What are Domain Names

One of the most crucial preconditions for setting up a successful web presence is the domain name. It is what visitors will note first when they chance upon your web site and what they will associate you with. The domain name should be easy to memorize, but should also be something that notifies your visitors what the site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

A domain name typically contains 2 fragments - 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 SLD. There are a couple of categories of TLDs that you should consider prior to selecting the domain name you desire. Your selection should rest on the aim of your website and on its target audience. Let's scrutinize the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domains - these are the most popular Top-Level Domains meant to designate a particular purpose - .com (commercial establishments), .net (networks), .biz (corporations), .info (informational websites), .org (non-profit organizations), .mobi (mobile devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific), .name (persons or families), .pro (qualified professionals), etc. As you can see, these TLDs cover most fields of life, so you should opt for the one that would indicate the purpose of your web page best. There is no limitation as to who can register such domain names, but some of them involve additional requirements to ascertain that you qualify to possess such a TLD (.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. Opting for such a domain name is good if your target group of website visitors is from a specific country. Many individuals would elect to buy commodities or services from a local site, and if your goal is Canada, for instance, selecting a .ca domain name could boost the visits to your website.

Domain Redirects

You can register a number of TLDs, which can send your web page's visitors to a given website like domain.com, for example. This would boost the traffic and decrease the chance of somebody pinching your visitors by using the same Second-Level Domain with another Top-Level Domain Name - if you are not availing of a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Every 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, i.e. they point to the web hosting provider whose name servers (NSs, a.k.a. DNSs) it is using now. You can swap the name servers of your domain whenever you like. You can have your domain registered with one company and get the web hosting service itself from another. Therefore, if you register your domain and stumble upon good website hosting solutions somewhere else afterwards, you can point your domain name to the current company's name servers immediately.

Domain Name Server Records (NS Records)

In general, as long as your domain utilizes a given pair of name servers, all its domain name records will direct to the same hosting vendor. Some web hosting distributors, though, permit you to edit specific domain name server records, like the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an IP address, which indicates on which web server your website is situated, whereas the MX records designate which web hosting server handles the email address accounts related to your domain name. For example, if you appoint a new website designer and he designs an .ASP website that will be hosted on his personal Windows server, you may wish to modify just the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain name. Thus, www.domain.com will point to the Windows server, but your e-mail boxes or any sub-domain names such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux web hosting account. The .ASP platform is devised by Microsoft and requires a Windows hosting server, even though a Linux server would be far more dependable.

Inexpensive Top-Level Domain Names Delivered by 'Tierra Hosting'

Just a small number of web hosting suppliers enable you to edit particular DNS records and very frequently this an additional paid service. With us, you get a big assortment of Top-Level Domain Names to select from and you can edit all domain name server records or forward the domains through a forwarding tool at no extra charge.