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Domain Names Defined

One of the most important preconditions for running a successful web presence is the domain. It is what people will see first when they discover your site and what they will identify you with. The domain should be easy to memorize, but should also be something that informs your web site's visitors what the web page is about.

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)

A domain usually contains 2 components - a Top-Level Domain Name (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain (SLD). If you have domain.com, for example, ".com" is the TLD and "domain" is the Second-Level Domain Name. There are several groups of Top-Level Domain Names that you should contemplate prior to picking the domain you wish. Your choice should be based on the aim of your website and on its target visitors. Let's check the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domains - these are the most typical Top-Level Domain Names aimed to denote a particular intention - .com (commercial establishments), .net (networks), .biz (businesses), .info (informational websites), .org (not-for-profit organizations), .mobi (mobile devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific region), .name (persons or families), .pro (certain professions), etc. As you can perceive, these Top-Level Domains encompass most spheres of life, so you should pick the one that would indicate the objective of your site best. There is no limitation as to who can register such domains, but some of them contain additional procedures to verify that you are eligible to have such a TLD (.mobi and .pro, for instance).

Country-code Top-Level Domain Names (ccTLDs)

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

Domain Redirection

You can register a number of domains, which can send your website's visitors to a specific web page like domain.com, for instance. This would increase the traffic and reduce the risk of someone stealing your site visitors by using the same Second-Level Domain Name with another TLD - if you are not availing of a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Every domain has domain records. The name server records (NS records, also known as DNS records) exhibit where the domain is hosted, i.e. they point to the web hosting provider whose name servers (NSs, a.k.a. DNSs) it is utilizing at the moment. You can alter the name servers 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. Therefore, if you register your domain and find decent website hosting plans someplace else later, you can point your domain to the present provider's DNSs instantaneously.

Domain Server Records (DNS Records)

In general, as long as your domain utilizes a specific set of name servers, all its domain records will point to the same web hosting firm. Some web hosting companies, though, enable you to edit given records, such as the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which designates on which hosting server your web site is hosted, while the MX records exhibit which web hosting server handles the e-mailbox accounts associated with your domain name. For example, if you appoint a new web site designer and he designs an .ASP website that will be accommodated on his private Windows hosting server, you may wish to edit solely the Internet Protocol address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain name. In this way, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows web server, but your e-mailboxes or any sub-domains such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your current Linux hosting account. The .ASP platform is designed by Microsoft and calls for a Windows web hosting server, even though a Linux hosting server would be way more dependable.

Inexpensive Top-Level Domains Furnished by 'CultHost.com'

Just a few web hosting providers permit you to modify given name server records and quite often this an extra paid service. With us, you have an enormous array of Top-Level Domain Names to choose from and you can modify all name server records or forward the domains using a forwarding tool at no added cost.