Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Domain Name And components

What Is Domain Name?

We often wonder as newbies when we hear the word; domain name, we try to attempt defining it from our own understanding. From the offline perspective, domain may sound to you as a territory or someone’s boundary or even as your immediate covered environment. You are somehow close to the definition as domain name simply means your territorial name on the internet.

Domain name is what defines your address on the internet; it is your address through which people can get to your website or Uniform Resources Locator (URL). It is often called the internet address. Your domain name is what determines how you can be reach by numerous internet users from all over the world. This is what you type in the address bar of your browser whenever you want to browse a website.

Domain name is a unique property of an individual, an entity or an organization. Your domain name is unique all over the world. You can register or lease a domain name on a monthly or annual basis. Once you register a domain name, no one else can use it for the period that you pay for until it expires.

Components of domain name

A standard domain name usually comes with prefixes and different suffixes that generalize the address unification on the internet, the standard web address prefixes and suffixes read like the followings:

http://www,

https://www,

ftp://www,

.com,.org, .edu, .info, .biz, .tv, .me, .mobi

e.t.c.

All these prefixes have their respective meanings, which we shall attempt to discuss here;


HTTP – Short for HyperText Transfer Protocol, the underlying protocol used by the World Wide Web. HTTP defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and what actions Web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands. For example, when you enter a URL in your browser, this actually sends an http command to the Web server directing it to fetch and transmit the requested Web page.

WWW – This a system of Internet servers that support specially formatted documents. The documents are formatted in a markup language called HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) that supports links to other documents, as well as graphics, audio, and video files. This means you can jump from one document to another simply by clicking on hot spots. Please note that Not all Internet servers are part of the World Wide Web, some are designed to link others privately, especially for corporate purpose.

.com, .org, .edu, etc. – this are called top level domains suffixes, they are ever increasing daily online.

CC TLD – this simply means Country Code, Top Level Domain. Example of CCTLD are .co.uk –United Kingdom sites, .com.ng – Nigeria sites, .ke – Kenya sites, .com.gh – Ghana , .cn – China sites, etc.

How to register a domain

Registering a domain is easy and simple in steps. All you will need is to ensure that it is synonymous to your kind of idea that your website will entail. This makes it easier for search engines and the likes to enlist it on time. On the average, a domain would cost about 8 dollars a year.

Please note that you can buy a total package that includes domain name and web hosting, this makes it easier as it allows you to enjoy the full service of the registering company.

The followings are the easy steps:

  1. Decide the name for your domain, make sure you write more than one domain name in case your primary choice is not available.
  2. Make sure your domain name in one way or the other has something to do with your website contents, though not compulsory but considering that will help people to automatically have access to the site easily by typing any relevant keywords.
  3. If you are taking an offline business which already has a brand name online, ensure you register a domain name that is exactly or closely related to that name for easy access by your existing offline customer.
  4. Log on to any desired domain name register site like www.register.com, www.moniker.com, www.netfirms.com, e.t.c.
  5. Check for the availability of your chosen domain by typing it into the domain checking box of the register and click submit.
  6. Follow the instructions afterwards to complete the signup process.


Domain Parking

Domain parking is an online business that has been thriving tremendously in the recent time. Domain parking entails registering domains that are synonymous to a project or companies that are yet to come on the internet before the concerned body decides to go online. By the time the concerned body decides to go for the domain, they will need to consult you, and then you resell it to them at the amount you deem it fit. Some people resell to make up to a profit of about a thousand percent or more.



Lanre Adeboye

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