What is a domain name?

The unique name that identifies an Internet site.

A domain name is basically the name which people can type into their browser to get to your site. The most popular domain names are of the form www.yourname.com or www.yourname.net (where yourname is the name of your website etc.). For example Microsoft have the domain name: www.microsoft.com and Google have www.google.com

All domain names are prefixed by a protocol, for example http:// which means HyperText Transfer Protocol. This basically means it is a web page and not an FTP server (which is prefixed by ftp://) or a news server (which is prefixed news://) etc. Most browsers add this in for you so it is not normally written in an address when it is shown as text (like in the examples above). Domain names can usually be written with or without the www.

Domain Names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The part on the left is the most specific, and the part on the right is the most general.

A given machine may have more than one Domain Name but a given Domain Name points to only one machine. For example, the domain names: listkerala.com scrap.listkerala.com mail.listkerala.com can all refer to the same machine, but each domain name can refer to no more than one machine. Usually, all of the machines on a given Network will have the same thing as the right-hand portion of their Domain Names (listkerala.com in the examples above).

It is also possible for a Domain Name to exist but not be connected to an actual machine. This is often done so that a group or business can have an Internet e-mail address without having to establish a real Internet site. In these cases, some real Internet machine must handle the mail on behalf of the listed Domain Name.

Tips for selecting a domain name ?

• It is always great if you have a domain name, same as your organization's name.
• Avoid using long domain names, make it short, so that it is easier to remember and fast to type.
• Try to make sure your domain tells about the nature of your business.
• Try to avoid using special characters, like dashes(-), in your domain names as they are little difficult to remember.

Rules for registering domain names ?

• Use only Letters, Numbers, or Dashes.
• Do not begin or end with a dash.
• Max 67 Characters.

Why Do I Need One?

This is probably the most asked question about domain names. With so many free alternatives to a dedicated domain name people don't really understand why you need your own domain. There are several very good reasons to get one,  though:

• Easy To Remember
• Address Never Changes
• Options For Subdomains
• E-mail IDs (yourname@yourname.com)

Conclusion

The deregulation of the domain name business and the huge number of international domains has meant that it is very easy now to get a good domain name cheaply.