Domain Names 101

Without a domain name, websites are specified by an IP address. IP address is an identifier that is used by computers or humans to determine the location of a server or website. An IP address which is expressed in a numerical format, can be difficult to remember. This is why domain names were invented. With a domain name, a human can locate a website 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.

Domain names have several parts. The first part is known as the URL (Uniform Resource Locator). The URL tells the browser what the domain name is going to point to. This will usually be 'http', which means the browser can expect to locate a hypertext document.

The second part of the domain name will be "www," which stands for "World Wide Web." This phrase lets computers and humans know the site the domain name is pointing to is indeed from the Internet. It is followed by the actual domain name, which can be a combination of letters, numbers or phrases. A good domain name will be short, memorable and search-engine friendly. In fact, good webmasters tend to concentrate more on a domain name's effectiveness with Search Engine Optimization than they do its creativity.

The final portion of the domain name has what is known as an 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 .my, (which stands for Malaysia).

To get a domain name, a person can either:

1) get one from their web hosting company and provided they offer that service

2) get one from a separate domain name company.