What is a domain name?

A domain name is the actual name of a website, and every single website has a domain name. Think of your domain name as a street address for your website. Without a domain name, you’d have to tell customers to visit your site at an IP-based url, such as 123.123.123.123/~yourwebsite, instead of yourwebsite.com. Not very memorable.

To be successful on the interwebs, you’ll want to invest in a domain name to ensure your site has a level of professionalism, appropriate branding, and overall awesomeness.

To obtain one, you need to purchase it through a domain registrar. Domains can cost anywhere from a few rands a year to hundreds of thousands of rands a year, based on the contract and popularity of the domain. Every domain name is pointing to an IP (Internet Protocol) address, which is a series of numbers. Because most people can’t remember 10 digits in perfect order, domain names serve as easily remembered alias for visitors. Probably the best-known domain name is google.com, and Google’s IP address is 173.194.79.99… which is easier for you to remember?