How vital can an affordable domain be?

One of the most important requirements for setting up a successful online presence is the domain name. It is what visitors will discern first when they chance upon your website and what they will identify you with. The domain name should be easy to memorize, but should also be something that tells your website's visitors what the web page is about.

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)

A domain name as a rule consists of 2 fragments - a Top-Level Domain (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain Name (SLD). If you have domain.com, for example, ".com" is the Top-Level Domain Name and "domain" is the SLD. There are a couple of sets of Top-Level Domains that you should contemplate before you pick the domain you want. Your decision should be based on the aim of your website and on its target spectators. Let's take a glimpse at the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domain Names - these are the most popular Top-Level Domains intended to signify a particular function - .com (commercial establishments), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (businesses), .info (informative websites), .org (organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific), .name (individuals or families), .pro (given professions), etc. As you can see, these Top-Level Domain Names encompass most fields of life, so you should select the one that would describe the objective of your web page best. There is no limitation as to who can register such domains, but some of them include additional steps to demonstrate that you are eligible to own such a Top-Level Domain (.mobi and .pro, for instance).

Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code TLDs, are country-specific domain names. Each country has its own ccTLD. Getting such a TLD is good if your target group of site visitors is from a specific country. Many guys would rather buy goods or services from a local website, and if your target is Canada, for instance, selecting a .ca TLD could increase the visits to your web page.

Domain Redirects

You can register a number of TLDs, which can forward your web page's visitors to a certain web page such as domain.com, for example. This would increase the traffic and reduce the risk of somebody swiping your web site visitors by using the same SLD with another TLD - if you are not utilizing a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each TLD has domain records. The name server records (NS records, a.k.a. DNS records) specify where the domain is hosted, in other words they point to the hosting distributor whose name servers (NSs, a.k.a. DNSs) it is using at present. You can modify the DNSs of your domain whenever you like. You can have your domain registered with one firm and get the hosting service itself from another. Hence, if you register your domain and find good website hosting services somewhere else afterwards, you can point your domain name to the present company's DNSs instantly.

Name Server Records (NS Records)

On the whole, as long as your domain utilizes a particular set of DNSs, all its domain name server records will point to the same web site hosting firm. Some web page hosting companies, though, enable you to modify certain domain name server records, including the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an IP address, which demonstrates on which hosting server your web page is located, whereas the MX records show which web hosting server handles the mail addresses associated with your domain name. For instance, if you take on a new web site designer and he develops an .ASP website that will be hosted on his private Windows web hosting server, you may wish to change only the Internet Protocol address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. In this way, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows server, but your emails or any sub-domain names such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your current Linux website hosting account. The .ASP environment is invented by Microsoft and calls for a Windows web hosting server, even though a Linux server would be way more dependable.

Cut-Rate Top-Level Domain Names Courtesy of 'MAAINC'

Only a small number of web hosting vendors allow you to modify specific records and very often this an additional paid service. With MAAINC , you have a large number of TLDs to pick from and you can modify all domain name records or forward the domains through a redirection tool at no extra cost. That is why, 'MAAINC' would be your best choice when it comes to managing your domain and to creating a successful presence on the World Wide Web.