Domains Explained

One of the most important requirements for having a successful Internet presence is the domain. It is what visitors will discern first when they stumble upon your web page and what they will relate you with. The domain should be easy to memorize, but should also be something that notifies your website's visitors what the site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)

A domain typically has 2 components - a Top-Level Domain Name (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain (SLD). If you have domain.com, for example, ".com" is the Top-Level Domain and "domain" is the SLD. There are a few groups of TLDs that you should contemplate before you choose the domain you want. Your choice should depend on the intention of your web page and on its target audience. Let's take a peek at the gTLDs, or generic TLDs - these are the most common Top-Level Domains meant to denote a given purpose - .com (commercial enterprises), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (corporations), .info (informational web sites), .org (non-profit organizations), .mobi (mobile devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific region), .name (persons or relatives), .pro (qualified professionals), etc. As you can see, these TLDs cover most spheres of life, so you should go for the one that would signify the aim of your website best. There is no limitation as to who can register such domains, but some of them include extra steps to verify that you qualify to register such a TLD (.mobi and .pro, for instance).

Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code Top-Level Domain Names, are country-specific Top-Level Domains. Each country has its own ccTLD. Registering such a domain is good if your target group of website visitors is from a given country. Many visitors would elect to purchase goods or services from a local website, and if your aim is Canada, for instance, picking a .ca domain could increase the visits to your web page.

Domain Redirects

You can register a number of TLDs, which can redirect your web site's visitors to a particular website such as domain.com, for example. This would increase the traffic and lower the probability of somebody stealing your site visitors by using the same Second-Level Domain with another Top-Level Domain - if you are not availing of a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each TLD has domain records. The name server records (NS records, also known as DNS records) reveal where the domain is hosted, i.e. they point to the hosting vendor whose name servers (NSs, aka DNSs) it is utilizing at present. You can replace the NSs of your domain name whenever you want. You can have your domain name registered with one company and get the web hosting service itself from another. So, if you register your domain name and discover decent website hosting solutions somewhere else later, you can point your domain to the current company's name servers immediately.

Domain Server Records (NS Records)

On the whole, as long as your domain utilizes a certain set of name servers, all its NS records will lead to the same web hosting supplier. Some website hosting suppliers, though, permit you to edit certain domain name records, such as the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an IP address, which specifies on which server your web site is hosted, whereas the MX records demonstrate which web server handles the mail accounts associated with your domain name. For example, if you hire a new site designer and he sets up an .ASP site that will be located on his private Windows server, you may desire to alter only the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. So, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows web server, but your email address accounts or any sub-domain names such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux hosting account. The .ASP environment is developed by Microsoft and calls for a Windows web hosting server, although a Linux web hosting server would be way more reliable.

Affordable Top-Level Domain Names Courtesy of 'Sankia Tech'

Only a few web hosting suppliers permit you to modify particular records and quite frequently this an additional paid service. With us, you get an immense variety of Top-Level Domains to choose from and you can edit all name server records or redirect the domains via a forwarding tool at no added charge.