Your unique identity on the World Wide Web is your domain name. The domain is unique, and no two parties can have the same domain name. The online domain can be used as an online brand and as your online business card. Being unique to your business, the domain name in your website and email address will have a professional look. Some people lose their identity domain name, and they realize that they have lost their whole online identity.

In order to understand the need for a domain name, you first need to know the way the domain works. Domain names are used as an addressing construct, used for identifying and finding computers on the internet. Internet protocol (IP) address is a series of numbers used to identify each other on the internet. Because it is not easy to remember IP addresses, the domain was designed to be easy names and phrases, to substitute for the IP addresses.

For example, the domain name F5.net identifies the company F5.net. When you write an email to F5.net for instance, the Domain name system (DNS) will translate the domain name into IP address.

Phrases and words are used as domain names. Try to think of a domain name that is catchy and easy to remember to get more traffic to your site. Try to use names that identify the contents of your site. For example, for a business firm, it would be a good idea to use the firm name as a domain name. The shorter the domain name, the easier will be to remember. Try to keep the domain name between 5 and 20 characters.

Spelling issues should be taken into consideration. For example, making a clever name like "lu2.com" to mean loveyoutoo.com, would be a bad name, since most people would think of writing the loveyoutoo.com as the domain name.

How to acquire a domain name?

There are two ways you to acquire a domain name. Either you register the domain name by yourself, or get one from a web host or internet service provider. To register a domain name by yourself, you need to choose a Registrar. The Registrar is an ICANN domain registration company. The are many registrars on the internet nowadays. The domain names could be purchased for low rates these days. Many companies offer domain registration services. The domain name will be offered through their registrar when client asks for one. The main advantage of the host is that they have done this process many times, and their help will be available instantly. If you loose your domain name you can loose your whole online identity. As you can register a domain name for a year or so, you must make sure that you renew it before its expires .