 What is a Domain Name? |
| A domain name is the technical term for the ‘address’ of a particular website on the internet. The domain name tells your browser where to look to access the pages you want to see. The domain name for this website, for example, is 'armingford.com' and you presumably arrived at this page by clicking through one webpage/domain name to another, or perhaps directly by typing the exact address into the address bar of your browser. |
| What then is a URL? |
URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator which is the full version of the address used by the internet to access the website for a particular domain name. URLs were devised as an easier form of internet navigation than the early IP addresses that were originally just a series of numbers. A URL uses easy-to-remember words and letters. Therefore, the full URL for the Armingford website is ‘http://www.armingford.com’ made up of the prefix 'http://' (hypertext
transfer protocol), the world wide web signifier (www) followed by the domain name itself (armingford.com) which identifys the server and the particular files or pages from that server to be displayed on your screen. |
| How do I obtain a Domain Name of my own? |
| There are many online companies that will register a new domain name for you. I tend to use 123-Reg Domain Names but searching "Domain Names" on Google will quickly list many other similar companies. Registration fees for the most common types of domain names (those ending in suffix .com, co.uk, org or .biz) range between £2.50 to £10.00 per year although some of the more unusual suffixes can be considerably more expensive. You never 'own' a domain name outright (think of it more as a rental deal) but you can register one for between one and ten years and then renew at the end of this period. |
| My choice of Domain Name is already taken. What now? |
| There are a number of alternative possibilities. If your preferred .com domain name is already taken, consider one of the other suffixes which might still be available. Prepare also to be creative and flexible. If 'phonesforyou.com' is already registered to someone else, then consider 'phones4you.com' or even 'phones4u.com. Lastly, there is a thriving market in the buying and selling of pre-registered domain names, sometimes with a website already attached. Perhaps you will even find your original choice is available here for 'purchase' although expect to pay a much higher fee for the more popular names. I suggest you try Sedo Domain Marketplace who have millions of names on their database and who actively 'buy and sell' domain names for third parties. |
