How important is to discover the best domain name?

One of the most essential prerequisites for building a successful web presence is the domain name. It is what people will perceive first when they chance upon your web page and what they will associate you with. The domain should be easy to remember, but should also be something that tells your web site's visitors what the website is about.

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)

A domain usually has two constituents - 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 and "domain" is the Second-Level Domain Name. There are several sets of Top-Level Domains that you should consider before you pick the domain you wish. Your pick should depend on the aim of your web page and on its target spectators. Let's examine the gTLDs, or generic TLDs - these are the most widespread TLDs meant to indicate a specific intention - .com (commercial enterprises), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (businesses), .info (informational sites), .org (not-for-profit organizations), .mobi (mobile devices), .asia (the Asia Pacific), .name (individuals or relatives), .pro (specific professions), and so on. As you can see, these Top-Level Domains cover most spheres of life, so you should select the one that would express the intention of your web site best. There is no restriction as to who can register such Top-Level Domain Names, but some of them include extra procedures to ascertain that you qualify to keep such a domain name (.mobi and .pro, for example).

Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code TLDs, are country-specific Top-Level Domain Names. Each country has its own ccTLD. Selecting such a domain name is good if your target group of web site visitors is from a given country. Many folks would rather buy goods or services from a local web page, and if your goal is Canada, for instance, opting for a .ca Top-Level Domain Name could boost the visits to your web page.

Domain Name Redirects

You can register several Top-Level Domains, which can redirect your visitors to a specific web page such as domain.com, for instance. This would raise the traffic and lower the possibility of somebody pilfering your website visitors by using the same SLD with another Top-Level Domain Name - if you are not utilizing a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each and every Top-Level Domain has domain records. The name server records (NS records, aka DNS records) demonstrate where the domain is hosted, i.e. they point to the web hosting provider whose name servers (NSs, also known as DNSs) it is using at present. You can alter the DNSs of your domain name whenever you want. You can have your domain name registered with one company and get the web space hosting service itself from another. In this way, if you register your domain name and encounter decent website hosting solutions somewhere else at a later time, you can point your domain to the current provider's name servers at once.

Name Server Records (DNS Records)

On the whole, as long as your domain name uses a given set of name servers, all its domain name server records will lead to the same hosting company. Some website hosting distributors, though, allow you to edit specific domain name server records, like the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which discloses on which hosting server your site is located, while the MX records indicate which server handles the mailbox accounts associated with your domain name. For example, if you appoint a new web site designer and he build an .ASP web site that will be situated on his private Windows web server, you may wish to alter only the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain name. Hence, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows server, but your mails or any sub-domains such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux web space hosting account. The .ASP platform is developed by Microsoft and calls for a Windows web server, although a Linux web hosting server would be way more secure.

Inexpensive Domains Provided by 'Free Hostia'

Just a few web hosting vendors enable you to edit particular name server records and very frequently this an additional paid service. With Free Hostia , you get an extensive array of Top-Level Domains to pick from and you can modify all name server records or forward the domain names using a forwarding tool at no added cost. That is why, 'Free Hostia' would be your best pick when it comes to administering your domain and to establishing a successful presence on the web.