A valid domain name consists of a set of alphanumeric ASCII characters, including lowercase (a-z) and uppercase (A-Z) letters, numbers (0-9), and hyphens (-), or a combination thereof. It must adhere to specific length criteria, typically ranging from a minimum of 3 to a maximum of 63 characters.
Criteria for Valid Domain Names:
- Must be between 3 and 63 characters.
- Must begin and end with a letter or a number.
- Should only use the English character set, (i.e., a-z, A-Z), numbers (i.e. 0-9) and dashes (-) or a combination of these;
- Cannot start or end with a hyphen,("-"), nor have consecutive hyphens (e.g., "--").
- Cannot include spaces(e.g., www.ab cd.com) or underscores(e.g www.ab_cd.com).
Additionally:
- Two-character and single-character domains are typically designated as premium domain names, with higher costs and limited availability.
- African ccTLDs often require a minimum of 4 characters for registration.
- Some domains may necessitate additional documentation and could take longer than a week to complete registration.