How important can an affordable domain be?

One of the most vital prerequisites for setting up a successful web presence is the domain name. It is what visitors will notice first when they chance upon your site and what they will associate you with. The domain name should be easy to remember, but should also be something that notifies your website's visitors what the website is about.

Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

A domain name traditionally has two parts - a Top-Level Domain Name (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain (SLD). If you have domain.com, for instance, ".com" is the Top-Level Domain Name and "domain" is the Second-Level Domain. There are several groups of Top-Level Domains that you should consider before you select the domain you want. Your pick should rest on the intention of your web site and on its target visitors. Let's have a peek at the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domain Names - these are the most popular TLDs intended to designate a particular intention - .com (commercial establishments), .net (networks), .biz (companies), .info (informative web pages), .org (organizations of a non-commercial character), .mobi (mobile devices), .asia (the Asia Pacific), .name (persons or relatives), .pro (qualified professionals), and so on. As you can perceive, these TLDs cover most realms of life, so you should settle on the one that would illustrate the purpose of your website best. There is no limitation as to who can register such Top-Level Domains, but some of them include extra procedures to verify that you are eligible to possess such a Top-Level Domain (.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. Opting for such a TLD is good if your target group of website visitors is from a certain country. Many people would elect to buy commodities or services from a local web site, and if your aim is Canada, for instance, opting for a .ca TLD could increase the visits to your web site.

URL Forwarding

You can register several Top-Level Domain Names, which can send your web site's visitors to a specific web page such as domain.com, for instance. This would boost the traffic and reduce the likelihood of somebody snatching your web page visitors by using the same SLD with another 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, a.k.a. DNS records) disclose where the domain is hosted, in other words they point to the hosting firm whose name servers (NSs, also known as DNSs) it is utilizing at present. You can alter the name servers of your domain name whenever you wish. You can have your domain name registered with one company and get the webspace hosting service itself from another. Thus, if you register your domain and come across decent website hosting solutions somewhere else at a later time, you can point your domain name to the current company's NSs right away.

Domain Name Server Records (DNS Records)

In general, as long as your domain name utilizes a specific pair of DNSs, all its records will point to the same webspace hosting vendor. Some hosting companies, though, permit you to edit specific domain name records, among them the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an IP address, which demonstrates on which web server your website is hosted, whereas the MX records specify which hosting server handles the email address accounts related to your domain name. For instance, if you take on a new web designer and he sets up an .ASP site that will be located on his private Windows web hosting server, you may want to edit only the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. In this way, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows web hosting server, but your e-mail boxes or any sub-domain names like forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux web site hosting account. The .ASP platform is developed by Microsoft and calls for a Windows web server, even though a Linux web hosting server would be far more secure.

Inexpensive Domains Courtesy of 'Blue Point Host'

Only a small number of web hosting suppliers permit you to modify particular domain name records and quite often this an additional paid service. With Blue Point Host , you have a huge assortment of TLDs to select from and you can edit all records or forward the domains via a forwarding tool at no added cost. Because of that, 'Blue Point Host' would be your best pick when it comes to administering your domain and to creating a successful presence on the Internet.