How Important Are Domain Names?

Posted by Nick Niesen on November 1st, 2010

The term domain name may seem like a highfaluting term that has meaning only for computer wizards and for those who spend days and nights in their computers. The truth is that the term domain name is a simple geek term referring to the address of a website.

To make it simpler, domain names are essential to websites in the same manner that names are important to people. Can you imagine people being addressed or being called using a series of pin numbers instead of their names? Remembering names is already a problem for most people so you can just imagine how chaotic it would b e if people do not have names but just numbers.

This works the same way with websites which are addressed using domain names instead of a series of numbers commonly referred to as IP address. Like most numbers, IP addresses can be hard to remember and they are permanent meaning a new IP address for a new web hosting company.

While an IP address is just a series of hard to remember numbers, a domain name is something that can be given character and can be easily remembered. Try to browse the internet and if you want to know the domain name of the site being viewed, look at the browser bar.

The last word or series of letters after the domain name is the domain extension under which the website address is registered. Examples of domain extensions are com which refers to a commercial domain, org which refers to a non-profit domain and even no or fr which stands for France or Norway and which refers to the country domain. The extension domains are usually preceded by a period which is read as dot.

Both the name of the website, which I called the sub domain and the domain extension make up the complete domain name of a site. People who are abut to register their domain names should think carefully about the name because domain names are unique and it is what gives the website a unique characteristic. Domain names are unique because they are controlled in a centralized database.

Having your own domain name does not come free because with registration comes payment. By registering your domain name, you get the exclusive right to use that domain name but only for a certain number of years depending on the policy of the company where you bought your domain name. When that period expires and you want to continue using the domain name then you can renew your contract.

When choosing your domain name, you can use a maximum of 67 characters made up of letters from A to Z or number from zero to nine or a mixture of both numbers and letters as well the hyphen. The maximum of 67 characters already includes both the sub domain name and the domain name extension. SO if you want to have an easy-recall website then you better start thinking about a witty domain name, The key is to make your domain name catchy, easy to remember and more or less gives the user an idea of what the website is all about.

However, you can already register a domain name even if you do not have a website. On the other hand, registration of a domain name does not carry with it a website. While some domain registering companies offer web hosting, you can register your domain name with them and choose from the various web hosting companies.

Never attempt to register a domain name which contains a trademark or name already belonging to another, unless you want to be prosecuted as a cybersquatter.