How vital can an top domain be?

One of the most essential preconditions for building a successful online presence is the domain. It is what people will notice first when they stumble upon your web site and what they will link you with. The domain name should be easy to memorize, but should also be something that tells your website's visitors what the web site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)

A domain name typically has two components - a Top-Level Domain Name (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain (SLD). If you have domain.com, for example, ".com" is the TLD and "domain" is the Second-Level Domain Name. There are a couple of categories of TLDs that you should examine prior to choosing the domain you want. Your decision should depend on the aim of your site and on its target viewers. Let's take a glance at the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domain Names - these are the most widespread Top-Level Domain Names aimed to express a particular function - .com (business enterprises), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (businesses), .info (informative web pages), .org (non-profit organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia Pacific region), .name (persons or relatives), .pro (specific walks of life), etc. As you can see, these TLDs encompass most realms of life, so you should select the one that would explain the purpose of your web page best. There is no limitation as to who can register such domains, but some of them involve extra steps to confirm that you are eligible to register such a TLD (.mobi and .pro, for instance).

Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code TLDs, are country-specific domain names. Each country has its own ccTLD. Getting such a Top-Level Domain is good if your target group of web page visitors is from a given country. Many folks would want to purchase commodities or services from a local web site, and if your goal is Canada, for example, opting for a .ca Top-Level Domain could boost the visits to your site.

URL Forwarding

You can register a bunch of Top-Level Domain Names, which can forward your visitors to a given site such as domain.com, for instance. This would increase the traffic and reduce the probability of somebody pilfering your visitors by using the same SLD with a different Top-Level Domain Name - if you are not using a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each TLD has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, a.k.a. DNS records) show where the domain name is hosted, i.e. they point to the hosting firm whose name servers (NSs, a.k.a. DNSs) it is utilizing now. You can change the name servers of your domain name whenever you wish. You can have your domain registered with one firm and get the web page hosting service itself from another. Thus, if you register your domain and discover good website hosting plans someplace else at a later time, you can point your domain to the present provider's name servers instantaneously.

Name Server Records (NS Records)

In general, as long as your domain uses a particular pair of DNSs, all its domain name server records will lead to the same web hosting firm. Some hosting distributors, however, permit you to edit given name server records, including the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an IP address, which shows on which web server your site is situated, while the MX records demonstrate which web hosting server tackles the mail addresses related to your domain name. For example, if you hire a new website designer and he constructs an .ASP site that will be situated on his personal Windows hosting server, you may want to change only the Internet Protocol address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. In this way, www.domain.com will point to the Windows web hosting server, but your e-mail box accounts or any sub-domains such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your current Linux web hosting account. The .ASP environment is developed by Microsoft and demands a Windows web hosting server, even though a Linux server would be far more stable.

Moderately Priced Top-Level Domain Names Courtesy of 'DMS Hosting'

Only a few web hosting companies permit you to edit given domain name server records and quite frequently this an additional paid service. With DMS Hosting , you get a large collection of Top-Level Domains to choose from and you can modify all NS records or forward the domain names using a forwarding tool at no added cost. For that reason, 'DMS Hosting' would be your best choice when it comes to managing your domain and to building a successful presence on the Internet.