What are Subdomains?

What are subdomains, where are they used, and how can you get one?

A subdomain is also known as a "third-level" domain, and is a great way to create memorable web addresses for various areas of your site. For instance, Yahoo! uses subdomains for its services, i.e., mail.yahoo.com, music.yahoo.com, etc. You can create subdomains for co-workers, family members, or to build separate sub-sites.

Subdomain services are usually offered through the web host, not through the domain registrar. If you are interested in creating subdomains from your main domain name look for a web host that supports or offers subdomains.

If you would like to sign up for a subdomain of another company's domain name you can often do so for free. For example 20m.com offers free subdomains and hosting. If you sign up for the free domain name, your name would be yourdomain.20m.com. (Not yourdomain.com) Most often when you see "Free" domain name registration offered it is usually for the registration of a subdomain. There are plenty of places to receive a subdomain for free, if you don't want your own domain name, so don't waste money paying for a subdomain alone.