Domain names have become such a part of our lives in recent years that we perceive them in the same way as a phone number or mailbox. Using this name, you can go to the desired site and thus find out all the information we are interested in or perform the necessary action. This is the same chain with which you can find what we need. However, few people know how domains work and what they are.
What is a domain?
Domain is a translation of the IP address of the server containing the resource we are looking for by typing in the domain name. In fact, in order not to remember an address like 192.193.0.0, addresses like domen.com were launched. With their help, you will agree, using the Internet has become much easier and more convenient. On this, many even managed to build a business that consists in selling beautiful and easy-to-remember domain names. Indeed, with such a name, it is easier for customers to remember the site, and such a name can be mentioned in advertising.
Domain hierarchy
Domain names are built in a hierarchy, divided into special levels of domains. There can be any number of them, because the name administrator is able to independentlycreate so-called subdomains - lower in the hierarchy domains like poddomen.domen.ru. The next subdomain will look like this: poddomen.poddomen.domen.ru and so on. Thus, lower-level domains are formed.
When mentioning the name of a top-level domain, it should be noted that this is, roughly speaking, its ending. For example, there is the topmost level of the domain, it is called the first. These are the zones.com,.net,.ru or.club,.travel and others. Regular users can only order registration in these zones, and only the organization that manages ICANN's domain names can create its own zone.
Second level domains
A second-level domain is a two-word name separated by a dot. For example, this is the site domen.com or domain.travel. This name is the shortest (in the hierarchy), and therefore the most prestigious.
As a rule, second-level domain names in all zones are paid. But there are exceptions to every rule, including this one. Zones such as.tk,.ml,.cf and.ga can be registered for free. Let's say that everyone can take possession of the name domen.tk without paying any registration fee (of course, if such a name is free). A free second-level domain differs from paid ones (for example,.com) in that among the latter there is much less spam and hacker sites that carry out fraud on the Web. This means that both search engines and users will still give preference to sites that have a paid second-level domain. Especiallythat the registration of the same.com is not so expensive - only 15-20 dollars. This amount is paid once for the whole year. Everyone who launches his website is able to find so much money. And it's worth it, because by registering such a name, the user will not worry that his free second-level domain can be closed, "hijacked" and carry out other illegal actions. For the vast majority of Internet projects, this is extremely important.
Difference between same-level domains
Probably, each user has come across sites in different domain zones many times. The zones themselves, to be honest, are several hundred. These are global domains like.com,.net,.info; regional (assigned to a particular country).us,.it,.fr; it is also a set of thematic domains. Recently, by the way, they have become much more. These are zones such as.aero,.travel,.apple,.club and many others.
If we talk about the difference between all these zones, then first of all we should note the visual effect that the domain carries. Yandex, for example, was originally located on.ru, after which it launched its own “mirrors” in all other global zones. This allows not only to protect the brand (after all, by entering an address in any zone, the user gets to a single search portal), but also to make the site thematic, to separate it depending on the zone in which it is in demand. For example, the Ukrainian domain "Yandex" leads to the Ukrainian version of the site (yandex.ua); Belarusian - on yandex.by and so on.
Choosing the top level domain for yoursite, do not forget about the theme of the site. Accordingly, select a domain for it. For example, the.club zone is perfect for a club address, and the.aero zone is often used for an airline address.
Why create subdomains?
So, a logical question arises: if the top level of a domain is, roughly speaking, "good", then why do we need subdomains - names that are an order of magnitude lower in the hierarchy? After all, it is logical that the names of sites like poddomen.domen.ru are remembered worse.
Yes, it is. Indeed, remembering such a name is an order of magnitude more difficult than just domen.ru. However, this does not prevent you from doing separate projects on subdomains. For example, for an online store selling different categories of goods, it is quite advisable to create the names kraska.magazin.ru, plitka.magazin.ru. Thus, it will be easier for the buyer to navigate, and it will be easier for the administrator to separate certain categories of goods.
Besides, the existence of subdomains makes life easier for webmasters who promote websites. So, in the case of increasing the number of links for one subdomain, part of this link mass (which, by the way, is very fond of search engines) is transferred to the main name. And this is obviously very profitable in terms of promotion costs.
Where can I find a cheap domain?
The question of where to find and register a top-level domain is cheaper arises for many webmasters. This is relevant primarily for those who intend to launch several projects and for this reason, of course, want to saveon the total cost of domain names. There are only two ways to achieve this: registration with registrars offering lower prices, or bulk registration. There are companies that register names at a lower cost.
As a rule, prices jump, which means that these lists are constantly updated. They are run by various bloggers and news domain-topics. As for registration in bulk, it is recommended to do this with trusted, old companies that have been on the market for at least ten years. So you will not only get a favorable price, but also a guarantee that all domains will be, simply put, in safe hands.
How is the domain set up?
Setting up a domain name is the final stage that every webmaster goes through when launching his site. To do this is quite simple: you just need to specify the NS records of your hosting (as a rule, these are two servers that look like ns1.domen.com and ns2.domen.com). They should be entered into the registrar panel.
In addition, on the hosting side, it is also necessary to link to the registered domain. This is done in the order control panel by simply typing the name. After that, you will need to wait from several hours to a couple of days for the records on the side of the administrator of the domain zone to be updated and the domain to be visible in the browser of visitors.
