How To Pick A Web Site Domain Name For Your Company Or Law Firm
by Philip L. Franckel, Esq.
Your web site is located by an IP (Internet Protocol) address such as 67.15.4.94 and is accessible on the Internet by typing http://67.15.4.94. Instead of typing a series of numbers which are difficult to remember, you can register an easier to remember domain name which becomes associated with your IP address. Visitors typing an easy to remember domain name will be pointed to your IP address. Similar to a 1-800 vanity phone number, some domain names pertain to the subject of the web site, while others may simply be the name or an abbreviation of your firm.
Lawyer-Advertising-Blog.com is the primary domain name for my blog, which is instantly obvious that it is a blog concerning lawyer advertising. When you type that domain name into the address bar of your browser, the domain name servers on the Internet know that you're looking for http://67.15.4.94 and take you there. You can have multiple domain names pointing to the same web site. For instance, I also registered LawyerAdvertisingBlog.com (without hyphens) which is used for branding because people never type hyphens. Because some people may remember the name incorrectly, I also registered many other domain names such as AttorneyAdvertisingBlog.com, LawFirmAdvertisingBlog.com and others, all of which will bring the visitor to Lawyer-Advertising-Blog.com.
Tips to help you pick a domain name:
1) Choosing: Choosing a domain name is a lot like choosing a name for your company or law firm. Ideally the name should be consistent with your branding. Determine whether you are branding the name of your company, product or service. Your domain name should be good for branding - short, easy to remember, and has a “ring” to it or creates an image in the mind of the consumer.
2) Trademark: Before registering your domain name, be sure to check the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to make sure that the name has not been trademarked. You can check at www.uspto.gov, click on Search under Trademarks. Assuming that your choice has not been trademarked and you have now registered a non-generic domain name, you may want to protect your name by filing a Trademark or Service mark application.
3) Ownership: When you register a domain name, make sure that you are the registrant of your domain name. Some web site design firms will register your domain name with their name as the registrant. This will give them ownership of your name keeping you hostage. You can easily register your domain name yourself for $8.95 per year at 8.95Domains.com or GoDaddy.com.
4) Hyphens: There have been misunderstandings about whether to use hyphens in a domain name. First of all, the domain name you give out to the public must not have hyphens. The domain name without hyphens is the domain name that everyone will type in the address bar of their Internet browser.
The reason that some people say that you should have a domain name with hyphens is to force the search engines to see keywords in your domain name so that your web site does better in search engine results. The bigger search engines can now see individual words without hyphens, however, smaller search engines may not and even the bigger ones may see a word differently than you want.
Thus, the importance of using a hyphenated domain name has diminished. If you wish to use a hyphenated domain name as I did with Lawyer-Advertising-Blog.com, you should also register the unhyphenated domain name which you will forward to the hyphenated domain name. Use the unhyphenated domain name in print and advertising.
5) Extensions: Domain names are available with various extensions, such as .com, .net, .org and many other extensions. If it's really important to you, you can register domain names in several extensions, however, for most firms only the .com extension is important. If you feel that you need to use .org, you should also register your name in the .com extension.
The .com extension is similar to 1-800 for telephone numbers. Most people automatically dial 1-800 even when they see 1-888. Likewise, most people will type .com even when they see .net or .org. Additionally, many people including myself simply type in the domain name without http://www. or .com and press "Control, Enter". Pressing "Control, Enter" will type http://www. and .com for you, automatically taking you to a web site with .com.
6) Top Level Domain vs. Sub-Level Domains: A sub level domain is a second level domain under a first level domain name and can look like yourfirm.freehosting.com. You must have your own domain name. Do not under any circumstances use a free hosting service, since free hosting services will only give you a sub level domain. No one will ever remember it and it's sort of like handwriting your own letterhead.
7) Ethics for Law Firm Domain Names: A website name should be used as an address, not a trade name which is prohibited. Advertise your web site name as an address, a means for people to find your web site, not a trade name. Like a vanity telephone number, some web site domain names can violate legal ethics. Make sure that your web site name avoids use of certain words which could create a potentially incorrect expectation in the mind of the consumer or violate one of the other ethics rules.
Your domain name should not imply that you are better than another lawyer or that you can accomplish something that may not actually occur. Use of words such as "BEST", "TOP", "FOREMOST, "LEADING", "WIN" and similar words in a web site domain name could create a misleading expectation in the mind of the consumer and will violate ethics rules in most states.
