The first thing your website needs is a domain name, which is the unique identifier for your site. It tells the web browser how to find the server where your website is stored. Domain names can consist of letters (English alphabet a to z), numbers (0 to 9), hyphens (-) and an extension (.com, .org, .edu or .net, among others) known as a top-level domain. Each level of the domain name is separated by a dot (.) The most common domain names consist of three levels—hostserver.company.extension, for example www.deli5.com.
All domain names must be registered with a domain name registry service to ensure that names aren’t duplicated on the World Wide Web. Registering a domain name costs between $8 and $35 per year. How much you pay for your domain name depends on the registry service you sign up with.
Think of your domain name as an alphanumeric phone number for your website. It’s unique—no two phone numbers can be the same—and when a customer dials your number, it connects them to your business. However, your phone number is randomly assigned to you, but you get to pick your own domain name.