What Is a Domain Name, Benefits, How It Works and Different Types of Domain Names
Choosing a domain name is similar to choosing a company name — it requires a lot of thought and consideration. Your domain name is your identity on the web; you want to make sure you choose a domain name that not only fits your business but is also easy to find and promote. In simple, when you take office anywhere, it has an address. Similarly, when you go online, the domain name is the online address to find you & your business online. A strong domain name can also help in your SEO performance.
Domain Factors:
- Domain Extension: Choosing the right domain extension is very crucial in getting the right domain for your business or self. The options include:
- Top-level domains - TLDs are generic domain extensions that are listed at the highest level in the domain name system. They are also referred to as gTLD or generic top-level domains. There are hundreds of TLDs, but the most popular ones are .com, .org, and .net. Other TLDs are lesser known, for example, .biz, .club, .info, .agency, etc
- Country Code Top Level Domain – ccTLD: Are country-specific domain names that end with country code extensions like .uk, for the United Kingdom, .de for Germany, and .in for India, .ke for Kenya etc. They are used by websites that want to target audiences in a specific country.
- Sponsored Top Level Domain – sTLD: Sponsored top-level domain or sTLD is a category of TLDs that has a sponsor representing a specific community served by the domain extension. For example, .edu for education-related organizations, .gov for the United States government, .mil for the United States military, etc
- New Generic Top Level Domain – New gTLD: They help you claim the most suitable domain name that represents your brand story with a descriptive extension eg .style, .lawyer, .delivery, .fashion, .travel, .investments, etc
- Second Level Domain – SLD: This refers to the name that comes before the top-level domain or TLD eg com.au, net.au, .co.ke, etc.
- Domain Expiry: The Domain is active, not expired, if a domain is not renewed it expires and after some time released to the market. Anyone who registeres a domain for the 1st time becomes the owner. Some companies register and sell to people domains.
- Domain Name Servers: These settings point to the Hosting provider
- Locking other extensions: This I could not see but since it’s an international domain, these options are Ok.
- Domain Ownership: It is not clear “Who is the owner of this Domain” The domain ownership accredited to the registrant meaning data entry and just who owns the domain is not very clear. This may breach privacy.
- Domain Privacy: ICANN requires people registering domain names to provide an email, physical address, phone number, and other personal information to be made available publicly. Domain Privacy is a separate add-on service sold by domain registrars. It allows you to show proxy information instead of your actual personal info. It is optional.
Tips for choosing the Right Domain name:
- Stick with a .com domain name as it is the most popular, easy to remember, and easy to promote.
- Make sure it is shorter and easy to remember.
- Make it easy to pronounce and spell.
- Do not use numbers or hyphens.
- Use domain name generators to come up with clever domain name ideas.
How to Buy a Domain Name
You can buy your desired domain names from one of the many domain name registrars. A domain name registration typically costs 14.99 per year. Visit www.orawebhost.com to buy your domain name.
However, buying a domain does not automatically give you a hosting service. For that, you will need a website hosting account as well.
