What’s a Good Domain Name?
The Internet’s domain name system (DNS) allows us to associate domain names with IP addresses to enable us to access one’s website easier. Christopher Heng suggests tips on how to choose your domain name. His tips and that of Jumpline.com are generalized as follows.
- You are getting a domain name for your website. Most likely, your domain name should be your website.
- Prefer brand name domains rather than generic name domains.
- Choose a domain name that is as short as possible, if not then make it as easy to remember as possible
- Try to avoid hyphenated names.
- Avoid trademarked names.
- Do not shell out too much money on pricy domain names since they should generally have competitive prices by now.
- Register that name as soon as possible
- Try choosing an appropriate Top Level Domain (TLD)
More on TLDs
According to the Internet Corporations for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the TLD is the rightmost label in the domain name. There are different types of TLD like the generic TLD (gTLD) and country code TLD (ccTLD). There are 14 gTLDs and more than 240 ccTLDs. So what are these gTLDs and what do they stand for?
- .aero - reserved for the members of the air transport industry
- .biz - restricted to business
- .com - commercial
- .coop - reserved for cooperative associations
- .edu - educational establishments accredited in the US
- .gov - United States government
- .info - information (unrestricted use)
- .int - international organizations established by a treaty between governments
- .mil - United States military
- .museum - reserved for museums
- .name - reserved for individuals (either nick, or real name)
- .net - network
- .org - intended for non-profit organizations
- .pro - reserved for credentialed professionals
As much as these gTLDs are for those intended users, some of these can be registered without restrictions, like the .com, .org, and .net. The same is true for the ccTLDs. Some ccTLDs require that one should reside in the specified country before he will be able to register that domain. Although .gov, .mil, and .edu are reserved for United States institutions, others can register it by having a second level ccTLD.
4 comments June 5th, 2005
