A domain name is a structured, human readable, unique name for a place on the Internet. It is not unlike your postal address. The post office expects your postal address to be structured in a standard way, usually with your name at the top, followed by street and suburb, then finally country and postcode.

Similarly, a domain name has a domain and a top level domain (TLD), and sometimes one or more sub-domains.

Domain names exist because computers use Internet Protocol (IP) addresses which are numbers and, for a variety of reasons, these may change over time. Computers are good with numbers but humans aren’t. The Domain Name System (DNS) is a way of converting names that humans use to IP addresses that computers use. As an analogy, it’s not unlike looking up a person’s telephone number in the phone book. If you know the name to look up, you can find their number.

Let’s break that down a bit but work from the top down. The top level domains are allocated by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to domain registrars who are responsible for administering them. Familiar TLDs are “.com”, “.au”, “.net”, “.biz”, “.org”, etc.  There are now hundreds of top level domains since ICANN invited applications for new TLDs. These new TLDs cover geographic regions such as .melbourne, .capetown and .paris, product names such as .nike, industries such as .accountant and .engineer, along with generic names such as .car.

The next level down are second level domains. Examples would be “.co.uk”, and “.com.au”.

Under those second level domains, and sometimes under a top level domain, for example, “.com”, you can register a domain name as long as it isn’t already registered. For example, you could register “joebloggsplumbing.com.au” if it was available.

Before we get much further, no one can own a domain name. All you can do is register a domain name with a domain registrar for a period of time. Once you have registered (a fee is involved) you have exclusive right to use that domain while ever your registration is current. If you let your registration lapse then the registrar is free to assign that domain name to anyone else who wants it.

What is Web and Email Hosting?

If a domain name is like an address, then Hosting is like the land at that address. You may own a vacant block of land but if someone were to send a letter to that address the post office wouldn’t be able to deliver it.

So domain names are only half the equation. In order to do anything useful with a domain name you must have a computer that exists at your domain name. You don’t need to own the computer, although you could. Businesses exist that sell access to computers that they own. This is called hosting. A hosting company builds or rents space in a data centre, installs computers, connects them to the Internet, and rents them out for a monthly or annual fee.

The main uses for a computer on the Internet are email and web pages. You don’t have to have both but most hosting providers include email along with space for a web site while others specialise in email-only hosting. Each hosting provider will have different inclusions and exclusions and different price points.

Why get a Domain Name?

For any business, having your own domain name:

• Improves your professional image and shows your clients that you are serious about your business.
• It prevents someone else, for whatever reason, registering the domain name of your choice.
• It establishes your identity and helps clients and potential customers have confidence that they are communicating with proper representatives of your business when they use email addresses that include your business domain name.
• It allows you to develop a web site to use to communicate with existing customers and attract new customers.

Why use your own Domain for Email?

Your business correspondence belongs to the business. Email is very much part of the public face of your business. Some benefits of using your own domain for all business email are:

• Customers, suppliers, banks, and accountants can have confidence that they are corresponding with the right person.
• Email addresses remain the same even though you may change your Internet Service Provider (ISP) or move your hosting provider.
• You can create and use different mailboxes at your domain to help you keep organised or delegate responsibilities. For example, you can create an “accounts@…” mailbox where you email out invoices and receive and follow up accounting enquiries.
• When an employee leaves the business you retain ownership of the mailbox and can pass that on to another employee. This helps you to ensure continuity of the aspects of the business that the prior employee was responsible for.
• You keep your personal email separated from your business email. If one gets hacked it doesn’t compromise the other.

How to Register a Domain Name and Obtain Hosting

The two steps of registering a domain name and obtaining hosting can usually be accomplished in one transaction with a hosting provider as most hosting providers are resellers for the domain registrars.

Firstly you need to decide on which top level or second level domain your organisation should be under. In Australia this would usually be “.com.au” (ABN required) for most businesses, or “.net.au” if you are an online service provider.

Next you need to determine if the domain name you want to register is available under your preferred top level domain.

For example, you might want to register “myawesomelightingshop.com.au”. Most domain registrars and hosting providers have a search facility that allows you to enter your desired domain name and check to see if it is available. If it is available then you can register that name. If it is already registered you will need to come up with another name or a variation on your chosen name.

Having determined that the domain name is available, the next step is to choose a domain name registrar or  reseller. There isn’t a lot to differentiate registrars or resellers except price. They usually all provide the same limited number of services. Many hosting providers will also be able to register your domain name but you can sometimes save some money by registering your own.

To register a domain name you’ll choose a registrar or reseller, create an account, start the registration process, pay the fee, and obtain your confirmation. You haven’t registered your domain name until the registrar confirms the registration, usually via email.

Domain Name Typical Costs

All domain name registrars and resellers in Australia are accredited with .auDA, the Australian Domain Administrator.

There is huge range of prices a registrar or reseller charge for basically an identical service. Some hosting providers are domain name resellers and may offer a discount for the first couple of years if you purchase hosting from them at the same time as registering a domain name.

Typically, a “.com.au” or “.net.au” costs from as little as $12/year but must be purchased for a two year period making it $24 for 2 years.

