| A: 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 this site's domain name is Free-Web-Hosting-Help.com. URL stands for "Uniform Resource Locator." It is the address of a specific Web site or file on the Internet. A URL contains the domain name. Some examples of URLs are http://www.free-web-hosting-help/doman-name-registration.html, http://www.free-web-hosting-help.com/, and ftp://free-web-hosting-help.com/. As you can see, not all URLs begin with "http". The first part of a URL indicates what kind of resource it is addressing.
The second part of a URL (after the "://") contains the address of the computer being located as well as the path to the file. For example, in "http://www.free-web-hosting-help.com/Domain-Names/index.html," "www.free-web-hosting-help.com" is the address or domain name of the host computer and "/Domain-Names/index.html" is the path to the file. When a address ends with a slash and not something like ".html," the server usually defaults to a file in the current directory named "index.html". So, if you type in "http://www.free-web-hosting-help.com/" and "http://www.free-web-hosting-help.com/index.html," you should get the same page. Go ahead and try it if you have nothing better to do.
The last part of the domain (often called the Top Level Domain, or TLD) is administered by a certain organization. For example, the "com" TLD is administered by ICANN, while the "uk" TLD is administered by Nominet UK, an organization authorized by the UK government to administer that domain. However, you will rarely interface with these organizations, since the registering authority (the ability to create new domain names) has been delegated to many other organizations, called Domain Registrars. Network Solutions (now owned by Verisign) is perhaps the largest and most well-known domain registrar, but also one of the most expensive. Domain names are not case sensitive, so this website could be reached by typing www.free-web-hosting-help.com or www.Free-Web-Hosting-Help.com. Many web hosting companies will register a domain name for you if you choose this option when opening an account. Most web hosting companies will also help you transfer your domain name from your previous registrar to your current web hosting company. Domain Name Availiability: Prior to registering a domain, you will need to check if your domain name availability. You can do that by going to one of the domain name registrars and performing a domain name lookup. Related Web Hosting Questions:
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