How important can an top domain be?

One of the most essential requirements for having a successful online presence is the domain name. It is what visitors will discern first when they chance upon your web site and what they will relate you with. The domain name should be easy to remember, but should also be something that notifies your web site's visitors what the website is about.

Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

A domain name usually is composed of two constituents - a Top-Level Domain Name (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain Name (SLD). If you have domain.com, for instance, ".com" is the TLD and "domain" is the Second-Level Domain. There are a couple of groups of Top-Level Domain Names that you should consider prior to picking the domain you desire. Your selection should be based on the intention of your web page and on its target spectators. Let's have a gaze at the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domains - these are the most widespread TLDs aimed to designate a particular purpose - .com (business enterprises), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (companies), .info (informational websites), .org (not-for-profit organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia Pacific), .name (individuals or families), .pro (given walks of life), and so on. As you can see, these Top-Level Domain Names encompass most spheres of life, so you should pick the one that would indicate the aim of your website best. There is no restriction as to who can register such Top-Level Domain Names, but some of them involve additional procedures to verify that you are eligible to keep such a Top-Level Domain (.mobi and .pro, for instance).

Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code Top-Level Domain Names, are country-specific Top-Level Domain Names. Each country has its own ccTLD. Getting such a Top-Level Domain is good if your target group of visitors is from a particular country. Many folks would prefer to buy goods or services from a local web site, and if your goal is Canada, for instance, selecting a .ca domain could boost the visits to your website.

Domain Redirects

You can register a bunch of Top-Level Domain Names, which can send your website's visitors to a specific website like domain.com, for example. This would increase the traffic and decrease the possibility of someone snatching your web page visitors by using the same Second-Level Domain Name with a different TLD - if you are not availing of a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each TLD has domain records. The name server records (NS records, aka DNS records) display where the domain is hosted, i.e. they point to the web hosting firm whose name servers (NSs, aka DNSs) it is utilizing now. You can change the name servers of your domain name at all times. You can have your domain name registered with one firm and get the hosting service itself from another. Therefore, if you register your domain and encounter decent website hosting services somewhere else later, you can point your domain name to the present provider's name servers at once.

Domain Name Server Records (DNS Records)

On the whole, as long as your domain uses a particular pair of NSs, all its NS records will lead to the same web space hosting supplier. Some site hosting firms, though, permit you to modify specific domain records, among them the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which details on which server your website is hosted, while the MX records disclose which web hosting server tackles the mail accounts associated with your domain name. For example, if you take on a new site designer and he creates an .ASP web page that will be hosted on his private Windows web server, you may desire to edit solely the Internet Protocol address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain name. Thus, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows web hosting server, but your mails or any sub-domain names such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux web site hosting account. The .ASP environment is invented by Microsoft and calls for a Windows web hosting server, although a Linux server would be far more reliable.

Low-cost Domain Names Provided by 'Free Hostia'

Just a few web hosting vendors allow you to modify particular DNS records and quite frequently this an extra paid service. With Free Hostia , you have a huge collection of TLDs to choose from and you can edit all domain records or redirect the domain names through a forwarding tool at no additional cost. Therefore, 'Free Hostia' would be your finest pick when it comes to handling your domain and to creating a successful presence on the web.