A Church Voice

Issue #8: Domains, Domains!

March 11, 2001 - Second Sunday in Lent

http://www.AChurchVoice.com/
To subscribe, churchvoice-subscribe@topica.com

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From Barbara’s Keyboard

A Church Voice has teamed up with ChurchSite: Resources for Webmasters to provide more information and resources to both our readers and visitors. ChurchSite's discussion boards are a great way to connect with others involved with church Web sites, and both the reviews of church Web sites and the well-organized resources area are worth a place in your bookmarks. If you stop by ChurchSite, you'll also notice some of my articles from A Church Voice.

A bunch of issues are going into the archive this week at the Web site for A Church Voice, which houses the archive and other resources for you: http://www.AChurchVoice.com/ . As always, if you think a friend, colleague, church staff member, pastor, denominational resource person, or any others would enjoy this newsletter, please feel free to pass it along to them and invite them to subscribe.

Several readers have written me with various questions and concerns about domain name registration and transfers. In this issue I've tried to give some straight answers to help those of you involved with Web sites. As a result, you could pretty much say this issue is "domains, domains, domains!"

blessings,
Barbara Laufersweiler
cveditor@laufers.com

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C o n t e n t s

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Here's a quick primer on domain purchases, transfers, and hosting.

Administrative contact: Always make sure your name and contact info are listed as the administrative contact for any domain name you register, with a valid e-mail address.

Domain hosting: Web hosting with a domain name as well. Server space is provided for your Web site and, in order for browsers to arrive at your Web site when using your domain name, the IP addresses of the host's "nameservers" are on record worldwide as associated with your domain name. See Domain record.

Domain parking: Often offered for free or for a small fee with a domain name purchase, this is a service that provides a generic "coming soon" page when people look for a Web site with your domain name. This can be useful while you arrange for Web hosting, but there may be a fee to change your domain record so the nameservers are those of the new host. See Domain record.

Domain purchase: You pay a domain registrar for use of a domain name for one or more years. This transaction can take place directly with the registrar or through an intermediary such as a Web site host.

Domain record: A file in Internet databases worldwide that is created when you pay for a domain name and is updated when you update the record. It includes contact info, initial purchase date, expiration date, and nameserver addresses for the actual location of the Web site you create for this domain. You may update the record yourself at your domain registrar or ask your Web host; they usually do this for a small fee. You can look up domain records by domain name using Whois to search registrars' databases. See Whois.

Domain registrar: A company that offers domain name registration, either directly or through intermediaries such as Web hosting companies. They maintain your domain record, which indicates the actual location of your Web site. A well-known registrar is Network Solutions; another is Open SRS. Registrars charge whatever they choose, and pay a fee to actually register each domain name. Some are very difficult to work with after the initial purchase.

Domain registration: Pretty much the same as a domain (name) purchase.

Domain transfer: Usually this refers to a transfer of a domain name registration from one registrar to another. This is NOT a Web site transfer from one Web host to another, with the resulting need for a domain record update. Domain transfers are a change in registrar. The fee is often the cost of a one-year domain renewal with the new registrar, and a year is added to your domain "ownership." Typically domain transfers are done to ease the process or the cost of making domain record changes in the future.

Nameservers: Servers at your Web host that tell the world your domain is at that host's servers. Each domain record must have the addresses of two nameservers, a primary and a secondary. Your Web host will give you this information if you want to update your domain record with your registrar yourself.

Web hosting: Server space is provided for your Web site either with or without an accompanying domain name. Fees vary according to size of hosting company, services offered, and target market. See also Domain hosting.

Whois: Whois checks registrars' databases around the world that hold the domain records. Like a telephone book for domains, the databases give the IP addresses of a domain's nameservers, and make it possible to use domain names rather than IP addresses. Two good ways to look up domain names at lots of registrars at once are BetterWhois and FasterWhois.

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A few readers found it difficult and/or expensive to update domain records after registration. The best way to avoid transfer trauma is find a good Web host and domain registrar; arrange for Web hosting; and then buy the domain name through your Web host or directly with a registrar, providing your Web host's nameserver IP addresses to your domain registrar at the time of purchase.

If you need to buy a domain name before arranging for hosting, get solid information on transfer procedures and fees from the registrars and Web hosts you're considering.

Once your domain record indicates your Web site's location, you can leave your domain registration with your current registrar forever. Then again, you might decide to transfer your registration to another registrar with much lower renewal prices or a better customer service reputation. Normally this doesn't affect your Web site, just your domain name renewal and update experiences.

If you're trying to associate a new domain name with a preexisting Web site but find it rather expensive with your current registrar and/or host, one reader has found a low-cost redirection service you might investigate: Redirection.net. As always, read all of the details; FAQs are often quite helpful.

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Ad

A Church Voice has teamed up with ChurchSite, a great resource for church Web site builders. Visit their discussion boards and browse through their site for a wealth of information and help!

ChurchSite: Resources for WebMasters
Helping Christians design and build church-related web sites with articles, discussion forums, FAQs, examples and links to the best church web site building resources on the internet.

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Here are two great reads that might get your gears spinning about your congregation's newsletter.

Sample newsletter policy from the Unitarian Universalist Association

"Make Your Church Bulletins More User-Friendly," from Interpreter Online, a publication of United Methodist Communications

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In addition to the Web hosts and domain registrars I mentioned in Issue #7, I pass along recommendations for these hosts and registrars. Their services and customer service are excellent, and their prices are very good.

BeHosting: Web hosting US$10/mo, domain registration US$17.50/yr, registrar transfers to Open SRS, domain parking

HerWebHost: Web hosting from US$8.95/mo, domain registration, registrar transfers from Network Solutions, domain parking. Partnered with HerDomainRegistration.

HerDomainRegistration: Domain registration US$15/yr, domain parking. Partnered with HerWebHost.

DomainsDomino: Web hosting US$5/mo, domain registration US$12/yr, domain parking

YourDomainForFree: Web hosting US$9.95/mo, domain registration US$14.95/yr, domain parking

Rtech Solutions: Web hosting from US$5/mo, domain registration US$13.95/yr

And here's free Web space (5 mb) for United Methodist groups offered by the United Methodist Church

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Free Christian Images has quite a variety of images.

Christian Computer Art offers good free images as a sample of their collection available for purchase on CD.

About.com's Web Clip Art guide has gathered links to sites with religious clip art.

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O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

[The Book of Common Prayer, 1979, ECUSA]

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If you find this information of value, please pass the newsletter on in its entirety.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome! If you’d like to submit a tip, question, or Web site, send me an email at

cveditor@laufers.com

For more resources, visit

http://www.AChurchVoice.com/

See you in two weeks!

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Copyright ©2001 Barbara Laufersweiler.
All rights reserved.

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