1 The domain name is the name of a web site which forms the all-important web address. It is normally broken down into four parts – we will take Personnel Today’s publisher, Reed Business Information’s address, as an example http://www.rbi.co.uk
2 http:// stands for hyper text transfer protocol and is the protocol used to access the address.
3 www tells your browser to look on the World Wide Web.
4 rbi is the name that you choose, in this case, simply an abbreviation of the company’s name.
5 .co.uk is the top-level domain name and it tells you something about who is behind the site. The co indicates a commercial or business site. UK companies can register .com if they wish, especially if it is in their interests to appear international. Educational establishments are indicated by .ac and .edu, .gov indicates a government site, .org a charity or non-profit-making organisation, .net is mainly used by computer network companies and ISPs. The .uk indicates the site’s country of origin (.it is Italy, .jp is Japan and so on).
6 You can pretty much choose any name as long as nobody has registered it first. So if you have not registered your company name as a .co.uk or a .com, do so today before someone else beats you to it.
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7 If you are setting up a site with your current Internet service provider (ISP) it can do it for you, and often for free or as part of the ISP package. Typically this will then feature the ISP name in the address (@demon, for instance).
8 Alternatively, you can go to a specialist company such as NetBenefit (www.netbenefit.com) or FreeNetname (www.freenetname.co.uk), and register it with them. Or you may like to see what’s available on the www.greatdomains.com site, where desirable domain names carry a price tag of $450,000, for instance. But you can get some bargains for $500.
