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Website Design Info - Part 2
By Richard Hill
What kind of 'dot' do I need?
by Richard F. Hill
? 2005 Richard F. Hill - All Rights reserved
This is the second of eight articles about website design. Our
discussion will deal with some of the issues which need to be
considered when developing a new online presence. You may
have already thought of some of these, but perhaps there are
probably things which you haven't even considered.
In the last article, we gave some thought as to what the
company wants to do with its online presence. This article
discusses what kind of name the online business will have, or
"What kind of 'dot' do I need."
The Company
The Great American Widget Company is a manufacturer of
widgets, that common household item that many find
indespensible. Until now, however, Great American has been
a 'brick and mortar' business. With the founder's son just out
of college, he is looking forward to expanding the company's
business on the Internet.
.com
.net
.org
.biz
.us
.tv
What's with all the dots! What kind of a 'dot' do I need?
Good question! First, let me say that if you're in business and
wish to advertise your products or services on the Net, you
must have your own domain name and a good hosting
provider. Keep your domain name as simple and focused as
possible.
A marketing maxim that if you're advertising to the general
public, is that it is vitally important to present a simple,
memorable message. Web addresses are no exception to
this. A well-chosen domain name can be absolutely essential
to your enterprise on the Internet. Some of the words used
here may be new to you and sound "technical", but don't
worry about it - just think of it as background material. And,
as you get more familiar with the web, it all comes together.
Okay, that said, let's talk about the different types of domain
names, and "Just what is a domain name?"
In simple terms, a domain name is a human-language
equivalent of an address on the Internet. The text for the
name is called the URL, or Uniform Resource Locator. The URL
for the ABC news organization is abc.com.
The name actually represents a number, or more correctly a
series of numbers, roughly comparable to a telephone
number. Like a telephone number, an Internet address is
unique and no two are the same. And, like a telephone
number, it serves to connect "callers" to one specific place on
the Net.
There are advantages to using names instead of just the
numbers alone. The most obvious is that people can more
easily recognize and remember a meaningful word than a long
string of numerals. The website abc.com is located at
199.181.132.250, which is the IP address for the site. That
number is called an IP Address, meaning Internet Protocol
address. Internet Protocol is a standard for network
communications, which is used throughout Net.
Another, major advantage is that a domain can be moved to a
new machine, where it will have a new number, but the name
will remain the same. The DNS (Domain Name System)
records are simply altered to reflect the change, and access to
the domain continues unchanged.
An Internet domain may be the "home" for any number of
things: web sites, mailboxes, files for downloading, even
entire computer networks. You see domain names as part of
practically every Internet address. In the e-mail address info
@ US-Email-Service.com (a mailbox), the domain name is US-
Email-Service.com. In the Web address
http://www.yahoo.com (a web page), the domain name is
Yahoo.com.
Occasionally, you will see the numeric address instead of the
domain name. http://209.59.173.179/ is a perfectly
serviceable address and it has the same function as
http://US-Email-Service.com.
It is sometimes useful to match up a domain name with its IP
Address, or vice-versa. This is commonly done with a utility
called "dnslookup". There are many dnslookup "gateways"
scattered around the Web.
Now we'll examine the name itself. Domain names have at
least two parts, separated by a dot or period.
The part after the dot is called the Top Level Domain (TLD).
The Top Level Domain serves to broadly categorize the name
as to its type or purpose. Common TLDs include .com
(commercial), .org (organization), .edu (educational
institutions), .net (networks), .gov (U.S. government) and .mil
(U.S. military).
Today, however, you can be a .net even if you are not a
network. (MyCompany.net Sounds big and important,
doesn't it?)
There are also hundreds of country TLDs, such as .us (USA), .fr
(France), .de (Germany), etc. These are in more general use
outside the US.
Additional "generic" TLDs (gTLDs) have been proposed and
will probably come into general use by sometime in 1988.
Domain names ending in .firm, .store, .web, .arts, .rec, .info,
.nom and possibly many others will become widespread on
the Net. All this is due to the exponential growth of the
Internet and the continued quest for meaningful names.
Addresses ending in .com are by far the most common at
present; they're generally intended to be commercial in
nature, although at present the .com TLD actually serves as a
catch-all for virtually all domain names that don't fit the other,
more specific TLDs.
The part of the domain name before the dot is the Second
Level Domain (SLD). If you're registering a name, you have
considerable freedom of choice in what this will be. So long as
the name you choose does not already exist under the same
TLD, and is not obviously a famous trademark owned by
someone else, its registration is generally allowed. An SLD can
contain up to 24 characters: letters, numbers and dashes are
allowed.
Databases of domain records are maintained by InterNIC, the
primary name registry on the Internet in the US, and by a
variety of similar agencies throughout the world. Accessed
through a utility program called WHOIS, these databases are
easily accessed from throughout the Net. There are a number
of sites that permit you to look up DNS information, the most
common of which is www.whois.net.
Incidentally, you may do well to remember that your own
domain registration will become a publicly-available WHOIS
record. For instance, perhaps you have a phone number or e-
mail address you'd rather not share with literally the entire
world... The company that registers your domain name will
usually offer a means to keep your information private.
If you are thinking about getting a domain name of your own,
use the link below and see if it is available for you. Or you can
try different combinations. And when you find the right one,
you can register it right away so your neighbor doesn't get
"your" name! You can check out names you like here.
Richard Hill makes it easy to learn how to use an
autoresponder, showing what they are and how to get the
most out of them. Click Here to get your copy of the Free
eBook "Autoresponder Cash Flow NOW!".
About the Author
Richard Hill makes it easy to learn how to use an autoresponder, showing what they are and how to get the most out of them. Go to www.US-Email/Service.com/arcfn.htm to get your copy of the Free eBook "Autoresponder Cash Flow NOW!".
Article Source: http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/9545.html
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| Some other articles by Richard Hill | Finding A Web Designer
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© 2005 Richard F. Hill - All Rights reserved
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by Richard F. Hill
Copyright 2005 - Richard F. Hill - All Rights reserved
This is the first of eight articles about website design. Our
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12 Tips To Great Websites
© 2005 Richard F. Hill - All Rights reserved
Why do some sites succeed while the vast majority of
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