Angie's web hosting articles: 2008

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Your Domain Name Is Your Brand

I bet nine times out of ten its not the Domain Name, its the advertisement, once you like what you see on a site then you remember the Domain.

It always amazes me how some Domain Name are worth so much money why? Not because the name is worth anything its because some people have more money than sense so don't get rapped up in the hype, because if you buy a $10 domain that's exactly what is worth $10,if you buy a Domain for $1000 its still only worth $10 the only reason people pay so much for a Domain is because they are trying to get ahead of the game by using an already well known name, and that's fair enough, but it doesn't always work, its no good having a fantastic Domain Name and a crappy website.

You must treat your Domain as your Brand, when you first start out your name is worth nothing, its your product, your image and service, that people first take note of, sell a great product with a great service and people will remember you no matter what your name is, so when choosing a Domain name choose a name that represents you, what you want to be remembered by, if its catchy great, if its short great, but its really not that important, I mean come on what sort of a name is Google or youtube yet I bet there are a million people out there right now wishing that was their name "wrong" I bet there's a million people out there right now wishing they had their business because the Domain on its own doesn't mean anything.

So people please get off this special Domain Name thing, its not a magic word to bring in traffic, concentrate your efforts on some of the more important things, like the content of your site because that is what is going to make your website great and that is what will get people wishing they had thought of your Domain Name

Good Luck Mick Smith

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Namibian Domains - The Importance of Country-Specific Domain Names

Why are Namibian domains important? In this article we will explain the benefits of localized website names. They really matter.

Sometimes it seems like it's a dot-com world and all websites have just the familiar .com extension in their URL. People even talk about "dot-coms" as in the "dot-com crash" a few years ago when the "dot-com bubble" burst, or how someone made their money with "dot-coms." We're also familiar with the .gov extension that indicates a governmental website, or .org which is usually a non-profit organization.

Basically, the whole idea of website suffixes were to give people a clue as to the nature of the website: commercial, governmental, academic, non-profit, educational and so on. However, there are a few major flaws with this naming system.

First, as the World Wide Web has dramatically grown over the years, it's become more and more difficult to find appropriate names for websites as most of the "good" .com, .org and .gov domain names are already taken. Often it's next to impossible to come up with a website name that is descriptive enough for people to find and remember a site.

Second, to make matters worse, since domain name registration is cheap, unscrupulous speculators have been buying up huge numbers of website names as commodities. They then sell them to the highest bidder, often making it impossible for a small business to get its own name. Early on in the history of the Web, some major companies had to fight for the right to their own domain names!

Third, the major website suffixes don't tell anything about location. This may not be a big deal for a giant multinational conglomerate, but it can be very important to a small local business. It just makes no sense for a business in Namibia, Mauritius, Kiribati or Timor-Leste to use the same global .com suffix like Toyota or General Motors. Domain names should provide searchers an idea of not only the nature of the website, but also where it is located.

This is why in addition to the roughly 20 generic top-level domains, there are two-letter country code domains. Those global two-letter country-specific address allocations are overseen by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). To make things a bit more complicated, IANA itself is administered by ICANN, the Internet Corporation for assigned Names and Numbers, a California non-profit corporation that works under contract with the United States Department of Commerce.

So what this means is that domains can be localized so that searchers know not only what kind of entity they are looking at, but also where it is located. Namibian domains, for example, have the two-letter .na country suffix after their top-level domain. If a website ends in .com.na you know it is a commercial entity located in Namibia. Likewise, .gov.na points towards a governmental website in Namibia.

So now you know why it makes sense to localize your domain. Not only is it more likely that a good .com or .org name is still available with a country-specific suffix, but people know where you are and where they can find you! So make sure your Namibian website uses a Namibian domain.

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web. Learn more about Why Namibian Domains Matter or Majon's Internet directory

How To Legally Become A Domain Front Runner

Front running is the process of taking strategic information and using it for your personal benefit. It has gone on for hundreds of years. Think back to the 1800s and mining. Imagine that you were the person that was assigned to turn claims into the legal department. You are in a strategic position to know all about the claims. Then, you can use that information to stake your own claim before you turn in the other applications. This type of action is illegal in the financial security industry, but it is still legal in the internet industry. It's interesting to know that back in the 1800s many of the wealthiest people were turning in claims; not looking for gold.