For instance, LeadingLawyer.com or BestLawyer.com will likely violate lawyer ethics rules by implying that you are a leading lawyer or the best lawyer. The question is by what standards are you leading or the best and in what? WinningLawyer.com or WinningCase.com may be better for a casino, because it will imply that the person who becomes a client of the firm will win money when, that may not happen and even if it does, it's an award for just compensation, not gambling.
Laura Hodes in her article for the ABA Journal entitled Vanity Phone Numbers Make Your Firm Less Forgettable, at http://www.hurt911.org/hurt-911-articles/ABAJournal.htm, quoted Will Hornsby, an expert on lawyer advertising and staff counsel in the ABA Division for Legal Services, who said that while there is nothing unethical about vanity numbers, "1-800-I-WIN-CASES would be unethical because it is making an unsubstantiated claim, creating unjustified expectations that can be true but still be misleading." The same can be said about domain names.
8) Advertising Your Domain Name: Be sure to include your domain name on your business cards, letterhead, and all advertising. When advertising in off-line media, always advertise your domain name with www. and without http://, such as www.LawyerAdvertisingBlog.com. Note that when publishing your domain name on the Internet, you may sometimes want to use http:// to ensure that you create a link back to your web site. When advertising in off-line media, always advertise a domain name without hyphens.
About the author:
Philip L. Franckel, Esq., publishes articles on Lawyer Advertising at http://www.lawyer-advertising-blog.com/and created http://www.hurt911.org/an accident and injury research web site for people hurt in an accident and personal injury lawyers.
Monday, April 9, 2007
Web Hosting and Internet Domain Name #12
Web Hosting and Internet Domain Name #11
Having a domain name and web site gives your business the key to the door
Just like all things in life, the ways to run a business are rapidly changing and evolving. The potential involved with having a domain name/web site is staggering to say the least. A web site gives the consumer a ‘shop front’ that is not only open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but is also situated right on their desktop. Instead of being locked into only the immediate area, the whole world’s marketplace becomes your sphere of interaction.
Customers can access information on all your products, no more salesperson with limited knowledge trying to explain something they know little about. No more waiting in lines for help, all people have access immediately.
The domain name of the website gives great freedom to the business process. Having your own name is like having an address, then infinite emails can be added to the name so different departments within the company can be reached without having to wait at reception. For example, sales@ Mary’s Plants.com will put the shopper in direct contact with Mary’s sales section.
As a business, the domain name adds professional authenticity, as your address is not affiliated with other companies. In the area of communication, the email system opens up many avenues. Instead of having to put clients on hold because of limited personnel, innumerable emails can arrive at once, even when there’s no one in the office. Then you can pick and choose which one’s to reply to first (the most urgent), while people browsing can wait till later. First come, first serve becomes obsolete as necessary customers automatically reach the front of the line.
Getting a website and domain name is an easy, simple, cost-effective process. You can register your name through web domain registrars like DomReg-M6.Net for as low as $15.00 U.S. per year. That is definitely a very limited risk compared to opening a store, renting a location, and the thousands of dollars involved in overhead costs. How can this be true? A key to the door for anyone who wants to enter a mega-mall that is as big as the Earth. Let’s hope you’ve got something special to share and trade with the global community!
About the author:
Jesse S. Somer, M6.Net
Mr. Somer is a human analyzing the positive aspects of the information era, and sharing the facts with the technological novice. http://www.m6.net
Web Hosting and Internet Domain Name #10
Domain Name Scams: Have You Fallen for One?
by Scott Karlo
Have you received information regarding your domain name through postal mail? Did you receive numerous invoices regarding your domain name? Ever been stuck in a contract for well over a year? If any of the above apply to you, you may have fallen for a domain name scam.
Domain name scams occur when a domain name registrar sends you and “invoice” to renew your domain registration, but it really is an agreement to switch to their services.
Prevent Domain Name Scams by:
• Setting up automated renewals with timely advanced warnings prior to billing period. This allows you to know when a renewal date is scheduled and in turn you can ignore any other “invoices” you may receive from other companies since you know exactly how much and when your next payment is due.
• Using the registrar’s domain name locking feature to protect it from being taken without authorization. This prevents registrar companies from initiating a transfer request to pull your domain to their system. By locking your domain name you save yourself the time, hassle and cost of switching back away from them.
• Carefully review invoices from the registrar companies before mailing in the requested payment due. Many companies assume that the invoice is real. It passes through accounts payable, who recognize the web address, pay it. Since they are fearful of losing the domain name they don’t tend to question the invoices legitimacy. Investigate who the invoice is from before paying it!
