How important can an affordable domain be?

One of the most crucial prerequisites for building a successful Internet presence is the domain name. It is what visitors will spot first when they stumble upon your web page and what they will identify you with. The domain name should be easy to memorize, but should also be something that informs your website's visitors what the web site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

A domain as a rule consists of two constituents - a Top-Level Domain (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain Name (SLD). If you have domain.com, for instance, ".com" is the Top-Level Domain Name and "domain" is the SLD. There are several groups of Top-Level Domains that you should examine prior to selecting the domain name you want. Your choice should rest on the purpose of your site and on its target spectators. Let's scrutinize the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domains - these are the most widespread TLDs meant to show a specific intention - .com (business entities), .net (networks), .biz (businesses), .info (informational web sites), .org (non-profit organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia Pacific), .name (individuals or families), .pro (particular professions), etc. As you can perceive, these Top-Level Domain Names encompass most realms of life, so you should select the one that would designate the objective of your site best. There is no restriction as to who can register such Top-Level Domains, but some of them involve additional procedures to demonstrate that you qualify to possess such a TLD (.mobi and .pro, for instance).

Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code TLDs, are country-specific domains. Each country has its own ccTLD. Opting for such a domain is good if your target group of site visitors is from a specific country. Many guys would rather purchase goods or services from a local web page, and if your aim is Canada, for example, getting a .ca domain name could increase the visits to your website.

Domain Name Forwarding

You can register a bunch of domain names, which can redirect your website's visitors to a particular web site like domain.com, for example. This would increase the traffic and lower the possibility of somebody pilfering your visitors by using the same Second-Level Domain with another Top-Level Domain Name - if you are not using a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each domain name has domain records. The name server records (NS records, a.k.a. DNS records) disclose where the domain is hosted, i.e. they point to the hosting vendor whose name servers (NSs, also known as DNSs) it is using at present. You can modify the NSs of your domain name whenever you wish. You can have your domain name registered with one firm and get the web page hosting service itself from another. In this way, if you register your domain and come across decent website hosting packages somewhere else afterwards, you can point your domain to the present company's name servers straight off.

Name Server Records (NS Records)

In general, as long as your domain uses a particular set of NSs, all its DNS records will point to the same website hosting firm. Some site hosting providers, however, permit you to edit certain records, like the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an IP address, which reveals on which hosting server your website is hosted, while the MX records display which web hosting server tackles the e-mail address accounts associated with your domain name. For example, if you hire a new site designer and he sets up an .ASP web page that will be situated on his personal Windows web server, you may wish to change only the Internet Protocol address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. In this way, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows web hosting server, but your electronic mails or any sub-domains such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your current Linux web space hosting account. The .ASP platform is developed by Microsoft and calls for a Windows web hosting server, even though a Linux hosting server would be way more secure.

Inexpensive TLDs Furnished by 'Exclusive Hosting'

Only a small number of web hosting distributors enable you to edit specific domain name records and very frequently this an additional paid service. With Exclusive Hosting , you get a vast assortment of Top-Level Domains to choose from and you can edit all DNS records or forward the domain names through a forwarding tool at no added cost. For that reason, 'Exclusive Hosting' would be your best choice when it comes to administering your domain and to setting up a successful presence on the Internet.