Domains Defined
One of the most vital preconditions for setting up a successful online presence is the domain. It is what people will perceive first when they stumble upon your website and what they will identify you with. The domain should be easy to remember, but should also be something that informs your site's visitors what the site is about.
Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)
A domain typically has 2 fragments - a Top-Level Domain (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain Name (SLD). If you have domain.com, for example, ".com" is the TLD and "domain" is the Second-Level Domain Name. There are a few groups of TLDs that you should consider prior to picking the domain you wish. Your pick should be built upon the purpose of your website and on its target viewers. Let's have a gaze at the gTLDs, or generic TLDs - these are the most popular Top-Level Domain Names aimed to denote a particular function - .com (business organizations), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (businesses), .info (informative web sites), .org (organizations of a non-commercial character), .mobi (handheld devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific), .name (individuals or families), .pro (specific walks of life), etc. As you can perceive, these Top-Level Domain Names encompass most fields of life, so you should go for the one that would explain the purpose of your site best. There is no limitation as to who can register such domains, but some of them involve additional requirements to demonstrate that you qualify to possess such a domain name (.mobi and .pro, for instance).
Country-code Top-Level Domain Names (ccTLDs)
The ccTLDs, or country-code Top-Level Domain Names, are country-specific Top-Level Domain Names. Each country has its own ccTLD. Settling on such a domain is good if your target group of web page visitors is from a certain country. Many guys would sooner purchase commodities or services from a local web site, and if your aim is Canada, for example, picking a .ca domain could boost the visits to your web site.
Domain Redirects
You can register different Top-Level Domain Names, which can redirect your site's visitors to a specific web page such as domain.com, for example. This would raise the traffic and reduce the probability of somebody pilfering your web site visitors by registering the same Second-Level Domain Name with a different Top-Level Domain - if you are not availing of a trademark.
Name Servers (NSs)
Each and every Top-Level Domain has domain records. The name server records (NS records, aka DNS records) reveal where the domain is hosted, in other words they point to the web hosting vendor whose name servers (NSs, aka DNSs) it is using at present. You can substitute the name servers of your domain name at any moment. You can have your domain registered with one firm and get the web hosting service itself from another. In this way, if you register your domain name and find decent website hosting plans somewhere else later, you can point your domain to the new company's NSs straight away.
Domain Server Records (NS Records)
In general, as long as your domain uses a given set of name servers, all its domain name records will lead to the same web hosting distributor. Some hosting firms, though, allow you to modify specific NS records, including the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which exhibits on which hosting server your site is located, whereas the MX records designate which web server tackles the e-mail accounts associated with your domain name. For example, if you hire a new web page designer and he devises an .ASP web site that will be accommodated on his private Windows server, you may desire to alter only the Internet Protocol address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. So, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows server, but your mails or any sub-domains like forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux website hosting account. The .ASP environment is built by Microsoft and requires a Windows hosting server, even though a Linux server would be far more reliable.
Cut-Rate Top-Level Domains Offered by 'Kraft Traders'
Just a small number of web hosting companies enable you to modify specific NS records and quite often this an additional paid service. With us, you have an enormous assortment of TLDs to pick from and you can modify all NS records or forward the domain names through a redirection tool at no added cost.