• Finding an internet consulting firm that will be able to monitor your domain names on a regular basis and keep track of renewal dates. Hiring an internet consulting firm relieves the headache of domain name scams. Your company can ignore all mailings regarding your website domain name registration.
About the author:
Internet Know How has been building websites and preventing domain name scams for their clients since March of 1996. For more information about IKH call Scott Karlo at 330.587.0125 or visit www.ikh.com
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Web Hosting and Internet Domain Name #9
Everyone likes a bargain. It's even wise to keep one's costs down. On the other hand, you can be so cheap that you cut your own throat.
Here are two ways to register a domain name for free and some reasons why you might not want to.
1. You Must Have Your Own Top Level Domain (TLD) Name
Your business website should definitely have its own top level domain (TLD) name. This means a name like yourcompany.com. It doesn't mean a subdomain of someone else's domain name, such as yourcompany.someisp.net.
Sometimes persons hesitate to register a proper domain name because of cost, lack of knowledge, or indecision. However, paying the nominal fee charged by the domain registrar for your own domain name can reap rich dividends.
A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or Internet address like (ignoring the http part) someisp.net/hosting-accounts/yourco/, or yourcompany.someisp.net, just doesn't look as professional as yourcompany.com. It might be free (as in included with your web space) but it just doesn't cut it.
Consider: If you put your URL on your letterheads, business cards, signs, et cetera, which Internet address looks more professional?
If you mention your URL on your radio advertising or to a customer over the phone, which one will be easier to remember?
As well, what if your web host goes out of business or you decide that you want to change to another provider. Now, you need to notify everyone that you have now changed to yourcompany.someotherisp.net. You will also need to change all your stationery, signs, and advertising to reflect the change.
On the other hand, the domain name yourcompany.com, could be transferred from one web host to another simply by informing your domain name registrar of the change.
So, to avoid losing business and incurring unnecessary additional costs, be sure you have your own top level domain name.
2. Should You Get a Free Top Level Domain?
It is possible to get a free top level domain from Dot TK (@www.dot.tk). (You may also get paid dot tk (.tk) domains from them.) However, there can be disadvantages to using a free top level domain name.
Here are some of the restrictions noted on the Dot TK website.
You may register no more than three free domain names.
The ownership of the free domain remains with Dot TK. This means that you can't sell it. (Of course, if you pay for the domain you do own it and can transfer it to a new owner.)
Also, if you don't have 25 visitors come to your home page within a ninety day period, your free domain name registration is cancelled.
You need to have existing web content somewhere so that your dot tk name can be forwarded to it.
There may well be other disadvantages.
Apparently, Dot TK uses frames to show your website. This being the case, you may have issues with navigation (bookmarking or finding specific pages) and search engine friendliness.
Therefore, for serious business use, consider carefully the true cost of free domain names.
About the author:
J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over twenty-five years. For more information about domain names and other Work at Home Small Business Ideas, visit http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/domain-names.html
Web Hosting and Internet Domain Name #8
Choosing Domain Names for Professional Sites: Six Guidelines
by Syd Johnson
To create a domain name for this type of website here are a few guidelines:
1. Shorter is better
2. Make the name easy to pronounce
3. Think long term
4. Stick to Categories and Topics
5. Do a trademark search
6. Always have a tag line
Shorter is better
If you want to make real money online, try to keep your domain name as short as possible. In the online world, the choices of where to shop and get information is overwhelming. A shorter name will instantly be memorable. It is always easier to remember short words and phrases.
A shorter name is good for word of mouth advertising online and offline. Customers can easily remember the the URL and therefore they’re more likely to pass it on and return to the website. The name will also stand out when it is printed on brochures, business cards and other business collateral. Liz, Dick, Kate, Feds are all examples of our incessant need to reduce every term in the English language to three syllables or less.
Easy to Pronounce
If you want a short name, you must be very creative. To be creative and strategic make sure that your domain name is easy to pronounce. It is perfectly acceptable to create a name from scratch, but it must sound like a real word when you try to say out loud. Any three or four syllable term will do a long as it easily rolls off the tongue. If you are at a loss for words, try writing a description of your product or service on paper.
This is a very easy way to come up with those little words that you can use without losing the meaning of what you’re trying to say. You can also use a dictionary and a thesaurus to come up with additional words. You can also choose a longer word but shorten it or use acronyms only. When you decide on a domain name, say it out loud a few times. If it doesn’t sound right, go back to the dictionary and try again.
