Practically speaking, your domain name (web address) is the core of your Internet identity, your online brand. Your customers and friends will remember this name and use it to find your website, your products or your services. And since no two parties can ever hold the same domain name (web address) simultaneously, your Internet identity is totally unique.

Technically, a domain name is an addressing construct used for identifying and locating computers on the Internet. While computers use Internet Protocol (IP) numbers to locate each other on the Internet, people find them hard to remember. Therefore, domain names were developed to permit the use of easily remembered words and phrases to identify Internet addresses.

For example, the domain name rocketface.com represents the Rocketface website. When you type rocketface.com into a web browser or send e-mail to someone at rocketface.com, the Domain Name System (DNS) translates rocketface.com into the IP numbers used by the Internet and connects you to Rocketface®.

Selecting a domain name

Here are a few things to consider when picking a domain name;

1) Pick a name that reflects the nature of your website or a name that stands out and captures the eye. (i.e. This second method is called branding)

2) Keep it as short as possible. That helps to make it easy to remember.

3) Be sure that you have full ownership of your domain name. Some hosting services will offer cheap domain name registration but keep the rights to the name themselves.

Domain name registration

For a fee, which usually costs about $9.95 - $35.00 US (i.e. depends upon if you buy it in a hosting plan or not), you can register a domain name. This will give you an address on the internet that can be hosted on a web server and accessed by anyone. The registration of domain names is administrated by several companies who are licensed to handle the task.

Registering your domain name

These links will provide you with access to services which can show you how to register your domain name, the mechanics of domain names and their construction. Also, most of them can provide hosting for your website as well.

Icann http://www.icann.org

(The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) oversees the domain registration business. If you ever have trouble with your registrar or if you are looking for an approved domain name registrar this is the place to go.

interNIC http://rs.internic.net

InterNIC-This website has been established to provide the public information regarding Internet domain name registration services and is updated frequently.

A Warning about Free Website Hosting and Domain Names

If you are hosted by a free service you have little control over your domain name. Free webhosting services have their own domain names. If you want a unique domain name then you must register it yourself. Be sure to do a search first to see if the name you want is available.

Selecting your domain name is a very important aspect of building a website. Properly selected it will aid in the search engines locating and catorizing your website and give your visitors a mental bookmark to remember. Good Luck and happy webmastering.