What are Domain Names

One of the most crucial prerequisites for establishing a successful web presence is the domain name. It is what people will notice first when they discover your website and what they will relate you with. The domain name should be easy to memorize, but should also be something that informs your site's visitors what the web page is about.

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)

A domain name usually is composed of 2 components - a Top-Level Domain Name (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 categories of Top-Level Domain Names that you should contemplate prior to choosing the domain name you want. Your choice should rest on the intention of your web site and on its target visitors. Let's explore the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domains - these are the most widespread Top-Level Domains meant to signify a given function - .com (commercial organizations), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (firms), .info (informative websites), .org (organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific), .name (persons or relatives), .pro (certain walks of life), etc. As you can perceive, these TLDs encompass most spheres of life, so you should pick the one that would illustrate the intention of your web page best. There is no limitation as to who can register such domain names, but some of them involve additional procedures to ascertain that you are eligible to register such a domain (.mobi and .pro, for example).

Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

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

Domain Name Forwarding

You can register a bunch of Top-Level Domains, which can forward your web site's visitors to a particular web page like domain.com, for instance. This would boost the traffic and decrease the likelihood of someone pinching your site visitors by registering the same Second-Level Domain Name with another TLD - if you are not utilizing a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each Top-Level Domain has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, aka DNS records) indicate where the domain name is hosted, i.e. they point to the web hosting supplier whose name servers (NSs, also known as DNSs) it is utilizing at present. You can switch the DNSs of your domain at any time. You can have your domain name registered with one provider and get the web hosting service itself from another. Therefore, if you register your domain and stumble upon good website hosting packages somewhere else afterwards, you can point your domain name to the current company's NSs right away.

Domain Name Server Records (DNS Records)

On the whole, as long as your domain name utilizes a given set of NSs, all its records will lead to the same web hosting distributor. Some web hosting companies, however, permit you to edit given records, among them the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an IP address, which designates on which web server your site is situated, whereas the MX records specify which web hosting server tackles the e-mail accounts associated with your domain name. For example, if you appoint a new website designer and he build an .ASP website that will be situated on his private Windows web hosting server, you may wish to alter only the Internet Protocol address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. Hence, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows server, but your e-mail box accounts or any sub-domains such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux web hosting account. The .ASP platform is built by Microsoft and demands a Windows web server, even though a Linux hosting server would be way more secure.

Budget TLDs Delivered by '101Hosting.com'

Only a number of web hosting providers permit you to edit given name server records and quite frequently this an extra paid service. With us, you have an extensive variety of Top-Level Domain Names to select from and you can edit all DNS records or redirect the domains using a forwarding tool at no extra cost.