Think long term
You want a domain name that will last a very long time. If you pick a name that is a slang term or too cutesy, you could find yourself looking for a new name in a year or two. This is not the best way to proceed. Once you build a certain level of online success, the traffic will follow the domain name. You don’t want to mess with your brand and your online reputation with redirects and ‘we have moved’ notices. Online customer will buy, but only if your site makes it convenient for them to do so. If you don’t see yourself using the same domain name three to four years from now, get a new name before you set up your website.
Trademark Searches
Do a trademark search. If you build up your online business and domain name, you don’t want to find a court order ordering you to give it up because it belongs to another company. Remember, the traffic and therefore your sales will follow the domain name to the new company.
To do a quick trademark search go to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (http://www.uspto.gov) for domestic searches and the International Trademark Association (http://www.inta.org) for international searches. If your name is cleared, then consider getting a trademark to protect your business.
Tag line
Tag lines are the work horses of the marketing industry. An interesting, professional tag line can bring you more word of mouth advertising than you can ever buy from a search engine company. It will bring your name into random conversations in newsgroups, newsletters and casual conversations. This can help you save money on paid advertising and create the ultimate viral marketing campaign without very little effort.
Keep these six tips handy to brand your domain name and bring in more site traffic.
Technorati Tags: domain names for professional sites
1) If possible use your sites name as the basis of your domain name e.g www.discountdomainsuk.com for Discount Domains UK. This might seem common sense but not every site follows the convention. If you use your name in your URL it will be much easier for your customers to find you.
2) Generic names – if you can register a generic domain such as toys.com that’s great, but most of these have already gone. Also getting ranked in the search engines is likely to be harder. Selected a domain closer to your market segment will cut down the competition. E.g toyplanes.com
3) Hyphenated Names – Its easy to forget the hyphen! Which is the problem, particularly if your customer remembers your name but not your URL. Though on a positive note hyphenated names are less likely to be registered already.
4) If the .com or .co.uk extension is not available then consider the alternative TLD ( Top level domain types) such as .net or .biz. If your domain name has already been registered then approach the owner and ask if they’ll sell. They may accept a £100. If you ask, they can only say no.
5) Plurals. Very often a domain name will be free in the plural but not in the singular form. It’s a personal choice, but if your prefered choice of domain name is not available you might be stuck.
6) Short or Long domains – A short domain name is more memorable, but less likely to be available. A longer domain is harder to remember, but can contain more keywords which is important as some of the search engines, use keywords in a domain name as part of the search algorithm.
7) Which Top Level Domain Type - .com, .co.uk , .net etc This is a question I am often asked. There is no evidence that any domain name type is given preference by the search engines. However some search engines such as Google, have local searches e.g www.google.co.uk which do select local content. Customer often get re-assurance from seeing a local TLD as they know they are dealing with a local company etc. You can, of course, register all of them!
8) Variations – If your prefered domain name is not available then its always worth trying a prefix my e.g mydomains.com or suffix e.g domains4U.com etc
Friday, April 6, 2007
Web Hosting and Internet Domain Name #6
How to Choose a Web Hosting Company?
by: Karolis Petreikis
Nowadays, anybody can afford to order a feature-packed web hosting plan for next to nothing; however, affordable price is not the only criterion which should be considered when purchasing web hosting services. In this article, I'll explain the basics of what you should look for in choosing a web hosting company, not just concentrating on the best price and features, but also on reliability and honesty. You're investing your money and effort into finding paying customers and you wouldn't like to lose them in order to save a few dollars per month on a web hosting service.
When looking for a web hosting company, it doesn’t matter if this is just for the inception of a web or the move of an established site; you need to consider a large selection of criteria to determine which company to go with:
Customer support
Website hosting service isn’t just storage or bandwidth. Based on personal experience and that of others, even a top-notch service is worthless without customer support. If you own a business website, your hosting provider needs to be there for you 24/7 and give you instant access to the technicians you need to solve your problem; otherwise, you may end up losing customers and money.
Downtime guarantee and service monitoring
Having a personal website go down is a minor inconvenience; having a business website go down is a serious matter. What amount of profit would you lose if your site had been down for a week? Long downtime may be very harmful to today's companies which spend large amounts of money on advertising their websites. Essentially, there are two rules regarding reliability that one should look at:
1. You should check if there is an uptime guarantee offered. A truly service-oriented provider will also give a money-back guarantee, offering a discount or free service as compensation for downtime. Any company which avoids taking responsibility won't put much effort into the service.
