A domain name consists of a name (brand, company, family name, etc.) and an extension. The latter can be a geographical suffix of two letters (.fr, .de for example) or a generic suffix of three letters (.com, .net for example).
An internet address or domain name is the equivalent of your postal address on the internet. It is the way your contacts and customers will find your website on the web. A domain name is therefore essential when creating your site or customizing your email address.
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Types of Domain Name
The domain name is made up of a string of characters (proper name, brand or association of keywords) and an extension which indicates the namespace. There are several types of extensions:
- National extensions (ccTLD, “Country Code Top Level Domain”), such as .fr, .re or other overseas domain names managed by Afnic;
- Generic extensions (gTLD, “Generic Top Level Domain”), the best known of which are .com, .net, .info, .biz. In recent years, many new generic extensions have appeared, such as .paris, .bzh, .alsace, .corsica.
How to purchase a domain name?
To purchase a domain name, all one has to do is go to an online domain name registrar, enter the domain name one wishes to acquire, and then pay some kind of subscription. However, it is not always necessary to go through a registrar. Web hosts allow you to sign up for a hosting solution and register a domain name at the same time.
Domain Name Payment Terms
A domain name can be purchased and is payable annually. Just like you buy or rent your business premises. It is advisable to turn to a registrar which takes care of the maintenance and updating of the domain database as well as providing access to dedicated servers.
The price of extending the time of a domain annually would mostly increase from second year. The annual payment also depends on the domain extensions such as .com, .org, etc…
