What are Domain Names

One of the most vital prerequisites for running a successful Internet presence is the domain name. It is what people will see first when they visit your web site and what they will associate you with. The domain name should be easy to memorize, but should also be something that notifies your web page's visitors what the site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs)

A domain name usually contains two fragments - a Top-Level Domain (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain (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 groups of Top-Level Domains that you should consider prior to choosing the domain name you desire. Your pick should be based on the purpose of your web page and on its target visitors. Let's have a peek at the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domains - these are the most widespread TLDs meant to denote a specific purpose - .com (commercial enterprises), .net (networks), .biz (businesses), .info (informational sites), .org (organizations), .mobi (mobile devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific), .name (individuals or relatives), .pro (particular walks of life), etc. As you can perceive, these Top-Level Domains cover most realms of life, so you should select the one that would describe the intention of your website best. There is no restriction as to who can register such domain names, but some of them involve extra requirements to ascertain that you are eligible to have such a domain (.mobi and .pro, for example).

Country-code Top-Level Domain Names (ccTLDs)

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

URL Redirection

You can register several domain names, which can redirect your web site's visitors to a certain web page such as domain.com, for instance. This would increase the traffic and decrease the risk of somebody snatching your website visitors by using the same name with a different TLD - if you are not availing of a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each and every TLD has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, a.k.a. DNS records) reveal where the domain name is hosted, in other words they point to the web hosting provider whose name servers (NSs, a.k.a. DNSs) it is utilizing at the moment. You can alter the DNSs of your domain name whenever you like. You can have your domain name registered with one company and get the web hosting service itself from another. So, if you register your domain and encounter decent website hosting plans somewhere else at a later time, you can point your domain name to the current company's DNSs instantaneously.

Domain Name Server Records (NS Records)

On the whole, as long as your domain uses a given pair of name servers, all its domain name records will lead to the same web hosting supplier. Some website hosting providers, however, allow you to modify given domain name server records, such as the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an IP address, which indicates on which server your site is located, while the MX records exhibit which hosting server tackles the e-mailbox accounts associated with your domain name. For example, if you appoint a new website designer and he build an .ASP website that will be hosted on his personal Windows hosting server, you may want to modify just the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. In this way, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows server, but your email address accounts or any sub-domain names like forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux website hosting account. The .ASP environment is invented by Microsoft and requires a Windows server, although a Linux hosting server would be far more reliable.

Affordably Priced TLDs Delivered by 'Opoink Hosting'

Just a number of web hosting suppliers allow you to edit certain NS records and very often this an additional paid service. With us, you get a big collection of TLDs to pick from and you can edit all domain records or redirect the domains through a forwarding tool at no added charge.