Domain Name
The DNS (Domain Name System)
Believe it or not in the early days all host names and their associated IP addresses were recorded in a single file called hosts.txt, maintained by the Network Information Centre in the USA.Clearly as the Internet grew the file hosts.txt became unmanageable and in the mid-80's it The Internet Domain Name System (DNS) was developed as a distributed database to solve this problem. It's primary goal is to allow the allocation of host names to be distributed amongst multiple naming authorities, rather than centralised at a single point.
Top Level Domains (TLD's)
There are tons of top-level domains and they keep inventing more. A TLD is something like the "com" in a dot-com and there are literally hundreds of TLDs. The most popular is .com, but the are many others. My preference is for a dot-com name and is usually the best to go for, because that's the name people usually associate with the web. But if you are local to a particular country there may be advantages in going for a .co.uk etc. My recommended list of TLDs to look out for, starting with the best first is:- 1. .com - the classic TLD for any site anywhere in the world.
- 2. .us, .co.uk, .ca, .de, .fr or whatever your local country TLD is, if your target audience is country based. A country TLD is a great way to target those people living in a particular country, but not good if you're reaching out for a global audience.
- 3. .biz (for business sites), .info (for informational sites), .org (for nonprofit sites). It is often easier to find the name you want using one of these TLD's but its worth checking what site is on the .com TLD The lack the prestige of a dot-com tag. However, you may be able to get exactly the domain name you want. Beware a lot of spammers use .biz and .info domains and their value is becoming degraded.
- 4. .net (for anything Internet-related), .tv and .fm for television and radio sites (tv is actually the country TLD for Tuvalu, fm for the Federated States of Micronesia). Best to avoid these sites though if your site isn't industry specific.
- 5. .ws, .nu, .co, .bz, .tk and .cc are best avoided - these are all country specific TLDs marketed as alternatives to .com - but to be brutally honest most people will either not remember or just figure that you couldn't get the .com TLD
monstergifts.com makewords.com is a great tool for thinking of names
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