What is a Domain Name?

The term domain name refers to the address of a website. To make it simpler, domain names are essential to websites in the same manner that names are important to people. Can you imagine people being addressed or being called using a series of pin numbers instead of their names? Remembering names is already a problem for most people so you can just imagine how chaotic it would be if people do not have names but just numbers.

This works the same way with websites which are addressed using domain names instead of a series of numbers commonly referred to as IP address. Like most numbers, IP addresses can be hard to remember and they are permanent meaning a new IP address for a new web hosting company.

While an IP address is just a series of hard to remember numbers, a domain name is something that can be given character and can be easily remembered. Try to browse the internet and if you want to know the domain name of the site being viewed, look at the browser bar.

The last word or series of letters after the domain name is the TLD (top level domain) also called extension under which the website address is registered. Examples of most common TLD´s are .com which refers to a commercial domain, .org which refers to a non-profit domain and even cn or fr which stands for China or France and which refers to the country domain. The extension are preceded by a period which is read as dot.

Both the name of the website and the domain extension make up the complete domain name of a site. People who are about to register their domain names should think carefully about the name because domain names are unique and it is what gives the website a unique characteristic.

By registering your domain name, you get the exclusive right to use that domain name but only for a certain number of years depending on the policy of the company where you bought your domain name. When that period expires and you want to continue using the domain name then you can renew your contract.

When choosing your domain name, you can use a maximum of 67 characters made up of letters from A to Z or number from zero to nine or a mixture of both numbers and letters as well the hyphen. The maximum of 67 characters already includes both the sub domain name and the TLD. SO if you want to have an easy-recall website then you better start thinking about a witty domain name, The key is to make your domain name catchy, easy to remember and more or less gives the user an idea of what the website is all about.

However, you can already register a domain name even if you do not have a website. On the other hand, registration of a domain name does not carry with it a website. While some domain registering companies offer web hosting, you can register your domain name with them and choose from the various web hosting companies.

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What is a TLD (Top Level Domain) & how to use them?

Por Liliana E. González

@LilianaElena

The International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, ICANN is an international nonprofit organization created in September 1998. Among other functions, ICANN is responsible for the system of administration of domain names or DNS (Domain Name System).

Top Level Domain is the last part of a domain name, the most common, more used and most recommended is the .com.

There are generic TLDs: consist of 3 or more letters and abbreviated gTLDs; Country codes consist of 2 letters representing the country, territory or geographical location to which they belong and are abbreviated as ccTLDs (Country code TLDs).

The gTLDs are subdivided into general (unsponsored) and sponsored:

Unsponsored gTLD are available for registration by any person or business:

.com - (commercial) This is the most common for domain names. It is also widely used in personal Web sites.

.net - Originally representing Internet Service Providers (ISP). It currently has widespread use.

.org - Usually represents non-profit organizations or groups

.biz - For business (business)

.info - primarily informational sites

.pro - Used for specific professions, usually intended for licensed professions. Examples include: Attorneys, Doctors etc.

A sponsored TLD is a specialized top-level domain that has a sponsor representing a specific community served by the domain. The communities involved are based on ethnic, geographical, professional, technical or other theme concepts proposed by private agencies or organizations that establish and enforce rules restricting the eligibility of registrants to use the TLD. For example, the .aero TLD is sponsored by SITA, which limits registrations to members of the air-transport industry. These sponsored gTLDs are:

.aero, .asia, .cat, .coop, .jobs, .mobi, .museum, .tel and .travel

ccTLDs are Country Code Top Level Domains. They are active sometimes even if the country it was created to represent no longer exists. The rules and policies for the registration of these extensions varies significantly from one another. There are already 250 different. Some of them are:

.de (Germany) is based on the first two letters of the German-language country = Deutschland. This is the second ccTLD with more demand (China is number one) and the third at a general level (the first stills .Com). To register this domain, the administrative contact must be resident in Germany and the website should refer or be related to that country. According to DENIC.de there were 12,830,677 registered .de domains on June 3rd 2009.

.cn (China) This is the first more desirable ccTLD and the second in general, after. com. This is sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and, according to data from China Internet Network Information Center there were 13,594,604 .cn recorded on June 3rd 2009.

Vanity ccTLDs are TLDs which are used for various purposes outside their home countries, because of their letters. They are exploding their marketing potential, for example:

.tv - (Tuvalu) Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls. Their 5 meters elevation above sea level place Tuvalu at the risk of disappear sunk at sea. Their .Tv TLD is used for related television or enterteinment industry sites.

.fm - (Federated States of Micronesia) The Federated States of Micronesia consists of 607 islands across the archipelago of the Caroline Islands east of the Philippines. Extensions .fm is used for FM radio stations and internet radio stations.

.me - (Montenegro) European country located on the Balkan Peninsula, western Serbia, on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea. Extensions .me are used for personal sites. In fact their marketing campaign is ".me is about you".

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