Most commerce is now dependent on an Internet presence. Even the most basic business has customers that demand the ability to retrieve information, such as address and hours of operation, from the web. Futher, many customers prefer to contact a business via email instead of telephone.
A business's Internet presence is not just one item but actually several:
A business may simulate an Internet presence with a domain name and a DNS that supports forwarding of email and web addresses. In addition, both the business and its customers obtain access to the public Internet via a private Internet Service Provider.
The following paragraphs explain some of the above items.
A domain name is nothing more then the right to control the association of a text string with an Internet Protocol (IP) address. Anyone can register this right within the .com, .net, or .org Top Level Domains (TLDs). Other TLDs, such as .biz, .tv, and .us, have governing bylaws that control who may or may not register this right.
This right is paid for on an annual basis, although some prefer to pay for several years in advance. The right can be purchased for as little as $9 to as much as $100 per year, depending on the desired TLD, the registrar used, and the additional services ordered.
All registrars are franchised by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). This is a quasi-public organization with international jurisdiction. ICANN rules assign domain rights to the registrant, which is defined as the party that pays for registration. Be aware of several things:Contact information for all registrants is required and available to anyone who knows the domain. If the registrant supplies a home address at registration, that address will be published internationally.
If a business purchases a domain via a third party, perhaps a consultant, and that third party registers using its contact information, then the business has no control of the domain.
Recall that the domain name is the right to control a text string to IP address association, but not the association itself. The actual association is controlled by the Domain Name Service (DNS). This is an Internet server that translates a text string, for example leftbrainedgeeks.com, to an IP address, for example 66.39.4.49.
One way to think about this is the following analogy:IP address : Domain Name : DNS :: Telephone number : Business name : Telephone directory
which is a fancy way of saying the correlation between an IP address, a Domain name, and the DNS is much like the correlation between a Telephone number, a Business name, and a Telephone directory.
Although DNS can be purchased separately from email or web hosting, it generally is not: usually the email or web provider supplies DNS, much like a telephone company supplies phone books.
An email hosting service stores messages sent to a domain for later retrieval. The analogy here is like a mail box: messages come in and are kept until the addressee retrieves them.
There are two different types of email hosting. The most common is called Post Office Protocol (POP). Folders and messages are stored on the local computer. If one has a laptop and a desktop, for example, and creates email folders on the desktop, those folders will not show up when checking mail via POP on the laptop.
Some email hosters, however, offer Internet Mail Access Protocol (IMAP) instead. With IMAP, folders are kept on the server and copies are temporarily downloaded for reading. In this example, an email folder containing appointment information created by the desktop would be available via IMAP on the laptop.
IMAP is more suited for business use: folders are kept on a server in a computer room. The server is backed up regularly and stored in a controlled environment with proper air conditioning and power backup.
A web hosting service stores documents that are distributed to the general public via the Hyper Text Transport Protocol (HTTP). These documents are written in the Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML), which controls the formatting and organization. HTML documents are composed with specialty programs or plain text editors.
Web sites can have dynamic or static pages. A dynamic site changes based on user input, for example an ecommerce shopping cart grows as a customer adds items for purchase. A static page does not change until the author makes revisions.
Web hosting companies offer various grades of service at different prices. Static pages can be hosted rather inexpensively. Dynamic pages are more expensive to host because a computer is used to change content "on the fly."
Here is a "quick and dirty" method to simulate domain email while using standard Internet services. Note the limitations about POP still apply:
Create a domain name with a registrar that offers an email forwarding service. For example, directNic.com offers this with a registration fee of $15. But VeriSign, the world's largest registrar, offers no such service with a registration fee of $35.
Set up a forwarding rule for one or more people in the business. Examples:
mary@marysworld.com to mary729@earthlink.net
jane@marysworld.com to jane357@swbell.com
In the mail reader, set the Reply-To: header to the domain email address, mary@marysworld.com for example. Try Mail and Newsgroup Account Settings with Netscape or Accounts under Tools in Outlook.
Pass out the domain address on business cards and other stationary. As long as the annual registration fee is paid, customers can use the domain email address forever. If the service provider changes, for example from Earthlink to SBC, all one does is update the forwarding rule!
Feel free to call (number below) or send us email if you have questions about this tip.
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