You have a business and you want to create a website for that business. To get a website on the internet, you need a domain name. That is like the address of a house. Your website is like the house, and the website hosting is like renting the land on which the house sits.
Buying a domain name
The first step in buying a domain name is to go to a website that sells domain names. Usually this is through a service like GoDaddy.com or Hostinger.com. You go to the one of those websites and research the domain name you want, to see if it is already registered to someone else.
Perhaps the name of your company is Famous Flowers, and you want to buy the domain name “Famousflowers.com” You click on “Search Domain” and find out that the domain “famousflowers.com” has already been purchased.
Don’t give up yet. The domain name is purchased, but a website may not be developed on that domain. Your next step should be to do a google search for the domain name you want. Go to Google and search “Famous flowers.com”. Perhaps there is a website already constructed on the site. Or, you may get some kind of message that the site is parked for free and you could still get it if you click here! That means that the domain name you want has been purchased, but not developed. There are many people who purchase domain names and hold on to them, sometimes for years, in the hopes that they can sell the domain name at a profit.
What do you do if your name is already taken?
You could certainly contact the person holding the domain name and negotiate a price. There is another thing you could try though! That is to change your domain extension. We are all familiar with website.com, with the .com being the usual extension for a business. There are currently 1.14 BILLION websites in the world, with approximately 252,000 new websites created every day! With the level of activity, the .com list is getting pretty filled up! If only there were more extensions out there other than .com! Well…
Top Level Domains
There are some things called Top Level Domains. These are the extensions that come after the website name, like .com. When the internet was new, there were six original TLD’s that were invented. They are ones that most of us are probably very familiar with. The original six TLD’s were:
.com
.net
.org
.gov
.edu
.mil (for military websites)
We are all used to seeing these in a website address. There were originally three main groups of top level domains: Countries, Categories and Multiorganizations.
But where did these come from? Believe it or not, there is a group that regulates the domain name registration and ownership of the entire internet all around the world called The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). This group regulates domain name registration and ownership. They meet regularly to make additions, deletions and changes to the list of Top Level Domains (TLD’s).
Around the year 2000, The ICANN organization approved a few more Top Level Domains. They are:
.aero
.biz
.coop
. info
.museum
.name
After that, it gets a little crazy! In 2012, the ICANN started getting applications and approving thousands of TLD’s (Top Level Domains).
The first group that was approved in 2014 were:
.bike
.clothing
.guru
.holdings
.plumping
.singles
.ventures
Why those only seven? Why did they pick .guru and .singles? We’ll never know, but the list goes on and on! This is more information that you probably wanted, but there are many, many more have been approved since then. There are country codes and generic codes for just about anything you can think of. As of June, 2022 there are 308 country code top level domains!
There are TLD’s in Chinese and Cyrillic, and even something called “Dotless Domains”. The ICANN meets regularly to update information, especially country codes. For example, in 1992 when Czechoslovakia ceased to be a country and became the Czech Republic and Slovakia, they had to retire the two letter code (.cs) for Czechoslovakia, and come up with new codes for Czech Republic (.cz) and Slovakia (.sk).
Here’s the Domain Name Hack!
So if your .com name happens to be already registered, try a different TLD! If you are an academy or an account, no problem. Now there is:
.academy and .accountant!
Starting a cafe or a cab company? The ICANN has you covered with .cafe and .cab!
Looking for love? Check out the dating scene at a .love website.
.surf for surfers, .tattoo for tattoo aficionados, .vodka for vodka related websites, .yachts for yacht fans, and .zone for sports enthusiasts. If you want a new website for Famous Flowers, make it Famousflowers.florist! The list goes on and on… and on and on!
The lesson here is, don’t give up! If the name you have your heart set on is taken, you can always look at a different TLD! Chances are, there is one perfect for you! If you are looking for website development, SEO or hosting for your new website, check out 212 Creative.com Give us a call! Let’s begin!
