Introduction
Choosing a domain is perhaps to most important step in building your web presence. Domain name is your identity and address on the internet. It enables people to find you and discover your websites. Hence it is important that you get this step right.
Technicality of Domain Name
Before we begin, let just understand the technicality of domain name first. All computers and devices connected to the internet are assigned a unique IP address. This IP address will take in the form of 152.168.1.1 for example. Your computer that you used to browse this website also has an IP address. Similarly, the web server (imagine an always on super computer) that host this website also has an IP address. The IP address is unique and no two address is the same. This helps the computer identify other computer.
While it is cumbersome to remember 172.186.573.576 as an address, there is where the domain name come into the picture. It translates those 12 digits numbers into something that is easy for all of us human. So whenever you type our domain name, “webshop.my”, your computer will search in the domain name database (called DNS – Domain Name Server) worldwide to find the IP address that it is mapped too. Once found, the connection is established and you will be presented with our website here. Hence in a nutshell, the domain name is human friendly address that will direct people to your web server that host your website.
Domain name structure
Domain name are structured in the format of DOMAIN_NAME . DOMAIN_EXTENSION. For example, our domain, webshop.my, can be broken down into domain name, i.e. “webshop” and domain extension, i.e. “.my”.
Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD)
There are different type of domain extensions. The most popular that you already familiar with such as .com, .net, .org are called generic top-level domain (gLTD). Initially when the internet was created, there are only seven gLTD, i.e .com, .net, .org, .edu, .gov, .mil and .int. The first three were made available to the public, where is the remaining four are only reserved to certain accredited organisation, .e.g. only education institution can use .edu, government agencies for .gov, etc.
Country Code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD)
In addition to gTLD, there is also another sets of domain that we called country code TLD (ccTLD). It represents the country code as maintained by the International Standards Organisation (ISO). Each country are assigned a two letter code to denote the country. For example, .my represents Malaysia, .uk for United Kingdom, .de for Germany, .in for India, .id for Indonesia, etc. Each ccTLDs are normally administered by the specific country domain name registry and there are some restriction on the usage of those domain. For example, domain .my may only be registered by Malaysian or company that have a presence in Malaysia. Similarly for .us, .eu and many more. Please be sure to check with us should you want to register any of this domain in order to know the documentation required in order to ensure your registration is not revoked.
Generic Country Code Top-Level Domain (gccTLD)
Certain ccTLD has gain so much popularity that which makes the registration available for everyone. Some of the popular gccTLD such as .co, .me, .tv, .cc are no longer associated with the country that they initially intended to. .co, .me, .tv and. .cc are ccTLD for Colombia, Montenegro, Tuvalu and Cocos Island. But today, whenever we see domain.tv for example, we always assumed it is a domain name for a television company. That is how popular that ccTLD domain name extension that now has moved from ccTLD to gccTLD.
New TLDs
Recently a lot of new gTLD emerges that is not in any of the above categories. New TLD such as .top, .online, .shop, .xyz, .icu has gain some popularity recently as an alternative to the gTLD and ccTLD.
Our take and recommendation
While, there are many TLD that is available for registration, data still shows that .com domain still remains the supreme or number one choice for domain name and accounts for more than 50% of the overall domain active today.
Hence if you would like to register a domain today, please consider the following:
- As much as possible choose .com domain.
- If it is country specific, you might also want to go for ccTLD for your country.
- Consider other new TLD if it is also make sense for your business. e.g. rather than having the domain name that is too long such as kerepekonline.com, might as well you register for kerepek.online.
