hrs this change isn't instant but it often is faster then that).

b) You mentioned buying a domain for a couple thousand vs. paying everyhere. I think you've misunderstood it a bit.

The registrar charges you yearly (roughly $8 ) to have your name. eg. name.com. So if you find one available you register it for $8 and pay $8 every year.

Now if you want to buy a preowned name from someone for let's say $1000 that's fine and you get the name, but you still have to pay the registrar every year from that point on.

So just cause you buy a really expensive domain from someone doesn't mean you don't pay the registrar the yearly fee. Everyone who has a domain has to pay that fee no matter how much they paid to get the name.

Skinny

bswinnerton · 10-22-2007, 04:05 PM

Ohhh, See I thought that when you pay that much for a domain it would actually mean you own the domain and don't have to pay anyone for it anymore. That makes a lot more sense.

I do have DNS set up on my server, and its working correctly its just whats going on in the background is where I start to lose it. What is it that is actually taking 24-48 hours?

Thanks guys! This stuff is really useful.

Skinny · 10-22-2007, 06:06 PM

This should help you out!

http://webhosting.devshed.com/c/a/We...-take-so-long/

Skinny

bswinnerton · 10-22-2007, 06:29 PM

That was pretty helpful. Okay, so this is my understanding of DNS, and please someone correct me if i'm wrong. My DNS server goes up to my ISP's DNS servers and then from there it goes up to their ISP's Servers (if they have one) And then what? How does my query for google.com get to their DNS servers?

Any reading or anything like that is helpful.

Thanks for helping me out guys!

ewomack · 10-26-2007, 11:35 AM

DNS essentially translates IP addresses into human readable language.

The internet itself uses packet switching to exchange information (tiny little bits of data all chopped up into smaller bits). Each one has an IP address, such as 128.23.45.32. The internet uses these to exchange information in a manner very similar to a Post Office box. But, so people don't have to remember 128.43.45.32 when going to a website, the DNS server translates that IP address into "blah.com," making it loads easier for our language-centric brains. But really everything is working with IP addresses under the covers.

More info here.