A1 Web Domains

Tips For the Perfect Domain Name

2005-10-18T04:51:00.000-07:00

What is a domain name? A domain name is the location of your
website on the Internet. Your domain name will be what you
become known by online so it's important to get it right.

Each website on the Internet is labeled with something called an
IP address which is the actual address of the website online. A
typical IP address looks like this: 159.134.27.64. Remembering a
string of numbers like that is difficult so a domain name
translates all those numbers into something like amazon.com.
This is far easier to remember.

#1 Dot what?/ Each domain has what's called an extension.
The most well known of these extensions is .com. This, however,
is not the only type of domain extension available. There is
also:

.net

If you can't find your preferred .com domain name you could
always choose the same domain with a .net extension. It might
not have the same ring as a .com but is still as just useful as
a .com.

.org

These domain extensions were orginally designed for educational
and more formal websites. Anybody can register a .org however so
you have more options for domain selection.

.info

A more recent introduction to the domain name game are .info
domains. Many of the valuable .info domains were bought up
overnight but there's still a huge range of good .info domains
available. With a little creativity you could really make a
.info work for you e.g. www.moviereview.info.

Bear in mind that most web surfers tend to remember .com more
easily than anything else.

#2 Branding vs Business Name

There is an age old debate on the whether or not you should
establish a brand name online or use a domain that more actually
reflects your real business. Let's look at Amazon as an example.
Amazon sells books online. Most people setting up a business
would have chosen say www.booksonline.com instead of amazon.com
Amazon has since established itself as a brand name of global
recognition - proving the value of building a brand name.

You'll need to choose between the two. Brand name or your own
business name. Consider how your domain sounds, how it might
look on a business card and how well it relates to your
business. There's no one right answer to this question. You need
to choose what makes most sense for you, your website and your
business in general.

#3 Hyphenated or not

This is another area of debate. Should your domain be one single
word or should the words be separated by hyphens? There are
advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. Single word
domain names can be easier to explain, use on header paper and
lend themselves to brand names very well.

Single word domains are in very, very short supply.

Hyphenated domains names can be slighltly more difficult to
explain, may not look as well on headed paper and possibly
harder to establish as a brand name. There's no shortage of
multiple word domains. The single biggest advantage a hyphenated
domain has is that search engines can "read" the domain more
easily. For example in a domain like foreignholidaysonline.com
the search engine can only read the first word "foreign" and
that's it. It can't tell anything else about the website domain
name.

If you hyphenated that to foreign-holidays-online.com the search
engine can read "foreign", "holidays" and "online" as separate
words and therefore knows that this website is about foreign
holidays.

A well chosen hyphenated domain name can be just as effective as
a single word domain name.

#4 Your Domain Registrar

These are the people you pay to register the domain for you.
There are dozens if not hundreds of these companies out there so
which one do you choose? This takes some research but things
worth checking are:

Do you retain sole ownership of the domain or do the registrar
keep some level of control over it?

Search Google for any horror stories relating to the registrar

Does the registrar allow you to transfer the domain to another
registrar?

Is there an online control panel for domain administration?

How easy is it to change the domain Name Servers?

Shop around for domain registrars. What you really want to find
is a previously satisfied customer to ask questions before you
buy.

#5 Cheap Domain Names

You can save a lot of money on the domain names you purchase. A
typical .com domain costs about $15 to register from most
registrars. However you can get the same domain for as little as
$7.95 from other, very reliable, companies.

Oddly enough some of the cheaper domain registrars are more
reliable, have fewer horror stories and offer equally good
customer service as their more expensive competitors.

Are there any disadvantages in using a discount domain
registrar? Will it affect your website in any way? The answer to
both is a definite No.:)

For More Such articles, you are welcome to visit -
allwebhosts.com.ru/articles.html

Thank you

About the author:
I am Arpit,the webmaster of the site All Web Hosts is a computer
enginner and enjoys working in front of computers. I like to
spend my time in building sites and on various forums.
AllWebHosts site is mainatined by me and one of my friend,
Prashant. In my free time, I like to play table-tennis

DNS - How it works and why it's important to your website.

2005-10-18T04:50:00.000-07:00

This page describes how DNS works and why it's so important
regarding your hosting account. DNS stands for Domain Name
Service. It translates your domain name www.3essentials.com into
an IP Address, 66.179.153.10 so that visitors wishing to view
your web pages can contact the web server that is hosting those
pages.

When you purchase a domain name, say 3essentials.com, you
purchase it from a registrar (Network Solutions for example).
The registrar registers the domain name for all of the DNS
Servers on the planet to query. There are several DNS Servers
that contain records about the domain (3essentials.com) and what
DNS Servers have the master record for that domain, these are
called root DNS Servers. When another DNS Server (say your
ISP's) needs to know where to go to find the master record they
query(go ask) the root DNS Servers.

So let's say a visitor wishes to view your website and say they
type www.3essentials.com (or better yet, your domain name!) into
their web browser and click go. The visitors computer that is
connected to the internet contacts it's ISP's DNS Server looking
for www.3essentials.com. If the ISP's DNS Server already has a
record of the IP (66.179.153.10) for the www.3essentials.com web
server it gives the visitors computer that IP Address, and then
the computer connects to the IP and the browser passes
www.3essentials.com to the web server for the page to be
displayed.

If the ISP's DNS Server doesn't have the IP for
www.3essentials.com, then it contacts the root DNS servers on
the internet asking them what is the IP Address of the DNS
Server that has the IP for www.3essentials.com. That's where our
DNS Servers come into play. 3Essentials DNS Servers contain the
master record for www.3essentials.com. Any DNS Server on the
planet that doesn't have the IP will ask the root dns servers
who does, the root dns servers will say go ask
NS1.3ESSENTIALS.COM or NS2.3ESSENTIALS.COM for the IP. So the
ISP's DNS Server will go ask one of our DNS Servers for the IP
and then pass that back to the requesting vistors computer.

