Getting Your Own
Internet Address and
Putting It To Use

Owning an Internet address, or URL, is easy and inexpensive. It is the first step in creating a Web site and more importantly an e-mail address that you control and will never change even if you switch Internet Service Providers (ISP). The e-mail name you chose will work with any ISP, including AOL, EarthLink, and Wal-Mart Connect.

Choose a URL that is not already taken but also easy for your friends to remember and type. If the URL is for personal use, then your family name is a logical choice, for example, we registered Musser.us. The URL can end in any of the legal suffixes for the United States, which include .us, .com, .net, .biz, .info, and .ws. If your family name is Jones and Jones.us is not available you might try TheJones.us or Jones.info, for example. Keep your address as simple as possible so that it will be easy for others to remember your it.

Find an Available URL (Universal Resource Locator)

You must first determine whether the URL, or domain name, that you want to register is available. The process begins at a domain registrar's search page. I recommend the registrar GoDaddy.com as they have some of the best prices and an easy-to-use area for managing your new URL. The cost for a URL ranges from five to nine dollars depending on the name you choose. At the Search for a domain name NOW! window enter the URL you want to register and click the GO button. If the name you entered is already taken, select one of the suggested names or continue searching until you find an available domain name that you like.

Register Your URL

Select one of the available domain names listed on the Your Domain Name Search Results page and click the Smart Registration button near the bottom of the page. Fill out the Step 1 Select Registration Length section. You will be setting up a new GoDaddy.com account. Be sure to remember your User Name and Password as you will need to log in to GoDaddy later on to manage your new domain name. In the Step 2 area, select Standard Public. In Step 3, select Using one of my free options. You will only be registering a domain name with GoDaddy and the yearly cost should be from five to nine dollars, depending on the suffix (.com, .us, etc.) you choose. Click the Proceed to Checkout button.

Provide your billing information. Once you finish the registration you will receive an e-mail confirmation from GoDaddy. Again be sure you keep track of your GoDaddy Username and Password it will be needed later in this process and in the future to renew your registration


Now you are the proud owner of a brand new Internet address. Let's put it to use forwarding e-mail to your existing e-mail account.

Set up an account with an e-mail forwarding service:
One of the best and cheapest (free and without ads) way to use your URL is to sign up as a user at ZoneEdit.com. They provide a forwarding service at no charge. I use ZoneEdit to forward e-mail sent to [email protected] to my mailbox at [email protected].

To sign up for ZoneEdit go to their site ZoneEdit.com and choose free sign up. You will choose a username and password and then receive confirmation by a-mail along with the URL's of the DNS servers at zoneedit (something like ns3.zoneedit.com and ns4.zoneedit.com).

Frequently Asked Questions (Everything you ever wanted to know about DNS)

Setting the Name Server:
You will then log into the Control Panel at GoDaddy.com where you registered your domain. Navigate to the Manage Domains area select your domain (at this point you will probably only have one domain to choose from) and click the "Set Nameserver" button you will be changing to a Custom Nameserver. In the "Nameserver 1" and "Nameserver 2" windows you will enter the nameserver information sent to you by e-mail from ZoneEdit in the step above. It will be something like (ns3.zoneedit.com and ns4.zoneedit.com). The change to the DNS server will take effect in 24 to 72 hours (the time required for it to propagate across the entire net).

Enter the forwarding settings:
When you have taken the steps above changing the nameserver information at GoDaddy you are ready to put ZoneEdit to work for you. Log back into your ZoneEdit.com account and choose the zone you setup. The first thing you can setup is MailForwards. You will probably want something like [email protected] to be forwarded to your existing e-mail [email protected]) with the ISP (Internet Service Provider) you use. Then when someone sends mail to [email protected] it will forward to [email protected]. You can have as many forwards as you want.

The next thing is WebForwards. If you want to play around with a web site you will find several free web hosts. The free hosting sites will provide a web address that is long and not personalized (tripod.com/~username) but with ZoneEdit you can set up forward to send requests to http://MyWebAddress.us forward to the tripod.com/~username address. The cloaked option of web forward even hides the tripod.com/~username and shows http://MyWebAddress.us. It is really a great tool.

Playing with a web page is the best way to learn. I really enjoy it. Let me know if you get stuck.

This is only required for advanced users:
When you are ready to take the next step and move on to your own paid web host I recommend ATLASpronet their starter package it more than most people will ever need is just $12 a year. It has a very powerful and easy to use Control Panel. With the following list of features it is hard to beat.

  • Load Balancing Technology. Details
  • 30 day money back guarantee, FREE instant setup. If you are not satisfied with our servers, you'll get full refund immediately
  • 7/24 support by email, phone and forum
  • Windows 2003 and Redhat Linux platforms available
  • %99.9 Uptime guarantee
  • PHP & MySQL database support on both Windows 2003 and Linux accounts
  • Servers located at USA with multiple Internet connections ensures ultimate reliability & performance
  • WHM/cPanel control panel available on Linux accounts
  • Plesk control panel available on Windows accounts
  • Ability to upload files via FTP or Control Panel
  • Access emails anywhere/anytime via webmail
  • Spam email filtering available for FREE
  • Affordable & reliable hosting plans starting from $1 / month

ATLASpronet hosts the Web page you are now looking at.

Playing with a web page is the best way to learn. I really enjoy it. Let me know if you get stuck.
-- Glenn


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