What is a Domain Name, and why is it Important?
Most of us familiar with the internet think we know what a domain name is.
According to the American Heritage Dictionary, a domain name is a series of
alphanumeric strings separated by periods, such as www.hmco.com
http://www.hmco.com, that is an address of a computer network connection
and that identifies the owner of the address.
But did you know that a domain name is really just another way of listing an
IP address, the unique numeric code that identifies a particular computer?
If a person types in widgets.com into a web browser, a domain name system
server (DNS server) looks up the name and matches it with the appropriate IP
address. Periodically, DNS servers will update their lists of domain names.
Most countries around the world have their own suffixes, but the majority of
top-level domains that internet users see are .com, .org, .net, .gov, .edu,
and .mil. .Com is a commercial business. .Org are owned by nonprofits. .Net
are network organizations. .Gov are government agencies. .Edu are
educational institutions, and .Mil is the military.
Online businesses usually want the elusive .com suffix, because it¹s the
suffix that most internet users expect a business to have, and the one that
most will search for. But .com suffixes are harder and harder for businesses
to get. It can take many searches and domain name ideas to find the one
that¹s both right for your company and available. Many businesses make up
words to use as domain names now, partially to get a .com domain name. Two
very popular examples are Google.com and Yahoo.com!
There are two ways to purchase a domain name. You can buy a domain name from
a domain name registry, such as netsol.com or godaddy.com. You can also see
these registries to see which domain names are available or purchase. If the
domain name is already taken, these registries will allow you to see how
owns the domain. If you really want the domain and it¹s taken, you can
approach the company who currently owns it and make an offer to but it
directly from them.
Roxanne Grandis is a Creative Director with BV Software, makers of the award winning BV Commerce Shopping Cart Software and other ecommerce related products. Roxanne has created content for some of the largest online stores including Godiva.com, Carolee.com and Ragu.com.
She holds both a Master of Teaching and Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
from NYU.