According to Wikipedia.org: "A domain name is an identification label that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet. Domain names are also hostnames that identify Internet Protocol (IP) resources such as web sites. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System (DNS)."
For our purposes, a domain name is a unique name that identifies an entity on the internet. The underlying system is comprised of numbers that are also unique and identify that same entity. The first (domain name) is for humans while the second is more easily identified by the underlying network of computers that run the internet.
Every person/company/organization that wishes a presence on the internet, must have a unique domain name.
In order to get a domain name, you must contact a representative of the registration system. Usually, this would be a retailer or an agent of a retailer of domain names.
As part of their services, you can enter the name of a domain that you are thinking of using. The system checks to see if that name is available (remember, there are over 20 million domain names in use worldwide).
If it is not available (as entered), the system usually will return a number of alternatives that are available. You can select from those suggestions or enter another name that you might wish to try for.
Once you have found a name that you like, you will be required to pay for its use for a period of at least 1 year and no more than 10 years.
There are at least two variations within the system that allow for the same or similar names to be made available on the internet.
- One is the use of extensions such as .com, .net, .us and more.
- The other is the use of dashes between words (ie: houston-websites.com).
For example: you could look for a name like: mybusiness.com and find that it is taken, so you look for mybusiness.net or my-business.com. Or any number of combinations to get that name.
Because of these variations to the basic rule that each name is unique, you may wish to register the domain name that you choose using as many variations as you have available so that no one else will get a name that looks a great deal like yours.
Another way to make your domain name more completely unique is to give it a location qualifier such as: mybusinesstexas.com or mybusinesshoustontx.com.
Remember that when people start looking for you on the internet, they will default to the .com extension. So, if at all possible, try to get your domain name to have that extension first.
Houston-Websites.com provides sources for domain names.
