Domain Names

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If you've spent any time at all surfing the ...
then you've seen adomain name. You may not have known, but you can be sure that you've ...
what are domain names all about? Here are some c If you've spent any time at all surfing the internet, then you've seen adomain name. You may not have known, but you can be sure that you've seenone.So what are domain names all about? Here are some common questions and theanswers.What is this thing called a domain name? It is a completely unique address which identifies a collection of web pages(generally called a web site) that are publicly accessible.
A domain nameidentifies your site and allows people to get to it without knowing thetechnical details of it's TCP/IP address and so forth. A good domain namealso informs people what your site is about.Is a domain name only for web sites?No.
A domain name also is used for email identification. In addition, otherkinds of systems such as newsgroups and FTP servers are often identified bya domain name.Why is a domain name important?If you create a web site, you don't absolutely need a domain name.
In fact,the vast majority of people create a web site on a free host. These freehosts typically have many thousands (and in a few cases millions) of websites on the same domain, each site identified by a unique name.However, if you have the desire to do anything significant on the internet,then you need to get your own domain name.
Why? It's considered moreprofessional, it is not very expensive, and many of the major search engineswill not spider free host sites which do not have their own domain name.What are the components of a domain name?There are two to three parts to a domain name. Let's take a typical domainname - "internet-tips.net".
This domain name has two parts. The first,"internet-tips", is a second-level domain name.
The second part, the ".net"is a top-level domain name. You can also have a third (or even more) part,called a subdomain.
For example, "search.internet-tips.net" might be a validsubdomain. The whole thing together identifies a web site or sites.What is a subdomain for?A subdomain is used to drill down deeper into a site.
For example, a webhost that allows other people to create sites might offer subdomains. Eachsubdomain might be a unique site.
Subdomains can also be used to identifyfunctions - "search.internet-tips.net" is a good example of a functionoriented subdomain.What are the valid top-level domains?The current major top-level domains are listed in the table below.Domain Usage.COM Commercial business.EDU 4-year university or college.GOV Government.INT International.MIL Military.NATO NATO field.NET Network related organizations.ORG Non-profit organizationThere are also top-level domain names for countries - these are defined byISO-3166. In addition, new top-level domains are in the process of beingcreated - these are described in "The new domains are coming soon".The intended purpose of the top-level domain is to allow surfers to know,just by looking at the characters, what kind of site they are examining.
Forexample, a site with a top level domain of ".EDU" is a university or fouryear college.Unfortunately, restrictions of the use of top-level domains (especially.ORG) has not been enforced. Thus, the divisions between the domain nameshas blurred.How do people get domain names?There are over 200 companies (called Domain Registrars) whose only purposeis to sell you domain names.
All you have to do is find one and give themmoney. They will take care of the rest.How much does it cost to get a domain?It depends upon where you get your domain name.
You can find many placesthat will register for free in return for some service or product. Some willcharge a yearly fee, some will only charge for the registration itself.
Ingeneral, I would not pay more than $35 a year. If you look around, you canget this down to under $10.What about Network Solutions?Until recently, you could only purchase domain names from a company calledNetwork Solutions.
You can still purchase your domain name directly fromthem. However, you now have the option of using any of several hundreddifferent companies.
It is up to you.How many domain names can a person own?As many as he wants. You do have to be careful about cybersquatting, whichis the practice of purchasing a domain only to block someone else or forcethem to pay you money (it's could be described as domain name extortion).Can domain names be sold or traded?Yes, as long as the rules for cybersquatting are not violated.
There areseveral companies who specialize in the buying, selling and bidding ondomain names.Can you have more than one domain name go to the same site?Yes, if your ISP supports it. Actually, some domain registrars will supportthis even if the ISP does not.This, by the way, is a good idea under some conditions.
Suppose you have asite which is commonly misspelled. You might purchase your domain and themisspelled domain name, and point them to the same site.It's often a good idea to purchase the ".NET", ".ORG" and ".COM" versions ofyour domain name if they are available.
This prevents the problem thatoccurred with the whitehouse - whitehouse.gov is indeed the whitehouse, butwhitehouse.com is a pornographic site.Many ISPs or web hosts will charge extra for this feature if you do it usingtheir services.What are the qualities of a good domain name?A good domain name should tell your visitors what your site is about. Itshould be easy to remember and it should be as short as possible.Can you purchase a domain name just to prevent someone else from getting it?Yes you can, as long as it does not violate the rules of cybersquatting.
Infact, many companies will purchase as many variations of their domain nameas they can. For example, if you company was named "AOL" you might want topurchase the domain "AOLSUCKS.COM" to prevent an AOL bashing site from beingset up.I've heard about long domain names - what about them?Long domain names were all the rage during recent years.
The concept was toget as many long domain names as you could with keywords related to yoursite. For example, for "internet-tips.net" you might also get"internet-tips-web-site-help.net" and "webmaster-helpful-hints.com" as wellas "protecting-websites-danger.com".
Although it should be obvious that nosurfer is going to type these long domain names, the idea was search engineswould see the various keywords. This was touted as important for boostingyour ranking in the search engine listings (ranking is how high up on thelist you get - a ranking of 1 means you are first).As far as I can tell, this is all so much hogwash.
Save your money forsomething useful.What about the domain names that require my browser be modified to see?One company decided to offer it's own set of top level domains. It did thisby maintaining it's own tables and offering a browser plug-in to interestedsurfers.Personally, I believe this is one of the silliest things I've ever heard.
Iwouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. These people are side-stepping theestablished domain naming system, and it's highly unlikely that they will berecognized throughout the internet.
If their domain name tables ever becomerecognized by the main top level servers, then I would consider theirservices. Otherwise, I think I will save my money.How do I see if a domain is already registered?You can check the WHOIS database.
Internet Tips And Secrets hosts a WHOISlookup form.What happens if the registration renewal is not paid on time?You lose the rights to the domain and it can be sold to someone else.Additional InformationCybersquattinghttp://www.internet-tips.net/Legal/cybersquating.htmIt's illegal to purchase a domain name similar to trademarked name.Who Needs a Domain Name?http://www.internet-tips.net/Domains/domainnames.htmYou've worked hard on your site and you want to be professional. You need adomain name.Domain Parkinghttp://www.internet-tips.net/Domains/domainparking.htmGot a domain name but you're not ready to put together a site? If so, youwant to park your domain.Registering a domain namehttp://www.internet-tips.net/Domains/registering.htmIf you want your web site to be respected or to make any significant money,you had better register a domain name.Transferring a domainhttp://www.internet-tips.net/Domains ransferring.htmUnhappy with your domain registrar? Price too high? Then go ahead andtransfer your domain to another one.The new domains are coming soonhttp://www.internet-tips.net/Domains/new.htmA number of new domains have been approved.
This is good news for webmastersas it adds more choices to naming your sitesNetworks - WHOIShttp://www.internet-tips.net/Networks/whois.htmNeed to find out who owns a domain name? Want to see if a domain has beenpurchased by someone? The WHOIS tool is what you need to use.URLs give names to web pages and documentshttp://www.internet-tips.net/Basics/urls.htmA URL is a Uniform Resource Locator which allows web pages to locate oneanother throughout the world. Article Tags: Long Domain Names, Domain Names, Domain Name, Good Domain, Top-level Domain, Top-level Domains, Long Domain Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com .