Understanding Domains
Understanding and choosing a domain name
Author: Ispas Marin
A domain name is basically a succession of characters that are entered into a computer as part of a website, URL, or an email address and then looked up into the global Domain Name System, which informs the computer of the IP address with that name.
Domain names are actually hostnames that provide names that are easier to remember to stand in for numeric IP addresses. They allow any kind of service to move to a different location in the topology of the Internet, which would then have a different IP address.
By translating numeric addresses to alphabetical ones, domain names allow Internet users to localize and visit websites. Additionally, since more than one IP address can be assigned to a domain name, and more than one domain name assigned to an IP address, one server can have multiple roles, and one role can be spread among multiple servers.
In the Domain Name System (DNS) language, each string of letters, digits and hyphens between the dots is called a label. Valid labels must respect certain rules, which have become less rigid over the course of time. Originally, labels had to start with a letter and end with a letter or digit, (any intervening characters could be letters, digits, or hyphens).
Later, it became permissible for labels to begin with a digit (but not for domain names to be entirely numeric), and for labels to contain internal underscores, but support for such domain names is uneven. These are some of the rules imposed by the way names are looked up by the Domain Names System. Some top level domains impose more rules on some labels, such as a longer minimum name length. Fully qualified names (FQDN) are sometimes written with a final dot.
Having to conform to so many regulations, choosing the most appropriate domain name and the preferred generic name isn’t always easy. Before buying your domain name, you should take in consideration several aspects:
- The best thing to do is to choose your site’s name as the basis of your domain name. The main advantage of matching your site’s generic name to the domain’s name is that it will be much easier for your customers to find you.
- Choosing the most suggestive generic name for your site is great, but most of them may no longer be available. However, selecting a domain closer to your market segment will definitely cut down the competition.
- Hyphenated Names are less likely to be already registered and therefore, they are a good option. The problem with hyphens is that they are more difficult to remember, considering the fact that customers are more likely to remember your name, not your URL. Therefore, hyphenated names should be used more carefully.
- If the .com or .co.uk extension is not available then consider the alternative TLD (Top level domain types) such as .net or .biz. You should consider this possibility, as your desired generic name might not be registered on other domain types.
- Sometimes, a domain name is free in the plural but not in the singular form. It’s up to you whether you choose a plural or a singular form for your name, but if your preferred choice is unavailable, you might be stuck.
- When your preferred domain name is not available, it’s always worth trying altering the domain name a little. You should try to modify the domain name by adding a prefix, a suffix, or other variations.
- Try to choose a shorter domain name. It will be easier to memorize, although less likely to be available. A longer domain is harder to remember, but can contain more keywords. As many search engines use keywords as part of the search algorithm, you should consider adding more keywords to your domain name.
- Any available domain type acts the same, and search engines don’t do preferential searches. A search engine finds keywords in all domain types. For example, it will make no distinction between a .com or a .co.uk domain.
By following these few steps in choosing your desired domain name and by properly matching the generic name of your site to your business, you should be able to increase and maintain the interest of your costumers and cut down competition.
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