The first step to launching your website is to select a proper domain name for it. But beginners often get confused as to what exactly is a domain name and the differences between domain and web hosting.
Let us dispel all your doubts and give you a brief overview of a domain name, how it works, and how you can choose the best domain name with a lasting impression on your website.
What Is A Domain Name?
What do you usually do when you want to access a website? Most people would try to search for the website through a search engine or click on links. The other traditional way is to type out the URL of the website on the browser’s address bar. Either way, you make your browser accesses a website through an URL link, and the domain name forms the most important part of every URL link.
A WordPress domain name is an address assigned to a website to make it easier to access it over the internet. It is the first part of any URL that specifically identifies the website. For instance, Google.com is the domain name for the Google web search engine.
Every website that needs to be made accessible over the internet must register for a domain name so that the public domain name servers can direct the browser requests to the proper web servers.
Unlike other components of your website like content, web pages, and the code, the domain name of your site is not an entity contained in your website. It is instead an address used to identify your website’s resources on the internet.
What is DNS?
DNS stands for the Domain Name System, a global network consisting of servers that help forward domain name requests and help translate domain names to the corresponding IP addresses.
How Domain Names Work?
Every computer connected to the internet is assigned a unique IP address, which is a series of numbers. For instance, ‘127.0.0.1’ is the IP address used for the localhost machine. In a massive network like the internet, there will be millions of websites. Remembering all the random numbers of all the websites you want to visit will be difficult, hence why domain names were invented. Instead of the IP address, you can now type in an easy-to-remember, descriptive domain name to access the websites.
The domain name you entered will then be translated into the corresponding IP address, and the requests will be directed to the right server. Here is how the series of steps involved take place:
- When a domain name is entered in the browser, the browser sends a request to the DNS (Domain Name System).
- The request will be forwarded to the appropriate name servers, which are managed by the hosting companies.
- The hosting platform will then forward the request to the webserver that hosts your website, returning a response depending on the request received.
What is TLD?
Domain names usually consist of two parts, the Top Level Domain name (TLD) and the descriptive domain name phrase.
TLD is the domain extension that comes after the very last dot present in the domain name. For instance, in the domain name google.com, ‘.com’ is the domain extension used. There are many different types of TLDs in use, depending on the purpose of the website. For commercial purposes, .com is the most popular choice of domain extension used by many websites. Other commonly used TLDs are listed down below:
Country Code Top Level Domain – ccTLD
ccTLD is country-specific domain name that specifies the country of origin of the website. This is most useful for sites that provide personalized services depending on the geographic region. For instance, .uk for the United Kingdom, .in for India, .de for Germany, and so on.
Sponsored Top-Level Domain -sTLD
This category of TLDs is used for specific purposes that represent a particular community. Examples: .edu for Educational sites, .gov for US government sites, .mil for the US military sites, and so on.
You may check with your hosting provider for more info on this.
What Are Subdomains?
Subdomains are a particular part of the domain URL used by web platforms like WordPress sites to manage microsites. These are designated prefixes that help manage a specific portion of the website. For example, blog.sample.com has the blog subdomain name to manage the blogs of the website.
Search engines will index subdomains like blog site names as completely separate websites from the main website. This makes structuring large websites easier and can be advantageous when it comes to optimizing SEO. Subdomains can be set up using your hosting provider’s dashboard or control panel settings.
How To Choose A Domain Name?
The basic purpose of a domain name is to identify your website. Hence, the very first qualification for a fitting domain name is that it should be relevant to the purpose or intent of your website. For instance, if you are an e-commerce store or a casino platform – make sure that users can make it out with its domain name.
Your domains should be as close as possible to the purpose of your website to ensure maximum visibility and reach. Also, remember to choose the right domain extension.
In most cases, high-value generic domain names will already be taken or have high registration costs associated with them. So go for cheaper but catchy alternatives that will fit your website. Make your domain names easy to understand, concise, and memorable.
Here are some more tips to consider when you choose a domain name:
- Make sure the domain name is easy to type with fewer chances to make spelling mistakes.
- Focus on your brand when you choose a name. Try to include niche keywords that represent what your website does.
- Try to select a name that is easy to pronounce and is memorable
- Avoid using hyphens and numbers in the domain name.
- Think of the long term growth and scope of your site when you name it.
The Wrap Up
We hope this article would have helped you in choosing the right domain name. Once you have selected the domain name, the next steps include buying the best hosting and an attractive theme.
To get more information on launching your website, stay tuned with us. We will be back with the next post soon!