How essential can an top domain be?

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

Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

A domain as a rule contains 2 parts - a Top-Level Domain Name (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain Name (SLD). If you have domain.com, for instance, ".com" is the Top-Level Domain Name and "domain" is the SLD. There are several categories of Top-Level Domain Names that you should contemplate before you choose the domain name you want. Your decision should rest on the aim of your web site and on its target viewers. Let's take a glimpse at the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domain Names - these are the most widespread TLDs aimed to show a given function - .com (business entities), .net (networks), .biz (firms), .info (informative web sites), .org (not-for-profit organizations), .mobi (mobile devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific), .name (individuals or families), .pro (certain walks of life), etc. As you can see, these TLDs encompass most realms of life, so you should opt for the one that would depict the purpose of your site best. There is no limitation as to who can register such TLDs, but some of them involve extra requirements to ascertain that you are eligible to possess such a domain name (.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. Choosing such a domain is good if your target group of web page visitors is from a certain country. Many guys would want to purchase commodities or services from a local website, and if your aim is Canada, for instance, selecting a .ca Top-Level Domain Name could boost the visits to your site.

Domain Name Redirection

You can register a bunch of domains, which can send your website's visitors to a specific web site such as domain.com, for example. This would boost the traffic and reduce the possibility of somebody pilfering your visitors by using the same name with a different Top-Level Domain - if you are not availing of a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Every TLD has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, also known as DNS records) disclose where the domain name is hosted, in other words they point to the web hosting supplier whose name servers (NSs, aka DNSs) it is using at present. You can change the name servers of your domain name at any moment. You can have your domain name registered with one firm and get the web site hosting service itself from another. In this way, if you register your domain name and come across decent website hosting plans somewhere else later, you can point your domain name to the current company's name servers instantaneously.

Name Server Records (NS Records)

On the whole, as long as your domain utilizes a given set of name servers, all its name server records will point to the same webspace hosting supplier. Some hosting providers, however, enable you to edit certain NS records, like the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an IP address, which reveals on which server your site is located, while the MX records show which web hosting server handles the email aliases associated with your domain name. For instance, if you engage a new web page designer and he sets up an .ASP site that will be located on his personal Windows web server, you may want to modify just the Internet Protocol address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain name. Thus, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows web hosting server, but your e-mails or any sub-domains such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux webspace hosting account. The .ASP environment is invented by Microsoft and demands a Windows server, although a Linux server would be far more reliable.

Cheap TLDs Supplied by 'Exclusive Hosting'

Just a small number of web hosting suppliers permit you to edit given name server records and quite frequently this an additional paid service. With Exclusive Hosting , you get an enormous collection of TLDs to pick from and you can modify all domain name records or forward the domain names via a forwarding tool at no additional cost. That is why, 'Exclusive Hosting' would be your best choice when it comes to managing your domain name and to building a successful presence on the web.