A domain is a textual version of an IP address, the number that points a browser to a particular Web site. Each domain on the internet consists of numbers, but it would be very confusing if you had to remember such long combinations of numbers. For example, the number 67.96.63.111 is the IP-address for http://domainspa.com. Without domain names each and every Web site would have to be recalled by a number like this, similar to the telephone system, but much more difficult to remember! For this reasons domain names were introduced, and have made navigation on the net much simpler!

Top Level Domain. The part of the domain name after the very last period "."

Top Level Domains are divided into two categories:

gTLDs: General TLDs such as .com, .org, .net and .info, which are not associated with a particular country or region

and

ccTLDs: TLDs such as .us, .de, .co.uk, .ie, .ca, etc. These TLDs were assigned to geographic locations, however, some, as in the TLD .tv, were sold by their owners (in this case the island of Tuvalu) to corporations to market and sell outside of the country. The TLD .tv has now come to stand for "television" in the Internet.

The maximum length of a domain is 63 signs/characters, excluding the ending (as in ".com"). You can choose all alphabetical letters, numbers as well as the hyphen "-", also sometimes referred to as the "dash" or "minus" sign. The "WWW" you often see on the front of domain names is not part of the domain and special characters (e.g. §,$,%,&,?,=) are not allowed.

No, domain names are not case sensitive. WWW.DomainName.com is the same as www.domainname.com is the same as www.DOMAINNAME.com - they can never point to different websites.

WHOIS databases contain contact and registration information for every domain registered with a particular registrar. WHOIS databases are maintained by individual registrars and not by the central registry. For this reason some information may not be up to date or may be misleading. Furthermore, registrars update their databases every 20-48 hours, so registration information regarding a domain name may be misleading.

"Good" is always subjective, but there are some general rules to go by when looking for a quality domain. First, make sure your domain has a TLD that is appropriate for its intended use. Opening an auto repair shop outside of London? Maybe stick with a .co.uk TLD. Looking to launch an entertainment news site that you see yourself advertising at next year's Cannes Festival? Then definitely stick with the .com name and maybe try to secure the .net and .org, too.

Once you have the TLD down, make sure to keep the name relatively short and memorable. Perhaps a real word, a phrase, an acronym, a catchy made-up word - all of these are possibilities that, through a little brain-storming land you a high quality domain name.

Watch out for domains with hyphens AND without hyphens. Everyone's instinct works differently - whereas one user may never think to type "all-my-children.com" another user will allways type in phrases with hyphens. Also watch out for articles such as "the". The humor newspaper The Onion has secured their online presence by acquiring both the domain "theonion.com" and "onion.com".

Lastly, test your desired name out. Get opinions from co-workers, friends, people on the streets! After all, it's all these people that you want to get to your site when it's finished, and their novice opinions can sometimes be the best answer to the question "is this a good domain name?"

When a domain is on hold it means that the registration has officially expired, but the domain has not been released for new registration. There are a couple of reasons why the domain may be on hold. Some registrars hold domains for indefinite amounts of times, and there is no way of knowing when the domain will "drop" or become available again for registration. Sometimes registrars allow the former owner some leeway to re-register the domain after the official expiration date. Every registrar operates differently, and it is therefore somewhat of a game figuring out when an expired domain name will be availabe for registration again.

DomainSpa provides you with the possibility to forward your domain names directly to a specially-designed Parking Page incorporating targeted ad banners as well as the normal DomainSpa "For Sale" page. When an Internet user types in your domain, he sees your DomainSpa Domain Parking Page. The visitor can quickly and easily make a bid for the domain, so your chances of making a sale are greatly increased.

And for the visitors that are not interested in purchasing a domain, but rather are searching for relevant content at that URL, the advertising banners help them find what they are looking for (and earn some extra cash for you at the same time!). Each time a visitor clicks on one of the advertising banners, you are credited with a per-click payment amount ranging from a few cents to nearly €2.00!

You will receive a commission each time a visitor from your sales listing page clicks on one of the advertising links from one of our promotional affiliates. The per-click rates differ depending on the promotional keyword. For example, the click-rates for the keywords "casino" or "loans" is much higher than for "school" or "pottery".

Each of the advertising links pays a slightly different rate, and the banner with the highest click-rate is generally displayed at the top.

A visit is counted each time that a user visits your domain's sales listing page, either by typing in the URL or by searching through DomainSpa.

Please note: Reloading the page or using scripts to manipulate visits and clicks will be recognized by our system and automatically filtered out. Furthermore, anyone found to be abusing the system in such a manner will be expelled from the Domain Parking Program, and all credits deleted.

Parking your domains with DomainSpa is entirely free. In fact, we pay you. That's why it's called the Paid Domain Parking program-get it?

Yes, you will remain in possession of your domain. The only thing necessary for DomainSpa's Domain Parking Program is that you point your domains to our servers or the appropriate URL, not that you change the registration data.