How important can an top domain be?

One of the most essential requirements for creating a successful Internet presence is the domain name. It is what people will observe first when they discover your site and what they will relate you with. The domain should be easy to memorize, but should also be something that notifies your web site's visitors what the site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

A domain name usually has two constituents - 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 groups of Top-Level Domains that you should consider before you pick the domain you wish. Your selection should be built upon the intention of your web site and on its target viewers. Let's scrutinize the gTLDs, or generic TLDs - these are the most popular Top-Level Domain Names intended to denote a specific purpose - .com (commercial enterprises), .net (networks), .biz (companies), .info (informational web sites), .org (organizations of a non-commercial character), .mobi (mobile devices), .asia (the Asia Pacific), .name (persons or relatives), .pro (specific professions), etc. As you can perceive, these Top-Level Domain Names encompass most spheres of life, so you should select the one that would illustrate the purpose of your site best. There is no restriction as to who can register such Top-Level Domains, but some of them contain additional requirements to verify that you are eligible to have such a TLD (.mobi and .pro, for example).

Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code TLDs, are country-specific TLDs. Each country has its own ccTLD. Picking such a domain name is good if your target group of web page visitors is from a particular country. Many persons would prefer to purchase goods or services from a local site, and if your target is Canada, for instance, choosing a .ca TLD could increase the visits to your web page.

Domain Name Redirects

You can register several Top-Level Domains, which can send your site's visitors to a certain web site like domain.com, for instance. This would increase the traffic and decrease the possibility of somebody pilfering your visitors by registering the same Second-Level Domain with another TLD - if you are not using a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Every Top-Level Domain has domain records. The name server records (NS records, also known as DNS records) specify where the domain is hosted, i.e. they point to the web hosting firm whose name servers (NSs, also known as DNSs) it is using at present. You can modify the DNSs of your domain name whenever you like. You can have your domain registered with one firm and get the website hosting service itself from another. Therefore, if you register your domain name and stumble upon good website hosting packages someplace else later, you can point your domain name to the current company's name servers immediately.

Name Server Records (DNS Records)

On the whole, as long as your domain uses a particular set of NSs, all its records will point to the same site hosting company. Some site hosting providers, however, allow you to modify given NS records, such as the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which exhibits on which web server your web page is situated, whereas the MX records demonstrate which server tackles the e-mail accounts associated with your domain name. For example, if you appoint a new site designer and he build an .ASP website that will be situated on his personal Windows web server, you may want to alter just the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. Hence, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows server, but your mailboxes or any sub-domains like forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux website hosting account. The .ASP environment is created by Microsoft and requires a Windows server, although a Linux hosting server would be way more secure.

Cheap Domains Courtesy of 'Heartland Web Hosting'

Only a few web hosting providers permit you to edit certain name server records and quite frequently this an extra paid service. With Heartland Web Hosting , you have a huge collection of Top-Level Domain Names to choose from and you can modify all records or redirect the domains via a forwarding tool at no extra cost. Therefore, 'Heartland Web Hosting' would be your best choice when it comes to managing your domain name and to establishing a successful presence on the Internet.