A domain name is simply a name ending with a TLD. TLD stands for Top Level Domain. Some examples:
stevejamesson.com irs.gov google.com abtech.edu cakephp.org
The TLD is the .com, .org, .net, etc. portion of the domain name.
Domain registrars
In order to have a website, you’re gonna need a domain name. You can register a domain name with a whole bunch of different registrars. A registrar is simply a company that’s authorized to register domain names. There are many registrars, including these popular ones.
There are of course many other sites that will offer to register a domain name for you.
How much is it?
The general cost of a domain name is typically no more than about $20 per year, so if you’re currently paying more than that, then you might want to consider transferring your domain name to a different registrar to save some money.
Think alias
A domain name is kinda like an alias. Think of it as speed dial on your phone. Behind every domain name is what’s called an A Record. An A Record points a domain name at an IP address. An IP address is kind of like a phone number, except it’s for computers.
So when you use speed dial number 3, you call a phone number like (111) 222-3333. Well the same thing kinda happens whenever you type in google.com or another domain name.
- Your web browser looks up the domain name via a name server, generally provided by your Internet Service Provider (ISP)
- The name server tells your web browser that it points to some IP address (i.e. 11.22.33.44)
- The computer located at that IP address takes it from there, and you’re shown a website
So it’s kinda like a speed dial. The technology of how all this stuff works is pretty heavy, so I won’t go into those details here.
Is that it?
Yeah, that’s pretty much it. To summarize:
- A domain name is simply a name with a
.com,.net,.orgor other TLD. - Behind a domain name is an A Record, which points the domain name to an IP Address, which is a numeric address for one computer.
- That computer takes over from here, showing you a website