What are Domain Names

One of the most important requirements for setting up a successful online presence is the domain name. It is what people will spot first when they come across your web page and what they will identify you with. The domain name should be easy to memorize, but should also be something that informs your site's visitors what the web site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

A domain name typically contains two constituents - 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 Second-Level Domain. There are a couple of sets of TLDs that you should examine prior to choosing the domain name you want. Your choice should be built upon the goal of your web site and on its target spectators. Let's take a gaze at the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domain Names - these are the most typical Top-Level Domains meant to designate a specific function - .com (business entities), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (firms), .info (informational sites), .org (organizations of a non-commercial character), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific), .name (individuals or relatives), .pro (certain professions), and so on. As you can see, these Top-Level Domain Names encompass most realms of life, so you should pick the one that would express the objective of your website best. There is no limitation as to who can register such domain names, but some of them involve additional steps to confirm that you are eligible to register such a Top-Level Domain Name (.mobi and .pro, for example).

Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code TLDs, are country-specific Top-Level Domains. Each country has its own ccTLD. Settling on such a domain name is good if your target group of visitors is from a particular country. Many people would elect to purchase goods or services from a local web site, and if your aim is Canada, for instance, registering a .ca domain name could boost the visits to your site.

URL Forwarding

You can register several Top-Level Domain Names, which can forward your site's visitors to a particular website like domain.com, for instance. This would raise the traffic and reduce the chance of somebody stealing your web page 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, a.k.a. DNS records) specify where the domain name is hosted, i.e. they point to the hosting company whose name servers (NSs, a.k.a. DNSs) it is using now. You can replace the DNSs of your domain name whenever you want. You can have your domain name registered with one provider and get the web hosting service itself from another. Therefore, if you register your domain and stumble upon decent website hosting solutions somewhere else later, you can point your domain name to the current provider's DNSs straight away.

Domain Name Server Records (NS Records)

In general, as long as your domain name uses a specific pair of DNSs, all its name server records will lead to the same website hosting provider. Some website hosting vendors, though, enable you to edit certain domain name 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 web hosting server your website is hosted, while the MX records disclose which hosting server handles the email addresses related to your domain name. For instance, if you hire a new site designer and he develops an .ASP web site that will be situated on his own Windows server, you may desire to modify solely the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain name. Hence, www.domain.com will point 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 website hosting account. The .ASP environment is developed by Microsoft and requires a Windows server, even though a Linux hosting server would be way more stable.

Modestly Priced Top-Level Domain Names Provided by 'Hypervirtual'

Only a small number of web hosting providers allow you to edit certain records and very frequently this an extra paid service. With us, you get a huge assortment of Top-Level Domain Names to select from and you can modify all DNS records or redirect the domain names via a redirection tool at no additional charge.