Trying to know What is a Custom Domain? Each website hosted on the hosting servers uses a particular domain name connected to it. When you type the web address of a site into the address bar of your browser and click the search button, the domain name is translated into an IP address and your browser sends a request to the targeted server. The server sends back a response to the browser. Without a domain name, it is very hard to memorize a numerical label of a number and to put it into the address bar of a browser while going to search for something.
This is where comes the necessity of a custom domain name. Thousands of domain names are registered every day at those domain registrars which are accredited by ICANN. Knowing about the Custom domain is an important matter in website and web hosting, as it is related to them.
If I ask you what is the address of your site? then you can tell me the URL of your site’s homepage aka web address which includes a domain name. For human readers, the domain name is a textual word but you cannot access your website which is hosted on a server until the domain name is translated into an IP address provided by the DNS of the hosting provider. The work of translating a custom domain into an IP address is done by the concerned DNS Manager.
What Do You Mean by a Custom Domain?
A Custom Domain is a unique, branded, and registered domain that a registrant can use to connect it with a new website that he is going to create. Unlike other domains, a Custom Domain is independent and works as a primary or root domain. It contains one or more subdomains under it but it is not a subdomain itself.
The domain name for my site Blowwager is ‘blowwager.com’. Now, look at its features to know more about what a Custom Domain is.
- The domain blowwager.com is registered.
- It is the primary domain or root domain.
- It is not a subdomain, although you can use it under certain conditions.
- It is branded and unique because there is no same domain with the same TLD in the Whois Database.
Suppose you have a Custom Domain like ‘dboxon.com’. It may have the following web addresses based on certain conditions when it is used to host a website, such as:
- http://dboxon.com
- http://www.dboxon.com
- https://dboxon.com or
- https://www.dboxon.com
In each web address, there is a custom domain ‘dboxon.com’. In each case, the first part of the web URL is either HTTP or HTTPS protocol. The www part is a subdomain used for the host record. The next part is dboxon and it is the second level domain(SLD). The part dot com( .com) is a kind of domain suffix also called TLD.
The second level domain ‘dboxon’ and the TLD ‘ .com ‘ together constitute the primary or root domain aka ‘dboxon.com and here it is the custom domain.
How to Choose a Custom Domain?
You can choose a custom domain in order to register it. While trying to choose such kind of branded domain, include the following features:
Unique and Branded: The domain name you are going to choose must stand unique and branded. There will be no same domain with the same TLD anywhere in the world. Doing such gives it a unique brand value that makes it look distinguished from others.
Short and Compact: The domain name must be short and compact. Actually, if you choose a domain composed of fewer characters, it will be good for users. Because readers can memorize, spell and type short names with ease. In terms of readability, it is more convenient and results in a better user experience(UX). Most popular websites have domains consisting of less than 15 characters.
Choose a meaningful keyword: A Domain is better if it has a meaningful word. Because a word bearing meaning and used as a keyword will have more popularity in the search engine result pages(SERPs) because of searching trend. If possible, try to find out such kind of word. Don’t use abstrusive words which are hard to remember.
Avoid Hyphens and Numbers: Don’t use hyphens and numbers in the domain name because using such characters results in a negative user experience. Furthermore, now there are many domain sellers who register popular domains to sell in the market to gain huge profits. If you register a domain using a hyphen in between words, then there is a greater possibility that the domain sellers will register the same domain without a hyphen and it is permissible. Users very often forget to type hyphens while typing that domain and it will lead traffic to the non-hyphenated domain. Even you may have to purchase that domain to get sufficient traffic and such things happened in the past.
Don’t Use a Penalized Domain: It is also found that there were some site owners who published sites and closed or deleted them owing to the Google penalty. When such kinds of domains are left and not renewed, the domain brokers take the opportunity of these, register the domains and sell them in the market at a high value. Don’t run into such kind of mishappening, as hosting a site with such kind of domain may have negative effects on your site’s overall SEO.
You can check past history of the targeted domain in the Whois database to look into past records. It is a good idea to avoid penalized domains.
Choose a Popular TLD: While choosing a Custom Domain, take care of Top Level Domain(TLD). There are various domain extensions available in the IANA Root Zone Database and you can choose any one of these. In terms of popularity, the most popular domain suffixes are .com, .org, .net etc. Try to opt for .com or .org, though it is hard to find such kind of TLD. If you can’t find out an exact match domain with .com, then you can choose a similar domain by adding a suffix or prefix using a domain generator tool.
Register the Custom Domain You Have Chosen
There are many domain registrars in the market and you can choose anyone of them. While registering a domain look at the facilities which are provided by your domain registrar.
Domain registration fee: The domain registrar should not cost too much for domain registration. Normally, the fee for domain registration is about $10 to $15/year. This is solely for domain registration without any add-on service.
Domain Privacy: Domain Privacy means you have to hide sensitive information related to you that you entered during registration of your domain such as username, email address, contact number, etc. When you enter these data into the registrar site, it goes to the Whois database. Now, if you leave it open, it may lead to several problems such as:
- Third-party marketing companies may sell your data for commercial purposes.
- You may be flooded with unwanted calls and junk emails.
- Even hackers may intrude into your account.
That’s why to opt for domain privacy to keep safe your data entered into the registrar site. Domain protection has three layers such as basic, full, and ultimate. However, if you don’t opt for full or ultimate domain privacy, then choose a basic level of domain protection.
There are also other add-ons like premium DNS, custom email, Digital Certificate, etc.
Premium DNS: Premium DNS is a globally available DNS service with a 100% service level agreement for DNS resolution. It saves your website from downtime, makes it available all the time, and moreover defends your site against DDoS attacks.
Custom Email: A custom email is a kind of business email that uses a specific brand like your registered domain. Creating a custom email based on the domain is a good practice to increase your brand value to customers. You can opt for custom email while registering a Custom Domain. Also, you can create it later on with other email hosting providers if don’t like to add this now to your domain registrar.
SSL or Digital Certificate: Also, you can choose SSL Certificate if you like although it is needed when you host a new site. It encrypts data that go forth and come back between the hosting server and the browser. It is also needed for your site and it is a ranking factor announced by Google.
So far, we are talking about domain privacy and other add-on services. Domain privacy is a-must and never forget to opt for it, as it protects your sensitive information. On the other hand, there are other add-on services that you can choose while going to register a Custom Domain or add later when required.
There are many domain registrars such as Namecheap, Domain.com, Godaddy, etc.
Once you have chosen your domain name, go ahead and register the domain in order to use it for your site.
