For many beginners, some network terms such as domain name seem to be very technical and may be confused with other terms such as website or hosting services. However, such terms have very simple definitions. Although their function and applications need some skills, the only action needed to learn them is a simple search on the Internet. In the following sections, you are about to know what exactly a domain name is, why it is so important, how to use it to get a better result for personal or business purposes, how it works, and where it is used.
Why is a domain name important?
Actually, a domain name is a unique address on the Internet, which is used to make websites easily searchable for internet surfers. At the first step, the importance of using domain names becomes apparent as it is compared to the addressing scheme of the Internet and its deficiency. Each computer on the Internet owns an IP address which is a series of numbers with some dots as intervals. As remembering the IPs of all the favorite websites was an impossible task for the users, domains were developed and assigned as a unique name to each numerical IP address. A domain name can be a combination of letters and numbers that can be accompanied by different types of domains extensions such as .com, .net, .org, and so on.
The importance of domains does not end here. In the following section, you will see how to use a domain to get better results for your personal or business purposes.
How to use a domain name?
To take the full advantages of a domain name, you should consider4 tips mentioned below:
- It is your business credit: having a generic address and publishing your website through a free web host or ISP do not provide a good induction to your customers. Instead, having a domain name for your business website makes it more reliable. Do what is necessary to prove that your website and business deserve attention. If you do not think your business website is not worthy to have a unique address, your customers will assume that your products and services are not worthy either.
- It shows you are up-to-date: having a domain name shows that your business website is a part of the digital world and it is integrated with technology.
- It could draw attention: if you are buying a domain name, you have two options: registering one matching exactly your business name or having some concept of your business on it. In other words, you should choose the most relevant one to prevent inappropriate results provided to the web surfers.
- It increases your brand awareness: if your domain matches your business name, it will reinforce your brand making it easier for your customers to remember your brand, especially when they want to return back to your website.
You have to know that a good domain is a way toward more traffic for your website and consequently your reputation. It results in more customers and better sales rate subsequently.
Now, you know how to use a domain to make more efficiency for your business website and brand. It is time to know how a domain actually works. In the following section, we present a very simple description of what happens when you enter a domain into your web browser.
How does a domain name work?
As you register a domain, you are actually registering with a Domain Name System (DNS). A DNS is a database connecting IP addresses with their corresponding domain names. As you go to your browser and type in a domain name, it will connect with the DNS. The DNS looks up through all of the registered IP addresses and connects that domain name with the corresponding IP address. The web server fetches the web page and its corresponding pieces of information to be finally sent back to the browser in a fraction of second.
Where is a domain name used?
As mentioned before, a domain name is used to identify entities on the Internet such as computers, networks, and services. It is a text-based label which is much easier to recognize than the numeral characteristic of IP addresses.
Domains are used to indicate the ownership of a network resource. For example, it is a realm identifier for session initiation protocol, which is the domain keys verifying domain names in E-mail systems and many other uniform resource identifiers.
Actually, domains were initiated to establish a unique and easily-recognizable identity. Companies and organizations can have domain names corresponding to their brand names to help internet surfers reach them easily.
Conclusion
In this article, we tried to give a clear definition of a domain name. The importance of domains was elaborated and the functions were analyzed. We delivered some tips about how domains can work more effectively and how essential it is to choose a proper domain name. We also discussed how domains really work and what their usages are on the Internet. We hope that you enjoyed reading this article!