Domain Names Defined

One of the most important prerequisites for setting up a successful Internet presence is the domain name. It is what people will mark first when they visit your website and what they will relate you with. The domain name should be easy to remember, but should also be something that informs your visitors what the site is about.

Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)

A domain name traditionally consists of two components - 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. There are several categories of TLDs that you should consider before you pick the domain name you desire. Your pick should be built upon the intention of your web page and on its target audience. Let's have a look at the gTLDs, or generic TLDs - these are the most common TLDs intended to denote a particular purpose - .com (business organizations), .net (network infrastructures), .biz (firms), .info (informative resources), .org (organizations of a non-commercial character), .mobi (mobile devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific), .name (individuals or families), .pro (particular professions), and so on. As you can perceive, these Top-Level Domain Names encompass most fields of life, so you should choose the one that would denote the aim of your web site best. There is no limitation as to who can register such domain names, but some of them include additional requirements to confirm that you are eligible to own such a Top-Level Domain Name (.mobi and .pro, for example).

Country-code Top-Level Domain Names (ccTLDs)

The ccTLDs, or country-code Top-Level Domain Names, are country-specific domains. Each country has its own ccTLD. Settling on such a domain name is good if your target group of web site visitors is from a specific country. Many folks would sooner buy commodities or services from a local site, and if your aim is Canada, for example, selecting a .ca domain name could increase the visits to your website.

URL Forwarding

You can register several domains, which can forward your site's visitors to a certain web page like domain.com, for instance. This would raise the traffic and reduce the likelihood of someone swiping your web site visitors by registering the same name with a different TLD - if you are not using a trademark.

Name Servers (NSs)

Each and every Top-Level Domain has domain name records. The name server records (NS records, aka DNS records) reveal where the domain name is hosted, i.e. they point to the web hosting supplier whose name servers (NSs, a.k.a. DNSs) it is utilizing now. You can alter the NSs of your domain name whenever you like. You can have your domain registered with one company and get the web hosting service itself from another. In this way, if you register your domain and detect decent website hosting packages someplace else later, you can point your domain name to the current company's DNSs instantly.

Domain Name Server Records (NS Records)

On the whole, as long as your domain name uses a given set of DNSs, all its name server records will direct to the same web hosting company. Some website hosting companies, however, allow you to edit certain DNS records, such as the A records and the MX records of your domain name. The A record is an Internet Protocol address, which details on which web server your web site is located, whereas the MX records display which server handles the email mailbox accounts related to your domain name. For example, if you engage a new website designer and he creates an .ASP website that will be situated on his own Windows hosting server, you may wish to change only 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 e-mail boxes or any sub-domains such as forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your present Linux website hosting account. The .ASP platform is built by Microsoft and necessitates a Windows server, even though a Linux server would be way more stable.

Cut-Rate Top-Level Domains Supplied by 'CompTek Online'

Only a small number of web hosting distributors permit you to modify certain name server records and quite often this an extra paid service. With us, you get an enormous variety of Top-Level Domain Names to choose from and you can edit all domain name server records or redirect the domains using a forwarding tool at no added cost.