Have you ever wondered why every web site is a .com or .org or .edu or just plain dot something? Well, computers love to deal in numbers and every website, computer system, IPhone, Ipod Touch, Google Phone, video game system, and network ready printer in the world has a huge number attached to it. These huge numbers are called an Internet Protocol Address or simply IP Address. Any time a computer hooks up to a network it’s automatically assigned an IP Number. IPs help other computer on a local network or wide area network find each other.

What is a IP Address?

This system is also called the Domain Name System and the computers that issue the numbers are called Domain Name Severs. Here is a good example of an IP address http://192.168.1.1 . This address is a standard address that almost all computer browsers recognize as the main log-in for your Internet switch  or wireless Internet router you might have purchased from your local computer store. (see image above)

In the early 90’s when the Internet was just taking off almost all websites where accessed by IP addresses.  As you May noticed, this is a very difficult task. Can you picture yourself typing in http://74.125.224.18/ ever time you wanted to go to Google.com? That would be nuts. So a team of really smart people (http://www.w3.org/) came together and standardized a way to use words instead of numbers to find these individual websites. Every time you type in Google.com or Yahoo.com you’re typing in what’s called a “Domain Name”. “Domain Names” cover up your very long IP numbers and gives you the ability to name it.

(Screenshot of Godaddy.com’s Home Page)

I use www.Godaddy.com because of the level of support they give over the phone. They are also the number one issuer of Domain Names in the world and I trust them (to an extent). Even though I trust www.GoDaddy.com it doesn’t mean you should trust them with everything. I always believe in the old saying, “never put all your eggs in one basket”.  For that reason I use a different trusted company to actually host (they house, store, and backup) all of my websites But HostGator will host your Domain Name if you like.

Hostgator.com

The reason why I chose Godaddy.com for my domain name hosting is because they always pick up the phone. Whenever I have a problem, or need any type of assistance Godaddy.com is there for me. I almost always use some type of promotional code to get a $1.00 off my registration on a new domain (I’m cheap) and it adds up if you make websites for yourself or other people using your account.

If you’re setting up an account use my code (http://www.x.co/teachus) to get a discount off the price of the domain name. Once you have purchased your Domain Name (website name) you’re now need to link it to the computer/server where your website is going to be hosted. I will talk more about this in a later chapter dedicated to web hosting.