In our Internet-driven world of marketing, advertising, and sales, domain names are becoming a highly sought after resource. Domain names that are easy for the general public to think of and go to are of great value to the right people. With this being the case, many people would like to know how to buy domain names online and the process is quite simple.

When you buy a domain name, what you’re really buying is the right to use a series of numbers called an IP address. This IP address is basically the whereabouts of your information on the Internet. A typical IP address will look like 123.123.123.12. Originally, all you had to do to go to a website was remember the IP address of the particular website you wanted to go to. However, as the Internet gained popularity, this system became unwieldy as more and more IP addresses entered the system. Enter the Domain Name System, created by the University of Wisconsin in 1983. This system assigns IP addresses to domain names.

So how do you buy domain names online?

Step 1 – Think of a unique domain name. Many of the good ones are already taken. You may end up using a longer name because your original name is not available. This is actually the hardest part.

Step 2- Go to Google and search for ‘buy domain name’. What you will see when the list loads is a long series of options. Sites like Yahoo and GoDaddy are pretty popular, but they’re not the only ones out there. Choose one. Prices can range from quite cheap (think five dollars a year) to not too expensive (about ten or eleven dollars a year).

Step 3 – Once you’ve decided who to buy your domain from, go to their website and follow the usually simple instructions. Yahoo Domains has a sign up button right on the home page that walks you through your domain name registration step by step. Remember, all you’ve done is buy a domain name, not space to store your actual content. That’s called hosting and it’s something else entirely.