Domain Names Defined
One of the most important prerequisites for establishing a successful Internet presence is the domain name. It is what people will notice first when they discover your website and what they will identify you with. The domain name should be easy to memorize, but should also be something that informs your visitors what the web page is about.
Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)
A domain name typically has two fragments - a Top-Level Domain Name (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain (SLD). If you have domain.com, for example, ".com" is the Top-Level Domain Name and "domain" is the Second-Level Domain Name. There are several categories of Top-Level Domain Names that you should consider before you select the domain name you desire. Your choice should be based on the purpose of your website and on its target viewers. Let's take a look at the gTLDs, or generic TLDs - these are the most widespread TLDs aimed to show a specific function - .com (business enterprises), .net (networks), .biz (companies), .info (informational web pages), .org (organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia Pacific), .name (individuals or families), .pro (certain professions), and so on. As you can see, these Top-Level Domain Names cover most spheres of life, so you should choose the one that would depict the aim of your web page best. There is no limitation as to who can register such domain names, but some of them include additional steps to show that you qualify to register such a Top-Level Domain (.mobi and .pro, for example).
Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)
The ccTLDs, or country-code Top-Level Domain Names, are country-specific Top-Level Domains. Each country has its own ccTLD. Getting such a domain name is good if your target group of site visitors is from a certain country. Many people would like to buy goods or services from a local website, and if your goal is Canada, for example, opting for a .ca domain name could increase the visits to your website.
Domain Redirection
You can register several Top-Level Domain Names, which can redirect your visitors to a particular site such as domain.com, for example. This would increase the traffic and reduce the chance of someone pinching your website visitors by using the same Second-Level Domain Name with another TLD - if you are not availing of a trademark.
Name Servers (NSs)
Each and every domain has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, also known as DNS records) exhibit where the domain name is hosted, i.e. they point to the web hosting company whose name servers (NSs, a.k.a. DNSs) it is utilizing now. You can swap the DNSs of your domain at all times. You can have your domain name registered with one firm and get the web hosting service itself from another. Thus, if you register your domain name and detect decent website hosting services someplace else later, you can point your domain name to the present company's NSs straight off.
Domain Name Server Records (NS Records)
On the whole, as long as your domain uses a specific pair of DNSs, all its name server records will lead to the same web hosting supplier. Some website hosting firms, however, enable you to modify given domain records, such as the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an IP address, which discloses on which hosting server your site is located, whereas the MX records indicate which web hosting server tackles the mail aliases associated with your domain name. For example, if you appoint a new site designer and he creates an .ASP web page that will be accommodated on his private Windows server, you may want to edit just 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 electronic mail accounts or any sub-domain names such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your current Linux web hosting account. The .ASP environment is built by Microsoft and necessitates a Windows hosting server, although a Linux web server would be way more reliable.
Cut-Price Top-Level Domains Distributed by 'hostprod.com'
Only a few web hosting suppliers enable you to modify given NS records and quite often this an additional paid service. With us, you get an extensive assortment of TLDs to select from and you can modify all records or forward the domains through a forwarding tool at no added charge.