How essential can an affordable domain name be?
One of the most crucial prerequisites for having a successful web presence is the domain name. It is what visitors will see first when they visit your web site and what they will relate you with. The domain name should be easy to remember, but should also be something that tells your website's visitors what the web site is about.
Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)
A domain name as a rule is composed of 2 fragments - a Top-Level Domain Name (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain Name (SLD). If you have domain.com, for instance, ".com" is the Top-Level Domain and "domain" is the Second-Level Domain Name. There are several sets of Top-Level Domains that you should consider before you pick the domain you desire. Your pick should rest on the goal of your website and on its target audience. Let's have a peek at the gTLDs, or generic TLDs - these are the most popular TLDs meant to denote a given intention - .com (commercial organizations), .net (networks), .biz (firms), .info (informational web sites), .org (organizations of a non-commercial character), .mobi (mobile devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific), .name (persons or families), .pro (specific walks of life), and so on. As you can perceive, these TLDs cover most realms of life, so you should settle on the one that would explain the aim of your website best. There is no limitation as to who can register such Top-Level Domain Names, but some of them include extra requirements to demonstrate that you qualify to keep such a Top-Level Domain (.mobi and .pro, for example).
Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)
The ccTLDs, or country-code TLDs, are country-specific Top-Level Domain Names. Each country has its own ccTLD. Settling on such a Top-Level Domain is good if your target group of site visitors is from a specific country. Many folks would elect to buy commodities or services from a local site, and if your target is Canada, for example, settling on a .ca Top-Level Domain could increase the visits to your website.
URL Redirection
You can register a bunch of domains, which can redirect your site's visitors to a certain site like domain.com, for example. This would raise the traffic and decrease the probability of somebody pilfering your site visitors by using the same SLD with another Top-Level Domain - if you are not availing of a trademark.
Name Servers (NSs)
Each domain name has domain records. The name server records (NS records, also known as DNS records) specify where the domain is hosted, in other words they point to the web hosting provider whose name servers (NSs, also known as DNSs) it is using at the moment. You can change the DNSs of your domain whenever you like. You can have your domain name registered with one firm and get the web hosting service itself from another. In this way, if you register your domain name and find good website hosting plans someplace else later, you can point your domain to the current provider's NSs at once.
Name Server Records (NS Records)
In general, as long as your domain uses a specific pair of name servers, all its domain name server records will point to the same site hosting company. Some hosting distributors, though, permit you to modify given records, including the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which details on which web server your web page is located, while the MX records demonstrate which web hosting server handles the e-mailbox accounts associated with your domain name. For instance, if you appoint a new web designer and he develops an .ASP web site that will be situated on his private Windows hosting server, you may desire to change only the Internet Protocol address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain name. So, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows web hosting server, but your mailbox accounts or any sub-domains like forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux hosting account. The .ASP environment is built by Microsoft and necessitates a Windows web server, even though a Linux web hosting server would be far more stable.
Moderately Priced Domain Names Offered by 'MD-Dot Webhosting'
Only a small number of web hosting suppliers allow you to edit particular records and very frequently this an extra paid service. With MD-Dot Webhosting , you get a huge array of Top-Level Domains to choose from and you can edit all domain name server records or forward the domain names through a forwarding tool at no additional cost. For that reason, 'MD-Dot Webhosting' would be your finest choice when it comes to handling your domain name and to creating a successful presence on the Internet.