Domain Names (part 1) – the Art and Science of Choosing a Domain Name
But first, the science:
Using Back2Front as an example our web address looks like this: http://www.back2front.ca
http://The “http://” part is the protocol used to talk to web servers . Others examples are “mail” or “ftp” used to communicate with mail and ftp servers respectively.
. “dot”The rest of the address is the Domain Name. It is made up of parts separated with a “.” (pronounced “dot”).
WWWFor web sites the first part is usually “www” meaning World Wide Web. In some cases the www is optional. Web servers can be set up in such a way as the www part is assumed and so you can reach the same web site whether or not you type in the www part. For all of Back2Front’s clients the www is optional.
NAMEThe second part is the bit you make up, (the name) ours is “back2front”. More on this later.
TLDThe next part, usually the last part, is called the TLD or Top Level Domain. Ours is “ca”. Other examples are “com, org, net,”. Sometimes before the TLD you will see an additional part indicating a subsection of the domain. For example in Canada there are subsections of the .ca TLD to indicate province. The one for Ontario would look like this “www.back2front.on.ca”.Technical requirements for Domain names;UniqueYour domain name must be Unique. The “name” plus the “TLD” and any “subsection” there of, in combination, must be unique for each web site. But do not worry, you will not be able to register a domain name that is already taken the registries are responsible for preventing this from happening.
Domain Names (part 2) – Domain Scooping – Don't Get Fooled!
The domain names in question had never been registered with the Domain Registry of Canada. Sending a renewal check would in effect cause the domain name to be transferred to the Domain Registry of Canada, usually well before the actual renewal date and for considerably more money than is the usual going rate for domain renewals.
The letters are part of a massive and long-standing domain scooping scam. Domain registration companies (who apparently do not care about their reputations) use these tactics as a way of getting thousands of domain name registrations each year. This is not the only domain scooping scam. Other such scams are done over email or even over the phone.
Domain Names – Part 3
Multi-language sites:
French/English versions of the site can have a French domain name pointing to the French home page and an English domain name pointing to the English home page. This is an advantage when advertising your URL in language specific situations such as a French language newspaper.
Specializing:
If you have a large product line and you want to attract attention to a particular product, you could get a domain name especially for that product. For example, www.carparts.com would be your main domain name and www.radiatorcap.com could be the domain name that you have pointed to the radiator cap section of your web site. This could be preferable to having to advertise a URL like www.carparts.com/products/engineparts/radiators/caps.html which would be another option.