Your domain name is your presence on the Internet. My domain name is "ReevesDigital.com". No, the capitalization doesn't make a difference, but it does make it easier to read when it's written. Your domain name can be used for both your web address (www.reevesdigital.com) and your email address (info@reevesdigital.com).
Your domain name needs to be registered, and registration terms are annual. Domain names cost $10-$20 per year depending on where they are registered. If your website and your email both suddenly stop working, it's likely your domain name has expired. Never fear, most registrars will hold your domain name for an extended period of time, giving you a grace period to renew it before they offer it up for sale. Once it goes up for sale, it will most likely be purchased by someone else immediately, so you really don't want to let your registration lag. If someone else buys your domain name because you didn't keep it renewed, they become the new legal owners of it.
You can purchase your domain name for multiple years at a time. In addition to the cost savings (the cost of domain names will begin increasing this July and will continue to gradually increase for the forseeable future), there is another significant advantage to longer term registrations: The longer you have your domain name registered, the higher your rankings in search engines appear.
Curious about your domain name? You can view what information is publicly available about your domain name, including its expiration date, using the Internic WhoIs tool: http://www.internic.net/whois.html Contact your webmaster if you have any questions about it.
If I have registered or renewed your domain name for you, I will continue to manage this for you until you ask me to stop, so you don't need to worry about it. As I wrote in an earlier post, there are many companies that will contact you to register your domain name for you. It's a lucrative business for them with minimal investment, preying on the ill-informed. Please contact me if anyone wants to renew your domain name for you, as not all of them are legitimate.
