How important can an affordable domain name be?

One of the most vital prerequisites for setting up a successful online presence is the domain. It is what people will spot first when they chance upon your website and what they will associate you with. The domain name should be easy to remember, but should also be something that notifies your website's visitors what the site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)

A domain name usually is composed of 2 components - a Top-Level Domain (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain (SLD). If you have domain.com, for example, ".com" is the Top-Level Domain and "domain" is the Second-Level Domain Name. There are a couple of sets of Top-Level Domains that you should consider prior to choosing the domain name you wish. Your selection should be based on the purpose of your web site and on its target visitors. Let's study the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domain Names - these are the most popular Top-Level Domain Names meant to show a specific function - .com (business enterprises), .net (networks), .biz (businesses), .info (informational web pages), .org (non-profit organizations), .mobi (mobile devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific), .name (persons or relatives), .pro (specific walks of life), etc. As you can perceive, these Top-Level Domain Names cover most fields of life, so you should settle on the one that would describe the purpose of your web site best. There is no limitation as to who can register such domains, but some of them include additional procedures to ascertain that you qualify to register such a domain (.mobi and .pro, for instance).

Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

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

Domain Forwarding

You can register a number of domains, which can redirect your site's visitors to a particular site such as domain.com, for example. This would increase the traffic and decrease the chance of someone stealing your web site visitors by registering the same name with another TLD - if you are not availing of a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each and every Top-Level Domain has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, a.k.a. DNS records) display where the domain is hosted, i.e. they point to the web hosting company whose name servers (NSs, also known as DNSs) it is using at present. You can switch the NSs of your domain at all times. You can have your domain registered with one firm and get the web space hosting service itself from another. Thus, if you register your domain name and detect decent website hosting plans somewhere else afterwards, you can point your domain name to the present company's name servers instantly.

Domain Name Server Records (NS Records)

On the whole, as long as your domain utilizes a specific set of name servers, all its name server records will direct to the same web space hosting provider. Some web space hosting vendors, though, allow you to edit specific NS records, like the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an IP address, which discloses on which hosting server your web site is located, while the MX records specify which hosting server tackles the mail address accounts associated with your domain name. For instance, if you hire a new web site designer and he sets up an .ASP web page that will be located on his personal Windows hosting server, you may wish to change just the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. In this way, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows server, but your e-mails 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 platform is built by Microsoft and calls for a Windows server, although a Linux server would be way more secure.

Affordably Priced TLDs Courtesy of 'MarbleHost.com'

Only a small number of web hosting suppliers allow you to modify given domain records and very often this an extra paid service. With MarbleHost.com , you have a large selection 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 added charge. That is why, 'MarbleHost.com' would be your best pick when it comes to managing your domain name and to setting up a successful presence on the World Wide Web.