2. I definitely wouldn't go with a company claiming 100% uptime, as there is no such thing as a server with 100% uptime. If anyone ever claims their server has a 100% uptime they are either lying or they don't perform the necessary upgrades that prevent a machine from being compromised.
Reputable web hosts will post statistics on their site: What is the frequency of interruption? How about the average percentage of downtime? If these aren’t posted, ask; if the answer isn’t forthcoming, that should be a warning sign. If you still go with a host which doesn't monitor servers, you'll have to do the monitoring yourself. I recommend http://www.siteuptime.com, as it's one of the best monitoring services available for free in the market today.
Backups
There is no host which is safe against different types of technical and programical failures, so make sure that the company runs scheduled backups. The other advice would be always having a backup of your website yourself, as you never know what might happen. cPanel, which is the most popular web hosting management software at this time, has a very comfortable backup-making tool. It allows you to backup files and databases quickly and easily, so backups are no longer a problem.
Acceptable use policy
Web hosts may have 200-300 or more clients per server; there is no exact number, as companies have different hardware and each hosted website has different resource usage. There always is a possibility that a few of those customers host illegal content. There are web hosts who have had their servers unplugged, resulting in their clients’ websites going down. I'm sure you don't want to put your business at risk and have your website hosted on the same server together with illegal pornography and software sites, so check host's acceptable use policy to find out, if the host takes care of what's hosted on their servers.
Hosting your site on an uncared-for server will also result in a low speed. If somebody on the same server sends spam, the server's IP address will be blacklisted and you'll have serious problems as recipients stop receiving your emails. Use the "Spam database lookup" feature on www.DNSstuff.com to check if a web hosting company is blacklisted. Spam is being sent almost everywhere, so having one or two red records isn't that bad; but, if there are more, it may become a problem later on.
Unlimited bandwidth and web space
In web hosting industry, the adage "you get what you pay for" is almost universally applicable. Do not fall for hosts offering unlimited allowances, as there is no unlimited bandwidth, nor unlimited web space. Host's pay for each GB of bandwidth themselves. Hard drives also aren't free, so how can they say it's unlimited? They simply are performing false advertising in order to attract customers. The average website doesn't use more than 1GB of bandwidth per month; the customer is happy as he bought something "unlimited" and the host gets a new customer, which won't cost them any more than $1-2 USD per month. But imagine what would happen if I had a website, burning much more bandwidth than an average site does, and I signed up with a hosting company offering unlimited traffic? The host would simply suspend my account and tell me, that it was using too much bandwidth. There even are companies which offer unlimited bandwidth and have a statement on their terms of service, explaining that unlimited bandwidth means 40GB, for example.
Will you really own your domain name?
When you buy a domain name together with a website hosting package, make sure the host will register the domain name under your name. It usually should be written in their FAQ, but, if there is no such information, simply contact them. This will also give you an opportunity to check how fast their customer support team replies to inquiries. If the hosting company registers domains under someone else's name, you may have problems switching hosting providers later. If you were in such situation, you would have to file for a Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), which costs much more than both domain name and web hosting service together.
Control Panel
For ease of maintenance, a feature called a Control Panel is a necessity; this tool will normally allow for regular maintenance, be it email mailbox additions/deletions, password resets, web additions, web count reports, statistics and so on. If the site is for any sort of business, this is an absolute must. The most popular web hosting management software currently available is cPanel. It's a next-generation web hosting control panel system that allows you to manage your domain through a web interface. The idea is to transfer as much of the control of managing your web site to you; you have the ability to manage all aspects of e-mail, files, backup, FTP, CGI scripts, and web site statistics.
Value-added services
Hosting companies offer different value-added services in order to set themselves apart from the competition. Of course, these are an advantage, but a common mistake customers make is choosing a host just because it offers many value-added services which won't be used anyway. Some of the really useful features are:
1. Auto-installer script – Auto-installers will save you time if you are going to install a forum, image gallery, content management system, etc. Installation procedures on an auto-installer script take seconds and can be performed by novices without the need of doing difficult tasks usually associated with installations.
2. Online website builder - It lets you design a website in a few minutes without having any creation software and knowledge. One very powerful website builder on the market is Site Studio; this editor allows for ease of use, full control of color schemes and themes, one-click publishing, and an array of templates to use.
