How to Register .gov Domain Names

How to register .gov domain names? Here are some facts to help you. The .gov, launched in the year 1985, is the generic top level domain extension which was once solely intended for use by governmental entities in the United States. The official domain registry for the registration of .gov domain names is the General Services Administration (GSA), operated by ZoneEdit.

The United States is the only country known to have a government-specific top level Internet domain. As this code is restricted to US governmental entities, no one else is permitted to hold .gov as their top level domain. Often countries can use it as their second-level domain as for example: .gov.au, .gc.ca, or guv.ro, where au is the assigned country code for Australia, while .ca and .ro are the country codes designating Canada and Romania respectively.

Now, valid U.S. government organizations, departments, US territories, state governmental entities/programs, cities, counties, etc and federally recognized Indian tribes are eligible to register.gov domain names.

There are some binding rules and policies regarding the .gov registration. Most registration companies offer the provision to check the availability of your favorite domain name in their website itself. Once you have chosen an available domain name under the .gov code, the next step is to select the registrar and payment method.

In order to get registered, you have to produce a letter of authorization before the GSA (General Service Administration). In the case of federal agencies, the same must be presented before the CIO (cabinet-level chief information officer). For getting county authorization and city authorization, you may be asked to produce an authorization letter from the county commissioners and mayor respectively. The letter must include details such as the requested domain, contact details and all other relevant information.

To know more about the registration process, policies, and eligibility requirements, go through the website of General Services Administration http://www.dotgov.gov. Besides the official domain registry, there are a number of domain name registrars providing complete assistance for registering .gov domain names. An intensive search on the Internet is sure to bring you to a number of websites offering all relevant details concerning "How to register .gov domain names".