How crucial can an affordable domain name be?
One of the most important prerequisites for creating a successful web presence is the domain name. It is what visitors will see first when they visit your site and what they will identify 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 Domains (gTLDs)
A domain typically has 2 constituents - a Top-Level Domain Name (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain Name (SLD). If you have domain.com, for instance, ".com" is the TLD and "domain" is the Second-Level Domain Name. There are a few categories of TLDs that you should examine prior to selecting the domain you wish. Your decision should depend on the purpose of your website and on its target audience. Let's investigate the gTLDs, or generic TLDs - these are the most popular TLDs aimed to denote a specific intention - .com (business organizations), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (corporations), .info (informational web sites), .org (organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific region), .name (persons or families), .pro (particular professions), etc. As you can see, these Top-Level Domains encompass most spheres of life, so you should settle on the one that would explain the intention of your website best. There is no limitation as to who can register such TLDs, but some of them involve extra requirements to confirm that you qualify to have such a domain name (.mobi and .pro, for example).
Country-code Top-Level Domain Names (ccTLDs)
The ccTLDs, or country-code TLDs, are country-specific domains. Each country has its own ccTLD. Opting for such a TLD is good if your target group of web page visitors is from a certain country. Many persons would want to buy goods or services from a local web site, and if your aim is Canada, for example, choosing a .ca TLD could increase the visits to your website.
Domain Name Redirects
You can register several TLDs, which can send your website's visitors to a specific site such as domain.com, for example. This would boost the traffic and reduce the possibility of somebody stealing your website visitors by using the same Second-Level Domain Name with a different TLD - if you are not availing of a trademark.
Name Servers (NSs)
Every Top-Level Domain Name has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, aka DNS records) reveal where the domain is hosted, in other words they point to the hosting company whose name servers (NSs, aka DNSs) it is utilizing now. You can replace the name servers of your domain name at any moment. You can have your domain name registered with one provider and get the hosting service itself from another. So, if you register your domain and stumble upon good website hosting packages someplace else later, you can point your domain to the current company's DNSs straight away.
Name Server Records (DNS Records)
On the whole, as long as your domain uses a specific set of name servers, all its name server records will lead to the same hosting supplier. Some web space hosting providers, though, enable you to modify specific domain records, including the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an IP address, which indicates on which hosting server your website is situated, whereas the MX records show which web server tackles the e-mail aliases associated with your domain name. For instance, if you appoint a new site designer and he build an .ASP web site that will be situated on his personal Windows web server, you may wish to alter solely the Internet Protocol address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. So, www.domain.com will point to the Windows hosting server, but your email box accounts or any sub-domain names like forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux site hosting account. The .ASP environment is invented by Microsoft and demands a Windows server, although a Linux web server would be far more dependable.
Moderately Priced TLDs Delivered by 'pinkymonkey'
Just a number of web hosting providers allow you to modify specific domain name records and very frequently this an extra paid service. With pinkymonkey , you get an immense array of Top-Level Domain Names to select from and you can edit all name server records or forward the domains via a redirection tool at no additional charge. For that reason, 'pinkymonkey' would be your finest pick when it comes to managing your domain and to setting up a successful presence on the web.