A domain is the private and unique name of a website. A domain’s name is usually comprised of a ‘www’ prefix, the name of the website (for example ‘domain’), and a suffix (for instance ‘com’), separated by ‘dots’ (the period punctuation mark).
There are various suffixes that serve as a distinction between websites, among them there are ‘com’ for commercial sites; ‘edu’, ‘net’, ‘org’ and ‘ac’ for academic and non-profit institutions; ‘gov’ for government entities and so on. The domain must be owned by the registrant. Choosing a name, as well as registering it, is part of the responsibility of the owner or companies dealing with development, marketing and website promotion.
When choosing a domain, there are branding considerations, which is why it’s common to choose a catchy domain name. Consideration must be given to creating an easy-to-remember and commonly spelled word-phrase, usually up to 15 characters.
