How vital can an top domain name be?

One of the most important requirements for building a successful web presence is the domain name. It is what visitors will see first when they discover 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 web page's visitors what the web site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

A domain name as a rule contains 2 parts - a Top-Level Domain Name (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain (SLD). If you have domain.com, for instance, ".com" is the Top-Level Domain and "domain" is the SLD. There are a few groups of Top-Level Domain Names that you should consider prior to picking the domain you wish. Your selection should be based on the purpose of your website and on its target audience. Let's have a peek at the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domains - these are the most common Top-Level Domain Names meant to signify a particular purpose - .com (commercial entities), .net (networks), .biz (businesses), .info (informative resources), .org (not-for-profit organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific region), .name (individuals or relatives), .pro (particular walks of life), etc. As you can perceive, these Top-Level Domains cover most realms of life, so you should opt for the one that would explain the intention of your site best. There is no limitation as to who can register such domains, but some of them contain extra steps to verify that you qualify to register such a domain name (.mobi and .pro, for example).

Country-code Top-Level Domain Names (ccTLDs)

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

Domain Name Forwarding

You can register several TLDs, which can redirect your site's visitors to a particular website like domain.com, for example. This would raise the traffic and reduce the likelihood of someone pilfering your web site visitors by registering the same name with another Top-Level Domain - if you are not utilizing a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each and every Top-Level Domain has domain records. The name server records (NS records, a.k.a. DNS records) display where the domain name is hosted, i.e. they point to the web hosting distributor whose name servers (NSs, aka DNSs) it is using at the moment. You can modify the name servers of your domain whenever you want. You can have your domain registered with one company and get the web space hosting service itself from another. So, if you register your domain and detect good website hosting packages somewhere else at a later time, you can point your domain to the new provider's NSs straight away.

Domain Name Server Records (NS Records)

In general, as long as your domain utilizes a certain set of name servers, all its records will direct to the same web hosting provider. Some website hosting vendors, though, allow you to edit given domain name records, including the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which specifies on which hosting server your website is situated, while the MX records disclose which web server tackles the mail address accounts related to your domain name. For instance, if you hire a new web page designer and he build an .ASP website that will be hosted on his private Windows web server, you may desire to edit only the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. Hence, www.domain.com will point to the Windows hosting server, but your e-mail address accounts or any sub-domains such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your current Linux hosting account. The .ASP environment is designed by Microsoft and requires a Windows web server, although a Linux hosting server would be way more reliable.

Low-cost Domain Names Distributed by 'Exclusive Hosting'

Just a small number of web hosting vendors allow you to edit certain domain name server records and quite often this an extra paid service. With Exclusive Hosting , you have a huge array of Top-Level Domains to choose from and you can modify all NS records or redirect the domains using a forwarding tool at no added cost. That is why, 'Exclusive Hosting' would be your best choice when it comes to administering your domain name and to establishing a successful presence on the Internet.