How vital can an affordable domain be?

One of the most crucial preconditions for running a successful Internet presence is the domain. It is what people will observe first when they discover your web page and what they will associate you with. The domain should be easy to remember, but should also be something that informs your website's visitors what the site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)

A domain traditionally has 2 parts - 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 SLD. There are several sets of TLDs that you should consider prior to selecting the domain name you want. Your selection should be based on the aim of your web site and on its target audience. Let's check out the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domain Names - these are the most typical Top-Level Domains intended to indicate a given function - .com (business entities), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (corporations), .info (informational web pages), .org (organizations of a non-commercial character), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific), .name (individuals or families), .pro (particular walks of life), etc. As you can see, these TLDs cover most spheres of life, so you should settle on the one that would illustrate the purpose of your website best. There is no limitation as to who can register such domain names, but some of them contain additional procedures to verify that you qualify to have such a TLD (.mobi and .pro, for instance).

Country-code Top-Level Domain Names (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code Top-Level Domain Names, are country-specific Top-Level Domain Names. Each country has its own ccTLD. Opting for such a Top-Level Domain Name is good if your target group of web site visitors is from a particular country. Many guys would elect to buy commodities or services from a local website, and if your target is Canada, for example, getting a .ca Top-Level Domain could boost the visits to your website.

Domain Name Redirects

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

Name Servers (NSs)

Each domain name has domain records. The name server records (NS records, also known as DNS records) display where the domain name is hosted, in other words they point to the web hosting supplier whose name servers (NSs, aka DNSs) it is using at the moment. You can change the NSs of your domain name whenever you want. You can have your domain name registered with one firm and get the webspace hosting service itself from another. Thus, if you register your domain and detect decent website hosting solutions somewhere else afterwards, you can point your domain name to the present company's NSs straight off.

Domain Name Server Records (NS Records)

On the whole, as long as your domain name uses a particular pair of DNSs, all its NS records will lead to the same web site hosting provider. Some web site hosting distributors, however, enable you to edit given name server records, including the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which designates on which server your site is hosted, whereas the MX records demonstrate which web hosting server handles the email box accounts related to your domain name. For instance, if you hire a new web designer and he devises an .ASP website that will be located on his own Windows web hosting server, you may desire to edit just the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. So, www.domain.com will point to the Windows server, but your mailboxes 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 created by Microsoft and requests a Windows server, although a Linux server would be far more reliable.

Budget Top-Level Domain Names Brought by 'Free Hostia'

Just a small number of web hosting suppliers allow you to modify specific NS records and very frequently this an additional paid service. With Free Hostia , you have a huge assortment of Top-Level Domains to choose from and you can edit all records or forward the domains through a redirection tool at no added charge. That is why, 'Free Hostia' would be your best pick when it comes to handling your domain and to setting up a successful presence on the Internet.