Unlike
grade school, where four Emilys in a class were denoted
as Emily S., Emily C., Emily A., and Emily P., the internet
provides no allowance for Company.com A and Company.com
B. Your domain name is your name itself, and even a company
with a similar corporate identity cannot hold the same domain
name, which means that only you have that unique online
identity. Other companies closely monitor the possession
and expiration date of domain names they want – some
hosting companies even offer “Domain Watch”
services – and if you’re one of the unlucky
few who procrastinate renewing your domain name and have
it registered out from under you, you’ll lose all
of the brand recognition you’ve worked so hard to
build.
How
do they work?
You
may have noticed that, after entering certain domain names,
the text in the address bar becomes a string of seemingly
random numbers that still points to the same page within
a website. These numbers compose the Internet Protocol Address,
or IP Address. IP Addresses are similar to house numbers
as each one is unique and points to a distinctive computer
acting as a web server. Yet, like phone numbers, these strings
of digits are a lot more difficult for people to remember
than text values. Developers realized that many users wouldn’t
want to carry IP Address books with them and instead developed
the concept of domain names through the Domain Name System
(DNS).
In practice,
this means that entering YourWeb.com in the address bar
of your browser (or as an email address) actually points
to the IP Address on the server that houses the web pages
on YourWeb.com.
How
should I choose a domain name?
First,
brainstorm a list of words or phrases that would commonly
come to mind when thinking about your company, your products,
or other concepts associated with your business. You want
customers to instantly make and keep a connection between
your domain name and your business, as this means they’re
more likely to return or mention the name to their friends.
Keep
your ideas short and sweet – no more than 20 characters
– as anything longer becomes difficult to remember
and irritating for a customer to type.
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