Domains 101 - everything you wanted to know

We often get questions from clients about domain names (URLs). This beginner's guide will provide you with a comprehensive overview of everything you need to know about domain names—from their history and purpose, to best practices for registering your own. Let's get started! 

What is a Domain Name? 

A domain name is essentially an address for your website on the internet. It is used to identify and locate computers connected to the internet. Domain names are composed of two parts—the second-level domain (SLD) and top-level domain (TLD). The SLD is usually your business or organization name, while the TLD indicates what type of website it is—for example, .org indicates an organization or non-profit, .net indicates a network provider, .com indicates a commercial website, and .ca indicates a Canadian website, usually an individual or an organization. Most websites use either a .com or .org TLD. 

At Goodwin Creative, we often refer to a domain name as a ‘pointer,’ pointing to the server that is hosting your website pages. Your domain pointer is registered by a Registrar. You pay them once a year (usually about $25) to keep your domain safe from predators, and to point it to your website’s server. Sometimes a website will be hosted by the same company that is the registrar of the domain. But this is becoming less common as the internet matures. A single small business might be on their 2nd or 3rd iteration of a company website but uses the same domain name.

Some common domain name registrars are GoDaddy, WebNames, Bluehost, Hostgator, and yes, Squarespace is also a registrar.

History & Evolution of Domain Names 

The first iteration of the internet was called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), which was created in 1969 by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). The first domain name was "Symbolics.com," which was registered by Symbolics Inc.—a computer systems company—in 1985. In 1988, ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) was formed in order to manage IP addresses and other resources associated with the Internet Protocol Suite. Since then, more than 1 billion domains have been registered worldwide! 

Best Practices for Registering Your Own Domain Name 

When registering your own domain name, there are several key things to keep in mind: make sure it’s unique; make sure it’s not too long; make sure it’s easy to spell; make sure it accurately reflects your business/brand; make sure it has positive connotations; and make sure it can be easily found online through search engine optimization (SEO) tactics such as keyword research. Also consider whether or not you want to register multiple versions (hyphenated or misspelled versions) of your main URL to protect against potential misuse from competitors or malicious actors. More on purchasing multiple domains below.

Don’t stress over finding a dot com domain. As far as Search Engines are concerned, any other top-level domain works just as well. We usually recommend picking one of .com, .ca, or .org.

Keywords in a domain name don’t matter as much as they used to but they are helpful. We often suggest our clients think of a domain name that is specific to their business. For example, shoerepair.com might seem like a good choice for Newport Shoe Repair, but a better choice would be newportshoerepair.com as it contains the company name. Or pop in a location marker, such as squamishshoerepair.com - or both! This is also true for organizations. We don’t advise clients to use acronyms - bfi.org for example. This would be hard for people to think of when attempting to connect with the Brackendale Farmers Institute. Better to use a domain such as brackendalefarmersinstitute.org

Should You Buy More Than One Domain Name?

Google says “Purchasing multiple domains can help ensure that people looking for your website find you.”

For example, perhaps you’re planning to change the name of your business. Purchase a new domain name, make it primary, and ‘forward’ the old domain name to the new one.

And the internet is always changing, developing, morphing - as we all know! One of the latest trends are new kinds of TLDs. For example, .plumbing and .photography - these are great opportunities and you should totally purchase one of these if you find one that is appropriate for your business! Keep your current domain, and forward the new one.

If I buy a new domain how do I point it to my website?

This is something Goodwin Creative can do for you. We will need the login to your Domain Registrar. Then we go in and either reconfigure your ‘nameservers’ or set it to ‘forward’ to your current domain. Note, if you purchase your new domain name through Squarespace, they will automatically point it to your site.

Domain names are usually the first of many decisions that need to be made when setting up your company website. They help create brand recognition and give visitors a way to easily find you online. A domain name is also part of your email brand - if you’re planning to do a lot of email marketing consider this when picking your domain name.

Goodwin Creative can help you with these kinds of decisions when discussing your website project. Give us a call, and let’s discuss!