A domain name is the specific location of a website that is displayed on the World Wide Web. Some websites are designed for business purposes while others are set up for personal and social reasons. Generally speaking domain names are bought and paid for by people who want to promote a business, product, service, idea, or non-profit group all over the web. These domain names are usually purchased for a minimum period of one year at a time, but often domains are registered for more than one year.

The reason why a business, charity, or individual usually will register a domain name for multiple years is to ensure that they are the sole owner of that domain name. This will help reduce the chance that the name will be somehow stolen by another person or group. A person who is just starting to get acquainted with the internet may be able to secure a free domain name. However, usually the free domain names are often not usually supported by a free web host, and the free names are usually quite a bit longer than the paid ones.

In order for the name of a website to be easily found it is always better to have a short domain name URL (web address) an attractive domain name would be the following (fictitious example): www.mygreatsite.com The above example is very close to the standard recommendation of choosing a domain name that is only about ten letters long (“my great site”). A person could even refine the name if they want to make it even shorter.

A domain name that would not look as attractive to Internet surfers and site visitors would be one that is extremely long. Take a look at the following made-up example in order to better understand this problem: www.somedomain/guests/mygreatsite.com.html.

In this long address (URL) the name of the domain is there (“my great site”) but it is not included until after the name of someone else’s domain. A domain that is established in this way is not truly a domain and many not be easily remembered by site visitors. Short and long domain URLs may not necessarily look exactly like the ones shown above. These are presented for illustration purposes only. The following URLs show individuals and groups the effectiveness of choosing a website name that is attractive to the eye, and catchy. The name of a website that is displayed on the Web should closely resemble the purpose of a business or organization as possible. If it is a website made for personal reasons the guidelines for building such a site would be more relaxed.