When you purchase your new domain, you need to delegate ( or
assign ) it to our DNS Servers so that every DNS Server on the
planet knows where to go to get the IP for your domain.

For more articles Please visit Articles at
All Web Hosts.

Thank You.

About the author:
I am Arpit,the webmaster of the site All Web Hosts is a computer
enginner and enjoys working in front of computers. I like to
spend my time in building sites and on various forums.
AllWebHosts site is mainatined by me and one of my friend,
Prashant. In my free time, I like to play table-tennis

Information Highwaymen and Your Domain

2005-10-18T04:49:00.000-07:00

You go to work every day at the store you own, and one morning,
your key to the door doesn't work. You look in the window, and
the display items have changed. A stranger is behind the
counter. But when you call the police, they can't do anything
because the company papers now indicate that the store belongs
to the stranger.

The above scenario isn't likely to happen with a
bricks-and-mortar store. Because of insecurities in the domain
registration system, however, information highwaymen could take
over your online business.

As with identity theft, domain thieves steal your identity --
the identity used to register and configure your domain name.
After that, your website, your email, your online business, and
possibly your reputation are theirs.

Domain names at risk of theft

While theft is a risk with all domain names, domains most at
risk are more valuable ones. Domains with dot com extensions
have a higher resale value than domains with other extensions,
and domains with high traffic or valuable keywords are also more
likely to be targets.

The motive behind domain hijacking is usually monetary, but it
may be personal. If anyone wants to attack you, stealing your
domain name is one way to do it.

How domain theft happens

When domain hijackers steal your domain, they gain access to the
domain's Whois records. They
can modify the domain's nameservers so that the domain points to
a different server. They can also transfer the domain to a
different registrar.

Either way, site visitors will find themselves at the website of
the domain hijacker instead of at your site. All domain email
will go to or through the other server instead of to you. All
you'll have left is a website without public access because your
domain isn't pointing to it any more.

How can this happen?

Domain hijacking methods

• Domain hijackers send forged faxes to the domain registrar,
impersonating the registrants.

• Domain hijackers hack into the accounts of free email
addresses listed in Whois records and use those addresses to
obtain domain account information.

• Domain hijackers send out fraudulent email renewal notices,
and registrants unknowingly transfer their domains to the
thieves.

Registrar non-action

• The gaining registrar (the registrar that the domain is
transferred to) doesn't obtain approval from the domain name
registrant or administrative contact as required by href="http://www.icann.org/transfers"> ICANN Inter-Registrar
Transfer Policy.

• The losing registrar (that the domain is transferred from)
doesn't notify the registrant of the transfer during the
five-day pending transfer period. During this period, the
registrant can cancel or deny approval of the domain transfer
--- if the registrar notifies the registrant of it.

Registrant carelessness

• The registrant forgets to update Whois details or to renew
the account.

• Someone with access to the registrant's records steals the
information.

Domain name disputes

If you discover that your domain has been hijacked, contact
your registrar immediately. If your registrar is unable to
resolve the situation, the ICANN (Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers) href="http://www.icann.org/transfers/dispute-policy-12jul04.htm">
Transfer Dispute Resolution Policy (TDRP) applies.

By going the above arbitration route, you don't have to argue
your case in person. On the other hand, all you can get back in
the process is your domain (and not necessarily that). For a lot
more money, you can take your case to court, where you can seek
compensation for damages in addition to the return of your
domain. This process takes more time, however.

You may be able to proceed both ways – get your domain back via
ICANN domain dispute resolution procedures and then go to court
to collect damages. You can also appeal a domain arbitrator's
decision in court.

How to protect your domain name

Protecting a domain name is similar to protecting a
bricks-and-mortar store from burglary. With a combination of
precautions in place, thieves will find it difficult or
impossible to gain access.

Your domain account information

• List your name for the administrative contact, and use your
full name.

• Create a complex password with letters (both upper case and
lower case) and numbers. Don't use any real words or personal
information in it. Make it long. Make it unique – don't use the
same password for anything else. Change it periodically.

• Keep your domain login name, account number, and password in a
place where only trusted people can access it.

• Use a valid contact email address that doesn't use the domain
it's for. Be sure that this email account also has a complex
password. If you're going to be offline for more than a few
days, have someone else check the email for this account.

• Don't use a free email address such as a Hotmail or Yahoo
address. Domain hijackers target domains with free email
addresses in the Whois records. After they've cracked your email
account password, the support you need to get your email account
back will probably be slow, giving the hijackers plenty of time
to take over your domain.

• Update your Whois record whenever the information in it
changes.

Your domain account features

• Choose a domain registrar that sends registrants transfer
pending notifications when a domain transfer is taking place.

• Consider protecting your Whois details with a registrar that
offers a private domain name record. With this feature, your
registrar's data appears with your Whois record rather than your
data. The downside of using this feature is that your business
may have less credibility because you're hiding who you are.

• Register your domain for a long time period, and set up
calendar reminders to renew it before it expires.

• Set up your domain to be renewed automatically if your
registrar offers this feature.

• Use the Registrar-lock mechanism if it's available through
your registrar. When a domain is locked, it cannot be modified
or transferred unless the registrant unlocks it or follows the
domain transfer process.

Other domain security measures

• Set up a free Whois
monitoring alert email service and add your domain to your
monitoring list. You will receive email notifications whenever
the expiration date, registrar, or status of a monitored domain
changes. (Whois does not have data on all domain extensions.)

