How important can an top domain name be?

One of the most essential prerequisites for running a successful online presence is the domain name. It is what people will note first when they stumble upon your site and what they will link you with. The domain name should be easy to memorize, but should also be something that notifies your site's visitors what the website is about.

Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

A domain usually is composed of 2 components - a Top-Level Domain (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain Name (SLD). If you have domain.com, for example, ".com" is the Top-Level Domain and "domain" is the Second-Level Domain Name. There are a few sets of TLDs that you should contemplate prior to selecting the domain you wish. Your choice should rest on the goal of your site and on its target visitors. Let's analyze the gTLDs, or generic TLDs - these are the most widespread Top-Level Domains meant to designate a particular intention - .com (business establishments), .net (networks), .biz (firms), .info (informative websites), .org (organizations), .mobi (mobile devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific), .name (persons or relatives), .pro (certain professions), etc. As you can see, these TLDs cover most spheres of life, so you should go for the one that would explain the objective of your website best. There is no limitation as to who can register such TLDs, but some of them contain extra steps to show that you qualify to register such a Top-Level Domain Name (.mobi and .pro, for example).

Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code TLDs, are country-specific TLDs. Each country has its own ccTLD. Registering such a domain is good if your target group of web page visitors is from a particular country. Many people would elect to purchase commodities or services from a local website, and if your goal is Canada, for example, choosing a .ca domain could increase the visits to your website.

Domain Redirection

You can register several Top-Level Domain Names, which can forward your web page's visitors to a particular web page like domain.com, for instance. This would raise the traffic and lower the likelihood of someone swiping your website visitors by registering the same SLD with a different Top-Level Domain - if you are not availing of a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Every domain name has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, a.k.a. DNS records) indicate where the domain name is hosted, i.e. they point to the hosting supplier whose name servers (NSs, also known as DNSs) it is utilizing at the moment. You can substitute the NSs of your domain at any moment. You can have your domain registered with one firm and get the web site hosting service itself from another. Hence, if you register your domain and discover decent website hosting plans somewhere else later, you can point your domain name to the present provider's name servers immediately.

Name Server Records (DNS Records)

On the whole, as long as your domain name utilizes a given pair of name servers, all its records will lead to the same hosting provider. Some website hosting distributors, however, allow you to edit specific domain records, among them the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which specifies on which web hosting server your site is located, whereas the MX records indicate which server handles the e-mailbox accounts associated with your domain name. For example, if you hire a new web site designer and he constructs an .ASP web site that will be located on his own Windows server, you may want to modify solely the Internet Protocol address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain name. In this way, www.domain.com will point to the Windows server, but your e-mail address accounts or any sub-domains such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux webspace hosting account. The .ASP environment is designed by Microsoft and demands a Windows web server, even though a Linux web hosting server would be far more stable.

Cheap TLDs Courtesy of 'BlueHeavens'

Only a few web hosting companies allow you to modify particular domain records and quite frequently this an additional paid service. With BlueHeavens , you have a wide collection of Top-Level Domain Names to choose from and you can modify all domain name records or redirect the domain names through a forwarding tool at no added cost. Therefore, 'BlueHeavens' would be your finest pick when it comes to managing your domain and to creating a successful presence on the web.