How vital can an top domain be?

One of the most essential prerequisites for having a successful online presence is the domain. It is what visitors will mark first when they discover your web site and what they will identify you with. The domain name should be easy to memorize, but should also be something that notifies your web site's visitors what the site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

A domain as a rule contains 2 parts - 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 and "domain" is the SLD. There are several categories of TLDs that you should consider prior to selecting the domain you want. Your choice should be built upon the aim of your website and on its target spectators. Let's take a peek at the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domain Names - these are the most common Top-Level Domains aimed to denote a specific intention - .com (commercial organizations), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (businesses), .info (informational web sites), .org (organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific), .name (individuals or relatives), .pro (certain walks of life), and so on. As you can see, these Top-Level Domains encompass most realms of life, so you should pick the one that would show the objective of your site best. There is no limitation as to who can register such Top-Level Domain Names, but some of them involve additional procedures to show that you are eligible to keep such a domain (.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 Domains. Each country has its own ccTLD. Getting such a domain is good if your target group of web page visitors is from a certain country. Many folks would like to purchase goods or services from a local web page, and if your aim is Canada, for example, choosing a .ca domain could boost the visits to your website.

URL Redirection

You can register several Top-Level Domains, which can redirect your website's visitors to a certain site such as domain.com, for instance. This would raise the traffic and lower the risk of someone pinching your web page visitors by registering the same Second-Level Domain with a different TLD - if you are not availing of a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each Top-Level Domain Name has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, a.k.a. DNS records) reveal where the domain is hosted, i.e. they point to the hosting distributor whose name servers (NSs, also known as DNSs) it is utilizing now. You can alter the name servers of your domain name whenever you want. You can have your domain registered with one firm and get the site hosting service itself from another. In this way, if you register your domain name and come across decent website hosting services someplace else at a later time, you can point your domain name to the new company's NSs straight away.

Name Server Records (NS Records)

In general, as long as your domain uses a specific pair of NSs, all its DNS records will direct to the same web page hosting supplier. Some web site hosting providers, though, enable you to modify certain records, including the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an IP address, which demonstrates on which hosting server your site is hosted, while the MX records demonstrate which server handles the mailbox accounts associated with your domain name. For example, if you hire a new site designer and he constructs an .ASP web page that will be located on his private Windows web server, you may wish to change just the Internet Protocol address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. In this way, www.domain.com will point to the Windows web server, but your email mailbox accounts or any sub-domains like forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your current Linux web page hosting account. The .ASP platform is developed by Microsoft and demands a Windows server, although a Linux web hosting server would be way more reliable.

Affordably Priced Domain Names Delivered by 'Serve Direct'

Only a small number of web hosting providers enable you to modify specific DNS records and quite frequently this an additional paid service. With Serve Direct , you get a big selection of Top-Level Domain Names to select from and you can edit all name server records or forward the domain names through a forwarding tool at no extra cost. Because of that, 'Serve Direct' would be your best choice when it comes to administering your domain and to establishing a successful presence on the web.