Domain Names

A Domain Name is a 'web address' that is used to direct people to your website. The name actually masks a numeric IP address, because they aren't easy to remember.

Like postal addresses, Domain Names necessarily need to be unique. The character set permissible are letters (a-z), numbers (0-9) and the dash symbol (-).

Domain Name Structure

http://www.mydomainname.co.uk

http: or https: - This isn't part of the domain name but a protocol to indicate the transfer type.
www - Means 'World Wide Web', not part of the domain name.
mydomainname - This is the part you choose to register and which, when combined with it's extension, must be unique.
.com, .co.uk, .info - The Domain Name Extension, which can be a geographical reference or a site definition type.

Each part is separated by a dot or full-stop (period). Examples:

A Domain Name Extension forms part of the name's uniqueness. 'www.mydomainname.com' is unique from 'www.mydomainname.org'. They are two separate Domain Names.

Registering A Domain Name

The easiest way to register a domain is via the web. There are thousands of companies offering to register a domain name on your behalf. It is worth shopping around as pricing does vary. There are also options to purchase your domain name at the same time as your hosting package, which is often cheaper.

Domain names are usually registered for one or two years, after which you'll be required to renew. You'll normally be notified that your registration period is about to end, and if you choose not to renew your domain it will become de-registered and available for others to register.

Companies that offer domain name registration via the web, will first run a search to ensure the domain name you've chosen is not already registered.

The official organisation that oversees the Domain Name register records will vary from country to country. You may receive a certificate as proof of ownership after registering.

You don't need a website to register a Domain Name. Because each domain name has to be unique, some people prefer to register theirs at the earliest opportunity, to avoid the risk that someone might register it before them.

What Name Should You Choose?

Most people will just use their organisation's name as their domain name, and that is perfectly fine. But if you're just starting out, or if for some reason you need to approach naming differently, there are some things it might be worth thinking about before choosing.

A domain name is obviously better if it's easily remembered. If possible, you want the spelling to be easy and obvious, and for company and made-up words, easily guessed at. Try to avoid ambiguity in spelling variations and meaning too. A prime example is our very own commercial web development domain name (an ancient and long story) - Frieze Design. When spoken this could be either www.friezedesign.co.uk or www.freezedesign.co.uk.

Should you use the 'dash' between words? People generally know that domain names can't include spaces. So if you tell someone your web address is "fantastic website designers", they'll probably know how to enter it in a web browser. But if some/all words are dash-separated, it's maybe not so obvious? People often register domain names with dashes because their ideal, dash-less version has already been taken.

Lastly, some people report that the words in your domain name can influence Search Engines. Their advice would be that if you are a Hotel you should include that word as part of your domain: www.theritzhotel.com

In Google, domain name words do get 'highlighted' if they match a 'search phrase'.

Common Domain Name Extensions:

.com - Strictly speaking this is short for 'commercial', and was originally used to define U.S. based commercial websites. Many people today though, register a .com domain name as a kind of 'global' based site. It doesn't seem to have any geographical significance these days. Not usually used by charities or non-profit organisations
.org - Short for Organisation. The most common extension used by charities. It can be used in conjunction with a country reference - .org.uk. Generally used to signify a non-commercial website.
.net - Short for Internet. used by both commercial and non-commercial websites. No geographical reference.
.ac, ac.uk - This denotes a Academic or Educational institution, usually combined with geographical reference.
.gov, .gov.uk - Short for Government Department, State Institution, usually combined with geographical reference.
.ru, .it, .fr, .de - Geographical references. Usually the first two letters of the associated country, (Russia, Italy, France, Germany).

New domain name extensions are regularly added, .info, .me, .tv and .io are some examples.