How important can an top domain be?

One of the most essential prerequisites for running a successful online presence is the domain. It is what people will observe first when they come across your site and what they will link you with. The domain should be easy to remember, but should also be something that notifies your web site's visitors what the web page is about.

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)

A domain usually consists of two parts - a Top-Level Domain Name (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain (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 sets of TLDs that you should examine before you select the domain you wish. Your pick should depend on the purpose of your site and on its target spectators. Let's take a peek at the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domain Names - these are the most popular Top-Level Domains aimed to show a specific intention - .com (commercial entities), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (firms), .info (informational websites), .org (non-profit organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia Pacific region), .name (persons or families), .pro (certain professions), and so on. As you can see, these TLDs cover most realms of life, so you should opt for the one that would portray the intention of your site best. There is no restriction as to who can register such domain names, but some of them contain additional requirements to show that you are eligible to have such a domain (.mobi and .pro, for instance).

Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code Top-Level Domain Names, are country-specific domains. Each country has its own ccTLD. Getting such a Top-Level Domain is good if your target group of web site visitors is from a specific country. Many persons would want to buy goods or services from a local website, and if your goal is Canada, for instance, choosing a .ca domain name could increase the visits to your web site.

Domain Name Forwarding

You can register a bunch of domains, which can redirect your site's visitors to a certain website like domain.com, for instance. This would boost the traffic and decrease the possibility of somebody pinching your website visitors by registering the same Second-Level Domain Name with another TLD - if you are not using a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Every Top-Level Domain Name has domain records. The name server records (NS records, aka DNS records) show where the domain is hosted, in other words they point to the web hosting provider whose name servers (NSs, a.k.a. DNSs) it is using now. You can swap the DNSs of your domain at any time. You can have your domain name registered with one provider and get the web page hosting service itself from another. Hence, if you register your domain name and encounter decent website hosting plans somewhere else later, you can point your domain to the present company's DNSs instantaneously.

Domain Name Server Records (DNS Records)

In general, as long as your domain name utilizes a particular set of NSs, all its domain name records will direct to the same web space hosting supplier. Some web site hosting companies, however, permit you to modify certain NS records, such as the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an IP address, which exhibits on which web hosting server your site is hosted, whereas the MX records specify which hosting server handles the mail address accounts related to your domain name. For instance, if you take on a new website designer and he devises an .ASP web page that will be located on his own Windows web server, you may want to change just the Internet Protocol address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain name. Hence, www.domain.com will point to the Windows server, but your mail accounts or any sub-domain names like forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your current Linux web hosting account. The .ASP environment is created by Microsoft and calls for a Windows web hosting server, even though a Linux hosting server would be way more secure.

Moderately Priced Top-Level Domain Names Distributed by 'BlueHeavens'

Only a number of web hosting distributors allow you to edit certain DNS records and quite frequently this an extra paid service. With BlueHeavens , you get a big array of TLDs to pick from and you can edit all domain name server records or redirect the domain names using a redirection tool at no added charge. Therefore, 'BlueHeavens' would be your best pick when it comes to managing your domain name and to building a successful presence on the Internet.