How important can an top domain be?

One of the most essential requirements for having a successful web presence is the domain. It is what people will discern first when they come across your web site and what they will associate you with. The domain name should be easy to remember, but should also be something that tells your site's visitors what the site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

A domain typically consists of 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. There are several groups of TLDs that you should contemplate prior to selecting the domain you want. Your decision should be built upon the purpose of your website and on its target viewers. Let's analyze the gTLDs, or generic TLDs - these are the most popular Top-Level Domains meant to designate a specific purpose - .com (business enterprises), .net (networks), .biz (companies), .info (informational web pages), .org (not-for-profit organizations), .mobi (mobile devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific region), .name (individuals or relatives), .pro (certain professions), etc. As you can perceive, these Top-Level Domains cover most fields of life, so you should choose the one that would express the purpose of your website best. There is no limitation as to who can register such Top-Level Domain Names, but some of them include additional procedures to demonstrate that you qualify to register such a TLD (.mobi and .pro, for example).

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. Selecting such a Top-Level Domain is good if your target group of web page visitors is from a given country. Many guys would want to purchase commodities or services from a local site, and if your aim is Canada, for instance, opting for a .ca domain name could increase the visits to your web site.

URL Redirection

You can register several domains, which can forward your visitors to a particular site like domain.com, for example. This would raise the traffic and decrease the probability of somebody swiping your web page visitors by registering the same SLD with another Top-Level Domain - if you are not utilizing a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each and every domain has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, also known as DNS records) reveal where the domain is hosted, in other words they point to the web hosting company whose name servers (NSs, aka DNSs) it is utilizing at the moment. You can replace the NSs of your domain name whenever you wish. You can have your domain registered with one provider and get the webspace hosting service itself from another. So, if you register your domain name and detect decent website hosting services somewhere else at a later time, you can point your domain to the new company's NSs straight away.

Domain Name Server Records (DNS Records)

In general, as long as your domain utilizes a certain pair of name servers, all its name server records will lead to the same web page hosting supplier. Some webspace hosting suppliers, however, permit you to modify given domain name records, like the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an IP address, which demonstrates on which web hosting server your site is located, whereas the MX records disclose which web hosting server handles the mail address accounts related to your domain name. For example, if you engage a new site designer and he creates an .ASP website that will be accommodated on his private Windows hosting server, you may wish to edit only the Internet Protocol address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain name. Thus, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows web hosting server, but your email accounts or any sub-domains such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your current Linux web hosting account. The .ASP platform is developed by Microsoft and necessitates a Windows web hosting server, although a Linux web server would be far more secure.

Low-cost TLDs Offered by 'W3 For All'

Just a number of web hosting providers permit you to edit certain domain name records and very often this an additional paid service. With W3 For All , you get a vast selection of TLDs to choose from and you can edit all name server records or forward the domain names through a forwarding tool at no additional charge. Therefore, 'W3 For All' would be your finest pick when it comes to managing your domain and to building a successful presence on the World Wide Web.