How important is to locate the best domain?

One of the most vital preconditions for setting up a successful Internet presence is the domain name. It is what people will spot first when they come across your site and what they will link you with. The domain should be easy to remember, but should also be something that tells your visitors what the web site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

A domain name typically is composed of two parts - a Top-Level Domain Name (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain (SLD). If you have domain.com, for instance, ".com" is the TLD and "domain" is the SLD. There are a few categories of Top-Level Domains that you should consider prior to choosing the domain name you wish. Your selection should be based on the purpose of your site and on its target visitors. Let's have a gaze at the gTLDs, or generic TLDs - these are the most popular Top-Level Domain Names aimed to signify a particular purpose - .com (commercial entities), .net (networks), .biz (firms), .info (informational web sites), .org (non-profit organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific region), .name (persons or families), .pro (certain professions), and so on. As you can see, these Top-Level Domains encompass most realms of life, so you should go for the one that would portray the purpose of your web site best. There is no restriction as to who can register such domain names, but some of them contain extra steps to verify that you are eligible to keep such a domain name (.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. Settling on such a TLD is good if your target group of web page visitors is from a given country. Many visitors would rather buy commodities or services from a local site, and if your goal is Canada, for instance, registering a .ca TLD could increase the visits to your website.

Domain Forwarding

You can register a bunch of Top-Level Domain Names, which can redirect your site's visitors to a particular website such as domain.com, for instance. This would boost the traffic and reduce the possibility of somebody pilfering your web page visitors by registering the same name with another Top-Level Domain Name - if you are not availing of a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Every Top-Level Domain Name has domain records. The name server records (NS records, also known as DNS records) display where the domain is hosted, in other words they point to the hosting distributor whose name servers (NSs, also known as DNSs) it is using at present. You can swap the DNSs of your domain at any moment. You can have your domain name registered with one firm and get the website hosting service itself from another. Thus, if you register your domain and encounter good website hosting services someplace else later, you can point your domain name to the current company's NSs straight off.

Domain Name Server Records (NS Records)

In general, as long as your domain utilizes a certain pair of name servers, all its domain records will direct to the same web hosting distributor. Some webspace hosting companies, though, permit you to edit given name server records, among them the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an IP address, which shows on which hosting server your web site is situated, whereas the MX records reveal which server tackles the e-mail accounts associated with your domain name. For instance, if you appoint a new website designer and he creates an .ASP web page that will be situated on his private Windows web server, you may wish to edit solely the Internet Protocol address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain name. Thus, www.domain.com will point to the Windows hosting server, but your mail accounts or any sub-domains like forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux hosting account. The .ASP platform is invented by Microsoft and requires a Windows hosting server, although a Linux hosting server would be way more dependable.

Cut-Price Domains Supplied by 'AND-GATE'

Just a small number of web hosting distributors permit you to edit certain name server records and quite frequently this an additional paid service. With AND-GATE , you have a vast assortment of TLDs to choose from and you can modify all DNS records or forward the domains using a redirection tool at no extra charge. Therefore, 'AND-GATE' would be your best choice when it comes to administering your domain name and to setting up a successful presence on the Internet.