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Even people who are relatively unfamiliar with the Internet are familiar with the basics of a domain name. Domain names are a defining aspect of websites, so much that many people refer to sites by their domain names. Despite their surface simplicity, there’s actually a lot more going on with domain names than what most people are familiar with.

Every web design company domain name consists of three or more parts: the subdomain, the actual name, and the suffix. The most common subdomain is the ubiquitous “www” which stands for “World Wide Web.” However, it’s possible for sites to have multiple subdomains in addition to, or in place of the standard “www”. The suffix is what’s at the end of the domain name. Most commonly, this is .com, but it can be a number of other things such as .org, .net, or .info. Many countries also have their own suffixes.

The name is quite simply a name chosen by the site’s owner. Most people choose the name of their business or site as their domain name, but this isn’t always the case. For instance, if someone wanted to create a site called Bob’s Corner, they might end up with the domain name “www.bobscorner.com.”

In truth, the domain name is only shorthand. A number, not a name, denotes the place where your site is located on the Internet. The number is called an IP address. Once you’ve settled on a host for your site, the host will point your domain name toward an IP address that they provide, and voila, your website makes its debut.