Domain Names

A domain name is the unique name of a website eg www.sjmarbella.com, .com (dotcom) being the extension of a commercial site.

Other extensions are:
.org (a governmental or official organization)
.info (information only site)
.net or .biz (sometimes used if .com is not available)

There are also country specific extensions eg .co.uk (UK), .au (Australia), .at (Austria), .be (Belgium), .de (Germany/Deutschland), .dk (Denmark) .es (Spain(España), .eu (Europe) .fr (France), .jp (Japan), .tr (Turkey) and .ru (Russia). US sites tend to use .com although .us is available.

There are many sites where you can obtain a domain name for a site, some for free and some for a small payment. Dot.tk give a free name with a .tk extension but an advert, banner or pop-up will appear on the site. Free-webhosts.com list some providers of free domains. Note that you may not actually own the domain name so if you plan to use the website long-term and will be advertising the site, it will probably be more beneficial for you to purchase a domain name.

Typical costs of registering domain names with GoDaddy are:

.com .net .org 8.99$/year,
.info 0.99$
.cn 19.99$
.co.uk 9.99$
.eu 9.99$
.be 17.49$
.biz 7.99$

but they include free email addresses, free blog, free hosting if you use their website builder program. They offer 24/7 telephone technical support and are very helpful.

There is another excellent way to register your own domain name and build a business for yourself. This is a .ws domain name from GDI - Global Domains International also available in Spanish, German and five other languages. Within the low monthly fee of 10$, you have up to 10 email addresses, a website builder tool to construct your own site up to 10 pages, optional URL forwarding and hosting. The exciting part is that this is also a business opportunity so everytime someone chooses a .ws domain name from your introduction, you will earn commission. As this is multi-level marketing, you also earn when the people below you introduce others and the pay out is to infinity ie there is no limit! Industry experts predict that over 500 Million domains will be active annually within the next ten years so this is your chance to earn a piece of that pie.

Antonia Stuart-James is a member of the UltimateRep program which includes several opportunities for earning from your computer, including Global Domains International.