Universal Resource Locator (URL) is an addressing system that works much like the US Postal system.  When you see www.myname.com, behind it is a numerical address that would look something like 209.187.207.87.  Each of these numbers directs your computer through the Internet to the final address.

        An inaccurate but simplified way of looking at it is that the first number is a district, the second is a zip code, the third is a mail route, and the last is the street and number address.

        Another way to look at it is as a phone number, it works very much like one, with the first 2 sets of numbers equal to country and area codes and the next 2 sets equal to the local number.  

        If you really want to know all the technical info on how they work, you can read about it at http://www.icann.com  Very few even bother with the numbers and many systems won’t accept them anymore. When you type in an address like Machinest.com, there are hidden directories that look up the address number and send you there.

        With a domain name that is easy to remember, you can advertise your website in magazines, radio, billboards, television and other media and know that they will remember it until they get home to log on to the Internet. We will cover what is easy to remember in a later chapter. Most people can already name a couple of names they have seen or heard.

        URLs are not case sensitive so you can use upper or lower case or any combination and you will go to the same place every time. Example: MACHINEST.com, machinest.com or MachinEST.com, though all you will get with these links is an under counstruction page for now.