Can you have more than one domain name go to same site?

Yes, if your ISP supports it. Actually, some domain registrars will support this even if ISP does not.

This, by way, is a good idea under some conditions. Suppose you have a site which is commonly misspelled. You might purchase your domain and misspelled domain name, and point them to same site.

It's often a good idea to purchase ".NET", ".ORG" and ".COM" versions of your domain name if they are available. This prevents problem that occurred with whitehouse - whitehouse.gov is indeed whitehouse, but whitehouse.com is a pornographic site.

Many ISPs or web hosts will charge extra for this feature if you do it using their services.

What are qualities of a good domain name?

A good domain name should tell your visitors what your site is about. It should be easy to remember and it should be as short as possible.

Can you purchase a domain name just to prevent someone else from getting it?

Yes you can, as long as it does not violate rules of cybersquatting. In fact, many companies will purchase as many variations of their domain name as they can. For example, if you company was named "AOL" you might want to purchase domain "AOLSUCKS.COM" to prevent an AOL bashing site from being set up.

I've heard about long domain names - what about them?

Long domain names were all rage during recent years. The concept was to get as many long domain names as you could with keywords related to your site. For example, for "internet-tips.net" you might also get "internet-tips-web-site-help.net" and "webmaster-helpful-hints.com" as well as "protecting-websites-danger.com". Although it should be obvious that no surfer is going to type these long domain names, idea was search engines would see various keywords. This was touted as important for boosting your ranking in search engine listings (ranking is how high up on list you get - a ranking of 1 means you are first).

As far as I can tell, this is all so much hogwash. Save your money for something useful.

What about domain names that require my browser be modified to see?

One company decided to offer it's own set of top level domains. It did this by maintaining it's own tables and offering a browser plug-in to interested surfers.

Personally, I believe this is one of silliest things I've ever heard. I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. These people are side-stepping established domain naming system, and it's highly unlikely that they will be recognized throughout internet. If their domain name tables ever become recognized by main top level servers, then I would consider their services. Otherwise, I think I will save my money.

How do I see if a domain is already registered?

You can check WHOIS database. Internet Tips And Secrets hosts a WHOIS lookup form.

What happens if registration renewal is not paid on time?

You lose rights to domain and it can be sold to someone else.

Additional Information

Cybersquatting http://www.internet-tips.net/Legal/cybersquating.htm It's illegal to purchase a domain name similar to trademarked name.

Who Needs a Domain Name? http://www.internet-tips.net/Domains/domainnames.htm You've worked hard on your site and you want to be professional. You need a domain name.

Domain Parking http://www.internet-tips.net/Domains/domainparking.htm Got a domain name but you're not ready to put together a site? If so, you want to park your domain.

Registering a domain name http://www.internet-tips.net/Domains/registering.htm If you want your web site to be respected or to make any significant money, you had better register a domain name.

Transferring a domain http://www.internet-tips.net/Domains ransferring.htm Unhappy with your domain registrar? Price too high? Then go ahead and transfer your domain to another one.

The new domains are coming soon http://www.internet-tips.net/Domains/new.htm A number of new domains have been approved. This is good news for webmasters as it adds more choices to naming your sites

Networks - WHOIS http://www.internet-tips.net/Networks/whois.htm Need to find out who owns a domain name? Want to see if a domain has been purchased by someone? The WHOIS tool is what you need to use.

URLs give names to web pages and documents http://www.internet-tips.net/Basics/urls.htm A URL is a Uniform Resource Locator which allows web pages to locate one another throughout world.

This means two things: first, many very lucrative names will not be available for entrepreneurs to buy, and second that companies will not invest very much money to market their dot-biz extensions. Consequently dot-com extension will not receive anywhere near amount of marketing attention that went into promoting dot-com TLD (don't expect Super Bowl in 2002 to be for dot-biz what it was for dot-com in 1999!). Without this push, dot-biz extension will probably remain in background.

So it looks like dot-com TLD will likely be market leader for foreseeable future. But while many of "the best" dot-com names are already registered, many are not being used. A recent study shows that as much as half of registered domain names are not in use. The domain market will therefore center around trading names with dot-com extension that have already been registered on markets like Sedo.co.uk, or Greatdomains.com. Here buyers and sellers of already- registered names can connect with one another to utilize their valuable dot-com domains.

But while dot-biz extension will not eclipse dot-com, it definitely will have an important secondary role as a cheaper and more accessible alternative to dot-com. Just don't think that business.biz to fetch $7.5 million that its dot-com predecessor did anytime soon.

Kevin Clune is the Country Manager for the US, UK and Ireland at Sedo GmbH (www.sedo.co.uk). Sedo is the leading European domain exchange with over 250,000 unique visitors to its German, English, French, Spanish, Swedish and Dutch Sites.