The last tip
In this article, I've mentioned only a few warning signs which are worth considering. You should know yourself that price and allocations aren't as important as the quality of service; if the budget is absolutely limited, then the price can be a valid criterion, but otherwise it shouldn’t receive much credence.
By going through this article and asking questions, you can narrow down the list of web hosts to the point where a good, sound decision can be easily made.
About the author:
Karolis Petreikis is the CEO of http://www.uphosted.com- a company that provides reliable hosting services for both individuals and businesses.
domain name and web site hosting
Web Hosting and Internet Domain Name #5
The Domain Name Gold Rush
by: Lois S.
All the good ones are taken. The really good ones, that is. But they don’t always stay taken.
Domain names often come back onto the market. Even before they do, domain name prospectors are sifting through them to find the gold domains among them.
Why domain names become available again.
Thousands of domain names expire every day. Other domains are offered for sale. The reasons are varied:
- Carelessness
- The webmaster forgets to renew the domain by the expiry date.
The email address that the domain is registered with becomes invalid, and the domain name registrant doesn’t receive the renewal notices.
- Lack of need or funds
- The company that had registered the domain goes out of business.
- The website owner loses interest in or doesn’t have time for the website.
- The website owner doesn’t have funding to continue the website venture.
- The domain name registrant registered numerous domains on speculation and couldn’t afford to continue renewing unused domains.
Profit
- The domain name registrant may realize how much a domain is worth and decide to sell it.
- The domain name registrant may have registered the domain because of its potential worth, with the aim of selling it later.
What makes a previously registered domain name valuable?
In July 2005, the domain name website.com sold for $750,000, the highest-valued domain name sale this year. Why would anyone pay so much for a domain when they could register a new domain for under $10?
- Instant traffic
If the domain name previously pointed to a website, search engines have already indexed that domain name. Other websites probably still have links to that domain. If the domain is listed in directories, these links bring in even more traffic. You register the domain, and the work getting incoming links has already been done for you.
- Surf value
Sometimes web surfers search by typing generic words followed by dot com (or other extensions) into their browsers, for example, dogs.com. This particular domain name redirects to the website for a company that sells pet products and services. A domain name like this constantly brings visitors to the website without the cost and effort of advertising and marketing.
- Easy to remember
Your company name may not be memorable, but domains such as dogs.com and website.com are. People are more likely to return to a site or pass on the name to their friends when they can easily remember it.
How to find domains pending expiration
You decide to join the gold rush for valuable pre-registered domains. Finding expiring domains is the first step, but you also need to research domains that are about to come back on the market.
Lists of domains pending expiration
At these websites, among others, you can search for domains containing keywords you enter. At expireddomains.com, the results contain domains that are currently available, soon to expire, on hold, in the Redemption Grace Period (RGP), or for sale by their registrants. Extensions searched: .com, .net, and .org.
The domainsbot.com database searches .com, .net, .org, .info, and .biz extensions for domains that are available, for sale, or expiring.
Domain research
You can find some (but not all) incoming links to a domain by entering “link:siteURL” (replace ”siteURL” with the domain name) into Google or Yahoo. When you find the links, follow them to see what types of sites link to the domain. How would you feel about having these particular sites linking to your site?
Also look into any possible problems associated with the domain. Search engines may have banned the domain if the previous site had controversial search engine optimization techniques employed, such as the use of hidden text or links. Check the history of the site at a domain name via the WayBack Machine. If the domain previously pointed to a site with gambling or adult content or a lot of affiliate links, or if it employed questionable search engine optimization techniques, search engines may have banned the domain. Aside from the possibility of a domain being banned, you may not want incoming links from sites associated with these types of content.
How to register domains pending deletion
You’ve decided on a domain that you want. How do you maximize your chances on getting it?
At eNom.com’s Club Drop, you can bid on expiring .com and .net domains the day before they’re available to the public. You can also be notified when domains matching your search criteria become available.
The NameWinner system places bids on .com, .net, .org, and .info domains for you. It bids only as high as is necessary to maintain your high bid position up to your maximum bid.
How to profit from your domains
- Selling domains
If you have a domain that may be valuable and that you aren’t using, consider selling it at a domain auction. If you already have a buyer for a domain, you can transfer it securely through Escrow.com.
- Paid parking for domains
With paid domain parking programs, also called "domain monetization" or "monetize domains," you can earn pay-per-click revenue via targeted advertisements. These sites offer domain monetization services:
- DomainSponsor
- Park Quick
- Domain Spa
- Google Adsense for domains With the right knowledge, timing, and a bit of luck, you have a chance as a domain name prospector to hit pay dirt.
