How essential can an affordable domain name be?

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

Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

A domain name as a rule contains two fragments - 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 and "domain" is the Second-Level Domain. There are a few groups of Top-Level Domains that you should contemplate prior to picking the domain name you want. Your choice should depend on the aim of your website and on its target audience. Let's have a gaze at the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domains - these are the most widespread TLDs intended to show a specific intention - .com (business enterprises), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (businesses), .info (informational web sites), .org (organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia Pacific region), .name (individuals or relatives), .pro (certain walks of life), and so on. As you can perceive, these Top-Level Domain Names encompass most fields of life, so you should select the one that would portray the intention of your website best. There is no limitation as to who can register such domains, but some of them include extra steps to confirm that you qualify to keep such a TLD (.mobi and .pro, for example).

Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code TLDs, are country-specific domain names. Each country has its own ccTLD. Selecting such a Top-Level Domain Name is good if your target group of website visitors is from a specific country. Many people would like to purchase goods or services from a local website, and if your goal is Canada, for instance, getting a .ca Top-Level Domain could increase the visits to your website.

URL Redirects

You can register a number of Top-Level Domain Names, which can redirect your visitors to a specific website such as domain.com, for instance. This would boost the traffic and decrease the probability of someone swiping your web page visitors by using the same SLD with a different TLD - if you are not utilizing a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Every Top-Level Domain has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, aka DNS records) demonstrate where the domain is hosted, in other words they point to the web hosting provider whose name servers (NSs, also known as DNSs) it is utilizing at present. You can modify the name servers of your domain name whenever you want. You can have your domain name registered with one company and get the webspace hosting service itself from another. Hence, if you register your domain name and come across good website hosting plans somewhere else at a later time, you can point your domain name to the present provider's DNSs right away.

Name Server Records (DNS Records)

On the whole, as long as your domain utilizes a particular pair of NSs, all its NS records will direct to the same website hosting provider. Some webspace hosting suppliers, however, permit you to edit specific DNS records, such as the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an IP address, which exhibits on which server your web site is situated, whereas the MX records disclose which server handles the electronic mail accounts associated with your domain name. For example, if you hire a new site designer and he designs an .ASP site that will be hosted on his own Windows web server, you may want to alter only the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. In this way, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows web hosting server, but your email address accounts or any sub-domains like forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux website hosting account. The .ASP platform is invented by Microsoft and calls for a Windows web server, even though a Linux web server would be way more reliable.

Low-cost Top-Level Domains Brought by 'Free Hostia'

Just a number of web hosting providers enable you to modify certain DNS records and very often this an extra paid service. With Free Hostia , you have a huge selection of TLDs to choose from and you can edit all DNS records or redirect the domain names through a redirection tool at no added cost. For that reason, 'Free Hostia' would be your finest choice when it comes to managing your domain and to creating a successful presence on the Internet.