There is so much that can be said about websites. For an Intro to Website basics (click here). If you would like some basic knowledge about domain names. Read on.
Every website needs a “domain name”. It is the information that you type in the address bar in your browser that brings you to a website. Every domain name is unique and acts like an address on the World Wide Web that points to a specific server that is hosting your website. There are two parts of the domain name. The first part or prefix of the name is whatever you want to call it. It could be the name of your business, abbreviations, or a combination of letters, numbers, and even a hyphen. All other special characters are not allowed in the name.
The second part of the domain name or suffix is most commonly the .com, .net, .org, etc. The combination of the first part and the second part of the name must be unique. It cannot be duplicated by anyone else. When you obtain a domain it must be purchased through a company known as a “Registrar”. Numerous companies are domain registrars. Their responsibility is to ensure that each domain is unique not in use by someone else. You will pay the registrar a fee for them to maintain your domain name on their servers. It is common to secure your domain name for a period of 1 – 5 years. At the end of the term, you will need to renew the domain to maintain control of it. If you fail to renew it, the domain will become available to the public for purchase.
Once you have your domain registered, you will need to have the webserver that will be hosting your website associated with the domain name. You will need to obtain the server information from your host provider and have it added to the records that are part of your domain name records. Once that has been completed, it can take up to 72 hours for all web servers connected to the World Wide Web to be updated with your domain and web server information. If you need assistance with obtaining a domain name there are many companies available to assist you with this task.
Would you like to know more about domain names or need help obtaining a domain name for your website? Click here to contact us and we would love to talk with you about it.
