How vital can an affordable domain be?

One of the most crucial requirements for building a successful online presence is the domain. It is what visitors will spot first when they come across your web page and what they will identify you with. The domain should be easy to memorize, but should also be something that informs your web page's visitors what the web site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

A domain name as a rule is composed of 2 parts - a Top-Level Domain Name (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain Name (SLD). If you have domain.com, for example, ".com" is the TLD and "domain" is the Second-Level Domain. There are a few categories of Top-Level Domains that you should consider before you choose the domain name you want. Your selection should rest on the aim of your web site and on its target visitors. Let's check out the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domain Names - these are the most common Top-Level Domain Names meant to denote a particular function - .com (commercial establishments), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (corporations), .info (informative web pages), .org (organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific region), .name (persons or relatives), .pro (particular walks of life), etc. As you can see, these Top-Level Domain Names cover most realms of life, so you should choose the one that would designate the objective of your website best. There is no restriction as to who can register such TLDs, but some of them contain extra steps to prove that you are eligible to own such a domain (.mobi and .pro, for instance).

Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code Top-Level Domain Names, are country-specific domain names. Each country has its own ccTLD. Getting such a Top-Level Domain is good if your target group of site visitors is from a particular country. Many persons would want to purchase goods or services from a local web site, and if your goal is Canada, for example, selecting a .ca domain name could increase the visits to your website.

URL Redirection

You can register different Top-Level Domain Names, which can forward your web page's visitors to a given website like domain.com, for example. This would raise the traffic and decrease the probability of someone pilfering your website visitors by registering the same Second-Level Domain with a different TLD - if you are not availing of a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Every domain name has domain records. The name server records (NS records, a.k.a. DNS records) display where the domain name is hosted, in other words they point to the web hosting company whose name servers (NSs, also known as DNSs) it is utilizing now. You can modify the DNSs of your domain whenever you wish. You can have your domain registered with one firm and get the web site hosting service itself from another. Therefore, if you register your domain name and discover good website hosting packages somewhere else afterwards, you can point your domain name to the current provider's DNSs straight away.

Name Server Records (NS Records)

In general, as long as your domain uses a certain set of name servers, all its domain name records will lead to the same web site hosting vendor. Some hosting firms, though, allow you to modify specific NS records, including the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which shows on which server your web page is hosted, while the MX records exhibit which web hosting server handles the e-mail address accounts associated with your domain name. For example, if you engage a new web site designer and he build an .ASP website that will be located on his private Windows web hosting server, you may desire to change solely the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. Hence, www.domain.com will point to the Windows web hosting server, but your e-mailbox accounts or any sub-domain names such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your current Linux web site hosting account. The .ASP platform is built by Microsoft and calls for a Windows web server, although a Linux server would be way more reliable.

Inexpensive Domain Names Supplied by 'Duo Servers'

Just a number of web hosting vendors allow you to edit specific domain name server records and quite frequently this an additional paid service. With Duo Servers , you get a large selection of Top-Level Domain Names to choose from and you can modify all NS records or redirect the domain names using a redirection tool at no added cost. For that reason, 'Duo Servers' would be your best pick when it comes to administering your domain name and to setting up a successful presence on the web.