Domain Name Blogger

A domain name or “virtual domain” is a web address composed of a unique word or group of words, name, abbreviation, and acronym or number. It can be just about anything that would have meaning. A domain name always ends in an extension like “dot com”, “dot net” or “dot org” and there are many other extensions including dot biz and dot info most notably.

There is great flexibility in the way a domain name can be directed to a web address. The Internet Service Provider (ISP) is in charge of this. Domain names will direct to the home page of your web site, meaning anytime a web surfer punches in the domain name web address or URL in their web browser, the web home page will come up. But you can also have multiple domain names directing to the same home page. A webmaster can make any web page redirect to any other web page. Most domain names are permanent and you gain more flexibility than you lose. The permanence of a domain name web address is extremely important. It helps your web site to develop a following that only increases in most cases. Since you’ll keep the domain name for life, fans of your web site will not get lost.

The purpose of a domain name is to make an impact from the moment someone first sees it and every time they see it again. It is a creative and significant mental process required to think up a good domain name. It helps to be good with words. It also helps to know how the Internet works.

Buying a domain name is just like buying real estate. There’s a limited supply of choice domain names and a frenzied demand. But you still have the opportunity to register your unique domain name. If you register domain name, its value may very well increase. But you will not want to sell it unless you no longer need it.

Getting a domain name is a relatively simple matter. Typically it is often done with the help of your Internet Service Provider (ISP). It is either directly or indirectly, a “domain registrar” is where domains are registered per year. The average web designer has nothing to do with your registering a domain name and they do not offer this service. 

Here are some ideas were you can get your own domain names:

1) Combine Keyword with Popular Web Site Suffix

There are several hundred suffixes that are popular across a spectrum of Web sites with two word domain names - here are just a few:

*Auctions
*Bid
*Biz
*Central
*Deal
*Exchange
*Find
*Guide
*Index
*Market
*News
*Search
*Secure
*Submit
*Watch
*Web
*World
*Universe 

2) Combine Keyword with Popular Web Site Prefix

This method is identical in principle to  except that you are looking for popular prefixes rather than suffixes.

Here are a few popular Web site prefixes:

4*
Cheap*
Click*
Free*
Go*
Instant*
My*
Search*
Secure*
World* 

3) Benefit-Based Names

These is one of the most creative and know ways of producing new domain names, and a great source of new dot coms for any inventive person. The idea behind a benefit-based name is to express some benefit to the customer in the domain name itself.

4) Put Two Short Keywords Together

One of the more risky ways of producing new names, but its fun, creative, and also has the potential for big rewards. They combine two short, powerful words (or partial words) to create a new name. The name has to be branded, but that actually increases its value rather than reducing it. If you can come up with a couple of good, short keywords that fit nicely together, you might have a real hot name on your hands. Learn more about domain names in our Domain Name Forum!

A short, memorable domain can be better than using a proper name. In choosing your domain name, keep in mind domains may contain letters, numbers, periods, and hyphens, but no spaces, underscores, or other punctuation; you cannot begin or end with hyphens and domain names are not case sensitive.

Here are some tips that you can use in picking your domain name:

• Watch out for potential confusion. Try a contraction of your name.
• Use a name that contains an important keyword that people will use when searching.
• Beware of deliberate misspellings.

Catchy Names: Another avenue is the fanciful name. Like Yahoo dotcom, or eBay dotcom. These are great sites with memorable, nonsensical names. Also remember that the name you choose will be on all your letterheads, business cards, in your email address, and in newspaper articles about you. Make it a good one.

Beware of the Squatter! Anyone may buy domain names and set them to point to one website. Be careful that you do not buy a domain that could be an infringement of someone else’s trademark. This could lead to costly legal action and loss of the domain. Also you should beware of squatters. There are people who buy domains that infringe on you and offer to sell it to you for far more than face value, but less than the cost of litigation, so people usually pay the ransom rather than sue.

ICANN holds periodic public meetings rotated between continents for the expressed purpose of encouraging global participation in its processes. Critics argue that the locations of these meetings are often in countries with lower Internet usage and far away from locations that the majority of the Internet-using public can afford to reach, thus making public input or participation from traditional Internet users less likely. ICANN has a worldwide remit and a key part of its mission is to build Internet use where it is weak.

