How vital can an affordable domain be?

One of the most important preconditions for creating a successful Internet presence is the domain name. It is what people will notice first when they chance upon your web site and what they will associate you with. The domain should be easy to remember, but should also be something that tells your web site's visitors what the site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)

A domain name usually contains two parts - a Top-Level Domain (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain (SLD). If you have domain.com, for instance, ".com" is the Top-Level Domain Name and "domain" is the Second-Level Domain Name. There are a couple of categories of Top-Level Domains that you should contemplate prior to choosing the domain name you wish. Your selection should be built upon the intention of your website and on its target viewers. Let's explore the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domain Names - these are the most common TLDs intended to show a specific function - .com (commercial establishments), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (businesses), .info (informative resources), .org (organizations), .mobi (mobile devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific), .name (persons or relatives), .pro (particular walks of life), etc. As you can perceive, these Top-Level Domains cover most spheres of life, so you should select the one that would illustrate the purpose of your web page best. There is no limitation as to who can register such domains, but some of them contain extra steps to prove that you qualify to keep such a TLD (.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 web site visitors is from a certain country. Many folks would prefer to buy goods or services from a local web page, and if your aim is Canada, for instance, selecting a .ca domain name could boost the visits to your website.

Domain Redirection

You can register a number of Top-Level Domain Names, which can send your web site's visitors to a certain website such as domain.com, for example. This would boost the traffic and lower the probability of someone snatching your visitors by using the same name with a different Top-Level Domain Name - if you are not availing of a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Every TLD has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, aka DNS records) demonstrate where the domain name is hosted, i.e. they point to the web hosting firm whose name servers (NSs, aka DNSs) it is utilizing at the moment. You can modify the name servers of your domain name whenever you wish. You can have your domain name registered with one provider and get the web space hosting service itself from another. In this way, if you register your domain and find good website hosting packages somewhere else at a later time, you can point your domain name to the present company's NSs straight away.

Name Server Records (NS Records)

On the whole, as long as your domain uses a certain pair of name servers, all its domain name server records will point to the same webspace hosting provider. Some webspace hosting distributors, though, permit you to modify specific records, among them the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an IP address, which indicates on which server your web page is situated, whereas the MX records exhibit which hosting server tackles the electronic mail accounts related to your domain name. For example, if you hire a new web designer and he develops an .ASP website that will be situated on his personal Windows web hosting server, you may desire to alter solely the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain name. So, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows web server, but your email mailbox accounts or any sub-domain names such as 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 requests a Windows server, even though a Linux hosting server would be way more secure.

Inexpensive Domain Names Courtesy of 'Exclusive Hosting'

Only a few web hosting companies allow you to edit certain DNS records and quite frequently this an extra paid service. With Exclusive Hosting , you get a vast selection of Top-Level Domain Names to choose from and you can edit all records or forward the domains through a forwarding tool at no added charge. That is why, 'Exclusive Hosting' would be your finest choice when it comes to administering your domain and to building a successful presence on the World Wide Web.