Domain Names 101
Without a domain, websites are specified by an IP address. What is an IP address? It is an identifier that is used by computers to determine the location of a web server or web site. However, for humans, an IP address, which is written in a numerical form, can be difficult to remember. This is why domains were invented. With a domain name, Internet users can locate a web site through more user-friendly words or phrases. And although numbers can be a part of a domain name, 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 of the domain 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 webpage. 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 will be the subdomain. An example is “ftp”, which means “file transfer protocol.” If a web site 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 name will be memorable, short and search-engine friendly. In fact, good webmasters tend to concentrate more on a domain name’s effectiveness with SEO, than they do on other factors. To do this, they make sure to choose a domain name that has a commonly searched word.
The final portion of the domain name is what is known as an extension. This lets a person know more about a web site’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 website. And this is for good reason, since most web surfers will think about the .com before they would think about .org, .biz or .net. Yet, don’t think that other extensions can’t become memorable either. Consider Wikipedia.org which is a very popular website despite its .org extension.
Domain name extensions can also specify which country a web site is from. An example are country-based extensions such as .fr, (which stands for France), or .jp, (which stands for Japan). 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, a person 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 both options, though typically the cost will range from $6.50 to $35.
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