How important can an affordable domain be?

One of the most important requirements for setting up a successful web presence is the domain. It is what people will perceive first when they visit your website and what they will identify you with. The domain name should be easy to remember, but should also be something that tells your site's visitors what the web site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)

A domain as a rule contains 2 components - a Top-Level Domain (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 SLD. There are a few groups of Top-Level Domain Names that you should examine prior to selecting the domain name you desire. Your decision should depend on the goal of your web page and on its target audience. Let's explore the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domain Names - these are the most popular Top-Level Domain Names intended to denote a particular intention - .com (business organizations), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (companies), .info (informational websites), .org (organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific), .name (persons or families), .pro (specific walks of life), and so on. As you can perceive, these TLDs cover most realms of life, so you should pick the one that would portray the intention of your web site best. There is no limitation as to who can register such domains, but some of them contain extra steps to show that you are eligible 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. Choosing such a domain is good if your target group of web site visitors is from a given country. Many visitors would want to buy goods or services from a local website, and if your target is Canada, for instance, choosing a .ca domain could boost the visits to your web page.

Domain Redirection

You can register different TLDs, which can redirect your website's visitors to a specific site like domain.com, for instance. This would increase the traffic and reduce the chance of someone stealing your site visitors by registering the same Second-Level Domain with another TLD - if you are not availing of a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each and every Top-Level Domain has domain records. The name server records (NS records, also known as DNS records) indicate where the domain name is hosted, i.e. they point to the hosting firm whose name servers (NSs, also known as DNSs) it is using now. You can alter the NSs of your domain name at any time. You can have your domain name registered with one provider and get the web hosting service itself from another. In this way, if you register your domain and detect decent website hosting solutions someplace else afterwards, you can point your domain to the present provider's NSs straight off.

Name Server Records (DNS Records)

In general, as long as your domain utilizes a particular set of NSs, all its NS records will direct to the same web page hosting vendor. Some site hosting providers, however, allow you to edit certain NS records, like the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an IP address, which designates on which web server your website is situated, whereas the MX records indicate which web hosting server tackles the mail aliases related to your domain name. For example, if you hire a new web designer and he devises an .ASP web site that will be situated on his private Windows server, you may desire to modify just the Internet Protocol address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. Thus, www.domain.com will point to the Windows hosting server, but your email mailboxes or any sub-domain names like forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your current Linux web page hosting account. The .ASP platform is devised by Microsoft and demands a Windows hosting server, even though a Linux web server would be far more secure.

Inexpensive TLDs Distributed by 'IThappening.com'

Just a small number of web hosting vendors enable you to edit specific domain name server records and very often this an extra paid service. With IThappening.com , you get an enormous assortment of TLDs to select from and you can modify all domain name server records or redirect the domain names through a redirection tool at no additional cost. That is why, 'IThappening.com' would be your best pick when it comes to administering your domain name and to establishing a successful presence on the Internet.