How essential can an affordable domain be?

One of the most important preconditions for setting up a successful web presence is the domain name. It is what visitors will spot first when they chance upon your web site and what they will link you with. The domain name should be easy to memorize, but should also be something that informs your visitors what the web page is about.

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)

A domain as a rule has 2 components - a Top-Level Domain (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain (SLD). If you have domain.com, for example, ".com" is the Top-Level Domain Name and "domain" is the SLD. There are several groups of Top-Level Domains that you should contemplate prior to selecting the domain you wish. Your pick should rest on the goal of your web page and on its target visitors. Let's scrutinize the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domain Names - these are the most typical Top-Level Domains meant to express a given purpose - .com (business enterprises), .net (networks), .biz (companies), .info (informational web pages), .org (organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific region), .name (persons or families), .pro (particular walks of life), and so on. As you can perceive, these TLDs encompass most fields of life, so you should go for the one that would designate the purpose of your site best. There is no limitation as to who can register such Top-Level Domains, but some of them involve additional procedures to prove that you qualify to have such a domain (.mobi and .pro, for example).

Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code TLDs, are country-specific TLDs. Each country has its own ccTLD. Settling on such a Top-Level Domain is good if your target group of web site visitors is from a particular country. Many guys would like to purchase commodities or services from a local web site, and if your target is Canada, for example, picking a .ca domain name could increase the visits to your web site.

URL Redirection

You can register several Top-Level Domains, which can redirect your visitors to a given web site such as domain.com, for instance. This would increase the traffic and decrease the likelihood of somebody swiping your site visitors by using the same Second-Level Domain with a different Top-Level Domain Name - if you are not utilizing a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each Top-Level Domain Name has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, a.k.a. DNS records) show where the domain is hosted, i.e. they point to the web hosting firm whose name servers (NSs, aka DNSs) it is using now. You can alter the DNSs of your domain at any moment. You can have your domain registered with one firm and get the webspace hosting service itself from another. Therefore, if you register your domain name and detect decent website hosting plans somewhere else at a later time, you can point your domain to the new company's NSs straight away.

Domain Name Server Records (NS Records)

On the whole, as long as your domain name uses a particular pair of NSs, all its DNS records will direct to the same webspace hosting firm. Some web page hosting distributors, however, enable you to edit given records, such as the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an IP address, which reveals on which hosting server your website is situated, while the MX records exhibit which web server tackles the e-mail addresses related to your domain name. For instance, if you take on a new website designer and he sets up an .ASP web site that will be hosted on his own Windows web server, you may want to change solely the Internet Protocol address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. Thus, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows web server, but your electronic mail accounts or any sub-domain names like forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your current Linux web page hosting account. The .ASP environment is developed by Microsoft and calls for a Windows hosting server, even though a Linux web server would be way more secure.

Cut-Price Domain Names Courtesy of 'WebHostNinja'

Only a small number of web hosting distributors permit you to modify certain DNS records and very frequently this an extra paid service. With WebHostNinja , you get a big array of TLDs to select from and you can edit all domain name server records or redirect the domain names through a forwarding tool at no extra charge. That is why, 'WebHostNinja' would be your best choice when it comes to managing your domain name and to creating a successful presence on the Internet.