Domain Names

Posted by Nick Niesen on November 1st, 2010

The Internet has changed our lifestyle, and even our lives, in so many ways. We use the Internet to communicate, entertain, shop, work and even to find love. Our vocabularies are now peppered with new words and phrases that didn't even exist a decade ago. 'Domain Name' is one phrase of particular value to webmasters and Internet users alike.

Domain names are distinct titles that recognize unique sites on the web. All domain names become a portion of the URL, or website address. There are generally three main components to domain names, each separated by a dot.

To fully explain the nature and use of domain names, it's best to use a concrete example. One of the most common and widely identified domain names on the web today is http://www.google.com. Virtually every Internet user is familiar with Google. As in all domain names, the first section is "www", which stands for World Wide Web, the host server where the site is found. The second part, 'google', identifies the organization or company name. The third and final component, '.com', mirrors the type of organization. Web addresses that end in '.com' are generally considered to be top-level domain names. Other top-level domain names used on the Internet include .org for an organization, .gov for government agencies, .net for a network, and .edu for an educational institution.

When searching online for websites, domain name experts contend that one of the best and easiest ways to locate organizations or companies is to incorporate the appropriate top-level domain name. Finding a particular site is easier if you know that the domain name ends in .org or .net. If you're looking for the FBI website, you'll try http://www.fbi.gov, because you know that it is a government site and will likely end with .gov. An exact and concrete awareness of domain names is key to finding the desired site.

There are literally hundreds of thousands of domain names registered on the Internet. Creating a registering a good domain name makes your website stand out and become easier to find.