How important can an affordable domain name be?

One of the most crucial prerequisites for setting up a successful Internet presence is the domain name. It is what visitors will discern first when they come across your web site and what they will relate you with. The domain name should be easy to remember, but should also be something that notifies your web page's visitors what the website is about.

Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

A domain name traditionally has 2 parts - a Top-Level Domain Name (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain Name (SLD). If you have domain.com, for example, ".com" is the Top-Level Domain Name and "domain" is the Second-Level Domain Name. There are a couple of categories of Top-Level Domain Names that you should consider before you select the domain you want. Your selection should depend on the purpose of your web site and on its target audience. Let's have a glimpse at the gTLDs, or generic TLDs - these are the most widespread TLDs aimed to show a specific intention - .com (business enterprises), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (businesses), .info (informative resources), .org (organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific), .name (individuals or relatives), .pro (certain professions), etc. As you can see, these Top-Level Domain Names cover most fields of life, so you should select the one that would depict the objective of your site best. There is no restriction as to who can register such domain names, but some of them contain extra requirements to confirm that you are eligible to keep such a Top-Level Domain (.mobi and .pro, for example).

Country-code Top-Level Domain Names (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code Top-Level Domain Names, are country-specific Top-Level Domains. Each country has its own ccTLD. Selecting such a domain name is good if your target group of web page visitors is from a certain country. Many folks would prefer to buy commodities or services from a local web page, and if your goal is Canada, for example, picking a .ca TLD could increase the visits to your website.

URL Redirection

You can register different Top-Level Domains, which can forward your web page's visitors to a particular site like domain.com, for example. This would raise the traffic and lower the risk of someone swiping your web page visitors by registering the same Second-Level Domain Name with another Top-Level Domain Name - if you are not utilizing a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each and every 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 hosting provider whose name servers (NSs, also known as DNSs) it is utilizing now. You can modify the DNSs of your domain name at any time. You can have your domain name registered with one provider and get the hosting service itself from another. So, if you register your domain name and find good website hosting services someplace else later, you can point your domain to the new company's NSs right away.

Domain Name Server Records (NS Records)

In general, as long as your domain uses a particular set of NSs, all its records will direct to the same web hosting supplier. Some web space hosting providers, however, enable you to modify given records, such as the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an IP address, which discloses on which hosting server your website is hosted, whereas the MX records demonstrate which hosting server handles the mail address accounts related to your domain name. For instance, if you hire a new web designer and he sets up an .ASP site that will be situated on his own Windows web hosting server, you may want to alter only the Internet Protocol address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain name. Hence, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows web server, but your e-mailbox accounts or any sub-domains like forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux web site hosting account. The .ASP platform is devised by Microsoft and requests a Windows server, although a Linux server would be far more secure.

Reasonably Priced Top-Level Domain Names Offered by 'Swifty Host'

Only a number of web hosting companies permit you to modify specific NS records and quite often this an additional paid service. With Swifty Host , you have an immense selection of Top-Level Domains to select from and you can edit all DNS records or redirect the domain names through a redirection tool at no additional cost. Therefore, 'Swifty Host' would be your finest pick when it comes to administering your domain name and to establishing a successful presence on the Internet.