Domain Names Explained

One of the most crucial requirements for setting up a successful online presence is the domain name. It is what visitors will note first when they stumble upon your site and what they will link you with. The domain name should be easy to remember, but should also be something that informs your website's visitors what the web site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

A domain name traditionally contains 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 and "domain" is the Second-Level Domain Name. There are a few sets of TLDs that you should examine before you choose the domain name you want. Your decision should be based on the purpose of your website and on its target visitors. Let's take a glimpse at the gTLDs, or generic TLDs - these are the most typical Top-Level Domains intended to show a given function - .com (commercial organizations), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (firms), .info (informative sites), .org (non-profit organizations), .mobi (mobile devices), .asia (the Asia Pacific region), .name (individuals or relatives), .pro (particular professions), and so on. As you can see, these TLDs encompass most fields of life, so you should select the one that would explain the aim of your web site best. There is no limitation as to who can register such domain names, but some of them include extra requirements to demonstrate that you qualify to have such a domain name (.mobi and .pro, for instance).

Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code Top-Level Domains, are country-specific Top-Level Domains. Each country has its own ccTLD. Choosing such a domain name is good if your target group of visitors is from a certain country. Many people would want to purchase commodities or services from a local web site, and if your target is Canada, for example, settling on a .ca domain name could increase the visits to your web page.

URL Forwarding

You can register a number of Top-Level Domains, which can redirect your site's visitors to a specific web site such as domain.com, for instance. This would increase the traffic and lower the risk of somebody stealing your website visitors by using the same name with a different Top-Level Domain - if you are not utilizing a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each TLD has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, a.k.a. DNS records) specify where the domain name is hosted, in other words they point to the hosting distributor whose name servers (NSs, a.k.a. DNSs) it is utilizing at present. You can replace the name servers of your domain name whenever you wish. You can have your domain registered with one firm and get the website hosting service itself from another. In this way, if you register your domain and find decent website hosting plans someplace else at a later time, you can point your domain name to the new provider's name servers at once.

Domain Name Server Records (NS Records)

In general, as long as your domain utilizes a certain pair of NSs, all its NS records will point to the same website hosting vendor. Some website hosting companies, though, enable you to edit certain records, including the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which demonstrates on which server your website is hosted, while the MX records reveal which web server handles the email mailbox accounts associated with your domain name. For instance, if you take on a new website designer and he build an .ASP site that will be accommodated on his personal Windows web hosting server, you may wish to modify solely the Internet Protocol address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. Thus, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows web server, but your email boxes 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 platform is built by Microsoft and requires a Windows web hosting server, even though a Linux server would be far more stable.

Modestly Priced TLDs Supplied by 'HostFraser.com'

Just a small number of web hosting providers permit you to modify given domain name records and quite frequently this an extra paid service. With us, you have a huge selection of Top-Level Domains to choose from and you can modify all domain records or redirect the domain names through a forwarding tool at no additional cost.