Domain Names



What is a domain name? 

A domain name is a group of letters, numbers, and hyphens, such as "yourdomain.com" where "yourdomain" can be almost anything.

A domain name should be relatively easy to remember. The domain can be used as the address for your web site and as your email address, such as info@yourdomain.com.

Why do I need a domain name?

All domain names are unique. It is your identity on the World Wide Web. For businesses and organizations, a domain name can help brand your products and services. For individuals and clubs, a domain can identify your affiliations, relationships, or can just be your online personality.

What characters can you use in a domain name and how long can it be?

Letters and numbers are always valid characters in a Web Address. Hyphens may also be used in Web Addresses, but may not begin nor end your Web Address. Spaces and special characters are never permitted in Web Addresses. The special characters include, but are not limited to, these special characters: ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) ? _ (underscores)"

Domain names are not case sensitive, therefore YourDomain.Com and yourdomain.com are NOT different.  

The number of characters you can use in your domain name has increased to a total of 67, including the extension .COM, .NET, .BIZ, .ORG or .INFO. Now you've got even more options for establishing your Internet identity!

"www." and http://www. are not counted as part of the 67 characters allowed. 

An example of a valid domain name is:
67-character-web-addresses-are-available-from-frontpageshosting.com 

What is DNS and how does it work?

DNS stands for Domain Name System and is the system that the Internet uses to find the information on the web. 

When someone types in a Domain Name into a web browser their Internet Service Provider's (ISPs) DNS computer looks into its cache for an IP (Internet Protocol) address associated with that domain name. If the ISP does not have an entry cached it sends a lookup query to a top level DNS computer to return the DNS location associated with the domain name back to the ISP. Once the ISP's computer finds the IP address it can access the web site.

IP addresses are typically 12 digit numbers which identify a computer on the internet. IP addresses are like street addresses. They refer to specific servers and their physical location on the network. Domain names are like the names on the mailboxes, they are associated with people and with content.

Do I have to pay for domain name registration?

One free domain registration is included with all hosting plans from Fpweb.net. If you would like to add additional domain names to your hosting account, please use the "add-features" tool in our My Account section.

Top Level Domain Names

This is simply the extension of your domain name. In the 1980s, seven TLDs (.com, .edu, .gov, .int, .mil, .net, and .org) were created. Domain names may be registered in three of these (.com, .net, and .org) without restriction; the other four have limited purposes.

How to know if a domain is already registered

Simply use for "Find a name for your site" feature on our non-support pages. Check for any domain name and we'll tell you if its available.

Transferring Domains

This is easier than it sounds. If you have a domain at another hosting company such as GoDaddy, you can simply point your domain to our nameservers. If your website is setup with us, 2 days later, your domain is now pointing to your website on our server. Easy. If you want to take your domain from another provider, simply cancel your account with them and sign your domain up with us. Simple.