What are Domain Names

One of the most vital prerequisites for creating a successful online presence is the domain name. It is what people will mark first when they come across your web site and what they will identify you with. The domain name should be easy to remember, but should also be something that informs your web page's visitors what the website is about.

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)

A domain name typically consists of 2 parts - a Top-Level Domain Name (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain (SLD). If you have domain.com, for instance, ".com" is the Top-Level Domain and "domain" is the Second-Level Domain. There are a couple of sets of Top-Level Domain Names that you should contemplate before you choose the domain name you want. Your selection should be based on the goal of your web page and on its target audience. Let's scrutinize the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domains - these are the most common Top-Level Domain Names intended to denote a given function - .com (commercial organizations), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (corporations), .info (informational sites), .org (not-for-profit organizations), .mobi (mobile devices), .asia (the Asia Pacific), .name (individuals or families), .pro (certain professions), and so on. As you can perceive, these Top-Level Domain Names encompass most spheres of life, so you should pick the one that would signify the purpose of your site best. There is no restriction as to who can register such domain names, but some of them contain extra procedures to prove that you qualify to have such a domain (.mobi and .pro, for instance).

Country-code Top-Level Domain Names (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code Top-Level Domain Names, are country-specific domains. Each country has its own ccTLD. Picking such a domain name is good if your target group of website visitors is from a certain country. Many individuals would sooner buy commodities or services from a local web site, and if your goal is Canada, for example, settling on a .ca domain name could increase the visits to your site.

Domain Forwarding

You can register different Top-Level Domains, which can send your site's visitors to a certain site like domain.com, for example. This would boost the traffic and decrease the probability of someone swiping your visitors by registering the same Second-Level Domain Name with a different Top-Level Domain Name - if you are not utilizing a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Every domain has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, a.k.a. DNS records) specify where the domain name is hosted, i.e. they point to the hosting provider whose name servers (NSs, a.k.a. DNSs) it is utilizing at the moment. You can swap the name servers of your domain name whenever you want. You can have your domain name registered with one company and get the web hosting service itself from another. So, if you register your domain name and detect decent website hosting services someplace else at a later time, you can point your domain name to the new company's DNSs right away.

Domain Name Server Records (DNS Records)

In general, as long as your domain name uses a certain set of DNSs, all its domain records will lead to the same web hosting firm. Some website hosting firms, however, allow you to modify specific domain name server records, such as the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an IP address, which indicates on which web server your web site is located, while the MX records disclose which server handles the electronic mail accounts associated with your domain name. For example, if you hire a new web page designer and he designs an .ASP website that will be accommodated on his private Windows server, you may wish to modify only the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain name. Hence, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows server, but your email mailbox accounts or any sub-domain names like forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux web hosting account. The .ASP platform is invented by Microsoft and requires a Windows server, even though a Linux hosting server would be way more stable.

Low-Priced Domain Names Courtesy of 'wd3web'

Just a number of web hosting distributors permit you to modify particular domain name server records and quite frequently this an extra paid service. With us, you get a vast array of Top-Level Domain Names to select from and you can edit all name server records or forward the domain names through a forwarding tool at no extra cost.