Become an Accredited Icann Registrar

First, begin a registrar service like godaddy. You will need to go through Icann for the accreditation process. Then, start a web page that lets others do domain name inquiries. Set your system up so that only some of the available extensions come up. While the customer is checking the domain, have your own program run a search on dns servers to see how popular the keywords are. If the keywords get at least one or more hits per day, give the customer two or three minutes to buy it. If they don't buy it, then take it. In addition, since your program randomly takes out some of the available extensions, you can also buy those. It's great because you get to benefit from other peoples research for free. The other great part is that it isn't illegal. If someone doesn't legally own something, then there is no law to prohibit unfair play. Unfair and illegal are not the same thing.

Don't Use Hacks and Viruses: It's Illegal

Lots of companies legally track what you do on the computer. There are a lot of programs that automatically send information to people to see what you are searching for. You won't be any different. You need to monitor a lot of people so that you know what good keywords to buy.

There are lots of ways to monitor a computer. A lot of people use cookies like statcounter to keep track of what you do online. In addition, there are companies like Casalemedia and Tribalfusion that keep track of people for you.

Some people go so far as to secretly install keyloggers and browser hijackers to get domain names. This is definitely illegal, but you should be aware it is going on so you can take preventative computer security measures on your computer. Don't be lulled into security by anti virus and firewall software. You need to take some really serious computer security measures. Microsoft Bitlocker and Iron Key come to mind.

A lot of malware comes bundled with free software. Remember that software is never free. Don't accept free software from any source. It is often riddled with ways to spy on you.

Hide Your Tracks: Front Running Makes People Mad At You

It would not be a good idea to keep all your domains in your personal name; especially without hiding the Whois information. After a while, everyone will wonder how Bob Domain Man got so many domain names in one day. Think back to gold mining in the 1800s. You would probably get shot or killed if people knew what you were doing.

The better way is to set up a lot of different companies. Put the domains in company names and randomly choose different cash parking or tasting templates so that people don't realize what you are doing. In this way, you can make money while holding the domains and it looks anonymous.

Remember, you're not doing anything illegal, but you don't want to make people upset.

Wayback Machine

Some people will check the wayback machine. Keep in mind that it is not accurate. It depends upon people feeding it correct and honest information.

Fruits

Eventually you will own thousands and thousands of domains. Once set up, it takes virtually no effort because the entire process is automated. Take the domains you want to keep and sell the rest.

You will become very wealthy because each domain can potentially be worth 3-5k.

Summary

In all seriousness, I don't recommend front running domains to anyone. It just happens that much of our company research has shown that domain front running is alive and well. If you don't want to be a victim take computer security very seriously. In addition, be very careful what registrar you choose and buy the domain immediately. You don't have the luxury to think about it for a while. Buy what you can because in a few years a few companies are going to own the majority of domain names.

For comments, please email your local senator or politician to make some internet regulations. Don't bother with Icann. They are a corporation and trying to hide front running.

The web site that screwed us was http://www.namecheap.com

Knowing The Potentialities and Prospects Of Your Expired Domain

There is a feeling of skepticism and remorse for expired domain names and this is true when you consider the low probability of selling it for a decent price. However, the fact remains that some of the good expired domain names do possess very good value, while a number of others can bring you unexpected riches and dividends as well!

