How vital can an top domain be?

One of the most vital prerequisites for setting up a successful web presence is the domain name. It is what visitors will mark first when they come across your website and what they will associate you with. The domain name should be easy to remember, but should also be something that tells your site's visitors what the web site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)

A domain usually has two fragments - a Top-Level Domain Name (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain (SLD). If you have domain.com, for instance, ".com" is the TLD and "domain" is the SLD. There are several sets of Top-Level Domains that you should consider prior to selecting the domain you want. Your choice should rest on the purpose of your web page and on its target viewers. Let's take a look at the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domains - these are the most typical Top-Level Domain Names meant to show a particular intention - .com (business entities), .net (networks), .biz (businesses), .info (informational websites), .org (organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific), .name (persons or families), .pro (specific walks of life), and so on. As you can see, these Top-Level Domain Names encompass most realms of life, so you should pick the one that would designate the aim of your web page best. There is no limitation as to who can register such TLDs, but some of them involve extra steps to ascertain that you are eligible to own such a Top-Level Domain (.mobi and .pro, for instance).

Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code TLDs, are country-specific Top-Level Domains. Each country has its own ccTLD. Selecting such a Top-Level Domain Name is good if your target group of site visitors is from a particular country. Many folks would prefer to purchase goods or services from a local web page, and if your target is Canada, for instance, choosing a .ca Top-Level Domain could increase the visits to your web site.

URL Redirection

You can register a bunch of domains, which can forward your website's visitors to a particular website like domain.com, for example. This would boost the traffic and decrease the possibility of somebody snatching your site visitors by using the same SLD with a different Top-Level Domain Name - if you are not using a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each and every domain has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, also known as DNS records) exhibit where the domain name is hosted, i.e. they point to the web hosting company whose name servers (NSs, also known as DNSs) it is utilizing now. You can modify the name servers of your domain at all times. You can have your domain name registered with one firm and get the web space hosting service itself from another. Thus, if you register your domain name and find good website hosting services somewhere else later, you can point your domain to the new provider's NSs at once.

Name Server Records (DNS Records)

On the whole, as long as your domain uses a particular set of DNSs, all its NS records will direct to the same hosting vendor. Some web hosting providers, though, allow you to edit given name server records, like the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which demonstrates on which web hosting server your web site is situated, whereas the MX records demonstrate which hosting server tackles the email address accounts related to your domain name. For instance, if you appoint a new website designer and he sets up an .ASP site that will be hosted on his private Windows hosting server, you may desire to edit solely the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain name. In this way, www.domain.com will point to the Windows hosting server, but your email mailboxes or any sub-domains such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux hosting account. The .ASP platform is created by Microsoft and requests a Windows server, even though a Linux web server would be way more secure.

Modestly Priced Top-Level Domain Names Courtesy of 'Free Hostia'

Only a small number of web hosting distributors permit you to edit specific domain records and quite frequently this an extra paid service. With Free Hostia , you have a large collection of Top-Level Domains to pick from and you can edit all records or forward the domain names via a redirection tool at no extra cost. Therefore, 'Free Hostia' would be your best choice when it comes to administering your domain name and to setting up a successful presence on the web.