What are Domain Names

One of the most important preconditions for building a successful web presence is the domain name. It is what visitors will notice first when they chance upon your web page and what they will identify you with. The domain name should be easy to remember, but should also be something that informs your web page's visitors what the site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)

A domain name typically consists of 2 constituents - 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 few groups of Top-Level Domain Names that you should examine prior to choosing the domain name you want. Your choice should be based on the intention of your website and on its target spectators. Let's have a glance at the gTLDs, or generic TLDs - these are the most common Top-Level Domain Names intended to denote a given intention - .com (business enterprises), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (companies), .info (informative web pages), .org (not-for-profit organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific region), .name (individuals or relatives), .pro (particular walks of life), and so on. As you can perceive, these TLDs encompass most spheres of life, so you should choose the one that would express the objective of your web page 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 Domains (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code TLDs, are country-specific domains. Each country has its own ccTLD. Settling on such a domain name is good if your target group of visitors is from a certain country. Many guys would prefer to purchase commodities or services from a local website, and if your goal is Canada, for example, choosing a .ca domain name could increase the visits to your web site.

Domain Redirects

You can register a bunch of Top-Level Domain Names, which can redirect your website's visitors to a particular web page like domain.com, for instance. This would raise the traffic and reduce the possibility of somebody pilfering your 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)

Each Top-Level Domain Name has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, a.k.a. DNS records) reveal where the domain name is hosted, in other words they point to the web hosting provider whose name servers (NSs, a.k.a. DNSs) it is using at present. You can alter the DNSs of your domain name whenever you wish. You can have your domain registered with one provider and get the website hosting service itself from another. Thus, if you register your domain name and stumble upon decent website hosting services somewhere else at a later time, you can point your domain name to the new company's NSs instantaneously.

Domain Name Server Records (DNS Records)

In general, as long as your domain name utilizes a given pair of DNSs, all its domain records will direct to the same website hosting company. Some hosting firms, however, enable you to edit specific domain records, like the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an IP address, which specifies on which web server your web page is located, while the MX records indicate which server handles the e-mail aliases related to your domain name. For example, if you appoint a new website designer and he sets up an .ASP site that will be hosted on his private Windows web server, you may desire to change just the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain name. Thus, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows web hosting 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 website hosting account. The .ASP platform is created by Microsoft and necessitates a Windows hosting server, even though a Linux hosting server would be way more secure.

Moderately Priced Domains Provided by 'Fast PHP Hosting'

Just a few web hosting providers enable you to modify given domain records and very frequently this an extra paid service. With us, you have a big assortment of TLDs to pick from and you can modify all domain name server records or forward the domain names using a forwarding tool at no added cost.