• Make sure that someone checks your website every few days,
preferably daily.

About the author:
Lois S. is a Technical Executive Writer for www.websitesource.com and http://www.lowpricedomains.com with
experience in the website hosting industry.

Domain Name Strategies Maximize Profits

2005-10-18T04:17:00.000-07:00

Domain Name Strategies Maximize Profits by J. Stephen Pope

Whether you want to come up with your own original name or wish
to buy someone else's, here are some strategies for obtaining a
profitable domain name.

1. Do It Now!

If you do think of or find a good domain name, don't
procrastinate. Register or buy it now!

I've thought of a good name, checked it for availability, and
then slept on it. When I went to register, the name was gone.

Years ago, one of my clients delayed in registering his company
name and within a month someone else registered it.

The situation is even worse now. There is a lot of domain name
speculation going on. Many simply register a name in the hope of
selling it later to someone who desperately wants the domain.

It's really true in the domain name registration world: If you
snooze, you lose.

2. Register Dot Com

There are practical reasons why you should consider registering
a dot com name if at all possible.

When you go to sell, dot coms generally seem to go for more
money than other Top Level Domains. Why is that?

It has been suggested that dot org or dot net are perceived to
be second-rate because the owner either couldn't afford to buy
the dot com name or their competitor had the foresight to
register it first. (Obviously, an ISP having a dot net or a
non-profit organization having a dot org would not necessarily
be perceived in this way.)

Additionally, dot coms are easier for people to remember. If you
have a dot org or a dot net, it is just one more thing for
people to have to remember. First, people have to remember your
website's name; then, they have to remember that your TLD (Top
Level Domain) is not the commonly assumed dot com. You could
lose some traffic to your dot com competitor.

3. Is It Practical?

Do you have a business use for the domain name? Is your name
short and memorable? Does it describe or brand your business?
Does it infringe on any trademarks? Is it free of hyphens,
numbers, and other extraneous or confusing elements?

Give some careful thought to the above factors before
registering or buying your domain name. It could be one of the
best investments you ever made.

RESOURCE BOX:

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been
helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over
twenty-five years.

For profitable Work at Home Small Business Ideas, visit
http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/

For more information about profiting from domain names, visit
http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/domain-names.html

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 profitable Work at Home Small Business Ideas, visit
http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/

For more information about profiting from domain names, visit
http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/domain-names.html

How To Really Profit from Domain Names

2005-10-18T04:16:00.000-07:00

How To Really Profit from Domain Names by J. Stephen Pope

Have you heard about domain names that sold for over a million
dollars? Inspired by this, you imagine registering a great
domain name, hanging onto it for a while, and then selling it
off to become the next multi-millionaire. It could happen, but
don`t count on it!

First of all, many of the truly great domain names are already
taken. Second, the dot com bust took some of the wind out of
inflated domain name prices. (If you sell your domain name for
millions of dollars worth of stock in a publicly traded dot com
flop, what is the name really worth?)

The cybersquatter buys domain names totally on speculation.
Sometimes he will register names of famous brands, companies, or
individuals. Time and again, these domain name speculators learn
the hard way that they must respect intellectual property
rights. They hope that some large corporation will pay big bucks
to them for the use of the company`s own (already trademarked)
name. Instead, they end up with threatening letters from a law
firm for their attempts at extortion.

However, you can still make money from domain names if you are
sensible in your approach. Here are some suggestions on ways to
profit.

1. Affiliate Programs: Use your domain name to promote an
appropriate affiliate program. Either redirect to the affiliate
site or write a review that links to them.

2. Informational Sites: Create content and then profit from it
by earning advertising revenue through Google AdSense or a
similar program.

3. Redirect to Your Own Site: Some reasons you might want to do
this include preventing competitors from using a particular
domain name and benefiting from searches some users perform by
domain name. (For example, if they wanted to order flowers, they
might just type "flowers.com" in their web browser. You could
get some traffic and sales this way.)

4. Product Sites: Create your own or sell someone else`s product
appropriate to your domain name.

5. Park Your Domain Names: You might feel that your name has
real potential for resale value. There are companies that will
allow you to park your domain on their servers, advertise that
your name is for sale, and split advertising revenue with you.

The trick is to generate traffic for your domain name. That
traffic in turn will create revenue. Then, when you go to sell
your domain name, you will have a few things going for you.

First, you will have a fully developed website. A fully
constructed building on a piece of land increases the value of
the real estate property. Similarly, the value of your domain
name is enhanced by a complete and operating website.

Second, you have traffic. Just as a shopping mall with no
traffic results in no sales, so a website must have traffic to
generate income.

Third, you have income. An income property, such as an apartment
building, can be appraised on the basis of its income (as well
as other factors). Similarly, the gross income, net profits and
cashflow of a website have value. For example, if someone
offered you $1,000 for your domain name and website when it was
generating $10,000 per day in profits, you would likely laugh at
him.

You really can profit from your domain name investments by
adding value and properly developing your web properties.

For further information about profiting from domain names, visit
http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/domain-names.html

RESOURCE BOX:

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc.,
http://www.popeconsultinginc.com/ has been helping clients to
earn maximum business profits for over twenty-five years.

For valuable Work at Home Small Business Ideas, visit:
http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/

About the author:
RESOURCE BOX:

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to
earn maximum business profits for over twenty-five years.

For valuable Work at Home Small Business Ideas, visit:
www.yenommarketinginc.com

Domain Name Forwarding and Search Engines

2005-10-18T04:15:00.000-07:00

You own a single site, but several domains - perhaps you wanted
to make sure that even if your customers misspelled your domain
name they'd get to your site, or perhaps you'd like to have a
specific domain name direct to a page deep within your site -
whatever the case, there are some important considerations
surrounding multiple domain names routing to a single site and
search engine submission.

