How vital can an affordable domain name be?

One of the most essential prerequisites for establishing a successful Internet presence is the domain. It is what visitors will see first when they chance upon your website and what they will identify you with. The domain should be easy to memorize, 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 traditionally is composed of 2 fragments - a Top-Level Domain (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain Name (SLD). If you have domain.com, for example, ".com" is the Top-Level Domain Name and "domain" is the Second-Level Domain Name. There are several sets of Top-Level Domains that you should consider before you pick the domain you want. Your decision should be based on the aim of your web site and on its target visitors. Let's have a peek at the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domains - these are the most typical TLDs aimed to signify a particular intention - .com (business organizations), .net (networks), .biz (corporations), .info (informative web pages), .org (not-for-profit organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia Pacific), .name (persons or relatives), .pro (given walks of life), and so on. As you can perceive, these Top-Level Domains encompass most realms of life, so you should go for the one that would show the intention of your website best. There is no restriction as to who can register such Top-Level Domain Names, but some of them contain additional procedures to ascertain that you are eligible to own such a domain name (.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. Settling on such a TLD is good if your target group of website visitors is from a given country. Many persons would prefer to purchase commodities or services from a local web page, and if your aim is Canada, for instance, getting a .ca Top-Level Domain Name could boost the visits to your web page.

Domain Redirects

You can register a bunch of domain names, which can send your web site's visitors to a certain site such as domain.com, for instance. This would increase the traffic and decrease the possibility of somebody pilfering your web page visitors by using the same Second-Level Domain with another Top-Level Domain Name - 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) reveal where the domain name is hosted, i.e. they point to the hosting provider whose name servers (NSs, also known as DNSs) it is using at present. You can change the NSs of your domain name at all times. You can have your domain name registered with one company and get the web hosting service itself from another. Hence, if you register your domain name and discover decent website hosting solutions somewhere else afterwards, you can point your domain name to the present provider's NSs immediately.

Name Server Records (DNS Records)

In general, as long as your domain uses a particular set of DNSs, all its domain name server records will direct to the same web page hosting firm. Some web space hosting companies, however, permit you to edit certain records, such as the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which exhibits on which hosting server your website is hosted, while the MX records indicate which server handles the electronic mail accounts associated with your domain name. For example, if you hire a new web designer and he sets up an .ASP website that will be hosted on his personal Windows web server, you may desire to edit solely the IP 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 mail accounts or any sub-domains such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux website hosting account. The .ASP platform is developed by Microsoft and requires a Windows hosting server, although a Linux hosting server would be way more reliable.

Inexpensive Top-Level Domains Provided by 'Smartway Hosting'

Only a few web hosting suppliers allow you to modify particular NS records and very often this an additional paid service. With Smartway Hosting , you get a large variety of Top-Level Domain Names to select from and you can edit all domain name server records or forward the domain names through a forwarding tool at no added charge. That is why, 'Smartway Hosting' would be your best pick when it comes to managing your domain name and to creating a successful presence on the web.