What Is A Domain Name?
Anyone who is starting a new website for the first time may want to know what a domain name is. It is okay if you don’t know what a domain is because not everyone has their own website. So, if you want to know more about it or think you needed one, then this article will give you an explanation on what a domain name is.
Domain Name Is an IP Address
A domain name is basically an address, or to specify a significant website on the internet. Think of it as your own house. If you have a house and your friends and family needs to know where it is, your address will tell them specifically where your house is located. Now, the domain name’s function is similar to your house address, where to helps people to find where your website is at. Your website is represented by the IP address which is actually a numeric address that looks like 215.61.44.247. These numbers specify where a website is at and each website has a unique IP address.
As you can see from the example above, the IP address isn’t exactly that helpful when we need to remember it. So, that is where domain names come in the picture. It usually consists of a string of characters and makes it easier for us to remember because we can choose domain names with words that make sense to us. Usually, people buy domain names with their own names or company names. It is completely up to you what you want as your domain to represent your website.
Where Can I Buy a Domain Name?
A domain name can be bought easily from the domain registrars who are aplenty on the web. Just do searches on Google or your favourite search engine and you will see a long list of domain registrar suggestions for where you can buy domain names.
You need to check if the domain name that you want to buy is available and not taken by someone else. So, it is completely normal when you find that before you purchase your desired domain name, you can be told that it has already be taken. The only choice you have is to choose another. And most registrars have availability search tool in their websites where you have to write your preferred name and tool will check its availability. But unfortunately those tools will not suggest or provide you great list of available domain names if your desired domain name is taken or already registered. And this is where a domain naming or generating tool like domain name generator can be very handy and helpful.
Popular gTLD & cTLD Domain Registrars
You can easily purchase a domain name with a few mouse clicks. The popular domain registrars that most people purchase their domain names from includes GoDaddy.com, Name.com, NameCheap.com, 1and1.com and many more. Most of these registrars are very popular for regular gtlds (generic top level domains) like .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .modi etc. However registrars like 101Domain.com and EuroDNS.com are very popular for ctlds (country top level domains) domains like .com.cn, .de, .com.hk etc.
How Much A Domain Name Cost?
Most of the registrars are the same and you can choose one that offers you better service and offers to save some money when you purchase your domain. Most of the time these domain costs around $10/per year. Each year you will need to renew your domain or you can lose it. You can even register a domain name for up to 10 years.
With the brief explanation above, hopefully you can get to understand what a domain name is, its uses and how you can purchase one for your website. Most difficult part of this process is finding an appropriate domain name for your website. And it is always wise to use a domain naming tool to get some domain name suggestions & ideas.