Search engines like Google and Yahoo won't always wait around
for you to submit a site - Googlebot and Yahoo Slurp (which you
may recognize from your server logs if your site has been up for
a few weeks) are constantly running across new domain names to
index. It's a good thing - unless your domain names are being
forwarded incorrectly.

What constitutes and incorrect forward?

Many major domain name registrars offer a "Domain Name
Forwarding" feature which, while it may be the easiest way to
forward your domain, can cause some real problems when search
engine spiders like Googlebot or Yahoo Slurp visit your site.

Here's what happens:

1) The search engine spider pulls your domain name (usually from
http://www.whois.sc/ ) 2) The spider visits your website, using
the domain name forwarded through your domain registrar 3) Your
domain registrar is using a Temporary Redirect (most likely
because it's assumed that you'll point the domain name to a new
hosting account sooner or later), frames, or other incorrect
forwarding method 4) The spider indexes your site

But what went wrong? Your domain name registrar did its job, and
sent the spider to your actual site when it visited the domain
name you registered. The spider did its job and read the content
of the page or pages it found, and then incorporated them into
the search engine index. Everything's copacetic, right?

When the search engine spider read the page, it associated it
with your alternate domain name, the one that was supposed to be
forwarding to your primary domain name. This means that the
search engine has effectively tracked down what it will quickly
identify as duplicate content - and, after years of dealing with
sites trying to sell Viagra on the sly by duplicating their
content across hundreds of pages, today's search engines will
respond to duplicate content with a drop in your ranking.

Given enough time, you may find your site has been banned from
the search engine index.

What's the solution?

Your domain names need to be routed from the domain name
registrar to a hosting account - from the hosting account (and
this varies - consult your technical support provider for the
account) you'll need to set a Permanent Redirect to your main
site.

A Permanent Redirect is logged as a code '301' (thence, it is
often referred to as a '301 Permanent Redirect') - if you have
multiple domain names which you wish to direct to a single site,
it may be especially useful for you to consider a website
hosting account which offers multiple add-on domains and
subdomains to accommodate all the domain names you'll need to
forward.

About the author:
Dan is a web design and web development consultant who
specializes in small business database applications.

Selecting a Domain Name Registrar - How to Avoid Getting Burned

2005-10-18T04:14:00.000-07:00

When it comes to registering your domain name you want to pick a
domain name registrar that will work with you, help you choose
the best domain name, not overcharge you, and provide you with
all of the information you need to make the best possible
decisions regarding your registrar account. There are thousands
of domain name registrars on the net and most of them offer the
service legitimately and at an affordable price. However, there
are certain sites you will want to look out for and the
following suggestions will give you some information on
questions you should ask and answers you should have in writing
before doing business with a registrar.

* Make Sure You Own It

First of all, when you register and buy your domain name you
want to make sure you are buying it and that it is yours. You
don’t want to simply register a domain name under someone else’s
control. This looks unprofessional and does not give you the
presence on the web you are looking for. Instead, ask the
registrar if you are buying the URL and if you will own it, the
answer might surprise you.

* ICANN Accreditation

No matter what domain name registrar you choose make sure they
are accredited by ICANN, which stands for the Internet
Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers. If they are
accredited, then they are more than likely a legitimate
registrar with which to do business.

* Expiration Date

You also need to ask how long you are buying the URL for and
what the expiration date is. There is nothing worse than not
knowing how long your registration is good for and then all of a
sudden having you URL expire. Don’t let this happen to you!
Instead, register your domain name for as many years in advance
as possible and if the address is about to expire let your
registrar know you expect to receive notification. * Contact
Information

Contact information for your domain name registrar should be
readily available and they should be available at all times that
they say they are. You might want to test this to make sure they
are available before you buy from them. There is no particular
registrar you must buy from, so if you are uncomfortable with
one simply move on to another.

* Hosting

Another important question to ask your domain name registrar is
if they offer hosting services as well. Many of them do and
frequently a two in one package is an easy and effective way to
go. However, make sure you have all the information and answers
you need before buying a domain name or signing up for hosting.

About the author:
Michael Turner reveals his foolproof way to href="http://www.powertraffictactics.com/">increase website
traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it free right
now at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/

Domain name registration and copyright infringement

2005-10-18T04:13:00.000-07:00

A very important question arises in the early stages of
development of a web site – what would be the most appropriate
domain name? Domain names are representative of the address for
a web site, and there is a rising trend of incidents of disputes
over domain name registration with increased usage of Internet.

There are numerous factors that have led to a crisis of domain
registration disputes and this, in turn, has led to a rapid
increase in the reported cases of infringement of domain names.
Several companies have taken legal action against other
companies or individuals over alleged copyright violation on the
domain names.

There are some basics that you should understand before choosing
a domain name registration:

1. Use of two similar trademarks should not confuse customers
about the products or services.

2. If there is a legal conflict over use of similar trademarks,
the first user is likely to win the case.

3. The later user would to give up his claim if he cannot proves
his point and may have to pay the first owner damages.

You should apply these principles to your domain registration
selection process:

1. The best method to avoid conflict of trademarks is to search
the trademark database of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
at www.uspto.gov. It provides you with all registered and
pending trademarks. Try to search for your proposed trademark as
well as other similar names and variant spellings. 2. You must
be able to justify your reason for using the name. Your domain
registration should principally consist of a name you are using
as a trade name, trademark or corporate name.

