How essential can an affordable domain name be?

One of the most crucial requirements for establishing a successful Internet presence is the domain. It is what visitors will perceive first when they visit your web site and what they will link you with. The domain name should be easy to remember, but should also be something that notifies your site's visitors what the website is about.

Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

A domain name typically consists of two parts - a Top-Level Domain Name (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 Second-Level Domain Name. There are a couple of categories of TLDs that you should consider prior to choosing the domain you desire. Your decision should rest on the purpose of your site and on its target audience. Let's study the gTLDs, or generic TLDs - these are the most typical Top-Level Domains intended to signify a given purpose - .com (business establishments), .net (networks), .biz (corporations), .info (informative web pages), .org (not-for-profit organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific region), .name (individuals or relatives), .pro (specific professions), etc. As you can perceive, these Top-Level Domains cover most spheres of life, so you should pick the one that would express the aim of your site best. There is no limitation as to who can register such TLDs, but some of them contain additional requirements to show that you qualify to possess such a Top-Level Domain Name (.mobi and .pro, for example).

Country-code Top-Level Domain Names (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code Top-Level Domain Names, are country-specific Top-Level Domain Names. Each country has its own ccTLD. Getting such a domain name is good if your target group of web site visitors is from a particular country. Many individuals would want to purchase goods or services from a local site, and if your goal is Canada, for example, selecting a .ca domain could boost the visits to your web site.

URL Redirects

You can register several TLDs, which can send your site's visitors to a specific site like domain.com, for example. This would increase the traffic and reduce the probability of someone pinching your web page visitors by using the same Second-Level Domain Name with a different Top-Level Domain Name - if you are not utilizing a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each TLD has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, aka DNS records) specify where the domain name is hosted, in other words they point to the web hosting company whose name servers (NSs, also known as DNSs) it is using at the moment. You can swap the DNSs of your domain whenever you wish. You can have your domain name registered with one company and get the web site hosting service itself from another. Hence, if you register your domain and stumble upon good website hosting solutions somewhere else afterwards, you can point your domain to the new provider's DNSs instantaneously.

Name Server Records (NS Records)

On the whole, as long as your domain name utilizes a certain pair of NSs, all its domain records will point to the same webspace hosting distributor. Some hosting companies, though, permit you to edit specific domain records, among them the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an IP address, which details on which server your website is located, whereas the MX records reveal which web hosting server handles the email mailbox accounts associated with your domain name. For example, if you hire a new site designer and he develops an .ASP web page that will be accommodated on his own Windows web server, you may desire to edit just 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 e-mail address accounts or any sub-domain names 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 requires a Windows hosting server, even though a Linux server would be way more stable.

Low-cost TLDs Offered by 'iTechnologix Hosting'

Only a number of web hosting suppliers enable you to edit certain records and quite frequently this an extra paid service. With iTechnologix Hosting , you get a huge assortment of Top-Level Domains to pick from and you can modify all domain name server records or redirect the domains through a forwarding tool at no additional charge. For that reason, 'iTechnologix Hosting' would be your finest choice when it comes to managing your domain name and to building a successful presence on the World Wide Web.