Todays question is, What is a Domain Name?
This is a fairly common question, and with my easy explanation below you will begin to understand and identify what a domain name is very easily.
Basically a domain name is your online address, like you have a home address or a cellphone number. Your domain name is used as your address to your website, it directs people to your space on the internet.
You might have noticed that the ending of domain names are sometimes different and this is because there are two types of domain name categories, namely:
- Top level Domains (TLDs) such as .com .net .org .info and others.
- Then you get the second part which is called the Second Level Domain and these domains are normally used to organize geographic locations and make it easy for people to recognise where the company/website is based. For example South African domains are .co.za which is South African. Such as www.google.co.za, the domain name here will be google.co.za
The domain name has to be associated with the space you are renting on the server from your web host, a bit like how your own house has an address. This is the same with the space on the server – the domain name you use has to point to the website files on the web hosting server that you use. The domain is the part that goes after the www. part which we are all familiar with.
To associate the domain name (or web address) with the space you are renting from the web hosting company, you need to add the domain to your web hosting Cpanel and this will connect (point) the domain name to the hosting.
Domain names can be purchased from a domain registrar company or web hosting company such as Stallion Hosting.
PS: Please feel free to comment and ask questions if you need to, I am here to help you. Watch out for more up and coming posts on domains, I will post tips and guidelines on how to find and purchase great domains.
Regards,
Daniel Hall
Stallion Hosting – You Can Bet On Us!