3. It is better to select more than one name since you are not
sure about the availability of the required domain name.

If on searching for the desired domain name, you find that the
name has already been registered but there is no content being
displayed at the domain, try to find out the details of the
owner of the domain registration. It is possible that he/she may
be genuine and have yet not published any content.

But it is equally possible that the owner does not plan to
develop a web site and is willing to give you the domain at the
original price. You must confirm that the seller has ownership
rights for that particular domain name registration.

The regulations governing copyright issues for domain names are
governed by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN).

It is very likely that you would lose right of your domain name
registration if you have intentionally chosen a name similar to
another domain name so as to confuse potential visitors to the
site. For example, if your site deals in consumer electronics
goods made by a Samsung competitor, do not choose the name
"samsungbusiness.com" since a court is most likely to pass a
verdict that you selected this name to divert attention of
Samsung customers.

There could be others reasons of losing a domain registration:

1. You have never carried out any business under that name 2.
There is no person in your company similar to that name 3. You
are planning to sell that domain name to your competitor for
financial gain.

If your domain name is same as your name then you may be allowed
to continue to use it, despite of the fact that it is similar to
someone else’s domain name. But the usage of such a name is
governed by certain condition set by court. For example, Mr.
Suki Nokia, who runs a cosmetics business, may be allowed to use
the domain name "nokia.kr" but he would barred from using his
site to demonstrate any electronics-related information or
advertising.

A very useful tip to buy all three of the top level domains -
.com, .net and .org. You should buy all possible misspellings of
your domain name before anybody else takes advantage of this
fact.

If on searching, you find similar names, ask yourself the
following questions:

1. Will the products/services on your site compete with the
products/services on similar domain names?

2. Will your distribution channels for products be same for
products being sold under the similar domain names?

3. Will your site distract business away from the site with the
similar name?

4. Is the other name quite famous?

If you get negative answers to all these questions, you can feel
confident to go ahead with your domain name registration without
any worry of a legal hassle.

About the author:
Copyright © Active-Domain.com.
All rights reserved. This article may be reprinted freely
provided the resource box, Web addresses and copyright
information remain intact.

Picking A Great Domain Name

2005-10-18T04:11:00.001-07:00

Why are so many dot-com ventures guaranteed to fail or a best
achieving luck luster results on the internet? Because they
haven’t wisely invested the time, energy and thought power into
creating a memorable domain name. So before choosing a domain
name, consider a few ideas.

First of all, consider the real estate term location, location,
location. You need to think of your domain extension as a
location, as most web surfers expect to see dot-com after a URL.
Many surfers automatically type in dot-com at the end of the
domain name even if you advertise your domain as dot-net or
dot-org. I’m not saying you can’t build something great using
other extensions, its just a lot harder.

So what works?

Short, simple, real words that are easy to spell and create a
lasting impression. For website on health care products, for
example www.cloud9.com or www.clondnine.com would work.
www.bestexperiencehealthcare.com most likely wouldn’t.

Also your domain name should tell the search engines what you
are all about. Since few surfers would search directly for
www.clondnine.com, www.cloud-nine.com might be a better option.

Simple may be best and you want a name that is to memorable, but
don’t make your domain name to generic. www.money.com is simple
and easy to remember, but it doesn’t create a memorable
association with a particular product or brand name. Think of a
name to grabs to the surfers attention. Instead of www.money.com
try www.moneymatters.com.

A great domain name in its self won’t keep your business afloat,
but if it at least creates a memorable association and draws
surfers to your site you’re already halfway there.

About the author:
P. Robert Roderick is the owner of PND Group. He believes in
helping clients to maximize business profits. Visit
www.net-guruonline.com

This article may be reprinted free of charge as long as you
provide an active link to our website.

Tips For the Perfect Domain Name

2005-10-18T04:11:00.000-07:00

What is a domain name? A domain name is the location of your
website on the Internet. Your domain name will be what you
become known by online so it's important to get it right.

Each website on the Internet is labeled with something called an
IP address which is the actual address of the website online. A
typical IP address looks like this: 159.134.27.64. Remembering a
string of numbers like that is difficult so a domain name
translates all those numbers into something like amazon.com.
This is far easier to remember.

#1 Dot what?/ Each domain has what's called an extension.
The most well known of these extensions is .com. This, however,
is not the only type of domain extension available. There is
also:

.net

If you can't find your preferred .com domain name you could
always choose the same domain with a .net extension. It might
not have the same ring as a .com but is still as just useful as
a .com.

.org

These domain extensions were orginally designed for educational
and more formal websites. Anybody can register a .org however so
you have more options for domain selection.

.info

A more recent introduction to the domain name game are .info
domains. Many of the valuable .info domains were bought up
overnight but there's still a huge range of good .info domains
available. With a little creativity you could really make a
.info work for you e.g. www.moviereview.info.

Bear in mind that most web surfers tend to remember .com more
easily than anything else.

#2 Branding vs Business Name

There is an age old debate on the whether or not you should
establish a brand name online or use a domain that more actually
reflects your real business. Let's look at Amazon as an example.
Amazon sells books online. Most people setting up a business
would have chosen say www.booksonline.com instead of amazon.com
Amazon has since established itself as a brand name of global
recognition - proving the value of building a brand name.

You'll need to choose between the two. Brand name or your own
business name. Consider how your domain sounds, how it might
look on a business card and how well it relates to your
business. There's no one right answer to this question. You need
to choose what makes most sense for you, your website and your
business in general.

#3 Hyphenated or not

This is another area of debate. Should your domain be one single
word or should the words be separated by hyphens? There are
advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. Single word
domain names can be easier to explain, use on header paper and
lend themselves to brand names very well.

