If you are a beginner in the Web Development space. That question may come into your Mind. What is a domain name?, why you need a Domain, who is giving the domain? from where you can purchase the domain.
In this article, We will discuss the Domain name’s complete details. After reading the article. You will be able to understand the importance of the domain, what name you should use in the domain, and where you can purchase it.
What we will Learn in this Article:
- What is Domain Name?
- DNS?
- Top Level Domain and Second Level Domain
- Why You need a Domain Name?
- Importance of Domain Names in your website.
- How to Register a domain name?
- Free Domain Names
- Difference Between Domain and Subdomain Name.
- IDN Domain names
What is Domain Name?
The domain name in web space is called the URL, Address of your website which you used to access the website. Domain names are used to identify the IP addresses.
Example: Google.com, When you click on Google.com. The browser will open Google.com and the details which Google.com wants to show you.
DNS
DNS is referred to as Domain Name System.
Like a Telephone system, when You dial any Number It will connect to the Number that has allotted that Number.
Similarly, For Each Domain, one IP (Internet Protocol) address is allotted. This seems like 205.4.32.56 But it is difficult to remember. Hence the Domain name System comes in.
For Each allotted IP, There is the alphabetic or alphanumeric address that is easy to remember.
Top Level Domain and Second Level Domain:
You have seen 2 things in Domain
Example: “Google.com”, Google and Com are separated by dot Google here is called Second-level Domain. and com is TLD that is called Top-level Domain.
Second Level Domain: Second level Domain is generally your organization Name from which visitors of your website can see you. This name is your brand reorganization.
TLD can be specified as gTLD generic Top-level Domain and ccTLD i.e country Code Top-level Domains.
gTLD Examples:
- .com: dot com is usually used for Commercial Purposes by Companies.
- .org: This gTLD is used by Organizations.
- .gov: This is generally used by government organizations.
You will got other Generic Top level domains as well like .net, .biz, .online and so on. You will get the complete list from IANA
Also, there is no specific rule which gTLD should use by whom. But for categorization purposes, It is best to use what the purpose of your domain.
Also, there is a Country code top-level Domains:
- .us : For US country
- .in : For India
- .uk: For United Kingdom
And, You will got all the country code Top level domain as well like .nz for New-Zealand, .au for Australia and others
Why do you need a Domain Name?
Now that question will come to mind, Why you need a Domain or I can say who needs a domain.
- Any person who wants to mark their presence Online through Internet apart from Social Media Platforms.
- Companies and Agencies
- If you are a blogger and want to write any specific things.
- Ecommerce Platforms: We are living in a digital world. where people check the products online. You can start the eCommerce platform with your own domain as well.
For this profession, Must have their own domain names. It can be used for customized email as well.
Importance of Domain Name in Your Website?
As the Domain is the identity of your website. From the Domain Name, People will recognize you and your brand. so while selecting the Domain name, You should keep the following things in mind:
- Domain Name should be short and easy to remember.
- If your business is country-specific, You can use the country code top-level domain.
- Try to not use numbers while selecting your domain.
- If you have any organization with a specific name, You should use that name in Domain. Example Microsoft is using Microsoft.com.
Bonus Tip: If you are a Blogged and writing on specific niche. You can use the keyword in domain which is good for SEO purposes.
How to register Domain Names?
If you have decided to enter online and want to mark your presence Online. Your one of the first step to Register a Domain Name of your requirement.
There are Many Companies, from whom you can easily purchase the domain name of your choice. But is should be available and no one has earlier purchased it.
You can easily Purchase from following Registrar:
- Godaddy
- Namecheap
- Name.com
- BigRock
Currently, More that 300 Millions Domains are Registered.
Free Domain Names:
Free Domains: Yes you are reading right, You can get Free domain. which is not the proper domain name actually the Subdomain. It is like xyz.webhost.com.
There are some limitations come with the Free Domain.
- You cannot easily create a Brand-name with it.
- While doing changes, There are some limitations while monetizing your domain. Sometimes webhosts are monetized your traffic which gives your user a bad impression.
- Difficult to remember for users.
We personally recommend you If you want the online presence. Buy your own domain as It is not too costly. Approx 1$ yearly.
Difference Between Domain and Subdomain?
The Domain is the Primary URL for your website. From where Visitor can access it. However, the Subdomain is an extension of the Domain.
Example: Google.com; This is a Domain Name.
support.google.com: This is Subdomain for Google.com
You can create Multiple numbers of Subdomains from One Domain. You must have access to Domain while creating subdomains.
Also, Many websites and Platforms will provide the user to create their own subdomain within their Domain name.
Generally, these websites are Blogging Websites, Website Builders Example WordPress.com, Blogspot.com, wix.com, and others. You don’t have full authority for these domains. But you can create your online presence with little or no amount. These are hosted on their platform only.
IDN Domain Name:
IDN stands for Internationalized Domain Names.
As you all know, when you use the Internet. The basic language used in Domains is English. Like google, yahoo, Bing. All used English character. Now, You can type in multiple languages.
Now ICANN comes with the setting of multilingual domain Names. You can choose Domains in different scripts such as Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic or Devanagari.