How essential can an affordable domain name be?

One of the most vital requirements for building a successful Internet presence is the domain name. It is what visitors will spot first when they stumble upon your web page and what they will relate you with. The domain name should be easy to remember, but should also be something that informs your visitors what the website is about.

Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

A domain usually is composed of two components - a Top-Level Domain (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain (SLD). If you have domain.com, for example, ".com" is the TLD and "domain" is the Second-Level Domain. There are a few sets of Top-Level Domain Names that you should consider before you select the domain name you desire. Your pick should rest on the goal of your site and on its target visitors. Let's analyze the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domain Names - these are the most widespread TLDs intended to denote a specific purpose - .com (commercial entities), .net (networks), .biz (firms), .info (informational sites), .org (not-for-profit organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific region), .name (persons or families), .pro (given walks of life), etc. As you can see, these TLDs encompass most fields of life, so you should pick the one that would indicate the objective of your web site best. There is no limitation as to who can register such TLDs, but some of them contain additional steps to demonstrate that you qualify to possess such a domain (.mobi and .pro, for instance).

Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code TLDs, are country-specific TLDs. Each country has its own ccTLD. Getting such a domain is good if your target group of site visitors is from a particular country. Many people would prefer to buy commodities or services from a local website, and if your target is Canada, for instance, opting for a .ca domain name could increase the visits to your web site.

Domain Forwarding

You can register several domain names, which can forward your site's visitors to a particular website such as domain.com, for instance. This would raise the traffic and lower the possibility of someone snatching your website visitors by registering the same SLD with a different TLD - if you are not using a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Every domain name has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, aka DNS records) show where the domain is hosted, i.e. they point to the hosting vendor whose name servers (NSs, aka DNSs) it is using now. You can modify the NSs of your domain whenever you want. You can have your domain registered with one firm and get the hosting service itself from another. So, if you register your domain and discover good website hosting packages somewhere else later, you can point your domain to the current company's DNSs instantaneously.

Name Server Records (DNS Records)

On the whole, as long as your domain name utilizes a particular set of DNSs, all its DNS records will point to the same web hosting firm. Some hosting distributors, however, allow you to modify specific DNS records, including the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which exhibits on which web server your website is located, whereas the MX records indicate which server handles the e-mailbox accounts related to your domain name. For example, if you take on a new web page designer and he build an .ASP web page that will be accommodated on his private Windows web hosting server, you may want to modify just the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. In this way, www.domain.com will point to the Windows hosting server, but your emails or any sub-domain names like forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your current Linux webspace hosting account. The .ASP environment is built by Microsoft and calls for a Windows web hosting server, although a Linux hosting server would be way more stable.

Low-cost Top-Level Domain Names Brought by 'CyanHosts'

Only a few web hosting distributors permit you to modify specific NS records and very frequently this an additional paid service. With CyanHosts , you get an immense selection of Top-Level Domains to select from and you can edit all domain name records or forward the domain names using a redirection tool at no added charge. That is why, 'CyanHosts' would be your best choice when it comes to handling your domain name and to building a successful presence on the Internet.