A quarter of a century has passed since the invention of domain names . But so far, people have not fully decided on the question of choosing a name for the site. The popular belief is that third-level domains are less attractive than second -level domains . Some users do not understand that there are country domains and others. This article will talk about this in more detail.
What is a domain?
The domain name of a site consists of words that are separated by dots. Their number determines the level, which is denoted as follows: how many words in the domain, such is its level. The hierarchy goes from right to left. So, the very first step is called a top-level domain.
As a rule, they can be divided into three main parts:
- Domain zone. It is in this part that the domains of the countries of the world are included. It is not the property of the resource, but is intended for registration of names.
- Name of the site. This is the property of the resource. It contains one word, which most often contains the name of the company or site.
- A subdomain is an optional part denoting a specific subsection of a site. An example would be the www subdomain.
Zone Classification
The domain zone consists of one or two steps. In the first case, it completely coincides with the top-level domain. More than two steps are used extremely rarely.
Top-level participants can be formally divided into country domains, business and general.
The latter also include some domains that are distinguished by territorial, cultural or linguistic characteristics.
Country Domains
Designed, as the name implies, for certain countries, cultures and languages. When choosing, you need to take into account the rule: such a zone must be chosen if the site is aimed at residents of a particular country or native speakers of the same language. For example, the .ru domain is chosen for Russia or for Russian-speaking users.
Domains of the countries of the world, the list of which includes 242 identifiers, always consist of a couple of letters. Here are some examples:
- Russia - .ru.
- Ukraine - ua.
- Czech Republic - cz.
- Japan - jp.
General purpose domains
They are distinguished by certain territorial and cultural characteristics. For example, there are separate domains for Asia, Catalonia, Berlin, New York, Latin America. Some of them have certain registration requirements. For example, in Ukraine you can register such a domain only if you have a trademark with the same name.
Thematic domains
These zones do not apply to the territory. They consist of more than a couple of letters. Each domain defines a specific field of activity. Such a zone must be selected if the resource fully or mainly corresponds to it. There are .net, .com, .gov zones. The latter is selected for government organizations. There are separate domains for museums, travel agencies.
Domain zone selection
In order to make the right choice regarding the domain zone, first of all, it is necessary to answer the following questions:
- Is the audience or field of activity limited to the territory of a particular country?
- If there are restrictions on a specific region of this country?
- Is the resource focused on a specific area?
After that, you can already make a decision, guided by the information described above. But it is worth saying that there is nothing reprehensible in choosing a domain zone .info or .biz in cases when a commercial activity is carried out. They never look dubious.
By the way, if you organize a personal website that will be used for a portfolio or personal blog, then you do not need to choose a country’s domain . For this purpose, there is a .name zone in which it is possible to register third-level domains containing a username. An email address of the same type will be automatically received.