ICANN was set up in California due to the presence of Jon Postel, who was a founder of ICANN and was set to be its first CTO prior to his unexpected death. ICANN remains in the same building where he worked at his home to an office of the Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California.

The ICANN Board made a resolutions, preliminary reports and minutes of the meetings are published for the public to view on the ICANN website. But there were some criticisms from ICANN constituencies like the Noncommercial Users Constituency (NCUC) and the At – Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) that there is not enough public disclosure and that too many discussions take place out of sight of the public.

One task that ICANN was asked to do was to address the issue of domain name ownership resolution for generic top - level domains (gTLDs). ICANN’s also attempt at such a policy was drafted in close cooperation with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). As a result it became known as the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP).

This policy attempts to provide a mechanism for rapid, cheap and reasonable resolution of domain name conflicts, avoiding the traditional court system for disputes by allowing cases to be brought to one of a set of bodies that arbitrate domain name disputes. ICANN policy state that a domain registrant MUST agree to be bound by the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) - they cannot get a domain name without agreeing to this.

The Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) decision patterns has led some to conclude that compulsory domain name arbitration is less likely to give a fair hearing to domain name owners asserting defenses under the First Amendment and other laws, compared to the federal courts of appeal in particular.

A domain name is very similar to an address forwarding service. Domain name is the address people type in their browser to get to your Web site. The domain name points to the “real” address of the server that contains your Web site content. The “real” address is called the IP address and is a series of numbers. The IP address then points to the location on the server where your Web site files are located. Domain names are used instead of IP addresses because most people find it much easier to remember a name rather than a series of numbers. So, your domain name points to your IP address which is the location of your Web site files on a server, and allows users all across the Internet to view your Web pages.

A domain name is a Web address. The domain name is the same as an IP address (which represents a physical point on the Internet). The domain name is letters and numbers that make sense to humans, while the IP address is a series of numbers. The domain name locates an organization or other entity on the Internet. When someone types a domain name into a Web browser, the requested Web page will open. 

A domain name says “we have arrived”. It is not a status symbol or true measure of success since anyone can get one. By having a domain name as your web address indicates the establishment of your online identity. The most important decision you can make since it is generally the most forward representation you will display to curious web surfers. When people hear about or see a good domain name, which alone can be enough to make them want to look up your web site. Having a business card without a domain name web address puts you at a disadvantage since your competitor is likely to have one.

You may establish a web site under someone else’s domain and just have some pages on their web site. But unless there are good reasons to be under someone else’s, your web address will be seen as merely a part of the larger web site. But it is almost always temporary and might tend to be looked upon as amateur. When you have your own domain name, web surfers know you will be there forever or for as long as your web site shall exist. A domain name is also easier to remember.

Domain name consists of a top-level and a second-level domain. A top-level domain (TLD) name like “com” is a part of the domain name that generally reflects the type or purpose of the organization or entity. The part of the domain name located to the left of the dot (“.”) - “your domain” in this case - is called the second-level domain (SLD) name. The second-level domain name being the “readable” part of the address - refers to the organization or entity behind the Internet address. Second-level domains must be registered through an Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers (ICANN) accredited registrar.
 

A Domain name is nothing more than an alias for a numeric Web address. Web sites on the Internet have a numeric address that functions and coordinates on a map. Instead of pointing to a geographic location on Earth, these numeric addresses, called IP addresses, point to a location on the Internet. The computers have no problems with locating and remembering numeric addresses, although people often do have trouble remembering long, complicated sequences of numbers. So, to make navigating the Internet easier, the domain name system was invented. This system allows people to use easy to remember names for Web sites instead of numeric sequences.

Domains are usually parked while Web sites for them are under development. After the site is ready, the domain is unparked and pointed to the DNS of the web hosting provider. To avoid paying for a hosting account before a site is ready to be uploaded. 

A domain name always has two or more parts separated by dots and consists of some form of an organization’s name and a three letter or more suffixes.