About the author:
Lois S. is a Technical Executive Writer for http://www.websitesource.com and http://www.lowpricedomains.com with experience in the website hosting industry.
Web Hosting and Internet Domain Name #4
The Domain Name Game
by: Matthew Noel
You probably know that a domain name is a name given to a website or email account. Because IP addresses mark individual computers, the domain name is usually much easier to remember as it can be a catchy phrase or an on target description of what the website has to offer. In this day and age, the game of domain name selection is heated and often times a demanding field.
What does an effective domain name get you, anyway?
You may ask yourself why is it so very important to have a good domain name for your website. Besides being the best way to attract your customers, it is one of the best ways to have customers remember you. The returning customer is after all the best one to have. Yet, many websites fail at this point simply because there are so many other, just as good if not better, websites out there. Having a good, on target domain name is necessary for name recognition.
Finding Your Domain Name
Just like writing a jingle for a commercial, having an effective domain name should be something that people will remember. Catchy phrases or very targeted phrases can be the best way to get the attention of the user. More than likely, the first time they find you will be through advertisements or through a web search. But, once they are there, getting that domain name into their heads for next time is necessary.
But, its not really that easy. There is huge competition of domain names and many times you will find that the ‘good ones’ are already taken. But, when you get creative and think outside of the box you can really find the right niche and make your domain name the next one to be remembered.
There are also many information portals now devoted to the subject and we recommend reading about it at one of these. Try googling for “domain names” and you will be surprised by the abundance of information on the subject. Alternatively you may try looking on Yahoo, MSN or even a decent directory site; all are good sources of this information.
About the author:
For more information please see http://www.domain-name-shack.co.uk
Web Hosting and Internet Domain Name #3
Web Hosting Operating Systems Explained
by: Ispas Marin
A few time ago appeared a lot disagreements between opinions on the internet regarding, which is the best operating system for web hosting. There are people who hate windows, there are people who love FreeBSD and many others.
The thing is that the best system that suits you depends on what you are doing. The servers and the softwares, all run on a program named operating system. on a personal computer you will probably have windows ME, XP, NT or something similar to those. You can call this program the operating system. Any hosting server also needs running on an operating system. There are 3 different versions.
The first one powered by Microsoft is Windows. So, Microsoft also makes a system designed for servers. Microsoft products can trill integrate in this operating systems. It also allows web sites to run Active Server Pages. The Microsoft servers also allow the integration of SQL databases. The only problem of the Microsof web hosting servers is that they are very expensive. You will probably find one that costs several thousands of dollars.
The second version for web hosting servers is Linux. Linux was created and developed by some individuals who wrote the main part of the Linux operating system. After that, there were added some other parts to customize the operating system for the particular use of any user. There are many companies that market Linux, like Red Hat, Debian. The main advantage of Linux is that is compatible with PHP. Also it's very stable and has a great security. The best thing about it is that Linux is free.
The third version of operating system for web hosting servers is Unix. Unix is almost the same thing as Linux. If we think more, we will find more similarities than differences between the two programs. The most important difference is the way they came to the world. So let's make it clear. Linux is something like a cousin of Unix. There are two main Unix-based operating systems: FreeBSD and OpenBSD. The good thing about this systems is that they seem to be very stable once you manage to install them. But they are very hard to install. OpenBSD is also known to be one of the most secure operating system in the world. But with OpenBSd you will have to sacrifice some features for a plus of security. Again the best thing about these systems is that they are both free.
The best for you depends on what you are going to do with it. If you want great security, you should try OpenBSd. If you are looking for compatibility with all the windows products, then choose Windows. For compatibility with PHP programing language choose Linux.The fact is that one cannot tell which system is best, but employing and using it according to his needs.
About the author:
For great web hosting packages, domain names, great customer support just visit us at http://www.domainsforall.co.uk
Web Hosting and Internet Domain Name #2
Web Hosting Providers Rule The Web
by: Andrew James
It has been reported there are currently more than a staggering 50,000 web hosting providers all competing for the honour of hosting your website. Every day dozens of new web hosting compaines are launching and struggling to get your attention and your web hosting business.
Even though the web hosting industry is really quite young, it is certainly one of the most competetive and cut-throat industries on the web today. Yet the growth of this marketplace is assured for the forseeable future.
Now each and every week it is estimated more than 50,000 websites are launched and need to be hosted somewhere online. This figure continues to grow and grow.
