How vital can an affordable domain be?

One of the most essential prerequisites for building a successful web presence is the domain name. It is what people will spot first when they chance upon your website and what they will link 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 name traditionally consists of two components - a Top-Level Domain (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain (SLD). If you have domain.com, for example, ".com" is the Top-Level Domain and "domain" is the Second-Level Domain Name. There are a few sets of Top-Level Domains that you should consider before you select the domain you want. Your decision should be built upon the goal of your website and on its target spectators. Let's have a glance at the gTLDs, or generic TLDs - these are the most typical TLDs meant to show a given purpose - .com (commercial establishments), .net (networks), .biz (corporations), .info (informational websites), .org (non-profit organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific), .name (persons or families), .pro (specific walks of life), etc. As you can see, these Top-Level Domains encompass most spheres of life, so you should pick the one that would explain the intention of your website best. There is no restriction as to who can register such domain names, but some of them include additional steps to confirm that you qualify to own such a Top-Level Domain (.mobi and .pro, for instance).

Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code Top-Level Domains, are country-specific domain names. Each country has its own ccTLD. Selecting such a Top-Level Domain is good if your target group of web page visitors is from a certain country. Many guys would elect to purchase goods or services from a local web site, and if your aim is Canada, for example, settling on a .ca TLD could boost the visits to your web site.

URL Redirection

You can register a number of domains, which can forward your web site's visitors to a specific site such as domain.com, for instance. This would increase the traffic and reduce the possibility of someone pinching your visitors by registering the same SLD with a different Top-Level Domain Name - if you are not utilizing a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each Top-Level Domain Name has domain records. The name server records (NS records, a.k.a. DNS records) display where the domain name is hosted, in other words they point to the web hosting distributor whose name servers (NSs, a.k.a. DNSs) it is using now. You can swap the NSs of your domain name at any moment. You can have your domain registered with one provider and get the site hosting service itself from another. Hence, if you register your domain name and detect good website hosting plans somewhere else at a later time, you can point your domain to the new provider's DNSs immediately.

Name Server Records (DNS Records)

On the whole, as long as your domain utilizes a particular pair of NSs, all its name server records will lead to the same web page hosting provider. Some web hosting firms, however, allow you to modify given domain name server records, such as the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which indicates on which web server your web page is situated, while the MX records reveal which web server tackles the e-mail aliases related to your domain name. For instance, if you hire a new site designer and he develops an .ASP web site that will be situated on his personal Windows web hosting server, you may wish to change only the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain name. So, www.domain.com will point to the Windows server, but your email mailbox accounts or any sub-domains such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your current Linux webspace hosting account. The .ASP platform is built by Microsoft and calls for a Windows server, although a Linux web server would be far more secure.

Low-cost Top-Level Domain Names Supplied by 'Ability Plus PC Hosting'

Just a few web hosting suppliers allow you to modify particular records and very frequently this an extra paid service. With Ability Plus PC Hosting , you have an immense assortment of TLDs to pick from and you can edit all domain name server records or forward the domain names using a forwarding tool at no extra cost. Therefore, 'Ability Plus PC Hosting' would be your best choice when it comes to administering your domain and to building a successful presence on the Internet.