How valuable can an affordable domain be?

One of the most important requirements for running a successful Internet presence is the domain. It is what visitors will see first when they chance upon your web site and what they will link you with. The domain should be easy to remember, but should also be something that informs your site's visitors what the web page is about.

Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

A domain usually contains two constituents - a Top-Level Domain (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain Name (SLD). If you have domain.com, for instance, ".com" is the Top-Level Domain Name and "domain" is the Second-Level Domain. There are a few categories of Top-Level Domain Names that you should consider before you choose the domain name you wish. Your selection should depend on the goal of your website and on its target visitors. Let's take a gaze at the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domain Names - these are the most widespread TLDs meant to denote a specific purpose - .com (business organizations), .net (networks), .biz (firms), .info (informational websites), .org (not-for-profit organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia Pacific region), .name (persons or relatives), .pro (certain professions), and so on. As you can see, these TLDs encompass most fields of life, so you should choose the one that would show the purpose of your site best. There is no restriction as to who can register such Top-Level Domains, but some of them involve additional steps to ascertain that you are eligible to own such a Top-Level Domain Name (.mobi and .pro, for example).

Country-code Top-Level Domain Names (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code TLDs, are country-specific Top-Level Domain Names. Each country has its own ccTLD. Settling on such a Top-Level Domain Name is good if your target group of web site visitors is from a certain country. Many persons would elect to buy goods or services from a local site, and if your target is Canada, for instance, opting for a .ca Top-Level Domain Name could increase the visits to your site.

Domain Name Forwarding

You can register different domain names, which can forward your visitors to a specific web page like domain.com, for example. This would raise the traffic and decrease the possibility of someone stealing your web site visitors by using the same Second-Level Domain Name with a different Top-Level Domain - if you are not using a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each and every Top-Level 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 firm whose name servers (NSs, aka DNSs) it is utilizing at the moment. You can switch the name servers of your domain name whenever you like. You can have your domain registered with one firm and get the web space hosting service itself from another. Therefore, if you register your domain name and find decent website hosting services somewhere else afterwards, you can point your domain to the current company's DNSs instantly.

Domain Name Server Records (DNS Records)

In general, as long as your domain uses a given set of name servers, all its domain name server records will point to the same web hosting firm. Some webspace hosting vendors, however, permit you to modify specific domain records, such as the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which exhibits on which hosting server your site is situated, while the MX records indicate which hosting server handles the email mailbox accounts related to your domain name. For example, if you engage a new website designer and he sets up an .ASP site that will be situated on his personal Windows web server, you may want to alter solely the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain name. Thus, www.domain.com will point to the Windows server, but your email accounts or any sub-domain names such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your current Linux website hosting account. The .ASP environment is built by Microsoft and requests a Windows server, although a Linux web server would be way more reliable.

Cut-Price TLDs Provided by 'Apple Hosting'

Just a small number of web hosting suppliers enable you to modify given domain name server records and very often this an additional paid service. With Apple Hosting , you have a wide variety of Top-Level Domains to select from and you can edit all DNS records or forward the domain names via a forwarding tool at no added charge. Therefore, 'Apple Hosting' would be your finest pick when it comes to administering your domain name and to building a successful presence on the Internet.