Domains 101

In this article I talk about how to choose a domain name by following some simple rules, the basics of of domains, and how to use them apporpriately.

A domain name is the name that gives unique identity to a website on the Internet. It's synonymous to your name being your individual identity. For example: www.znetlive.com is a domain name.

Technically they are substitute for IP addresses as it is difficult for humans to remember IP addresses, which can contain as many as 12 digits.

How to choose a domain name?

1. Short and simple domain name – Domain name should be remembered and its need to be short in order to get remembered.  They need to be short because user needs to enter that domain name; if it's too long people will not be interested in typing the same.
2. Suffix – Suffix stands for extensions like .com, .in, .net, .co.in, etc that comes after your domain name. Technically they are known as TLD (top level domain).The most opted suffix is .com as people assumes that site name will be www.yoursite.com. The suffix too depends on the motto & the country you are located in. For ex - .org suffix denotes that the site is of nonprofit organization, .in denotes Indian companies, .com stands for commercial organization, .co.in stands for company in India, .net stands for network, etc.
3. Character Types – Domain names can only use letters, numbers, and dashes. Spaces and symbols are not allowed.  Domain names are not case sensitive.
4. Singular vs. Plural – Check whether user will search for singular or plural of your domain name and if possible get both the domains booked and use redirection. For example – if you have a site that delivers gardening solutions then gardeningsolutions.com will be apt rather than gardeningsolution.com.
5. Avoid Numeral/Slang Substitutions – Sometimes numerals in a domain can shorten the domain name but it may sometimes lead to confusion. For example, try not to use the numeral "4″ instead of "for", "2″ instead of "to", "u" instead of "you" etc.
6. Easy to Type – The easier the domain is to type then the better the domain will be.
7. One Possible Spelling – Choose a domain name that only has one possible spelling. Choose simple words and not confusing spelling. For example color is somewhere spelled as colour, organization is somewhere spelled as organisation, etc.
8. Keyword Rich – Try to choose a domain name that contains keywords related to your website. For example – if you website is about books then the option can be bookshub.com. The keyword rich domain name will help your site to get easily searched by search engines (google,yahoo,etc).
9. Easily Understood – Your domain name should speak of what your website is all about.

How to register a domain name?

1. Choose your domain/website name and the desired extension (.com/.net/.in/.au)
2. Check the availability of your domain name at any domain availability search tool (http://www.whoisresult.com/)
3. Get your domain booked with reliable domain provider/registrar.

How to see your domain expiry date?

Enter your domain name (abc123.com) at http://www.whoisresult.com/
It will show whole information regarding that domain name including expiration date

What are sub domains?

A sub domain is a domain that is part of a larger domain. For example:news.znetindia.com/ is a sub domain of main domain www.znetindia.com Renewal

Domain

As we renew many of our services on yearly/monthly basis. Similarly domain has to be renewed on their expiration. You can book a particular domain name for a year or any number of years you wish of. As that time passes you can renew the domain with the same provider or you can change your domain provider too.

Domain Parking

In domain parking, whenever a customer's website is under construction then in that case a domain is parked. It is the common practice by hosting or domain registration companies to put their logo and link until the site is up.

Domain Forwarding

It is useful when you want your multiple domains/websites to direct at a single domain/website.

Let's take an example: You have domains – test.com, test.net, test1.com and you want all of them to direct at test.com. It means when people type test.net, test1.com he/she will automatically gets directed to test.com after setting domain parking.

Domain privacy

It is useful when you don't want to disclose to others that you own a particular domain and want to protect your personal information. Investing in domain privacy can guard domain owners against spammers and identity thieves and unwanted marketing efforts. Domain privacy protects domain owners from having their real names, addresses and other contact information displayed publicly, so webmasters can enjoy peace of mind while running their websites.

Domain transfer

It means transferring your domain from one service provider to another service provider. There are two types of registry - PDR (Public domain registry), NPDR (Non public domain registry). In order to transfer a domain from PDR to PDR domain control panel is required whereas to transfer a domain from NPDR to PDR a transfer secret code/ APP code/authorizer code is required.

Essential requirement for domain transfer:

1. For transferring domain from NPDR to PDR it should be done 15 days prior to expiry date.
2. For transferring domain from PDR to PDR it should be done 5 days prior to expiry date.

Add-On Domains

It means an additional domain. For example: You have two domains mysite.com and my-other-site.com and you want the two domains to be totally separate/independent websites. Here my-other-site.com is an add-on domain.

Domain locking

Domain locking is the process of providing an additional layer of security to domain names in order to prevent unauthorized activities. This is a procedure which will prevent another person from tampering with and modifying the information in your domain. Domain locking rules out the possibility of accidental transfers, and thereby offers you a higher degree of protection.

For more information on domains please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 Article Source: ArticleBase