Web Hosting Reviews & Ratings

January 13, 2011

Domain Names 101

There are millions of websites on the internet. This makes standing out from the crowd exceptionally difficult. In order to attract people to visit your web properties you will need to have desirable content, but also a memorable domain name.

What is a Domain Name?

A domain name is the web address that people will enter to access your website. An example would be www.mydomainname.com. There are also plenty of regional domain names such as .com.cn for china and .co.uk for the UK. If you are aiming your website at a particular region then you will need to consider the regional domains as well as a .com domain.

What Makes a Good Domain?

There are several things which make a good domain name, these include:

• Short and Catchy – Easier to Remember
• Easy to Spell
• No Complicated characters
• Describes what your business does – although not essential

The easier a domain name is to remember and spell, the more likely people will be able to visit it. This will also make it much easier for them to tell other people about your website.

Choosing a Domain Name

Choosing a domain name is very difficult. This is because of the sheer number of websites already operating on the internet. Most popular domain names are taken and are therefore unavailable. This means that you will need to think long and hard in order to find a good quality domain name. You may also consider a new and popular domain extension, the .CO. .CO domains may allow you to pruchase the domain name you have dreamed of, that was potentially purchased years ago in the .COM boom.

Once you have decided on the domain name you want to purchase you will then need to register it. Fortunately this is very easy. Find yourself a domain name registrar such as Go Daddy, Cheap Names or NetBenefit. There are quite a few different registrars available; many of these have different prices and services.

Setting up Your Domain

When you have finished purchasing your domain name you will then need to set it up. There are several different ways of doing this, you can either redirect the users to a free hosting account, or change the DNS information so that the site points towards your server.

By changing the DNS information you will be able to get the most out of you domain name. This will allow you to set up email addresses and sub domains through your normal hosting account panel.

Tags: DNS,  regional domain names,  web address,  choosing domain name,  domain name