What is a Domain Name and Why Would You Want One?
What is a Domain Name? Before we can go into what a
domain name is I’m going to tell you why we need them as
the answers compliment each other. The Internet is just a really
big collection of connected computers (a network). For the
purpose of explaining domain names you can think of the Internet
a bit ike the phone system and just like the phone system every
computer on the Internet has it’s own phone number except an
Internet phone number is called an IP addresses. This address is
made up of up to 12 digits in the form 123.123.123.123,
computers use these IP addresses to send information to each
other over the Internet.
When the Internet was first created it quickly became clear that
these IP addresses were not easy to remember and another method
was need to make these addresses more human friendly.The
solution to this was the Domain Name System (DNS). Basically the
DNS is a really really big phone book for computers. When
you type a web site address into your web browser it checks the
DNS for that website name and finds the IP address. Once it has
the IP address it can then send a message to that computer and
ask it for the web page you wanted.
Ok so you know a domain name is part of a web site address
but which part? Lets look at a website address so we can
identify and discuss what bit of it is a domain name.
http://www.allwebhosts.com.ru/indexhtml
The above address is the home page of the this web site. It can
be split into 3 main parts. The first part is http:// this just
tells your web browser what kind of information it is going to
get and how to get it. The last part is /index.html this is name
of the files on the remote computer that you want your browser
to get. The bit in the middlewww.allwebhosts.com.ru is a
domain name. This is the name that your computer sends to the
DNS to get back the IP address.
So you know what a domain name is and that there is a phone book
called the DNS to change your easy to remember domain name into
an IP address that you computer can understand. The Internet
phone book (DNS) is special in that everyone on the Internet
needs to be able to use it. This makes the DNS very very big
(100+ million addresses big). Due to the size of this phone book
it needed to have a carefully organised and managed structure.
Domain names themselves are split into different levels like
a hierarchy. The DNS system uses this hierarchy to search
the DNS for the IP address of the domain name it is trying to
find. The last bit of a domain, in the previous example the com
part is called the top level domain. There are a large selection
of top level domains like com, net, org and info. There are also
very similar endings called country level domains like uk and
de. Each of the top level and country level domains are managed
by a different organization, sometimes these are companies or
non profit organizations and sometimes governments. In the
domain business these organisations are referred to as the
registries. Each registry looks after it’s own part of the
domain name system.
If you decide you want to use a domain name in the top level
domain com, like mycompany.com you would have to have this name
assigned by the registry that manages that top level domain (for
..com a US company called VeriSign). The process of being
assigned a domain name is called domain registration.
Domain registration is more like a lease than a purchase.
You are renting the second level domain (the mycompany bit) from
Verisign for a specific amount of time normally between 1 and 10
years at a time. Most of the organizations that allow you to
register a second level domain charge a fee for each year that
you register the domain for. With almost all domain names you
are also given the option to renew your registration (lease)
when it is close to running out (expiring).
Once you have registered a second level domain you are free to
create as many third level domains (sometimes called sub
domains) as you like.
Once you have registered a second level domain you are free to
create as many third level domains (sometimes called sub
domains) as you like. In our previous example the www is a sub
domain of itxcel.com.
Most of the registries that manage these top level domain names
do not allow individuals or businesses to register domains
directly with them. To register a domain you need to use a
company like Allwebhosts. We act as a registrar and send all the
required information and the registration fee to the registry.
Registrars are useful as they hide the differences that exist in
each of the registries from the customer and provide a simple
step by step process for registering a domain. A registrar also
allows you to manage and track all your domains from one place
rather than having to deal with a different company for each top
level domain.
OK so I know what a domain name is, Why do need one? Can
you image what a nightmare it would be if you had an email
address like myname@123.246.128.255 or a web site address
http://123.246.128.255/? These addresses are possible but not
very easy to remember. Now if you register a domain name you
could create an email address like myname@mycompany.com and a
web site address like mycompany.com. These are much easier to
remember and look 100 times more professional.
One of the important points about registering a domain is
that once done you have an exclusive right to use that domain
for as long as you keep the domain registered in your name. If
you do not renew a domain at the end of it’s registration period
it will again become available for registration by someone else.
For this reason even if you don’t want or need a web site at the
moment, it’s still a good idea to register a domain as soon as
possible. Just imagine if your competition registered the domain
name of your company or product. Although there is a process in
place to retrieve these domain it can be long and complicated.
It is definitely simpler to spend a little money up front to
secure your chosen domain names.</b
I want to open an online clothing store and I want to know if I would have to get the domain name or clothing?
store name copyrighted or do anything else with it? Anyone that has an online store and that is willing to help and give feedback is welcomed to contact me.
Buying the domain name as a "Your-Business-Name.com" type of buyout automatically gives you the traditional copyright to it.
You don't need to register it anywhere. It's yours. You own it.
WATCH OUT, though, for those small companies that have no website, and could potentially be already legally filed as the name you want to get.
That would be the only pitfall.
Of course, the odds of that are small now. But it can happen.
Additionally, if your are the one producing the "clothing line," because you like to create clothes and you are trying this out, or any reason, trademarking your "brand" would be wise, but something that you could leave for later, whenever you see business beginning to pick up, as trademarking can be costly.
If you are not going to be producing the clothing line, the best thing for you to do would be to affiliate yourself to either major retailers like Levi's or AE, or through online retailers like Amazon, and sell as an affiliate through them.
Good luck.
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