Brandlings, Author at Brandlings.com

Good Domain Name

Thinking about registering a website or taking your business online? Then you need a domain name. And not just any domain name, but a good one. In this article, we’ll talk about what makes the difference between good domain names and the rest.

Domain Name Basics

A domain name is the address on the World Wide Web at which your website can be found. Just as a physical address can influence how your business or organization is perceived by customers, so can a domain name. After all, you wouldn’t want your business located on a dingy backstreet, right? Well, that’s the equivalent of a bad domain name.

A domain name consists of the “www” acronym that stands for World Wide Web; a name that in the case of businesses is the brand name; and a domain extension that often hints at the purpose of the website (“com” for example is associated with commercial websites, though this extension can be used for other types of websites too).

What Makes a Domain Name Good?

Let’s consider three of the world’s most popular websites: www.google.com, www.facebook.com, and www.amazon.com. What do all these domains have in common? They are short, simple, and easy to remember. Even a small child can type these into a web browser to access them.

Even if we zoom in on smaller websites, such as popular local online pharmacies or auto repair services, most of these will probably have domain names that are to the point and memorable.
A bad domain name is the opposite. It’s long, consisting of several words linked up by a dash or else written together. It’s generic rather than reflecting the identity of the business, organization, or individual behind it. And because it’s long and generic, it’s not usually memorable.

The domain names we mention are catchy and reflect a strong brand identity. Bad domain names, on the other hand, might use generic keywords that refer to the service or products the business provides. Just imagine if Jeff Bezos chose for Amazon the domain name www.best-online-e-commerce-store.com. That would have been clumsy!

What About the Domain Extension?

When it comes to domain names, the domain extension also matters. This is the .com, .org, .net, etc. at the end of the domain name. There are hundreds of extensions out there for different countries, for the type of website or the sector the website caters to (.shop, .info, .blog, etc.), as well as creative extensions (.me).

However, certain extensions have been around for many years and are more professional—they look a lot better on your business card than others. Do you think it’s a coincidence that Google, Facebook, and Amazon all use the .com extension?

Keep in mind though that the right extension for you depends on what type of website you want to register. For example, if you are starting a nonprofit organization platform, the .edu extension will be better than .com.

How to Choose a Good Domain Name

There’s no simple recipe for choosing a good domain name. You have to avoid the mistakes we mentioned above and put in a bit of creativity too. Usually, the best domain name is the name of your business or organization with the appropriate domain extension. This means that choosing a good domain name goes back to having chosen an inspired name for your business.

Sometimes, the domain name you want to use may be already registered or taken. In that case, you have to consider whether choosing another domain name won’t be detrimental to your business. For businesses based on the internet or that rely on the internet for referrals, this can be a serious problem, and changing the business name may be better than settling for a generic domain name that doesn’t reflect your brand identity.

In the end, a good domain name reflects your business and what you stand for. It’s short, simple, and easy to share and remember.

What is a Domain Name Explained

The internet is a global network of computers, and each computer has an Internet Protocol (IP) address which enables it to be identified. An IP address looks like this: 68.213.26.204. The trouble is that such a number would be hard to remember.

That’s where domain names come in. Domain names stand in for the IP of a website to make it easier to find and remember. Each website has a unique domain name that distinguishes it from all other websites on the internet.

When you click on a Google result or enter a website domain in your web browser, the global Domain Name System (a network of servers) sends your request to the web servers storing that data, which then sends the data back to your browser. It may sound complicated, but it only takes about a second.

If a website was a grocery store or museum, its domain name would be its address—the location where visitors could find it. In this case, though, people would not be walking to it but using their web browser of choice to find it.

What is a Domain Name – The Structure

A domain name consists of three elements. Let’s take as our example the most popular website on the internet, Google.
If you look at the address bar of your web browser, Brandlings main English search page shows up like this: www.brandlings.com

The main elements of a domain name are separated by dots (.). Let’s break them down to better understand what a domain name is made of.

www – This is an acronym for the World Wide Web. It basically means that the website is on the internet. These days, you’ll see domain names without the “www.” For example, Wikipedia, the world’s largest free encyclopedia, uses the domain name en.wikipedia.org where “en” differentiates the English version of the site from other language versions. In the case of Wikipedia, the “www” is implied even if it doesn’t appear in the search bar.

brandlings – This is the name of the website. If you make your own website, you can choose this name. This element of the domain name is usually your business name or else readily identifiable with your business.

com – this is the domain name extension and typically refers to the type of website. “com” stands for “commercial” while “org” stands for “organization.” The most popular domain name extension, “com” is also a Top Level Domain Extension.

Without a domain name, a website would not be easy to find on the internet. Let alone to remember.

What is a Domain Name – How to Obtain

Today, anyone can register a domain name whether or not they want to build a website. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) keeps track of domain registrations. But you can buy a domain from any web hosting provider that offers domain registration as a service.

You cannot use a domain name that’s already in use, though you could buy it from the owner if they are willing to sell it.

Registering a domain name is an essential step to creating a website and establishing an online presence. That’s why it’s important to choose your domain name carefully, making sure it’s easy to type and remember.

At the end of the day, domain names make the internet a tidier and more accessible place. Just imagine if instead of domain names we’d have to use strings of numbers to remember websites!