What is a domain?

What is a domain name?
A domain name is the address that users will enter in their web browser (like Internet Explorer or Netscape) to access your web site. For example for this site, veteranwebhosting.net is the domain name.

Why You Need A Domain Name On the World Wide Web your domain name is your own unique identity. No two parties can ever hold the same domain name simultaneously; therefore your Internet identity is totally unique. If you have a business site on the Internet your domain name is your own online brand and in a sense you can use your domain name as your online business card. With your own domain name your web site, and e-mail addresses for example will have that professional look, being unique to your business. Many people often miss the importance of having and then keeping their domain name until they lose it. Once this happens they soon realize that they have lost their whole online identity.

How does a domain name work? To understand why you need a domain name you first need to know how a domain name works.

A domain name is an addressing construct, used for finding and identifying computers on the Internet. Computers use Internet Protocol (IP) Addresses, which are a series of numbers used to identify each other on the Internet; however, many people find it hard to remember IP Addresses. Because of this, domain names were developed so that easily remembered names and phrases could be used to identify entities in the Internet instead of using an IP Address.

For example, the domain name veteranwebhosting.net identifies the company veteranwebhosting.net. When a user types the domain name veteranwebhosting.net in their browser or sends an email to veteranwebhosting.net, the Domain Name System (DNS) will translate the domain name into IP numbers. These are then used by the Internet to connect the user to veteranwebhosting.net's web presence.