The importance of having a functional website in a business is something that can not be overemphasised as it is the first point of contact and verification and also one of the most effective means of marketing in this world of today. Meanwhile for a website to be functional, there are lot of things involved but two of the very important ones that are mostly overlooked are having:

1.  A registered domain name.
2. An active web hosting subscription plan.

A domain name is the name of your website such as your company name (for example: www.companyname.com), it is simply the address where users of the internet can access your website. A domain name is used for finding and identifying different computers on the Internet. Computers use IP addresses, which are a series of numbers. However, being very difficult for humans to remember strings of numbers, domain names which are more user friendly were developed and used to identify different entities on the Internet rather than using IP addresses. Probably the best known domain name is google.com, and Google’s IP address is 173.194.79.99…which is easier for you to remember?
A domain name can be any combination of letters and numbers, and it can be used in combination of the various domain name extensions, such as .com, .net, .org, .info and all the others.

The domain name must be registered before you can use it. Every domain name is unique. No two websites can have the same domain name. If someone visits www.yourdomain.com, it will go to your website and no one else’s. For this reason, early registration of domain name, though often overlooked, is very important to prevent the domain name from being registered by someone else. Once this happens, the only options left are to:

1. Register another domain name which might not be as suitable as the original option,
2. Buy the domain name from the user who will most likely sell it at an exorbitant price or might not be willing to sell at all.

Any individual, business or organisation planning to have an Internet presence should invest in a suitable domain name. Having your own domain name, website and email addresses will give you and your business a more professional look.

Domain names are registered with domain name registrars (many of whom double as web hosting providers) who take your registration request and reserve your domain for you at the main registry.  On submission of  your application for a domain name, you become a domain name registrant.

Click here for a complete and detailed guide on how to register your domain name.

In need of a domain name, you can visit us at cloudhost.com.ng to register your domain name and also get quality web hosting at very good rates.