Domain names

Having a good domain name is very important. Your site will be easier to find as a result of it. All domain names are internationally registered for an annual or bi-annual fee. Sometimes, longer terms can be less expensive. For all names however, the saying: “first come, first serve”, largely prevails. If you want your own domain name, it is important that you act as quickly as possible. Another business may possibly claim the name that you had in mind..

The internet domain name can best be compared with a telephone number. Just as with a phone connection, each Internet user also has a unique number which is called the IP address.

Each Website and computer on the Internet has an IP address. To make contact, you should know the IP address of the related computer. IP addresses are shown in the form of four figures separated by dots and are consequently more difficult to remember than names.

As a result, users have opted to translate these figures into names. These names are translated again into figures in a domain server. As such, the name www.pc-unlimited.com translates into 208.185.92.35.

The component to the very right (the last two or three letters) in the name is called the Top Level Domain. It can best be compared with a base figure in a telephone number. On the basis of the TLD’s, Internet traffic is sorted and can be processed faster. TLD’s often refer to countries. For instance: .nl for the Netherlands, .to for Tonga, and .de for Germany.

Domain names consisting of land codes are called Country Code Top Level Domains. In addition to these CCTLD’s, there are also organizational domains. These are the so-called Generic Top Level Domains (g TLD’s) which are used in the United States. Good examples of these are .com for commercial entities, .org for organizations, .net for Internet providers, .edu for educational entities, .gov for government entities of the United States, .mil for entities of the US Armed Forces (Military), and .int for entities associated with international treaties.