Domain Name Syntax

A typical Web site's URL (uniform resource locator) looks something like this:

http://www.yourdomainnaine.com

In reality, the domain name itself is divided into three distinct parts. The part that starts with http://www is common to most Web site addresses on the World Wide Web. This is the uniform resource locator (URL) used by Web browsers to find Web pages. The second part of the domain name is the part you actually get to choose. The third part of the domain name is the extension (e.g., com, edu, or org). As you begin to think of the perfect domain names for your online business, consider the following:

Domain Policy

Only letters, numbers, and the hyphen (- ) can be used in a domain name. Punctuation marks, such as a period, exclamation point, colon, and forward or back slash are not allowed. In addition, no spaces are allowed in the name. If necessary, use an underscore to indicate a space.

A domain name can be up to 26 characters long, but this includes the extension at the end of the domain name (such as com, edu, org, and net). The domain name you choose must be unique and can't already be registered by someone else.

Domain names are not case sensitive, so you can't combine upper and lowercase letters to create a unique domain name. As you promote your site, however, you can list the domain name using both upper and lowercase, since all Web browser software (such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator) will automatically translate the address entered into lower case. For example, to make your name more memorable, you can promote www.yourdomainname.com as www.YourDomainName.com. The name www.your domain name.com, however, is a totally different domain name that would need to be registered separately.

Many people surf the Internet and randomly type in Web site addresses based on the topics they're looking for, in hopes of luckily hitting a site that interests them. Thus, you want your domain name to be somewhat obvious. Network Solutions, Inc., calls this type of traffic "guess traffic" because you receive visits to your site from people who don't specifically know your Web address, but who find your Internet site by guessing. For example, someone looking to order flowers online might instinctively try to visit the Web site www.flowers.com or www. 1800flowers.com. The first is an obvious choice, and the second might be used if that person had called 1 800 FLOWERS in the past and figured the company might also have a Web site.

Several million Web sites ending with the com extension have already been registered. As a result, many of the one word generic domain names you might think of to describe your company, product, or service might already be taken. You'll probably have better luck registering a domain name that combines two or three words.

Domain Name Search