Single word domains are in very, very short supply.

Hyphenated domains names can be slighltly more difficult to
explain, may not look as well on headed paper and possibly
harder to establish as a brand name. There's no shortage of
multiple word domains. The single biggest advantage a hyphenated
domain has is that search engines can "read" the domain more
easily. For example in a domain like foreignholidaysonline.com
the search engine can only read the first word "foreign" and
that's it. It can't tell anything else about the website domain
name.

If you hyphenated that to foreign-holidays-online.com the search
engine can read "foreign", "holidays" and "online" as separate
words and therefore knows that this website is about foreign
holidays.

A well chosen hyphenated domain name can be just as effective as
a single word domain name.

#4 Your Domain Registrar

These are the people you pay to register the domain for you.
There are dozens if not hundreds of these companies out there so
which one do you choose? This takes some research but things
worth checking are:

Do you retain sole ownership of the domain or do the registrar
keep some level of control over it?

Search Google for any horror stories relating to the registrar

Does the registrar allow you to transfer the domain to another
registrar?

Is there an online control panel for domain administration?

How easy is it to change the domain Name Servers?

Shop around for domain registrars. What you really want to find
is a previously satisfied customer to ask questions before you
buy.

#5 Cheap Domain Names

You can save a lot of money on the domain names you purchase. A
typical .com domain costs about $15 to register from most
registrars. However you can get the same domain for as little as
$7.95 from other, very reliable, companies.

Oddly enough some of the cheaper domain registrars are more
reliable, have fewer horror stories and offer equally good
customer service as their more expensive competitors.

Are there any disadvantages in using a discount domain
registrar? Will it affect your website in any way? The answer to
both is a definite No.:)

For More Such articles, you are welcome to visit - target="_new" href="http://allwebhosts.com.ru/articles.html">Web
Hosting Articles.

Thank you

About the author:
I am Arpit,the webmaster of the site href="http://allwebhosts.com.ru">All Web Hosts is a computer
enginner and enjoys working in front of computers. I like to
spend my time in building sites and on various forums.
AllWebHosts site is mainatined by me and one of my friend,
Prashant. In my free time, I like to play table-tennis

Protect Your Domain Name and Reputation

2005-10-18T04:09:00.000-07:00

CYBERSQUATTING - The Problem

Cybersquatting, or registering a domain name in bad faith
(usually a variation or mis-spelling of your domain name) an
cause untold damage to a company and is a major problem on the
Internet, where registering a domain is a quick and automated
process. Legal recourse is costly and time-consuming and not
always effective. Cybersquatting can occur in various guises:

1. Competitors - Any potential customer of yours getting your
domain name wrong ends up as a customer of theirs!

2. Unhappy customers and (ex-) employees - All their complaints
about you get posted, whether they are justified or not.

3. Opportunists - They set up pages that redirect you, or
affiliate pages, often linked to pornography, in order to make
money or to spread viruses. Other opportunists may try and sell
these similar domains back to you at vastly inflated prices.

CYBERSQUATTING - The Solution

Registering multiple domain names can be expensive but many
registrars allow a discount when buying 10 domain names or more.
When you have these registered, ensure they all point to your
existing website.

1. Register as many TLD (top level domain) variations as
possible e.g. .com, .net. .co.uk etc...

2. Register mis-spellings of your domain name

3. If your domain is hyphenated, register the non-hyphenated
version too.

3. If your domain could be plural or singular, register both
versions.

DOMAIN EXPIRY- The Problem

UK domains are bought for two year periods whereas other TLDs
can be registered for varying numbers of years. If you have
multiple domains, all likely to expire at different times, it is
easy to forget one, only to find it has been registered by a
cybersquatter.

DOMAIN EXPIRY- The Solution

1. Ensure that the company you bought your domain names through
has your most current e-mail address, so they can contact you.

2. Register your domains for as long a period as possible to
minimise the chances of unwanted expiry. A welcome side effect
of this is that Google may rank you higher than if you
registered your domain for a shorter period of time.

3. Use a facility such as allwhois.com to check when your
domains expire, and make a diary note or setup an automated
reminder.

AVOIDING OTHER PROBLEMS

1. Always ensure that your domain names are registered in your
name if you use a third party to make the registrations on your
behalf.

2. Use an e-mail address for registration purposes that is
separate from your domain name, and is not a free address likely
to expire e.g. hotmail or yahoo. If your e-mail address expires,
someone else can register it and then take over your domain
registration.

3. If you receive correspondence asking you to confirm, transfer
or renew your domain, for whatever reason, check it with your
registrar first. Many scammers have 'hijacked' domain names this
way, preying on people's trust.

About the author:
Emma Kalson is the owner of www.littlefishwebdesign.com
and has been designing websites for about 10 years. She doesn’t
believe in unnecessary bells and whistles on websites and wants
to help remove some of the myths surrounding website design and
search engine activity.

Business Domain Name

2005-10-18T04:07:00.000-07:00

Biggest Benefit Of Using A Long Web Domain Name As A Marketing Strategy

In the world of 21st century, it is no longer surprising to find
that most business had already establishes a web presence to
support their brick-and-mortar businesses. There are many
advantages of establishing a web presence on the Internet such
as selling globally to prospective customers and disseminating
information to the public.

Most business owner would have already understood the importance
of a web presence to their business. What most of them had
failed to understand is that the domain name in their website
can contribute significantly to their online marketing strategy.

First, we look at a few rules of a good domain name. Most would
agree that a good domain name should:

1) be able to describe your business when people first look it.
2) include hyphen in between the words to make it easier to
read. 3) have an appropriate .com, .net, .biz, .info, .org to
reflect the nature of the business.

