What is a Website Domain Name?

What is a Website Domain name? A domain name is the name of your website it also represents the location or web address of your website. Some people also refer to the domain name as the URL (Uniform Resource Locator). All URLs start with http://

All Websites have domain names and they should be the same name as your website. For example this website's domain name is http://hubpages.com. The domain name is what you pick when making a website. When adding pages to your website your website address will be your domain name /page name. If you look at the top browser you will see that it shows the domain name and then slash the page name.

"What domain name do you want"? is usually asked when signing up for a website through a web hosting company. Many free web hosting companies will give you a free domain name that includes the name of their hosting site in your domain name. Custom domain names usually cost money. Custom domain names usually cost around $14.95 a year more or less. Custom domain names are website names that you choose for your website that don't have any other name added to it. For example: http://www.yoursitename.weebly.com is a free website domain name because it has the .weebly in it. A custom domain name that costs money should look like this: http://www.yoursitename.com. Without the .hostingcompany name on it.

Is it better to have a custom domain name or a free domain name? It is always better to have a custom domain name for a variety of reasons. One reason a custom domain name is better is because the name of your website is shorter and easier for your website visitors to remember the name for your website. Second reason why a custom domain name is better because Search Engines respect those websites that don't have the .hostingname in them more. Which means your website will rank higher and receive more traffic from the search engines. Another reason a custom domain name is better is because if you are going to have a large website, free domain names usually only come with a limited amount of website space. Large websites need more space then free custom named websites usually.