How valuable can an affordable domain be?

One of the most essential preconditions for establishing a successful web presence is the domain name. It is what people will note first when they visit your website and what they will associate you with. The domain name should be easy to remember, but should also be something that tells your visitors what the web site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)

A domain traditionally is composed of 2 parts - a Top-Level Domain (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 SLD. There are a couple of groups of Top-Level Domains that you should consider before you pick the domain you want. Your choice should depend on the aim of your website and on its target viewers. Let's have a peek at the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domains - these are the most popular TLDs aimed to indicate a given function - .com (business establishments), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (companies), .info (informational sites), .org (not-for-profit organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific region), .name (persons or relatives), .pro (certain professions), and so on. As you can see, these TLDs encompass most realms of life, so you should choose the one that would show the aim of your web site best. There is no restriction as to who can register such domains, but some of them include additional procedures to verify that you are eligible to keep such a domain name (.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 Name is good if your target group of web site visitors is from a specific country. Many folks would rather buy goods or services from a local website, and if your goal is Canada, for example, registering a .ca Top-Level Domain Name could increase the visits to your web page.

URL Redirection

You can register different domain names, which can redirect your web page's visitors to a specific web site such as domain.com, for example. This would raise the traffic and reduce the possibility of someone swiping your web page visitors by registering the same Second-Level Domain with a different Top-Level Domain Name - if you are not availing of a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Every domain has domain records. The name server records (NS records, also known as DNS records) indicate where the domain name is hosted, i.e. they point to the hosting firm whose name servers (NSs, aka DNSs) it is utilizing at the moment. You can alter the name servers of your domain at all times. You can have your domain name registered with one provider and get the web site hosting service itself from another. Thus, if you register your domain name and come across decent website hosting services somewhere else later, you can point your domain name to the present provider's name servers straight away.

Domain Name Server Records (NS Records)

On the whole, as long as your domain name uses a certain pair of DNSs, all its name server records will point to the same web hosting distributor. Some website hosting companies, though, permit you to edit given domain records, including the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which designates on which web hosting server your web page is situated, while the MX records disclose which web server tackles the e-mail addresses related to your domain name. For example, if you appoint a new web page designer and he build an .ASP web page that will be located on his personal Windows web hosting server, you may desire to change only 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 mailboxes or any sub-domain names such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux web page hosting account. The .ASP environment is invented by Microsoft and requires a Windows server, even though a Linux hosting server would be way more stable.

Budget TLDs Distributed by 'Digigo Hosting'

Just a number of web hosting vendors allow you to edit particular DNS records and very often this an additional paid service. With Digigo Hosting , you get a big selection of Top-Level Domain Names to pick from and you can modify all domain records or forward the domain names via a forwarding tool at no extra charge. Therefore, 'Digigo Hosting' would be your best choice when it comes to handling your domain and to establishing a successful presence on the web.