Domain Names Explained by Spectrum21 Marketing
What are Domain Names: A domain name is an address on the Internet. Just as your street address must be unique so that the post office can deliver mail to you, and your telephone number must be unique so that customers can call you, your domain name must be unique so your e-mail reaches you and customers can visit your Web site.
An international address system, called the Domain Name System (DNS), was developed to ensure that every computer connected to the Internet has its own address. In the DNS system, however, that address is actually a set of numbers such as 164.223.161.99, which is called the computer’s Internet Protocol (IP) address. Because these numbers are difficult for humans to remember, DNS allows you to assign a domain name, such as google.com, to your IP address.
Now, when you want to visit Yahoo’s Web site, you can type www.yahoo.com instead of an IP Address (206.190.36.45)
Top-Level Domain (TLD)
Every domain name is composed of two parts: a TLD (top-level domain) and a second-level domain. In the domain name amazon.com, the .com part is the top-level domain, and the word amazon is the second-level domain. While there is an almost infinite number of second-level domains, there are a limited number of generic TLDs, some of which are shown in the following table.
| Generic TLD | Purpose |
| .aero | Restricted for use by the international aviation community. |
| .biz | Restricted for use by businesses; .biz was added because .com is being used by some groups and individuals that are not businesses. |
| .com | Not restricted. This is the original TLD for businesses, but it has been used by many non-business groups. |
| .coop | Restricted to use by cooperatives. |
| .edu | Restricted to use by accredited educational institutions. |
| .gov | Restricted to use by the U.S. government. |
| .info | Not restricted. Intended for use by organizations that provide useful reference information. |
| .int | Restricted to use by organizations involved in running the Internet and organizations established by agreements among international governments. |
| .name | Restricted to use by individuals who want to register their own name as a domain name; this allows people to have their own personal Web sites without using .com or other TLDs. |
| .net | Not restricted. Intended for use by organizations who contribute to the construction or maintenance of the Internet. |
| .mil | Restricted to use only by the U.S. military. |
| .museum | Restricted to use by museums. |
| .org | Not restricted. Intended for use by organizations such as non-profits. |
| .pro | Restricted to use by professionals, such as lawyers and doctors, who can pass credential checks. |
| .tv | For use by the television industry, particularly broadcasters. |
| In addition to generic TLDs, there are a growing number of country code (cc) TLDs which associate Web sites with a particular country. For instance, .us can be used by companies in the United States . If you are an international company or do extensive business with another country, consider registering a domain name with the appropriate country code. Note that rules vary by country; some require your business to be incorporated in that country to qualify for their cc TLD. More than 130 country codes are currently in use; the following table lists a few. | |
| CC TLD | Country |
| .au | Australia |
| .ca | Canada |
| .cn | China |
| .co.ul | The United Kingdom |
| .hk | Hong Kong |
| .it | Italy |
| .jp | Japan |
| .us | United States |
Deciding which TLDs are right for you is a balancing act. Spectrum21 is available to guide you in this respect…this is what we do!
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