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Website Basics

What is a Domain Name?

By July 5, 2017March 3rd, 2022No Comments

Domain names are the basic addresses of the internet. They have controls built into them the makes email possible, websites work, and more. Every website MUST have a domain name to function as without one, a user would be unable to get to your website files on the server.

Domain names are the URLs you type into your address bar of a browser. Think like facebook.com, google.com, reddit.com, etc. All of those addresses take a user to a specific server (or set of servers) that house the files and information of the actual website itself.

If you want a website, the first thing you need to do is get a domain name. Domains are scarce in that there are only so many out there, and if someone else has the name you want, there’s no real way to get it from them. So, go get the domain you want ASAP.

This video does a great job explaining all of the technical details about how domains work and why you should care. Click here to check it out!

So, what do you do?

Inside your domain name, you have different IP addresses built into it called the DNS. The DNS for a domain name controls where the user goes when visiting the website, as well as how email works, and more. Through an email client, you have the ability to change the MX records (mail exchange) of your domain name, giving you the yourname@yourwebsite.com email addresses instead of being stuck with a standard gmail/yahoo/apple.com email extensions.

You can even look at using keywords of your business in the domain itself. If your business sells mountain climbing gear, and is called “Ascend Outfitters,” or something like that, you should first try and see if you could get ascendoutfitters.com. If not, you could take a look at ascendmountainclimbing.com or mountaingear.com or whatever variation you like. The shorter the better, and the more it represents your business the better.

Finally, it’s also wise to get misspellings of your name as well, and even possibly the .org/.net variations of it. You wouldn’t want a competitor buying up your other extensions and possibly taking that traffic from you.

Thinking about getting a new website or domain? Go get it. We use Godaddy because they’re so fast, but there’s other options like Network Solutions or Namecheap and others. It doesn’t really matter as long as you can get the domain you want.

Building a new website can seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. If you need help acquiring your perfect domain name or have any other questions, the team at V3 Media Group would love to help!

Contact V3 Media Group Today!