What is a domain name?
A domain name is the address that users will enter in their web browser (like Internet Explorer or Netscape) to access your web site.
Why You Need A Domain Name
On the World Wide Web your domain name is your own unique identity. No two parties can ever hold the same domain name simultaneously; therefore your Internet identity is totally unique. If you have a business site on the Internet your domain name is your own online brand and in a sense you can use your domain name as your online business card. With your own domain name your web site, and e-mail addresses for example will have that professional look, being unique to your business. Many people often miss the importance of having and then keeping their domain name until they lose it. Once this happens they soon realize that they have lost their whole online identity.
How does a domain name work?
To understand why you need a domain name you first need to know how a domain name works.
A domain name is an addressing construct, used for finding and identifying computers on the Internet. Computers use Internet Protocol (IP) Addresses, which are a series of numbers used to identify each other on the Internet; however, many people find it hard to remember IP Addresses. Because of this, domain names were developed so that easily remembered names and phrases could be used to identify entities in the Internet instead of using an IP Address.
For example, the domain name webmaster-talk.com identifies the company webmaster-talk. When a user types the domain name webmaster-talk.com in their browser or sends an email to webmaster-talk.com, the Domain Name System (DNS) will translate the domain name into IP numbers. These are then used by the Internet to connect the user to webmaster-talk.com's web presence
What should I use as a domain name?
You can use a word or phrase as a domain name. When thinking of a domain name, think of catchy words or phrases that are easy to remember and that will bring more traffic to your site. Try to use a domain name that is relevant to your web site. If your web site is a business site, it is a good idea to use the companies name as the domain name or if your site is a personal site try to think of a domain name that is related to the topic of your web site.
Also try to keep your domain name as short as possible, around 5 to 20 characters is fine. The shorter the domain name the easier it will be to remember.
One thing to keep in mind is assumed spelling issues; if you think up a ‘clever’ domain name such as 1luv4u.com – One Love For You (dating service), people may type in oneloveforyou.com believing this is the domain name; or oneluv4u.com, or 1love4you.com etc. This leads to brand problems. In this case the “oneloveforyou.com” name would be best. Another unfortunate example: Flo Office Supplies – flooffice.com?
How do I acquire a domain name?
There are two main ways you can get a domain name. You can either register your domain name yourself or you can get your web host or ISP (Internet Service Provider) to register it for you.
To register a domain name yourself you will need to choose a Registrar. A Registrar is an ICANN accredited domain registration company. There are hundreds of Registrars on the Internet nowadays. The market is becoming increasingly competitive; which means that you can purchase domains names for a low yearly fee.
Most web hosting companies will offer domain registration services to their clients. When you register a domain name through a web host they will register your domain name for you through their own approved registrar. An advantage to having your web host register your domain name for you is that, they have probably done this process many times before; they have all the necessary information ready at hand. This process will save you time and, as long as you give the ‘correct’ domain name desired, there will be no unfamiliar dealings with Registrars.
Why should I keep my domain name registered?
If you loose your domain name you can loose your whole online identity.
Because you can only register a domain name for a year or so, you will need to make sure that you renew it before the expiry date. Once your domain name expires you will no longer own that domain name. Your Registrar will then own it and be able to sell your domain name to the highest bidder. To make sure you don’t loose your domain name you will need to make sure you renew your domain name at least two weeks before it expires.
Also make sure that your information is registered properly, especially if you didn’t register your domain name yourself. Ensure that your information is displayed as the registrant, administrative and billing contacts; most importantly make sure that the email addresses for these contacts are ACTIVE. When you receive any information about your domain name, such as renewals, price changes, etc… an email will be sent to this email address. If you can’t receive any mail from the email addresses listed under the domain names contact then you are at risk of not receiving important notifications about your domain names, which could result in loosing your domain name.
People often miss the importance of having their own unique domain name for their web sites. A domain name represents you, your company and your online presence; as does a ‘business card’. If you don’t have your own domain name you won’t be able to promote your own online identity and web site on the World Wide Web.
Choosing Your Top Level Domain
Once you have figured out a name for your ‘domain’ it can be really confusing trying to decide on what should go after the “dot” (i.e. com, net, org, etc…) in your domain name. This part of the domain name is referred to as a top-level domain (TLD) and knowing the difference between each top-level domain is important when choosing your domain name.
Below are the descriptions of the best known top-level domains:
.com – This is the most popular TLD. It is used mainly for US commercial organizations. BUT, in its capacity, it represents the highest standing for any domain name. Anyone can have a ‘.com’, but it is more difficult to think up a unique name that hasn’t already been registered.
.net – This is the second most popular TLD. It generally describes the entity owning the domain name as a network and is used mainly by organizations that provide network connection services.
.gov – Generally used for government agencies.
.int – Intended to be used for sites relating to International Treaties or containing international databases. For this reason, it is not widely used.
.mil – Mainly used by military organizations of the US government.
.org – In general, non-profit organizations tend to use this extension.
.name – This is a new TLD and is intended to allow individuals to register their names (i.e. firstname.lastname.name) as a personal domain name on the Internet.
.biz – This is a new TLD for businesses; ‘.biz’ is intended to be an alternative to the ‘.com’.
.info – This is also new, and is freely available to anyone with a business, government or non-commercial site.
What's the difference between multiple domain hosting and subdomains?
With multiple domain hosting you can use the same account with a host for two domains or more. Lets assume that you have registered two domains:
www.m-6.com and
www.6-m.com. With multiple domain hosting you will be given one directory/folder on your webhost server where you would upload your HTML files/pages.But the webhost company will configure your website so that if someone types m-6.com or 6-m.com into their web browser, that person will be taken to the one and same site. In other words, both domain points to your one web account on your server.
Subdomains are the third level domains in the sense they are used to organise your website content. They are just folders under your root directory but to access them a special url is used.
For instance,
http://www.m-6.com is a regular URL without a subdomain.
http://features.m-6.com is an URL with subdomain"features".
Here the
.com is the first level domain
m-6 is the second level domain
features is the third level domain
What is domain parking?
Domain parking is where you want to register a domain but do not necessarily want to activate it as a web site or mail server,you just want to register the domain for use at a later date.
What is multiple domain hosting?
Many times you will see that a web host offers multiple domain hosting. In simpler words it means that on buying an account you will have the ability to get multiple websites. For instance, if the plan provides you with five domain names, you can use one domain for your website and you will still have four domain names leftover to use. The advantage of this scenario is that you can resell these four domain names to your clients.
