How to Use a Domain Name: Explore the Beginner’s Guide
Beginners always wonder what a domain is and how to use a domain name while forming any website. If you are equally curious, then we are here to establish some facts straight.
Let’s discuss what domain and how you can use it in creating your website. Keeping the business objectives in mind, you must understand and choose the right domain name for your website.
What Do You Mean by a Domain Name?
A domain name is the website address people use to access the world wide web, thanks to the URL bar in the web browser for a website visit. You will eventually find a domain name like an address. Let’s say you have the website like a house.
With a much better and more explicit explanation in the website world, the internet is a giant network of computers that connects to a global network where each can easily connect and communicate with another computer through the worldwide link. It allows users to reveal their computer identity over the internet. Each computer has a specific Internet Protocol (IP) address to get visible and distinct identities. In short, you will find the series of strings uniquely describing the computer identity.
Typically learning or remembering the IPAddress in the form of a number string can be pretty challenging. Domain Name is introduced as an alternative to solve this issue when visiting your favorite website. Now it is not necessary anymore to remember the number string. Instead, you can learn the domain name from the website address.
What is a Domain Name System (DNS)?
DNS is like a phonebook on the internet world where you can access the information online through domain names such as ibm.com or espn.com. You can find web browsers easier interaction through InternetProtocol (IP) addresses. DNS enables domain names to translate to InternetProtocol (IP) addresses for browsers to load internet resources. You can find each device has a separate internet protocol address to locate other devices. DNS servers remove the human intervention for IP address memorization like 192.167.1.1 (in IPv4).
How Can You Use Your Domain Name?
Begin getting on the mechanism that works for your website and what happens when you open it up in your browser. For instance, you may need the website address to access the website http://hostinger.com/>. The domain name might be unavailable in its cache or database.
Because all domain names connect well to the respective Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and internet point that links to a particular web server for website hosting, you need to try out a DNS server. By inputting the domain name in your web browser, it will send the request to a worldwide network that creates a Domain Name System (DNS). DNS servers will locate domain name-related Internet Protocol (IP) with IP address information that returns it to the web browser. The browser sends data requests from the domain hosting server for the website. Once the hosting server sends the request back, the web browser can help convert it into a webpage.
Why Do You Need to Use the Domain Name?
There are a few reasons why you need to use a domain name for your business website or project.
Memorability
It is pretty easy for any user to access the website after he inputs the IP address. Because remembering IP addresses comprising of a string of numbers is not easy to deal with. you will feel the domain is freely available to internet users.
Effective Branding
The website has a well-conceived and demand-invoking domain to communicate the business or project. Furthermore, it integrates the business mission and vision concerning effective website branding.
Credibility
Customized domain names present a better and more professional appearance than free domain names like “yourwebsite.websitebuilder.com.”
Custom email addresses
A domain name can help you create a distinct and professional email account like name@domainname.com. It makes a dependable and unvarying presentation across different online channels.
SEO
It is pretty helpful for remembering the domain name with targeted keywords. It can influence SEO for website optimization and boost the search result ranking.
How Can You Segment & Use Different Domain Names?
Segmenting different domains can give insight into the website with some commonly found web domains.
Numerous domains are accessible online; however, the “.com” domain is quite common among them because it is widely available on almost 54% of all websites. Acquiring the popular top-level domain is best if you intend to generate a higher user viewership.
The top-level domain is the domain extension visible at the end of the website address. However, unfamiliar extensions like “.online” are cheaper with the unique domain name. You can also avail of other domain choices like “.net,” “.io,” and “.store.”
Top-level domains are broadly classified into two categories.
- Country code top-level domains (ccTLDs)
- Generic top-level domains (gTLDs)
Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLD) for Specific Domain Name
Country-code top-level domains (ccTLD) are the specific codes for the country extension. The country code has two letters extension based on the international code. For instance, the United Kingdom has the “.uk” domain, and the United States has the “.us” country domain usually registered for US-based websites. Whereas Germany has a “.de” extension, India has a “.in” extension. This way, you can quickly determine and differentiate the website for different regions, especially international companies. For instance, Unilever has //unileverusa.com/ to target US residents. On the other hand, it offers //unilever.com/ for a global audience.
Use Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD) for Top-level domain name
These extensions generally refer to sponsored extensions for specific organizations or agencies because they depict certain associations with the organizations due to their particular audience affiliation with the domain. It is independent of country code or any criterion for acquiring your generic Top Level Domains (gTLD).
For instance, “.org” represent the organization extension, .gov is reserved for a government organization, and the educational institution offers a distinct domain like “.edu.” Business enterprise generally prefers the “.com” extension; however”.net” domain can be an alternate for those who don’t want to use a generic top-level domain (gTLDs).
How Can You Use Various Other Types of Domain Names
Other domains can also be another focus discussion if you intend to gather different extension types for other structures of domain names.
- Second-Level Domains
- Subdomains
- Free Domains
Second-Level Domains (SLD)
The Second Level domain comes next in the hierarchy of domain names. SLD is the portion of the domain that you can locate to the left of the last dot. For example, www.cnn.com carries “CNN” SLD in the domain name and “.com” in the TLD domain. Some domains can, however, reveal specific SLD for entity registration in the domain name registries. For instance, academic institutions usually register their websites under “.ac.uk” TLD, particularly in the UnitedKingdom.
Subdomains
A subdomain is the part of the parent domain with a separate division on your shared server. It is therefore not incumbent to register the subdomain. If you consider the technical aspect of the web address, you will find “www” in most of the URLs as part of the domain because ittells you that it’s a subdomain in the World Wide Web.
Here the question arises of why you need to create the subdomains—organizing and segmenting different web content into different sections. Let’s say you can find a different segment that Google generally helps retrieve the specific information for the developers. Therefore, it uses “developers.google.com” to navigate to a specific subdomain. In the same manner, Wikipedia uses different subdomains for almost any language. For English version, it utilizes <en.wikipedia.org/>, for Latina <la.wikipedia.org/>or for Arabic <ar.wikipedia.org/>
Free Domain Name
If using a content management system or WordPress, bloggers or website builders will get the opportunity of a free domain for new users. It is usually helpful for websites where you want to earn without significant investment.