Here are a few guidelines and suggestions that can help you understand know the immense potentialities of owing your expired domain:

a) Increasing frequency of unsolicited offers to buy an expired domain: If you receive a number of unsolicited offers, then you have a great opportunity to sell one of your domains. It also clearly shows and exhibits that someone is really looking for your name! It is also the right time to fix a good price for the domain on request and sell it off immediately, when you perceive that the selling price is just right.

b) The nature of the domain name extension: Do you have a dotcom extension name with you? Generally, a dotcom will have a higher asking price, when compared to other extensions. A good dotcom expired domain name will have a good prospect of selling at a very high price.

c) The length of the domain name: Shorter is always the better! Shorter name the better will be your chances of selling it to prospective buyers. If you have a shorter expired domain at your disposal, you can always bargain for a better price.

d) Do you have a hyphenated expired domain at your disposal? Hyphens may help you retain the clarity of the domain name. However, they can seriously reduce the real market value. If you own one with a hyphen in between the letters or words, then the perceived market value will be much lower.

e) If your expired domain name contains any misspellings or syntax errors, then you may find it very tedious to sell that domain. Above all, there are chances that you may get into trademark and copyright violation and infringement issues.

f) If you have an expired domain contain a singular word, then the prospects of selling that domain becomes very brighter. On the other hand, an expired domain name with plural words will have little commercial value.

g) Prefixes and suffixes will hurt the real selling value. Never ever attempt to buy one that comes with a prefix or a suffix.

If you are thinking of collecting or selling an existing expired domain names, then ensure that you are learning more about the real potentialities and prospects of them.

John Khu is an author and also a seasoned professional with vast experience in expired domain name business. He is the owner of the path breaking web site called http://www.expireddomainsecret.com/ which provides complete and up-to-date information on expired domains and their eternal secrets.

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Domain Registry of America - Domain Name Hijacking

I keep getting these letters in the mail at least once every other week notifying me that the domain name that I registered is about to expire. This letter looks very official and it is emblazoned with a graphic logo that depicts the American flag at the very top of the letter. Also at the top reads the words "Domain Name Expiration Notice"

This letter is strategically made to look like an invoice, complete with line items that spell out how long I have until my domain name expires and how much it will cost me to register my domain name for another year. It even gives me the chance to register my domain name for up to five years at a discounted price.

To most this letter would seem like an awesome reminder and even a better way to make sure I don't miss out on keeping this domain name secure for my current and future use. Unfortunately that is not the case.

I currently have 3 of my clients who were so inclined to take this company up on its offer to renew their domain names. Here is the best part, two of the three really thought this company was officially in charge of registering their soon to expire domain name so they proceeded to pay for three years in advance.

What my unsuspecting client didn't realize is that they were tricked into paying more than three times the price for registering their domain name to a company that had no control whatsoever in whether or not it expired. Instead of paying less than $30.00 for three years of registration they paid $30.00 per year to register just one domain name.

Once they paid this money, they automatically gave this company the right to become their new registrar of their domain name. We then had to go through and act of congress to get the domain names back but the money they spent would not be returned.

Why didn't they get their money back you may ask? Well the letter that they recieved was again made to look like an invoice but it clearly said in bold letters "This notice is not a bill" It also had some fine print on the back of the letter that spelled out what was going to happen if you paid for this domain name to be registered with their service.

Here are the steps involved in not getting your domain name Hijacked.

1. When registering a domain name make sure you remember the name of the registrar. Whether it's Godaddy.com, Networksolution.com or Proemailaddress.com make a note of the date you register the domain name and put in on your calendar.

2. If you cannot remember who your domain name registrar is or you own the domain name but your webmaster registered it for you, do a whois search of your domain. Going to http://www.whois.net/ will allow you to put your domain name in their search box and find out when the domain name is set to expire.

3. If someone else registers your domain name, say your webmaster/web developer make sure they put your email address as the one that will be notified when the domain name is set to expire.

Most domain name registrars send you multiple reminder emails months in advance notifing you that your domain name is set to expire.

4. This may be something you may not want to do but I highly recommend doing it if you are given the option when registering your domain name. Register it for more than one year. Some registrars like proemailaddress.com will allow 10 year registrations of domain names.

Jeffrey Alexander Brathwaite, aka "JB" is an Internet Technology Coach, Speaker, Trainer and Broadcast Email Expert. http://www.broadcastemailexpert.com. JB prides himself on helping small to medium size businesses that are frustrated with dealing with the Internet. If you are having problems trying to deal with Email marketing and distribution, Search Engine marketing or just getting your own website off the ground the right way. Please go to our website http://www.2thenextlevel.com

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