What I differ in opinion is that a long domain name
"mysuperduperbrandflyingsite.com" can be as effective as a short
domain name "superduper.com" depending on the context where the
domain name is used. Many people would definitely disagree with
me on this point as they believe that a short domain name is
easier to remember. However, a long domain name can be just as
effective depending on the context where it is use.

Having a catchy long domain name such as
http://www.dont-miss-a-thing.com or
http://www.once-in-a-lifetime.com/ would definitely helps to
draw attention to your business promotion rather than promoting
your website name http://www.yourcompanyname.com which is
mundane.

When people reach http://www.dont-miss-a-thing.com or
http://www.once-in-a-lifetime.com, you can communicate a short
sales message before driving them to the appropriate web page.

Thus, depending on the context where the domain name is used, a
domain name can actually help to make or break your overall
marketing performance.

About the author:
Justin Koh is a freelance writer whose articles have appear in
most major ezines. You can find more of these at:
www.domainnamecenter.info

You have permission to publish this article electronically or in
print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A
courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.

Making money from expired domain registration

2005-10-18T04:06:00.000-07:00

Expired domain names are those that had previously been
registered to another owner. These domain name registration are
available to the open market because of non-payment of the
domain name renewal fees. These domain names are returned to the
open market approximately forty-five days after the domain
registration expiration date.

Subsequent to the dot com crash, expired domain names and
expired domain name traffic have been a source of profits for
many. It is critical to obtain, at a low cost, the automated
tools required to track the thousands of domain registration and
abandoned websites that are removed from the registry and become
available for purchase.

Now, many automated tools and resources are available for
identifying, appraising and even buying these domain
registration on an automated basis.

Expired domain names and the expired domain name traffic
associated with them have been only available to those who had
an automated system and tools.

Numerous domain names are registered for website development,
but do not appear online. In a number of these cases, the domain
name owners do not follow through with respect to the website
development and allow the domain registration to expire.

Also, many domain names even point to fully functioning websites
while many are registered for speculation. Such names are
registered by speculators in the hope of obtaining a profit on
the resale of the domain name registration.

However, there are a number of expired domain names with fully
functioning websites, receiving daily traffic from the search
engines, links and banner ads. The expired domain names that get
this daily traffic can earn revenues if these are redirected to
another website or marketed with affiliate programs.

How To Earn Profits from Expired Domain Names & Expired Domain
Name Traffic:

1. Buying for speculation - There is a large and highly
profitable market for reselling domain names at present, and
speculators are constantly looking out for developing
technologies and trends. Evolution is constantly taking place in
technology and trends. There are markets, being watched closely
right now, that are expected to grow exponentially within a
short span of time. It should be a good idea to locate and
register expiring domain names that are related to new trends,
technology and markets in order to earn substantial profits.

2. Buying expiring domain registration and redirecting the
targeted traffic - Targeted keyword domain names can help to get
traffic from those simply typing in keyword rich domain names
into the address bar and hitting the enter key.

3. Buying expired domain name registration and putting up
generic websites - Using tools like easy website building
software, third party payment processors, auto responders and
other applications, even a novice could put generic websites
online with keyword rich domain names that should appear in the
search engine rankings. These websites can be built using
expired domain names to drive traffic to them and the domain
name registration and the developed website could then be sold
together with the domain name, as a value added commodity.

4. Buying expiring domain names of websites that are already
online – A number of expiring domain names are, actually,
already functioning websites. The owners of these websites
either did not renew their domain registration for some reason
or simply stopped operating the website. In fact, quite often,
these websites already have traffic from links to other
websites, search engine rankings and even directory listings.

5. Buying expired domain names and using them for marketing
affiliate programs - Affiliate programs are a good way to
acquire an online business without even having a product.
Affiliate marketers redirect traffic from the affiliate website
to the website of the actual product or service and charge a
commission or a fee when any of the redirected traffic results
in sales. Affiliate programs have become an automated turnkey
solution for a number of entrepreneurs, especially novices.

One can locate and register expired domain name registration
that closely target the market of the affiliate programs and
then draw that targeted traffic into the website with expired
keyword rich domain names with content that satisfies the
informational needs. Then the users can be led onto the sales
page of the product.

About the author:
Copyright © Active-Domain.com.
All rights reserved. This article may be reprinted freely as
long as you provide an active link to our website at
www.active-domain.com.

Do You Have a Good .Com Name? What is One So Important!

2005-10-18T03:52:00.000-07:00

A domain can leave an imprint on the mind of a prospective
client. Just like a catchy phone number, it is easy to remember
and can be send out loud in a rhythm. Whenever someone sees your
domain name for your company it must be able to stick with them
throughout the day so they can easily check out your site when
they get a chance. Sometimes this may not be till the end of a
long day at work, so having a domain name that stays in the mind
of a client is very important.

What makes a good domain you might ask? Is it the length, how it
is spelled or is there something that I missing?

Well the length is important, something short and sweet can do
the trick, but if your domain names is something like
"INeedATunaFishSandwhich.com" that may work as well. Yes it is a
bit on the long side, but it is very easy to remember and so
there fore, easy for a person to type in at the end of a busy
day. It stays in the mind and can be thought of in a second.

Unusual domains can work as well, as they can catch the viewers
attention allowing them to also remember them without much
problem. Such domains as eBay, Paypal and others have only a few
letters, but you will never forget them when you go to type them
in. A site I like to visit to find out about updates on currency
and other information is XE.com . Yes, just two simple letters
to represent their site, but to type it in, is just like second
nature to me because it is so simple.

