Domain Names 101 - Everything Need To Know

Websites are defined by IP address without a domain name. What is IP address? What is an address? It is a computer or human identifier to locate the location of a server or site. However, it is difficult to remember an IP address for people (which is represented in a numerical format). That's why domain names have been invented. A human may find a website using a domain name using more user-friendly terms or phrases. And while numbers might form part of a domain name, they are generally not all, as is seen with an IP address.

Domain names contain various elements in terms of format. The first component is called the URL (which stands for Uniform Resource Locator). The URL tells the browser what the name of the domain will be. This generally is 'http,' which implies that the browser may anticipate a hypertext document to be located. In terms of the layperson, this implies a webpage. In the rare situations, the URL may not be 'http,' which signifies the protocol for transferring files. If visitors wish to download files from their server, a webmaster would choose to use ftp.

The second portion of the domain name will be "www," meaning "World Wide Web." This phrase allows computers and people to know the site where the domain name is actually from the web. The domain name is followed by a mix of letters, numbers or words. A good domain name will be brief, memorable and search engine friendly, above all. In reality, skilled webmasters prefer to focus more on SEO (or Search Engine Optimization) performance than on originality. To achieve this, you must select a domain name with a widely-searched term.

The last part of the domain name has an extension. This allows a person to know a little more about the origins of a website. For example, consider the.com domain name extension, which is the most prevalent. It stands for 'commercial' and was initially meant to be used by organisations. However, almost everybody who wants to establish a website now uses the addon. And this is because most web browsers will think of the.com before they think of.org,.biz or.net. However, don't believe that the other extensions cannot be remembered either. Consider Wikipedia.org, which, despite its extension, is a massively popular website.

The extensions of domain names can also include geographical stuff. Examples include extensions from countries like.fr (which means France), or.jp (which stands for Japan). They can also be state-based, for example (which stands for California). Both can function as effective Internet marketing tools.

In order to obtain a domain name a person can either get one through his Web hosting business or get one from a different domain name company, provided that he or she offers such service. 

Prices vary with both choices, however generally the costs are between $6.50 and $35.