Without a domain, websites are specified by an IP address. An IP address is an identifier that is used by computers to determine the location of a web server or website. However, for humans, an IP address, which is written in a numerical form, can be difficult to read. This is why domain names were invented. With a domain, a human can visit a web site through more user-friendly words or phrases. While a domain can include digits, they usually do not make up all of it, like what is seen with an IP address.
In terms of format, domain names have several parts. The first part is known as the protocol. The protocol lets the browser know what the domain is going to point to. The protocol is often ‘http’, which means the browser can expect to locate a hypertext document. In layman’s terms this means a web page. In the rare cases the URL is not ‘http’; it may be ‘ftp’ instead’, which means file transfer protocol. A webmaster would opt to use ftp if they would like visitors to download files from their server.
The second part of the domain name will be the subdomain. An example is “www,” which stands for “World Wide Web.” If a website consists of more than one server, the subdomain helps to identify the specific server to connect to.
The subdomain is followed by the actual domain name, which can be a combination of letters, numbers or phrases. A good domain will be short, memorable and search-engine friendly. In fact, some webmasters tend to concentrate more on a domain name’s effectiveness with SEO, (or Search Engine Optimization), than they do its creativity. To do this, they make sure to choose a domain that has a commonly searched word.
The final part of the domain has what is known as an extension. This lets the Internet user know more about a website’s origins. For example, take .com, the most commonly used domain extension. It stands for ‘commercial’, and was originally intended for organizations in that vein. However, now the extension is used by almost everyone looking to create a web site. And this is for good reason, since most Internet users will think about the .com before they would think about .org, .biz or .net. Yet, don’t think the other extensions can’t become memorable either. Consider Wikipedia.org which is a wildly popular website despite its .org extension.
Domain name extensions can also specify things on a geographical level. An example are country-based extensions such as .fr, (which stands for France), or .au (which stands for Australia. They can also be state-based, such as .ca, (which stands for California). Both can serve as wonderful tools for localized Internet marketing.
To get a domain name, an Internet user can either: 1) get one from their web hosting company, provided they offer that service or 2) get one from a separate domain name company. The price things will vary with each option, though typically the cost will range from $6.50 to $35.
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