Another important part is to watch how you spell words for your
domain. Yes it may sound like one word, but people may here it
as something else. Allot of people like using "Nex" or "Nx"
because it sounds like the word "Next", but when you say to
someone "go to my website at NexInformation.com"(just an example
site) do they really go to your site or NextInformation.com(not
the extra "T"), totalling missing your site all together because
of one letter. This also happens even if they see it in plain
view, as we all have mistyped a domain name before.

Also make sure your domain name says what your company does or
is your company name. If people can connect the domain with your
business, then you are already one step ahead.

About the author:
Anthony Jewell has over 6 Years experience in the Web & Graphics
World. You can visit my business at http://www.logo2d.com

©Copyright 2005 Logo2D.com : Feel free to use this article
freely but please keep in the copyright

How to Choose a Good Domain Name

2005-10-18T03:49:00.000-07:00

In the E-World your domain name is your first assessment of what
your site is about. It's not just your site name but it is the
first criterion of your success on the Internet and when it
comes to a point of success you must hold it tight. It can make
your business stand out in the crowd, or just float aimlessly in
space. Well many of us think that it merely plays any role but
it's not the truth. Think if nobody remembers your site name or
see no visual look of what your site is about.

The temptation of a good domain name is so powerful; that's why
some companies even paid ridiculously high prices to get the
name they want. The domains Loans.com and Wines.com were both
bought for $3 million each. Telephone.com was acquired for $1.75
million, while Bingo.com sold for $1.1 million.

So the main question is, what points we should consider when we
choose a domain name. For better results, your domain name
should be memorable and easy to remember. Remember the following
tips when creating a domain name.

* The domain name should be short. * The domain name should be
simple. * It should be suggestive of your business category. *
It should be unique. * It should be easy to interpret and
pronounce. * It should be personalized. * It should not be
difficult to spell. * It should not be difficult to remember.

Domain names can be registered through many different companies
(known as "registrars"). You can register for 1 to 10 years -
prices can vary anywhere from $10 to $20 per year. Most web
hosting companies, will handle the registration process for you,
but make sure that you are properly listed as the owner of the
domain when it is registered.

If you have registered a domain name for a specific period, make
sure you renew it in time. You can be surprised at the number of
cases, where site owners have let a domain name slip by if they
have not renewed in time.

How to use expired domains:

Did you know you can use expired domains to skyrocket your
traffic? Let me tell you about expired domains first. Thousands
of webmasters invest time, effort and money to promote their
site and build up traffic. Many of them then lose interest and
move on, leaving their site active. That means that although
they still own the domain, they're not actively promoting it.

All the automatic marketing systems they've put in place are
still bringing in traffic. The site runs itself. Now, at some
point the ownership of those domains is going to expire. If you
snap up those domains once they come back onto the market,
you've got a pre-built stream of customers. You can either
rebuild the site, or redirect the traffic to your domain. You
could set up an affiliate program get paid for users someone
else paid for.

Its that easy.

Websites such as www.expiredtraffic.com or
www.deleteddomains.com are doing great job for expired domains.
They actually do all the legwork and let you reap all the
rewards. Even you can back-order a specific domain name also.

Do be careful when using other sites though. There are some
swindlers out there that will sell you subscriptions, provide
you with outdated lists, take your money and keep the good
domains for themselves.

There are tons of options, and lots of easy ways to make lots of
money with very little effort. Opportunities like these are
everywhere. All we need a strong determination to succeed, and a
good mentor.

About the author:
Raamakant S. is Author of "The e Success Code". An "entire
Internet Marketing Encyclopedia" covers almost every topic of
Internet marketing. If you've ever dreamed of having your own
Internet Business that produces thousands of dollars each and
every month, visit: The e Success Code

Why are domain names so important?

2005-10-17T15:54:00.000-07:00

Selecting a great domain name is important for two reasons:
first, a catchy and memorable name helps people remember it; and
second, a well-thought out name will enable you to attract
people through the search engines. Your domain name is, in
essence, the logo of your online business. It needs to express
who you are, what you do, and what products or services you
offer.

The bottom line is that a good domain name can go a long way
toward generating traffic to your Web site and building your
reputation. That, in turn, will result in more customers and
better sales.

1999 was the year of the big dot-com boom, and there was a
feeling that there were huge sums of money to be made from the
web - but back in 1999 people seemed more concerned about
branding than business plans. Inspired by the success of names
like Amazon.com, a raft of dot coms came (and went) under
snazzy-sounding titles. There was a huge land grab for virtually
all words in the English dictionary, plus every other
combination of words people could think of. Most of these sites
were never developed, but domains were often priced at huge
prices.

Premium domains are high quality domain names that are for sale
and only available in the secondary domain market.They have
excellent marketing and branding value, but also serve as an
investment.

As good dot-coms become more and more scarce, the demand and
prices for premium domain names has continued to increase.

"A domain name's importance emerged as a valuable element of an
organization's brand, and the numbers validate this trend," Matt
Bentley, CEO of Sedo.com, told the E-Commerce Times. "Though
we'll likely never see the sale prices of 1999, when domains
like business.com fetched $7.5 million, valuations for key
domains have definitely begun to elevate to demonstrate their
importance to business and organizations all over the world."

The dot-com crash that saw hundreds of start-up businesses on
the Internet close up shop in 1998 and 1999 is not discouraging
new Net entrepreneurs. A record number of domain name sales in
2005 shows that business presence on the Internet is stronger
than ever.

A domain name that reflects an organization's brand and
offerings is vital to driving new business.

Last year saw an explosion of growth for the secondary domain
marketplace, as more organizations purchased the ideal domain
name to drive their brand.

www.idealurl.com

About the author: Antonio de Sousa Santana Carlos
marketing@idealurl.com