How important can an top domain be?

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

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)

A domain usually consists of two 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 SLD. There are several categories of Top-Level Domain Names that you should consider prior to choosing the domain you wish. Your choice should rest on the intention of your web page and on its target viewers. Let's study the gTLDs, or generic TLDs - these are the most popular TLDs meant to signify a particular function - .com (business establishments), .net (networks), .biz (firms), .info (informative sites), .org (organizations), .mobi (mobile devices), .asia (the Asia Pacific), .name (individuals or relatives), .pro (given professions), and so on. As you can perceive, these Top-Level Domain Names cover most fields of life, so you should opt for the one that would portray the purpose of your website best. There is no restriction as to who can register such TLDs, but some of them involve extra steps to confirm that you qualify to register such a TLD (.mobi and .pro, for instance).

Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code Top-Level Domain Names, are country-specific domain names. Each country has its own ccTLD. Picking such a Top-Level Domain Name is good if your target group of web page visitors is from a particular country. Many folks would elect to buy goods or services from a local web site, and if your target is Canada, for instance, settling on a .ca Top-Level Domain Name could increase the visits to your web site.

URL Redirection

You can register different Top-Level Domains, which can send your web page's visitors to a specific web page like domain.com, for instance. This would increase the traffic and reduce the probability of someone pinching your site visitors by using the same Second-Level Domain with a different TLD - if you are not availing of a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Every domain has domain records. The name server records (NS records, aka DNS records) indicate where the domain is hosted, in other words they point to the hosting vendor whose name servers (NSs, aka DNSs) it is using at the moment. You can substitute the name servers of your domain at any moment. You can have your domain registered with one firm and get the webspace hosting service itself from another. So, if you register your domain name and encounter decent website hosting plans somewhere else later, you can point your domain to the new provider's NSs instantly.

Name Server Records (NS Records)

On the whole, as long as your domain name utilizes a certain set of NSs, all its domain name server records will direct to the same hosting provider. Some webspace hosting firms, though, permit you to modify specific name server records, among them the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which demonstrates on which server your web site is hosted, while the MX records show which web server handles the email mailbox accounts related to your domain name. For instance, if you appoint a new site designer and he devises an .ASP site that will be located on his personal Windows server, you may want to alter solely the IP 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 e-mail accounts or any sub-domains like forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux webspace hosting account. The .ASP environment is invented by Microsoft and requests a Windows web hosting server, although a Linux web server would be far more stable.

Inexpensive Domain Names Brought by 'Fundamental Web Design and Hosting'

Just a few web hosting vendors allow you to edit certain NS records and quite often this an extra paid service. With Fundamental Web Design and Hosting , you have a huge selection of Top-Level Domain Names to choose from and you can modify all domain records or redirect the domains using a redirection tool at no added cost. For that reason, 'Fundamental Web Design and Hosting' would be your best pick when it comes to administering your domain name and to creating a successful presence on the World Wide Web.