What is a Domain?

When we say domain, the first thing that comes to mind is a domain name and how it works. 

A domain name is the address of your website. For example, when you want to visit Google’s website, the URL you enter in the address bar is www.google.com. 

Types of Domain Names

Now that we have an idea of what domain names are and what their purpose is, let’s look at a few types of domain names. They are as follows: 

• Top-Level Domain
• Country Code Top-Level Domain
• Sponsored Top-Level Domain

Top-Level Domain

Top-level domain or TLD is essentially the generic domain extension that comes at the top-most level of the domain name system. These can be any high-authority domain names but are mostly the ones that end in .net, .org, and .com. Others like .info and .agency are also considered to be top-level, but obviously, a website with .com at the end is just better.

Country Code Top-Level Domain

These domains have their country code specified at the end of the URL. Here’s a list of ALL the country code top-level domains starting with A for a better understanding. They are accompanied by their respective registry operator:

• .ac Ascension Island Nic.ac
• .ad Andorra Andorra Telecom
• .ae United Arab Emirates UAEnic
• .af Afghanistan AfgNIC
• .ag Antigua and Barbuda Nic AG
• .ai Anguilla Government of Anguilla
• .al Albania Albania Electronic and Postal Communications Authority (AKEP)
• .am Armenia ISOC.AM (Armenian Branch of ISOC)
• .an Antilles (Netherlands) University of the Netherlands Antilles
• .ao Angola Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade Agostinho Neto
• .aq Antarctica Mott and Associates
• .ar Argentina NIC Argentina
• .as American Samoa AS Domain Registry
• .at Austria Nic.at
• .au Australia auDA ABN (Australian Business Number) required
• .aw Aruba SETAR Restricted to local companies, organizations, and citizens
• .ax Aland Islands Ålands Landskapsregeringen
• .az Azerbaijan IntraNS

Sponsored Top-Level Domain

This is yet another type of top-level domain. TLDs have sponsors that represent a specific community addressed by the domain extension. For example, .edu for education-related organizations, .gov for the UK government, .mil for the United States military, etc. 

Choosing a Domain Name

When it comes to choosing a domain name, these top tips will help you. 

• Always try to stick to the .com domain name since it is the most popular and easy to remember. 
• The shorter your domain name is, the easier it is to remember. 
• It should be as catchy as possible. 
• Numbers and hyphens aren’t ideal to use. 
• You can use a domain name generator to help you find the best domain name.