Domain Name in 2024: To make personal or business identity online i.e. creating a website or blog, you need to buy a domain name. Purchasing a domain name is the very first step to have an internet presence for an Individual, business or organisation. Today, we shall discuss about domain and and its importance.
What is Domain Name?
In simple words, a domain name would be the address of your site or blog. Domain name always ends with an extension of two or more characters like .us, .in, .com, .info, .org or .net etc.
We commonly called it as a website address. Internet users will find or identify your website through your unique domain name. To understand better just have a look on these examples of Domain Name.
- Google.com
- AUBSP.com
- SuperWebTricks.com
Actually, domain name was developed so that people can easily remember alphabetical characters, I mean name, word or letters used for Internet Protocol (IP) Address.
IP address is a series of number to identify devices on the internet. Did you know? Each and every device that connect to internet is issued with a unique IP Address.
In other words, same IP address cannot be used simultaneously by two or more devices viz. Personal Computers, Laptops, Mobile phones or web servers.
The domain name Google.com is used for IP address 172.217.164.174 and accordingly you can now understand the reason behind domain name used instead of IP address. That means it is far easier to remember SuperWebTricks.com instead of long set of numbers i.e. IP address of my site Showeblogin.
How Domain works?
Domain name works through DNS (Domain Name System) which is also known as DNS server, or name server. Whenever we type a domain name in any internet browser, a DNS service immediately translates that domain name into the corresponding IP address.
For example, the domain name SuperWebTricks.com identifies my Showeblogin website. When a user types the domain name SuperWebTricks.com in their web browser, the DNS server will translate the domain name into IP numbers which shall be used by the Internet to connect the user to my site SuperWebTricks.com
Domain Name Structure
There are generally four parts in a domain name viz. Prefix, Subdomain, Name and Extension. For better understanding have a look on my site address https://www.superwebtricks.com
Domain Prefix
Domain Prefix (HTTPS): The Prefix part of a domain name is an internet application protocol of the domain.
Standard Prefix: http://
Secured Prefix: https://
Subdomain
Sub-domain (www.): Sub-domain is a third level domain of website name. In my site domain “www” is subdomain. However, some website owners do not use www part i.e. the web address would be https://superwebtricks.com
I have discussed more detail about sub-domain in this tutorial – What is Sub-domain?
Domain Name
Domain Name (SuperWebTricks): The second level domain of the website is the main Name of your website address, picked by the person registering the domain.
Domain Extension
Domain Extension (.Com): The domain extensions are Top-Level Domains (TLDs). The top level domains can be picked for the variety of available choices.
A top-level domain is a domain name in the Domain Name System (DNS) that is a direct subdomain of the DNS root zone.
Therefore, domain name is a combination of Name and Extension i.e. superwebtricks.com
Did you know? Initially, there were only the following seven top-level domains created in the 1980s:
- .com (commercial)
- .net (network)
- .gov (government)
- .org (organization)
- .edu (education)
- .int (international)
- .mil (military)
As per the DNS root zone database managed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), currently there are more than 1.5K top-level domains available.
What is Sub-domain?
Sub-domain is a part of main domain name. By default, www is a subdomain of the main domain. You may create a subdomain to separate different areas of your site instead by buying another domain name.
Such subdomain can be used for defining unique content areas of your website. Thus, you may also say that subdomain is a second website, with its own unique content, but there is no new domain name.
Suppose you want to create a discussion forum or blog for your site then you may create forum.yourdomain.com or blog.yourdomain.com as the case may be for community/forum or blog for your site.
Subdivision can go down to 127 levels deep and each DNS label can contain up to 63 characters. However, the whole domain name does not exceed a total length of 255 characters.
Example: In website URL, https://ads.google.com, ads. is subdomain of Google.com domain, which in term is a subdomain of the “.com” top-level domain (TLD).
ads[sub-domain].google[domain].com[top-level-domain]
Why Should I Buy a Domain Name?
We have already discussed above about meaning of domain, how domain works and it’s structure. Now, I am providing you some useful factors that will help you to decide whether you should buy a domain name or not for your business or startup or personal blog.
Importance of Domain Name: Following are the main reasons to have your own domain name for website:
Unique Identity
Domain for Unique Identity: If you have your domain name, you will be identified online through your unique name among more than 989 million online websites. In other words, you can only reach my site through superwebtricks.com which is the unique identity for my site Showeblogin.
Email ID
Domain for Business/ Professional Email: You will be able to create your own business Email ID like yourname@yourdomain.com or admin@yourdomain.com or contact@yourdomain.com which would be more helpful for your customers.
Making Brand
Domain for Brand Name: You can make your own brand name by purchasing your domain name for your site. A simple question will depict the whole thing that how many people knows the name Larry Page and Jimmy Wales rather the brand names Google and Wikipedia today. Thus, the domain name would increase your brand awareness.
Online Address
Domain for Website Address: Your domain name would be your online address which can help your customers to contact you any time and from anywhere.
Marketing Tool
Domain for Digital Marketing: Yes! Your domain name will help to get exposure for your business. It is one of the best digital marketing tool to have a website with your own domain name.
Competitive World
Domain for Universal Unique: There would never be two or more parties to have same domain name simultaneously. Many people have same name in this world but your domain name shall be universally unique. Thus, in this competitive world everyone is trying to have their domain name with their own choice. I mean to say that your competitors might get the right domain name which you want to buy for your own website.
Copyright
Domain for Copyright and Trade Marks : If you have your domain name it also help you to protect your copyright and trademarks.
SEO
Domain for Search Engine Optimization : Domain name shall also help your contents to appear on the top of Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Domain name is a primary way by which users can identify the link shown in SERP and accordingly they click to visit your site more frequently. That means it help gain higher rankings on Google, Yahoo and other search engines.
Future Plan
Many people secure domain name for their future plans for developing their ideas through creating website. Accordingly, you may get your domain name today even if you want to make your site in future.
Let me know your opinion. Is it compulsory to have your own domain for your business and why?
If you are ready to buy a domain name then, please consider the advanced factors for selecting best domain name for your online presence.