How essential can an top domain name be?

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

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)

A domain name typically is composed of 2 parts - a Top-Level Domain (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain Name (SLD). If you have domain.com, for instance, ".com" is the TLD and "domain" is the SLD. There are several sets of TLDs that you should contemplate before you select the domain name you wish. Your pick should depend on the purpose of your site and on its target audience. Let's take a gaze at the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domain Names - these are the most common Top-Level Domain Names intended to show a specific function - .com (commercial enterprises), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (corporations), .info (informational sites), .org (organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia Pacific region), .name (persons or relatives), .pro (particular professions), etc. As you can see, these TLDs cover most spheres of life, so you should go for the one that would signify the aim of your web page best. There is no limitation as to who can register such domains, but some of them include extra steps to verify that you qualify to keep such a Top-Level Domain Name (.mobi and .pro, for example).

Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code Top-Level Domain Names, are country-specific domains. Each country has its own ccTLD. Getting such a domain is good if your target group of website visitors is from a specific country. Many individuals would elect to buy commodities or services from a local website, and if your goal is Canada, for instance, settling on a .ca Top-Level Domain Name could increase the visits to your web site.

URL Forwarding

You can register different domains, which can forward your web site's visitors to a specific website like domain.com, for instance. This would raise the traffic and decrease the likelihood of someone swiping your visitors by registering the same Second-Level Domain with another Top-Level Domain Name - if you are not utilizing a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each and every domain name has domain records. The name server records (NS records, also known as DNS records) indicate where the domain name is hosted, in other words they point to the hosting distributor whose name servers (NSs, aka DNSs) it is utilizing now. You can substitute the DNSs of your domain whenever you wish. You can have your domain name registered with one company and get the web site hosting service itself from another. Therefore, if you register your domain and encounter good website hosting packages somewhere else at a later time, you can point your domain to the current company's name servers instantly.

Name Server Records (DNS Records)

In general, as long as your domain name utilizes a particular pair of name servers, all its domain name server records will lead to the same webspace hosting company. Some web site hosting providers, though, allow you to modify certain records, among them the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which designates on which hosting server your web page is located, whereas the MX records indicate which hosting server handles the e-mail address accounts related to your domain name. For instance, if you take on a new web designer and he develops an .ASP web page that will be hosted on his own Windows web server, you may wish to edit solely the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain name. Thus, www.domain.com will point to the Windows web hosting server, but your mailboxes or any sub-domains like forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux web hosting account. The .ASP environment is devised by Microsoft and calls for a Windows hosting server, even though a Linux web hosting server would be far more stable.

Affordably Priced TLDs Furnished by 'Heartland Web Hosting'

Only a small number of web hosting companies enable you to edit particular name server records and quite often this an extra paid service. With Heartland Web Hosting , you get a huge collection of Top-Level Domains to choose from and you can edit all DNS records or redirect the domains using a forwarding tool at no extra charge. Because of that, 'Heartland Web Hosting' would be your best pick when it comes to administering your domain and to setting up a successful presence on the Internet.