by Charlotte Raynor Piggush

Created on: October 25, 2008

Websites are identified by an IP address if they do not have a domain name. What is an IP address? It is a classification that is utilized by people and computers to establish the location of a website or server. Though, for us humans, an IP address, (which is conveyed in a numerical configuration), can be hard to memorize. Domain names were created for this reason. A person can find a website using phrases or words that are friendly utilizing a domain name. Even though numbers can be a piece of the domain name, they typically are not the entire domain name like an IP address is.

Domain names have quite a few parts in terms of design. The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is what the initial portion is known as. The URL informs the browser where the domain name is going to direct to. This will typically be http', which means the browser can anticipate locating a hypertext text. This means webpage for ordinary people. Very seldom, the URL is not http' but ftp' which means file transfer protocol. This would be used if a webmaster wanted their guests to download files from their server.

The second portion of the domain name will be "www," which is an abbreviation for "World Wide Web." This phrase allows computers and humans identify that the site the domain name is directing to is in fact from the Internet. After that is the actual domain name, that can be a mixture of phrases, letters or numbers. A good domain name will be unforgettable, short and most notably, search engine friendly. Actually, good webmasters are inclined to focus more on a domain name's usefulness with SEO, (or Search Engine Optimization), than they do its creativeness. In order to accomplish this, they ensure they select a domain name that has a commonly searched keyword.

The last part of the domain name is called the extension. This allows a person to comprehend a small bit extra information about a website's foundation. For instance, .com is the most familiar domain name extension. It stands for 'commercial', and was initially meant for businesses in that strain. Nonetheless, the extension is now utilized by practically anybody wanting to construct a website. Given that, the majority of people that surf the web will consider the .com extension prior to considering .org, .net or .biz. However, don't believe that those additional extensions aren't unforgettable either. Think about Wikipedia.org which is an outrageously well-liked website in spite of its .org extension.

Domain name extensions can also identify objects on a geographical point. For instance, there are extensions that are country-based such as .jp that stands for Japan and .fr that stands for France. Extensions can also be based on states such as .ca for California. They can act as outstanding utensils for concentrated internet marketing.

In order to obtain a domain name, you can either 1) acquire one from a domain name company or 2) acquire one from your web hosting company, given they have that service. Normally the price of a domain name will vary between $6.50 and $35.00 and cost-wise they will fluctuate with both alternatives.

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