Getting Started Chapter 3 – Domains, your online identity

In the real world, you got a name, an address, in short, a unique identity. Similarly, in the virtual world you would also need an identity…. Something which is unique and represents you and your website… Something which like your name or address… Something which is a DOMAIN. Yeah! that’s the most convenient way to reach a website.

What is actually a DOMAIN?

A DOMAIN is an identification tag for a website. You have surely seen something like domain.com ( eg. divyun.com). Well, that is what’s exactly called a domain name. Its like a camouflage for the IP address (you know long sets of numbers like 192.0.0.1) which are the real addresses of your site and hard to remember. They are an excellent solution to those long IPs.

Advantages:

1. Easier to remember than their parent IP addresses.

2. Something that reflects you. This is really not possible with the numbers.

3. Ability to choose something unique where the IPs are just assigned to you.

4. Makes it easier for the search engines like Google, Yahoo, etc. to index them. Searching through IPs would really make a search engine a mess. Just give it thought, you search for the keyword ‘Webmaster’ and what you get is 123.056.042.999(random IP, might belong to someone) or something like that.

In todays scenario, I don’t think many webmasters actually even remember the actual IP of their websites. Well, that’s the case with me too…..

The DOMAIN diagram

At the top of the table are the TLDs(Top level domains). These include your .com, .net, .org, etc. Along with the TLDs there are ccTLDs which are Country Code Top Level Domains. These belong to a specific country. Like .in belongs to India, .us to United States, .uk to the United Kingdom, etc.

Here is the list of all TLDs and ccTLDs @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_top-level_domains.

Now second in the list comes the second level domain and that’s what we are usually meant to register.

A regular domain or Second level domain consists of two parts:

1. The domain name

2. The domain Extension

The Domain Name

That’s the innovative part of your domain because this can be simply anything. Here, you have freedom to choose from a variety of keywords from dictionary words to self-created.

The Domain Extension

Domain extension is actually the TLD or ccTLD you register under preceded with a .(dot). Like yourname.com, domain.in, etc.

Domains may even be a third level. Some examples are co.uk, co.in, etc. These work just like a TLD. And they are usually cheaper than their corresponding TLD or ccTLD.

Registering a domain name

Registering domain name is no big deal but there is more to it. You’ll find it out as we proceed.

First of all, you need to think about a proper label for your domain. Well this could anything as stated above but there are some restrictions:

1. No special characters are allowed in you domain name except -(hyphen)

2. When including a hyphen, your domain name con not begin or end with a hyphen. like -domain.com or domain-.com

3. Maximum length of your domain name can be up to 63 characters or so as mentioned by most hosts.

Problems you are likely to face while choosing a domain

Most of the times the domain you’ll be thinking of would have been already taken. As far as I know, all the one, two and three letter domains are already taken for most of the TLDs so you better not try for that. most of the dictionary words have also been registered already so you really need to think hard about the name you’ll want to register.

Dos and don’ts while choosing a domain name

1. See to it that your domain name is not too long.

2. Your domain name should be easier to remember. asdasfaxv.com is quite hard to remember isn’t it?

3. Your domain should have relation with your site. Nobody goes to table.com for information about satellites.

4. Try not include a hyphen in your domain name. They make your domain name to harder to remember.

Choosing the appropriate domain extension

.coms are the most popular TLDs. Most of the people would prefer a .com to any other domain extension. But with not many good .coms left to register, other extensions are gaining popularity. I’ll say if can get a .com the it would be the best otherwise go for anything like a .net, .info, .org  or even a country domain.

Now the, SECOND step is to find a domain registrar. I’ll say go with name.com. There services are the best ones around. Alternately you can go with Godaddy, 1and1domains or search for one on any search engine. A .com usually costs around $9 or so. Their prices vary with the domain registrars and time.

Most of the domain registrars are user friendly and the domain registration is smooth. But remember to preserve the information you get, mails you get from your registrar. You may require them later.

Do I need a domain now?

Well, actually you really don’t need to buy a domain at this point of the tutorial as you still are in the process of learning.

The Alternative

A free alternative to a TLD is co.cc. What you’ll actually get will be a sub-domain but it will work exactly like TLD.

Register one here.

Thanks for reading the whole of it. This tutorial is the part my ‘Getting Started’ series. I am sorry for any typos you might encounter and I am always open to healthy suggestions.

Next chapter will include on how to set up a domain and integrate it with your hosting account.

Signing off

DRV

(Divyun Raje Vaid)

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