How valuable can an affordable domain be?
One of the most crucial prerequisites for setting up a successful online presence is the domain name. It is what visitors will discern first when they come across your website and what they will identify you with. The domain name should be easy to memorize, but should also be something that tells your web site's visitors what the site is about.
Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)
A domain as a rule consists of two fragments - a Top-Level Domain Name (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 several groups of TLDs that you should contemplate prior to picking the domain name you wish. Your pick should be built upon the aim of your web page and on its target viewers. Let's take a peek at the gTLDs, or generic TLDs - these are the most common Top-Level Domain Names meant to designate a particular function - .com (business entities), .net (networks), .biz (firms), .info (informational websites), .org (not-for-profit organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific), .name (individuals or families), .pro (qualified professionals), etc. As you can perceive, these Top-Level Domain Names encompass most realms of life, so you should opt for the one that would portray the objective of your site best. There is no restriction as to who can register such domains, but some of them contain additional requirements to prove that you are eligible to own such a Top-Level Domain Name (.mobi and .pro, for example).
Country-code Top-Level Domain Names (ccTLDs)
The ccTLDs, or country-code TLDs, are country-specific TLDs. Each country has its own ccTLD. Registering such a domain name is good if your target group of web site visitors is from a specific country. Many visitors would prefer to purchase commodities or services from a local website, and if your target is Canada, for instance, settling on a .ca TLD could increase the visits to your site.
URL Redirects
You can register a number of Top-Level Domain Names, which can forward your website's visitors to a specific website like domain.com, for instance. This would increase the traffic and lower the risk of someone pilfering your website visitors by registering the same Second-Level Domain Name with a different TLD - if you are not availing of a trademark.
Name Servers (NSs)
Every domain has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, also known as DNS records) indicate where the domain is hosted, i.e. they point to the web hosting vendor whose name servers (NSs, a.k.a. DNSs) it is using at present. You can swap the name servers of your domain whenever you wish. You can have your domain registered with one company and get the web space hosting service itself from another. Therefore, if you register your domain and come across good website hosting solutions someplace else at a later time, you can point your domain to the present company's NSs at once.
Name Server Records (DNS Records)
In general, as long as your domain name uses a given pair of name servers, all its domain name records will direct to the same web hosting supplier. Some hosting companies, however, permit you to edit specific domain name server records, such as the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which specifies on which web hosting server your website is hosted, while the MX records indicate which web server handles the email address accounts associated with your domain name. For example, if you hire a new site designer and he develops an .ASP web page that will be hosted on his private Windows server, you may desire to change only the Internet Protocol address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. So, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows server, but your e-mail accounts or any sub-domain names like forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux web space hosting account. The .ASP platform is invented by Microsoft and demands a Windows server, even though a Linux hosting server would be far more dependable.
Inexpensive Domain Names Delivered by 'NTC Hosting'
Just a small number of web hosting providers allow you to edit specific domain name records and quite often this an extra paid service. With NTC Hosting , you get a huge assortment of Top-Level Domain Names to pick from and you can edit all domain name server records or forward the domain names using a redirection tool at no additional cost. That is why, 'NTC Hosting' would be your finest pick when it comes to administering your domain and to setting up a successful presence on the World Wide Web.