Domain Names 101

2010-01-05T21:11:00.000-08:00

With no domain name, webpages are specified by an IP address. What is an IP address? It is an identifier used on the internet to specify the placement of a server. However, for people, an IP address, (expressed in a numerical format), may be difficult to recall. This is why domain names are used. With a domain name, a person can locate a webpage with more user-friendly words. And even though numbers may be a part of a domain name, they usually do not make up all of it, like with an IP address.

With regard to format, domain names have various divisions. The first part is called the URL, (meaning Uniform Resource Locator). The URL tells the browser what the domain name is going to point to. This will usually be 'http', which means the browser can expect to find a hypertext document.

The second part in the domain name is "www," which means "World Wide Web." This phrase lets computers and people know the page the domain name is pointing to is in fact on the Internet.

After that the actual domain name, which can be a sequence of numbers, letters or phrases. A good domain name should be short, memorable and more important, search-engine friendly. In fact, good webmasters tend to concentrate alot on a domain name's influence with SEO, (or Search Engine Optimization), than its creativity. To accomplish this webmasters make sure to choose a domain name having a widely searched keyword.

The final part of the domain name is called an extension. This lets a person know a little bit more about a website's origins. For illustration, look at .com, the most commonly used domain name extension. Meaning 'commercial', and was originally intended for businesses. However, now the extension is utilized by all most anybody looking to create a website. And for good premise, because most web users will think about .com before .org, .biz, or .ws. Do not think the other extensions can't become memorable. Consider Wikipedia.org which is a wildly popular website despite its .org extension.

To register a domain name, you can either:
1) get one from a web hosting company, provided they offer that service
2) get one from a separate domain name company.
3) get one from Global Domains International (domain name and hosting plus business opportunity)