Domain Names Explained

One of the most important prerequisites for building a successful Internet presence is the domain name. It is what visitors will observe first when they discover your web page and what they will identify you with. The domain name should be easy to memorize, but should also be something that notifies your web page's visitors what the website is about.

Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

A domain name typically consists of two parts - a Top-Level Domain Name (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain Name (SLD). If you have domain.com, for instance, ".com" is the TLD and "domain" is the SLD. There are a few sets of Top-Level Domains that you should consider prior to choosing the domain name you wish. Your pick should depend on the purpose of your website and on its target viewers. Let's take a peek at the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domains - these are the most popular Top-Level Domain Names aimed to show a specific intention - .com (commercial enterprises), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (businesses), .info (informative web pages), .org (organizations of a non-commercial character), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific), .name (persons or relatives), .pro (certain professions), etc. As you can see, these TLDs encompass most realms of life, so you should go for the one that would indicate the intention of your web page best. There is no restriction as to who can register such domain names, but some of them involve extra requirements to demonstrate that you qualify to have such a TLD (.mobi and .pro, for instance).

Country-code Top-Level Domain Names (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code TLDs, are country-specific TLDs. Each country has its own ccTLD. Opting for such a domain name is good if your target group of website visitors is from a particular country. Many people would prefer to purchase commodities or services from a local web site, and if your target is Canada, for instance, opting for a .ca domain name could increase the visits to your website.

URL Redirection

You can register several domains, which can forward your website's visitors to a given web site like domain.com, for instance. This would raise the traffic and decrease the risk of someone swiping your visitors by registering the same SLD with a different Top-Level Domain - if you are not using a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each domain name has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, also known as DNS records) demonstrate where the domain name is hosted, in other words they point to the hosting company whose name servers (NSs, also known as DNSs) it is using at the moment. You can switch the name servers of your domain name whenever you like. You can have your domain registered with one company and get the website hosting service itself from another. In this way, if you register your domain name and stumble upon good website hosting solutions somewhere else later, you can point your domain name to the present provider's DNSs instantaneously.

Domain Name Server Records (DNS Records)

In general, as long as your domain uses a certain pair of name servers, all its domain records will point to the same web hosting provider. Some website hosting providers, though, allow you to edit certain domain name server records, including the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an IP address, which demonstrates on which hosting server your web page is situated, whereas the MX records display which server tackles the mail address accounts associated with your domain name. For example, if you take on a new web designer and he sets up an .ASP web page that will be hosted on his private Windows web hosting server, you may desire to alter solely the Internet Protocol address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. Thus, www.domain.com will point to the Windows web server, but your electronic mails or any sub-domains such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your current Linux website hosting account. The .ASP platform is developed by Microsoft and calls for a Windows web server, even though a Linux server would be far more secure.

Modestly Priced Top-Level Domain Names Offered by 'Get Design Online'

Only a number of web hosting vendors enable you to modify particular DNS records and quite frequently this an additional paid service. With us, you have a huge selection of Top-Level Domains to choose from and you can edit all domain records or forward the domain names via a redirection tool at no additional charge.