The domain name suffix is known as a generic top-level domain (gTLD) and also it describes the type of organization. The last few years, the lines have blurred somewhat between these categories. These are the following that are being used by the generic top-level domain (gTLD):

.aero–For the air-transport industry
.biz–Reserved for businesses
.com–For businesses, commercial enterprises, or online services like America Online. Most companies use this extension.
.coop–Reserved for cooperatives
.edu–For educational institutions and universities
.gov–Reserved for United States government agencies
.info–For all uses
.int–For organizations established by international treaties
.mil–For the United States military
.museum–For use by museums
.name–For use by individuals
.net–For networks; usually reserved for organizations such as Internet service providers
.org–For non-commercial organizations
.pro–For use by professionals, such as attorneys and physicians

As a private-public partnership, ICANN is dedicated to preserving the operational stability of the Internet; to promoting competition; to achieving broad representation of global Internet communities; and to developing policy appropriate to its mission through bottom-up, consensus-based processes. ICANN, a public benefit, non-profit entity, is the international organization responsible for the management and oversight of the coordination of the Internets domain name system and its unique identifiers.

ICANN was created through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the U.S. Department of Commerce and ICANN to transition management of the Domain Name System (DNS) from the U.S. government to the global community. The most recently issued version of the MoU is intended to be the last and sets out a series of goals for ICANN that, when achieved, will result in a fully independent ICANN organization.

The two keys to success in this role are the full participation of the international community and collaborative nature of the bottom-up policy development process.

The International Nature of ICANN in Relation to the Global Internet Community

• Participation in ICANN is open to all who have an interest in global Internet policy as it relates to ICANN’s mission of technical coordination. ICANN holds public meetings throughout the year. Recent meetings have been held in Tunis, Bucharest, Montreal, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, and Accra. Future meetings will be held in Rome, Kuala Lumpur and Cape Town.
• The ICANN Board and staff reflect the international nature of the organization. The staff hails from seven different countries (Australia, Denmark, France, The Netherlands, Niger, the United Kingdom, and the United States), exhibiting fluency in more than 14 languages. Similarly, the Board represents twelve nationalities and is fluent in many languages. ICANN has offices in Marina del Rey and Brussels. ICANN internationalization and outreach provide regional presences in Africa, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East - and will include the Pacific Rim.
• The Supporting Organizations and Committees that lead the bottom-up policy development process are internationally based and populated. See the international complement of the Address Supporting Organization (ASO), the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO), and the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) as indicative of the international nature of the effort supporting that process.
• The formation of the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) is further internationalizing participation in the ICANN policy development process and also improves the ccTLD’s (Country Code Managers’) voice on the ICANN Board of Directors since the ccNSO will directly elect two board members.
• The Internet is marvelously robust, with thousands of independent networks operating together to move traffic around the globe. ICANN inherently supports regional network development through its mission. European, Asian, Latin American and the African Internet communities are working effectively to build regional interconnections, belying the notion that all Internet traffic flows through North America.

ICANN Facilitation of DNS Policy Development through a Bottom-up, Collaborative Process

• ICANN does not create or make Internet policy. Rather, policy is created through a bottom-up, transparent process involving all necessary constituencies and stakeholders in the Internet Community.
• ICANN policy begins its development in the Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees. The recognition that a policy is needed may arise from anywhere in the Internet community, the international ICANN Supporting Organizations and Committees (such as the Regional Internet Registries (through the ASO), the GNSO, the ALAC or the GAC), or the Country Code Managers (ccTLDs).
• While ICANN is not an arm of any government, the ICANN by-laws provide specific mechanisms for soliciting, receiving and considering governmental inputs. That advice is received into the policy development process through the GAC.
• There are several redundancies built into the policy making process to ensure that new policy addresses the needs of the entire Internet community and not one special interest area or geographical region. The ICANN structure and policy development processes also ensure governmental input is received at many levels.
• ICANN’s independence enables rapid response to changes within the commercial, technical and geopolitical landscape of the Internet and DNS. While rapid and flexible, the ICANN process also requires and considers input from all interested and affected constituencies.

Resource: ICANN Fact Sheet