What are Domain Names

One of the most essential preconditions for building a successful online presence is the domain name. It is what visitors will see first when they chance upon your website and what they will associate you with. The domain name should be easy to memorize, but should also be something that informs your web site's visitors what the web site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)

A domain name typically is composed of 2 components - a Top-Level Domain (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain (SLD). If you have domain.com, for instance, ".com" is the TLD and "domain" is the Second-Level Domain. There are several groups of TLDs that you should examine before you select the domain name you wish. Your decision should be built upon the goal of your web site and on its target audience. Let's review the gTLDs, or generic TLDs - these are the most typical Top-Level Domains meant to show a particular intention - .com (commercial entities), .net (networks), .biz (companies), .info (informative resources), .org (not-for-profit organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific), .name (persons or families), .pro (given professions), etc. As you can perceive, these Top-Level Domains encompass most realms of life, so you should select the one that would indicate the aim of your web site best. There is no restriction as to who can register such domain names, but some of them involve extra requirements to demonstrate that you qualify 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 Top-Level Domain Names, are country-specific domain names. Each country has its own ccTLD. Opting for such a domain name is good if your target group of site visitors is from a particular country. Many individuals would like to buy commodities or services from a local web site, and if your target is Canada, for example, registering a .ca domain name could increase the visits to your web site.

Domain Forwarding

You can register a bunch of TLDs, which can forward your visitors to a given web site like domain.com, for example. This would boost the traffic and reduce the likelihood of somebody pinching your site visitors by registering the same Second-Level Domain with a different Top-Level Domain Name - if you are not availing of a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Every domain name has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, a.k.a. DNS records) show where the domain name is hosted, in other words they point to the hosting supplier whose name servers (NSs, aka DNSs) it is using at present. You can swap the name servers of your domain name at all times. You can have your domain registered with one firm and get the website hosting service itself from another. So, if you register your domain name and detect decent website hosting services somewhere else at a later time, you can point your domain name to the current company's DNSs instantly.

Domain Name Server Records (NS Records)

On the whole, as long as your domain name utilizes a particular pair of name servers, all its name server records will direct to the same web hosting supplier. Some website hosting distributors, however, allow you to modify given domain records, including the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which displays on which web hosting server your web page is located, while the MX records demonstrate which server handles the email mailbox accounts related to your domain name. For instance, if you hire a new web page designer and he designs an .ASP web page that will be accommodated on his personal Windows hosting server, you may desire to edit solely the Internet Protocol address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. Thus, www.domain.com will point to the Windows web server, but your email box accounts or any sub-domains such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux web hosting account. The .ASP platform is designed by Microsoft and requires a Windows web hosting server, although a Linux server would be far more stable.

Affordable Top-Level Domains Furnished by 'Fast Tuna Web Hosting'

Only a small number of web hosting companies permit you to edit certain domain records and very frequently this an extra paid service. With us, you get an immense selection of Top-Level Domains to pick from and you can edit all records or forward the domain names using a redirection tool at no added cost.