How valuable can an top domain be?
One of the most essential requirements for having a successful web presence is the domain. It is what people will see first when they stumble upon your site and what they will link you with. The domain name should be easy to memorize, but should also be something that informs your web page's visitors what the web site is about.
Generic Top-Level Domain Names (gTLDs)
A domain traditionally contains two parts - a Top-Level Domain (TLD) and a Second-Level Domain (SLD). If you have domain.com, for instance, ".com" is the TLD and "domain" is the SLD. There are a few sets of Top-Level Domain Names that you should examine before you select the domain you want. Your selection should depend on the purpose of your site and on its target spectators. Let's investigate the gTLDs, or generic TLDs - these are the most popular TLDs meant to indicate a given intention - .com (commercial enterprises), .net (networks), .biz (firms), .info (informational sites), .org (not-for-profit organizations), .mobi (mobile devices), .asia (the Asia-Pacific region), .name (individuals or relatives), .pro (particular professions), etc. As you can perceive, these Top-Level Domains encompass most fields of life, so you should go for the one that would express the objective of your web page best. There is no restriction as to who can register such Top-Level Domain Names, but some of them include extra steps to confirm that you qualify to keep such a Top-Level Domain Name (.mobi and .pro, for instance).
Country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs)
The ccTLDs, or country-code TLDs, are country-specific domain names. Each country has its own ccTLD. Getting such a Top-Level Domain Name is good if your target group of website visitors is from a particular country. Many people would like to purchase goods or services from a local web page, and if your goal is Canada, for example, selecting a .ca domain name could boost the visits to your web site.
URL Forwarding
You can register several Top-Level Domains, which can redirect your visitors to a specific site like domain.com, for instance. This would raise the traffic and reduce the possibility of somebody pinching your website visitors by using the same SLD with another Top-Level Domain - if you are not using a trademark.
Name Servers (NSs)
Each and every domain name 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 hosting vendor whose name servers (NSs, aka DNSs) it is using now. You can change the name servers of your domain whenever you want. You can have your domain name registered with one company and get the hosting service itself from another. Hence, if you register your domain name and find decent website hosting plans somewhere else later, you can point your domain to the new provider's NSs instantaneously.
Domain Name Server Records (DNS Records)
In general, as long as your domain utilizes a given set of NSs, all its domain name server records will direct to the same hosting distributor. Some webspace hosting vendors, however, permit you to modify certain NS records, including the A records and the MX records of your domain. The A record is an IP address, which indicates on which web server your web site is situated, whereas the MX records show which web hosting server handles the email addresses related to your domain name. For instance, if you engage a new site designer and he designs an .ASP web page that will be located on his private Windows web hosting server, you may desire to modify just the IP address (the A record) but not the MX records of your domain. Hence, www.domain.com will direct to the Windows web server, but your mail address accounts or any sub-domains like forum.domain.com or shop.domain.com will still be in your current Linux webspace hosting account. The .ASP platform is invented by Microsoft and requests a Windows hosting server, even though a Linux hosting server would be far more reliable.
Cheap Top-Level Domains Offered by 'Exclusive Hosting'
Only a number of web hosting providers allow you to modify particular NS records and very frequently this an additional paid service. With Exclusive Hosting , you have an immense collection of TLDs to pick from and you can edit all domain name server records or forward the domain names via a forwarding tool at no added charge. For that reason, 'Exclusive Hosting' would be your best choice when it comes to administering your domain and to building a successful presence on the web.