How important can an affordable domain be?

One of the most important requirements for running a successful Internet presence is the domain. It is what visitors will note first when they come across your web site and what they will link you with. The domain name should be easy to remember, but should also be something that tells your web page's visitors what the site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)

A domain name traditionally has two fragments - a Top-Level Domain (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 few categories of TLDs that you should contemplate before you select the domain you want. Your choice should depend on the goal of your web site and on its target visitors. Let's take a glimpse at the gTLDs, or generic TLDs - these are the most popular TLDs aimed to designate a particular function - .com (commercial entities), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (firms), .info (informative sites), .org (non-profit organizations), .mobi (mobile devices), .asia (the Asia Pacific), .name (individuals or families), .pro (certain professions), etc. As you can perceive, these TLDs encompass most realms of life, so you should select the one that would signify the intention of your web site best. There is no limitation as to who can register such Top-Level Domains, but some of them involve additional requirements to show that you are eligible to own such a Top-Level Domain (.mobi and .pro, for instance).

Country-code Top-Level Domain Names (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code TLDs, are country-specific Top-Level Domain Names. Each country has its own ccTLD. Opting for such a domain is good if your target group of website visitors is from a particular country. Many guys would sooner purchase goods or services from a local website, and if your target is Canada, for instance, settling on a .ca Top-Level Domain Name could boost the visits to your web page.

URL Redirection

You can register a number of Top-Level Domain Names, which can forward your site's visitors to a specific website like domain.com, for example. This would increase the traffic and lower the probability of somebody pilfering your visitors by using the same Second-Level Domain Name with another TLD - if you are not using a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each Top-Level Domain Name has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, also known as DNS records) reveal where the domain is hosted, i.e. they point to the web hosting company whose name servers (NSs, a.k.a. DNSs) it is using now. You can modify the NSs of your domain whenever you wish. You can have your domain name registered with one company and get the web site hosting service itself from another. In this way, if you register your domain and come across decent website hosting services somewhere else at a later time, you can point your domain name to the new company's name servers immediately.

Name Server Records (DNS Records)

In general, as long as your domain uses a given pair of name servers, all its domain name server records will lead to the same hosting firm. Some web hosting vendors, though, allow you to edit certain name server records, including the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which details on which server your website is situated, whereas the MX records disclose which web hosting server tackles the e-mail accounts related to your domain name. For example, if you take on a new site designer and he constructs an .ASP website that will be hosted on his private Windows server, you may desire to edit just the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. So, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows web hosting server, but your mailboxes or any sub-domain names such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your current Linux web page hosting account. The .ASP environment is devised by Microsoft and requires a Windows server, even though a Linux server would be way more stable.

Cut-Price Domains Furnished by 'New Zealand Web Hosting Services'

Just a small number of web hosting providers allow you to modify given name server records and quite frequently this an extra paid service. With New Zealand Web Hosting Services , you have a wide collection of Top-Level Domain Names to choose from and you can edit all domain name server records or forward the domain names using a redirection tool at no additional cost. For that reason, 'New Zealand Web Hosting Services' would be your best pick when it comes to managing your domain name and to building a successful presence on the web.