Domain Names Explained

One of the most crucial requirements for building a successful web presence is the domain name. It is what people will discern first when they visit your website and what they will relate you with. The domain name should be easy to memorize, but should also be something that tells your web page's visitors what the web page is about.

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)

A domain name traditionally is composed of 2 constituents - a Top-Level Domain Name (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain Name (SLD). If you have domain.com, for instance, ".com" is the Top-Level Domain Name and "domain" is the SLD. There are a couple of categories of Top-Level Domain Names that you should contemplate prior to choosing the domain name you want. Your decision should be based on the aim of your web site and on its target visitors. Let's study the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domain Names - these are the most common TLDs intended to denote a specific intention - .com (business enterprises), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (businesses), .info (informative resources), .org (organizations of a non-commercial character), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia Pacific), .name (individuals or families), .pro (particular professions), etc. As you can perceive, these Top-Level Domain Names cover most realms of life, so you should settle on the one that would signify the intention of your website best. There is no limitation as to who can register such domain names, but some of them involve additional requirements to confirm that you are eligible to possess such a domain (.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. Settling on such a domain name is good if your target group of site visitors is from a specific country. Many guys would prefer to buy commodities or services from a local site, and if your aim is Canada, for instance, selecting a .ca domain name could increase the visits to your site.

Domain Name Forwarding

You can register a bunch of domains, which can redirect your website's visitors to a given site like domain.com, for instance. This would boost the traffic and reduce the possibility of someone stealing your site visitors by using the same name with another TLD - if you are not utilizing a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Every domain has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, also known as DNS records) exhibit where the domain name is hosted, in other words they point to the hosting distributor whose name servers (NSs, also known as DNSs) it is utilizing now. You can modify the NSs of your domain name at all times. You can have your domain name registered with one company and get the web hosting service itself from another. Therefore, if you register your domain name and discover good website hosting services somewhere else at a later time, you can point your domain name to the present company's name servers instantly.

Domain Name Server Records (NS Records)

In general, as long as your domain name utilizes a certain set of DNSs, all its name server records will point to the same web hosting firm. Some website hosting vendors, however, allow you to edit given domain name server records, including the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an IP address, which indicates on which web hosting server your web page is situated, whereas the MX records designate which web hosting server tackles the email address accounts related to your domain name. For instance, if you take on a new web page designer and he designs an .ASP site that will be hosted on his personal Windows web hosting server, you may desire to edit solely the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. Thus, www.domain.com will point to the Windows server, but your e-mail address accounts or any sub-domains such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux web hosting account. The .ASP environment is devised by Microsoft and requests a Windows web hosting server, even though a Linux web hosting server would be far more reliable.

Cut-Rate Domains Offered by 'Web iCloud Hosting'

Only a small number of web hosting providers allow you to modify particular domain records and quite often this an extra paid service. With us, you get an extensive array of TLDs to pick from and you can modify all domain name server records or redirect the domains via a forwarding tool at no additional cost.