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Understanding Domain Names

A website domain name is the “address” the user types into their device to reach your website. As an example, www.convergesc.com is often considered the domain name for our website. However, to fully understand the domain name and the options available as you explore domain names, the domain name is actually broken into three different parts: the domain name, the top-level domain, and the sub domain.

The “convergesc” portion that appears between the two periods is technically the domain name.  This is the part of the name that is most closely associated with your website.  The domain name can contain English letters from A to Z, the number from 0 to 9 and the hyphen (-) character. (As with most rules, there are the occasional exceptions to these rules). For examples, we could have chosen any of the following as our domain name:

                convergent-design

                converge01

                convergentwebsites

The portion of the domain name after the second period is called the Top-Level Domain or TLD.  The most common TLD is “.com”. You may also be familiar with other common TLDs like “.org” (often used for non-profit causes), “.edu” (generally limited to educational institutions) and “.gov” (reserved for organizations that are part of the U.S. government).  TLDs are created and managed by an international oversight organization called ICANN. Individual users cannot create their own but are limited to choosing from existing TLDs. Yet a bit of research will show there is quite the selection available. Potential TLDs include “.pizza”, “.ninja”, “.tech”, “.world”, “.shop”, “.art” and “.church”.  Different TLDs can have different pricing ranging from under $10/year to over $1000/year.

The domain name and TLD combination is unique and generally controlled by one entity and pointing to one website. This gives us confidence that when we type “convergesc.com”, we will usually see the Convergent Design website. To gain control of a desired domain name, you need to pay a domain registrar to reserve the domain on your behalf.

The portion of the domain before the first period is known as the subdomain. “www.” is the most common subdomain, referring to “World Wide Web” or standard website related traffic. Subdomains generally follow the same rules as the domain name itself. Each domain can utilize multiple subdomains for various technical or marketing purposes. If you add a blog to your website, it may help to access the blog using the subdomain blog.convergesc.com.  Some may use the subdomain mail.convergesc.com to help accurately route email to the correct location. As part of a marketing campaign or seasonal special, you may find benefit in using specials.convergesc.com or christmas.convergesc.com to direct people that respond to special content related to your marketing campaign.

If you are looking for your first domain name or options for using subdomain, Convergent Design will be glad to help explain and use options.