How crucial is to find cheap domains?

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

Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

A domain name typically consists of two components - a Top-Level Domain Name (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain Name (SLD). If you have domain.com, for example, ".com" is the Top-Level Domain Name and "domain" is the SLD. There are a couple of groups of Top-Level Domain Names that you should examine prior to selecting the domain name you want. Your selection should be built upon the goal of your site and on its target viewers. Let's check out the gTLDs, or generic Top-Level Domain Names - these are the most popular Top-Level Domains intended to indicate a specific purpose - .com (business enterprises), .net (networks), .biz (companies), .info (informational web pages), .org (organizations), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific region), .name (persons or families), .pro (specific walks of life), and so on. As you can see, these Top-Level Domains encompass most realms of life, so you should choose the one that would indicate the purpose of your website best. There is no limitation as to who can register such Top-Level Domain Names, but some of them involve extra requirements to confirm that you are eligible to keep such a TLD (.mobi and .pro, for example).

Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code Top-Level Domain Names, are country-specific Top-Level Domain Names. Each country has its own ccTLD. Opting for such a Top-Level Domain Name is good if your target group of web site visitors is from a certain country. Many people would sooner buy goods or services from a local web site, and if your target is Canada, for instance, picking a .ca Top-Level Domain could boost the visits to your web page.

URL Redirects

You can register a bunch of domain names, which can forward your web site's visitors to a particular web site like domain.com, for example. This would increase the traffic and reduce the likelihood of someone stealing your website visitors by using the same Second-Level Domain Name with a different Top-Level Domain Name - if you are not availing of a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each Top-Level Domain Name has domain records. The name server records (NS records, aka DNS records) disclose where the domain name is hosted, in other words they point to the hosting distributor whose name servers (NSs, a.k.a. DNSs) it is using now. You can swap the DNSs of your domain name at any time. You can have your domain registered with one firm and get the hosting service itself from another. In this way, if you register your domain name and come across decent website hosting solutions somewhere else later, you can point your domain name to the present company's name servers right away.

Name Server Records (DNS Records)

In general, as long as your domain name utilizes a particular pair of DNSs, all its domain name records will lead to the same web site hosting company. Some hosting suppliers, though, allow you to edit certain name server records, among them the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which discloses on which web server your web page is hosted, while the MX records demonstrate which server handles the mail aliases related to your domain name. For example, if you take on a new web site designer and he devises an .ASP web site that will be accommodated on his own Windows web hosting server, you may desire to change solely the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain name. In this way, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows server, but your mails or any sub-domain names such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your current Linux hosting account. The .ASP platform is developed by Microsoft and demands a Windows web hosting server, although a Linux hosting server would be way more secure.

Low-cost TLDs Courtesy of 'Blue Ribbon Hosting'

Only a small number of web hosting providers allow you to modify given NS records and very frequently this an additional paid service. With Blue Ribbon Hosting , you have an immense array of Top-Level Domains to pick from and you can modify all domain name records or forward the domains using a redirection tool at no extra cost. For that reason, 'Blue Ribbon Hosting' would be your best choice when it comes to managing your domain name and to establishing a successful presence on the Internet.