The domain name is a unique name that identifies a web site.
All domain names have 2 or more parts and are organized hierarchically
with the more generic parts to the right. The domain hierarchy is
presented by dots found in the domain name. The part of the domain
found after the last dot is known as domain extension (.com, .net,
.org, .ca, etc.). There can be many different names with one and the
same extension, but all of them have to be unique (asp-hosting.ca,
jobagencies.ca, etc.).
Do I need a domain name?
If you plan to have an online presence, then yes. The purpose of
having a domain name is to identify you (personal domain name), your
company (business domain name) for the Internet users. Usually you can
get a free domain name like
my-name.my-internet-service-provider-name.com, but there are 2 cons if
you do that. The first one is that no one will remember your domain
name, because it is too long and it can’t be associated with you
easily. Consider having the JoesGarage.com domain name, compared to
JoesGarage.Something-long-and-hard-to-remember.com. The second problem
is that, nobody will take your online presence seriously if you don’t
have your own top-level domain name.
Where can I get a domain name?
Now that you’re convinced that you need your own domain name,
where do you get one? You can buy your domain name from any domain
registrar that offer the domain extension you need. For example you
might be a Canadian citizen looking to buy a .CA domain, but because
not all domain registrars offer Canadian domain names, you’ll have to
find a domain registrar that does. You can buy your domain directly
from your hosting company and if you do that the company might give you
discount on your hosting package.
