What is a Domain Name?

A domain name is a unique address on the Internet. The Domain Name System (DNS) translates your domain name into the numerical IP addresses used by the Internet. A domain name can be used as a web address for web pages and will be part of your email address. There are many different types of domain name extensions such as .com, .net, & .com.au. Example of a domain name: www.instituteofonlinebusiness.com.

E-mail addresses include the domain name and could include the following:
info@instituteofonlinebusiness.com and/or sales@instituteofonlinebusiness.com.

What exactly is the Internet and how does it work?

The Internet is a global network of computer networks. Over the last ten years millions of people have surfed the internet looking for information and purchasing services or products they need. Recently, it was reported that 83.4 million consumers in the USA alone research online for products and information. This means that there are over 80 million potential and prospective clients that you can reach. And that is just the research done in the United States. Imagine when you include Australia and the rest of the world.

With an Internet connection, we can easily communicate with other people by sending emails that are delivered practically instantly, even to locations on the other side of the world. Anyone can use emails and view Internet pages with a web browser because the computer is connected to the Internet and communicates with other computers using Internet protocols. Computer software translates the information that your computer receives from remote computers. That is how people can look up web pages and send emails. While using the internet web browser, you enter a certain Internet location (domain name) in the navigation bar to view a certain site. Example www.instituteofonlinebusiness.com

An Internet location, sometimes called URL, is a location of a particular computer that is connected to the Internet. When you enter a URL and request an action of the web browser, the computer starts looking for a server that hosts www.instituteofonlinebusiness.com. When it finds the server, both computers enter into dialogue. Your computer requests and receives a website’s data. The data is transferred to your computer and displayed on your screen. Almost every computer connected to the Internet has a unique address. There are two systems of addressing computers on the Internet -- one is the system of domain names and the other one consists of the series of numbers (so called IP address, e.g. 207.8.198.8). This set of four numbers enables any other computer to find it. Domain Name Servers (DNS) translate this number into words.