Domain Name Terminology

Domain Name Terminology- Let’s face it, if you try to register a domain name you are probably going to encounter some type of domain name terminology that you are familiar with. This domain name terminology article will help you understand them.

Registering a domain name should be easy but it seems like every domain registrar likes to use different wording so that they can be unique and try to sell their "item." Register Cheap Domain Name has a ton of experience in domain names and has seen just about every single domain name terminology used. In this domain name terminology article we are going to list the most common terms used during domain registration, domain transfers, and basically anything dealing with domain names!

Before Register Cheap Domain Name gets into the technical definitions, let’s look at what the most common domain extensions mean.

  • .aero- Used only for the air transport industry.
  • .biz- Mainly used by businesses.
  • .ca- The top level domain for Canada.
  • .com- By far the most popular domain extension standing for .commercial.
  • .edu- Reserved for schools that are accredited by one of the six U.S. regional accrediting agencies.
  • .info- A basic domain extension available to anybody.
  • .mil- Reserved for the United States Military.
  • .net- Started off for technical websites but now has become popular as an alternative to .com. Stands for .network.
  • .org- Most nonprofit organizations use the .org extension but anybody can registered it.
  • .uk- The United Kingdom top level domain.
  • .us- The United States top level domain.

Those are the popular domain extensions. Now here are some domain name terminology that you might encounter when registering a domain name.

Administrative contact- This is the person is who is the primary contact person for the registered domain name.

Appraisal- This is when an independent party places a value on your domain name for selling purposes.

Billing Contact- Similar to the administrative contact, the billing contact is the main person responsible for the billing.

Bulk Registration- An offer by most domain registrars in which you get a discount if you order a predestinated number of domain names.

Country Code- Most countries outside of the United States use a two letter code at the end of the domain name so that you can easily see where the domain is from.

Cyber Squatter- This is a person who buys a large number of domain names and doesn’t use them. Instead they try to make a large profit off of these domain names. Cyber Squatters or Cybersquatting can be illegal if done incorrectly.

Domain Name System- Also known as the DNS, the domain name system plays a role in converting your domain name into a unique IP address.

Domain Name- Quite simply, a domain name is a unique name of your website.

Domain Transfer- The act of transferring a domain name to another party after the original party has held the domain name for at least 60 days.

Expired Domain- Domain names are registered for a set period of time. At the conclusion of that time, you must reregister the domain name. If you don’t, the domain registrar will give you a short grace period after your domain name registration is due. Should you not reregister during that grace period, your domain name will expire thus opening up the chance for somebody else to register it.

gTLD- gTLD stands for Generic Top Level Domain. The three generic top level domains are .com, net, and .org.

ICANN- The main group that oversees the domain name system and issuance of unique IP addresses.

IP Addresses- A unique set of numbers that identifies each website.

Name Servers- The name servers act as the middle person for domain name and IP address. Think of it as the name servers making your job easier finding the websites because you only have to remember the simple domain name while the name servers have to remember the long complicated IP addresses.

NIC Fee- A fee that you pay the domain registrar for registering the domain name for you.

Parking- Also known as domain parking, this is the act of you placing your domain name on a web host while you create your website.

Second Level Domain- The second level domain is the part of the domain name that is left of the domain extension. For example in www.policeequipmentreviews.com the second level domain is policeequipmentreviews.

Subdomain- This is very common in free web hosting. Instead of your own domain name, the free host will allow you to create a domain name but attach it to their main domain name. For example, www.yourname.webhostname.com. Yourname is the subdomain of webhostname.

WHOIS- A popular database system that allows you to find out who has registered a particular domain name. When you register a domain name, it becomes public record.

Related Article: What Is ICANN? >>

 

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