In fact the current monthly count for the number of searches at Yahoo for the term 'web hosting' is a whopping 2,149,851. That's right, over 2 million!
Also just recently it was reported that the popularity of blogs was seeing tens of thousands of new blogs launched each and every day. While many of these are hosted freely, the more serious bloggers each require an account with a reliable web hosting provider.
Of course every paid web hosting account usually requires at least one domain name registration. Here are some amazing domain name figures for you:
The registrar holding the largest number of domain names is said to be WildWestDomains. They may be better known to you as Godaddy. They currently hold over an estimated 5 million domain name registrations!
The registrar holding the second largest number of domain names is estimated to be Enom. The registrar holding the third largest number of domain names is estimated to be Networksolutions.
Domain Name Registration Growth:
By far the most popular top level domain is the .com There are currently over an estimated 40 million of these registered.
The .com top level domain currently holds over an estimated 70 percent of the domain name marketplace.
The .net top level domain currently holds just over an estimated 10 percent of the domain name marketplace.
The good news for web hosting and domain name customers is that incredible deals have become available as competition increases among web hosting providers.
In fact the price of web hosting has plumeted to just under $10 per month for a quality service. Domain names that cost up to $35 just a fews years ago can now be bought for as little as $4.99.
This is a winning situation for both the web hosting providers and their customers. The quality of service continues to grow. The new web hosting providers must impress their customers to compete with more established organisations.
There has never been a better time to find a web hosting provider and establish an internet presence of your own.
About the author:
Andrew James is the webmaster at http://hostingdiary.comproviding daily web hosting news, reviews and special offers. Visit us today and subscribe to our RSS feed. This article may be distributed in full and must always include an active link to our site.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Web Hosting and Internet Domain Name #1
Web Hosting Basics
by: Sintilia Miecevole
If you have decided you or your company is in need of a website, you will have to purchase web hosting services from a hosting company. There are many different web-hosting companies to choose from, and they can easily be found on the internet. If you do a quick search for them in any search engine, you will find that there are almost too many to count. Choosing the company that is right for you can be a harrowing experience, but there are really only a few basic things to consider.
The first factor to consider when choosing a web hosting company is how much space they will give you for your account. If you merely want a single page on the Internet with little or no graphics, you can get by with purchasing an account with the smallest amount of space available. However, if you are planning to create a full e-commerce site with multiple pages and order forms, you will need to make sure you have enough server space to support your entire operation.
Before you sign your web-hosting contract, you will first have to choose and purchase a domain name. Though many of the names you might want are already taken, you can often find one that suits your needs, especially if you get creative with it. For instance, if your business is called Cards For You and that domain name is already taken, you might consider choosing More Cards For You or Cards For You Today. The possibilities are endless, and with a little thought you will be able to think of a snappy domain name.
You can often purchase a domain name through your web hosting company, or you can purchase it through a private domain name retailer. These companies are very easy to find. Often times, if you type the domain name you want into a search engine, a domain name seller will pop up if the name is not already taken. You can purchase a domain name for a year at a time, or for several years, depending on how much you want to invest at the get-go.
Once you have a domain name, you will of course have to create a website to put on the Internet. There are many do-it-yourself web design programs that are fairly user friendly. Software like FrontPage makes web design a cut and paste, fill in the blank soft of affair. However, if you would like a more professional look, you can use programs like Dreamweaver or Image Ready to make your sites. There are always freelance web designers looking for work who are ready to take on your cause if you are not savvy enough to do it yourself.
Web hosting companies give passwords to allow you access your space on their servers. You can upload files and pages using their own interface programs, or you can utilize the upload tools built in to your web design program. Once you upload a page, it is important to make sure it looks correct on a variety of different web browsers. Because each browser interprets information differently, you may run into trouble if you build a site while only previewing it in Internet Explorer. There are often compatibility issues between Safari and Mozilla browsers that distort site tables and images.
However, once you work out the kinks and create an excellent site, all you have to do is pay your web hosting bills, and your site will be available for the whole world to see. Web hosting companies usually offer options regarding payment plans. You can pay for a year at a time, or you can monthly or quarterly to maintain your place on the World Wide Web.
About the author:
Sintilia Miecevole has many years experience on the internet. Be sure to visit http://www.ritzyhosting.comfor expert information on hosting, providers, host finders, resources, reviews, reliability and much more. To find the right web hosting plan to meet your business and ecommerce needs click on http://www.ritzyhosting.com