Some registrars will charge you well over $100 for a .com.au or .net.au for 2 years. With a little homework you can save yourself a lot of money and achieve the same result.

If you are registering a .com.au domain name you will need to provide the registrar with your ABN or company details, or meet other eligibility requirements if you are not an Australian registered company, sole trader, or partnership.

A non-profit operating in Australia may be eligible to register under an alternative domain such as “.asn.au” which is used for associations. You may be required to provide proof of non-profit status.

Hosting Costs

There are huge variations in services and costs and it can be a minefield trying to understand it all. Firstly lets look at the services that are provided.

Email-only hosting

For purely email hosting all services provide a certain number of email accounts (using your domain name) and a specified amount of email storage. There is either a cost per mailbox or a certain number of mailboxes for a fixed price. You need to understand if the email storage is per mailbox or shared across all the mailboxes.

On top of the basic email service, providers add extras like virus scanners, spam filters, the ability to add black and white lists (permit or block specific addresses or domains), and integration with other storage products from Microsoft, Amazon (AWS), or Google.

There isn’t really a “typical” cost due to the vast differences in the services provided so it might be worthwhile thinking about the value of some of those extra services and determine if they would be useful tools to augment the way your business works.

Some examples of email-only costs

CrazyDomains provides 10 email accounts, shared 25GB email space, unlimited mail forwarders, auto-responders, webmail, spam & antivirus protection, and 24/7 phone support for $6.30 per month.

Domain Hosting Shop provides 10 email accounts, shared 1GB (1/25 of the space Crazydomains provides) email storage, webmail, spam & antivirus protection, and Mon-Fri business hours phone support for $9.95 per month (paid annually).

HostPapa provides unlimited email accounts, unlimited storage, unlimited mail forwarders, auto-responders, webmail, spam & antivirus protection, and 24/7 phone support for about $14 per month depending on the current special offer and how long you sign up for. It can be as low as $4 per month on a three year sign-up.

Google provides a total of 30GB email and Google Drive storage per user, webmail, instant messaging, spam & antivirus protection, voice chat, video chat, online document editing and collaboration, web forms, file recovery, calendar integration, mobile apps for iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and Windows Phone, 24/7 customer support, and 99.9% guaranteed uptime for $8.40 plus GST per user per month for the Basic plan or $16.80 plus GST per user per month for the Business plan.

The examples above are a summary of only a small number of providers but it shows that costs can range from $1 per month to around $45 per month for 9 accounts.

Choosing a hosting provider

Finding a hosting provider that has a good reputation for service, good uptime, good technical ability, good security, and a package of services that represents good value for money can be a challenge. Purchasing hosting from one provider doesn’t lock you in to anything except where you have already paid for a long subscription. It is relatively easy to move your site to a different host especially if both use the same control panel software. Your new hosting provider is likely to be able to migrate you across at no charge. Many providers do this as an incentive to get your business.

You may not have to move providers if there is an easy upgrade path that will provide what you need. With most providers there is a simple way to increase your storage, bandwidth, email addresses, or add extra websites.

Aside from some financial loss in moving early if you signed up for a long term, there is no reason to stay with a bad provider. So do some research, talk to others who have their own web sites, and read recent posts in forums.

The hosting provider you choose may depend on exactly what hosting services you need. If you are only interested in hosted email for the foreseeable future then a dedicated email hosting service might be preferred. On the other hand, if you know that down the track you will want to establish a web site, then this will influence the provider you choose.

Some examples of web hosting costs

Hosting is usually billed monthly, quarterly, or yearly with discounts if you pay for longer periods up front.

You should check the actual renewal cost if you initially signed up under a discount and take that into consideration when comparing providers.

CrazyDomains provides 150GB of storage, 100 email addresses, and one website on their $7/mth plan.

For $14/mth, CrazyDomains provides 500GB storage on solid state drives (SSDs), 500 email addresses, and unlimited websites.

Both plans come with 24/7 telephone, email, and chat support.

Domain Hosting Shop has business plans starting at $12.50/mth with 1GB storage, 50 email addresses, and one website.

HostPapa provides a business plan that includes unlimited storage, unlimited email addresses, and websites for $15.40/mth.

How do I access my email once it is with a Hosting Provider?

Most hosting providers have a webmail interface that only requires a browser. Anyone who has used Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, or gMail (Google) will be familiar with webmail. For some people, webmail may be an adequate choice given that it is fairly easy to check using a computer or mobile device.

All hosting providers also make it possible to use common email programs that are already installed on your computer or mobile device. You might be using one of these email programs now and all you’d need to do is add your new email account information to have everything in the one place. Switching between account is very easy and having everything in one place is very convenient.

If you aren’t already using an email program (sometimes called an email client) you’ll find then available, usually for free either included with your operating system or available for free download. Popular email clients are Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, Xmail (MacOS-X), Opera, or Sparrow.

There are similar options for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.

Most of the mentioned email clients can support multiple email accounts in an easy to use manner. For anyone already using one of these programs it is very straight forward to add an extra email account and continue using the same email program.

I’ve stayed with you so far, what’s next?

Having registered your domain name and signed up for hosting, the next step is to create your website. That will have to be the topic of another post.