the domain name system (dns) translates website names into corresponding ip (internet protocol) addresses. without a domain name, a visitor to websitenames.com would have to type in: 209.130.1.96. net addresses are also called url's (uniform resource locators).

.com is the international standard for commercial websites.

.com is now the default setting on web browsers. a client can type a website name and current releases of netscape and internet explorer will automatically add: http://www. and .com.

a website name consists of up to 22 letters, numbers and dashes. that is: 31,700,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 possible .com names, yet there's a shortage of desirable addresses.

volume: more than 125,000 website names are registered per month. two years ago the rate was only 200 per month.

over 1.6 million domains have been registered. anyone can check the availability of a name at: http://rs.internic.net/cgi-bin/whois about 25 million queries are made each month at this site. [all statistics from: network solutions, inc. (nsi) www.netsol.com and internic www.internic.net , nov. 5th, 1997]

record prices: the details of most website name sales are not made public. some reported sales include: $150,000 for business.com and $100,000 for internet.com.  the owner of television.com turned down a $50,000 offer.

domain pointing: it is common for a company to point multiple domains to one website. some corporations have taken this to an extreme. procter & gamble's website can be accessed via: pimples.com, badbreath.com, underarm.com , diarrhea.com and over 100 others.

small business--big image: domain pointing also enables a small firm's online presence to rival the prestige of the big players.

suppose a company called worcester & piccadilly british imports wants to launch their website. worcesterpiccadilly.com may be ok for devoted clients, but pointing and promoting theunitedkingdom.com or madeinuk.com would certainly add impact, prestige and accessibility.

capitalization: website names are not case sensitive. madeinuk..com can be promoted as: madeinuk.com

domain parking: a business can register or buy a name for later use.

domain name transfer agreement
domain name promotion tools
tradmarks vs. urls