How essential can an top domain be?

One of the most important requirements for establishing a successful Internet presence is the domain. It is what people will notice first when they chance upon your web site and what they will link you with. The domain should be easy to remember, but should also be something that tells your web page's visitors what the web site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

A domain name usually has 2 components - 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 couple of sets of Top-Level Domains that you should consider before you choose the domain name you desire. Your selection should depend on the purpose of your website and on its target viewers. Let's analyze the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domains - these are the most common Top-Level Domains intended to denote a specific function - .com (commercial entities), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (firms), .info (informative web sites), .org (organizations), .mobi (mobile devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific region), .name (persons or relatives), .pro (specific professions), and so on. As you can see, these TLDs cover most fields of life, so you should settle on the one that would explain the objective of your site best. There is no restriction as to who can register such Top-Level Domains, but some of them include additional requirements to demonstrate that you qualify to have such a Top-Level Domain Name (.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. Picking such a Top-Level Domain is good if your target group of site visitors is from a given country. Many people would elect to buy commodities or services from a local web page, and if your target is Canada, for instance, registering a .ca domain name could increase the visits to your web site.

Domain Forwarding

You can register a bunch of domains, which can send your website's visitors to a specific site like domain.com, for example. This would increase the traffic and decrease the likelihood of someone pilfering your web site visitors by registering the same SLD with a different Top-Level Domain - if you are not availing of a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each Top-Level Domain has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, a.k.a. DNS records) disclose 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 at the moment. You can alter the DNSs of your domain at any moment. You can have your domain registered with one firm and get the web page hosting service itself from another. In this way, if you register your domain and find good website hosting packages somewhere else afterwards, you can point your domain name to the new company's name servers straight away.

Domain Name Server Records (DNS Records)

In general, as long as your domain name uses a given set of DNSs, all its domain records will direct to the same web hosting distributor. Some site hosting vendors, though, enable you to edit specific domain name server records, including the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which shows on which web hosting server your web site is located, whereas the MX records disclose which server tackles the e-mail box accounts associated with your domain name. For instance, if you engage a new web page designer and he sets up an .ASP web site that will be hosted on his own Windows hosting server, you may want to change only the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. So, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows web hosting server, but your e-mail accounts or any sub-domains such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your current Linux web space hosting account. The .ASP environment is developed by Microsoft and requests a Windows web hosting server, even though a Linux web hosting server would be way more stable.

Budget Top-Level Domain Names Brought by 'GreatHosts.biz'

Only a few web hosting vendors enable you to modify certain domain name records and quite frequently this an additional paid service. With GreatHosts.biz , you get a large number of Top-Level Domain Names to pick from and you can modify all domain records or forward the domains through a forwarding tool at no additional charge. Because of that, 'GreatHosts.biz' would be your finest choice when it comes to handling your domain name and to building a successful presence on the web.