10 Tips For Accurate Domain Registration

You should think about registering a domain name before you actually do it. Many people come up with a catchy name, or feel the need to lock in their name, and rush out to buy a domain name. But there are several things to consider in your domain name. After all, your domain name is an extension of your business and your image—don't you want to project the right one?

These ten tips will help you to pick just the right domain name for you and/or your business.

You should think about registering a domain name before you actually do it. Many people come up with a catchy name, or feel the need to lock in their name, and rush out to buy a domain name. But there are several things to consider in your domain name. After all, your domain name is an extension of your business and your image—don't you want to project the right one?

These ten tips will help you to pick just the right domain name for you and/or your business.

1. The extension you select makes a statement to user about where you are and who you are aiming to attract. For example, .co.uk tells people you are operating out of the United Kingdom, and .ca tells them you are operating out of Canada. If that is important to you, then register accordingly. If you would rather give them impression of being a global company, or based in the US, then pick a .com name.

2. Use a reputable registration service. Unfortunately, some domain registration services are little more than a scam. They are only middlemen. You tell them the domain name you want, and they register it, for a fee higher than you would pay! In the worst case, they actually register the domain name using their information, so it becomes very difficult for you to do anything with your domain name. 

Do some background research into the company before you register a domain with them.

3. Use keywords in your domain name. These will sometimes help search engines in ranking your website. For example, if you sell gourmet dog treats online and from your own store, but your business name is "Laura's Homemade Snacks," you might consider two domain names: one for your business name, and one for keywords. In this case you might select "gourmetdogtreats.com" as your domain name to represent to the search engines and searchers what you are about.

4. Short names are easier to spell correctly. What's easier to remember and type in: gourmetdogtreats.com, or laurashomemadeandgourmetdogsnacks.com?

5. Avoid trademarks from other companies. Companies have been known to sue website owners for copyright and trademark infringement, so be very careful if you try to play off an existing business. Make sure that you register a domain name in good faith, and think about the possibilities and connections that might exist between you and another business.

6. Avoid hyphens. Sometimes you must use hyphens because the straightforward name is gone. In that case, a better idea is to come up with a completely different name. The problem with hyphens is that users may end up visiting the wrong site. If you try to register gourmetdogtreats.com but it is already taken, you might choose to register gourmet-dog-treats.com instead. But you run the risk of someone trying to find you typing in the first address. This means you lose business. Better to try and register a name like homemadedogtreats.com instead.

7. Consider buying several different extensions so no one else can infringe on your success by registering a similar name. For example, if you register homemadedogtreats.com, you might also take .net and .org (with the same name), since these are the most popular extensions after .com. That way, no one can register homemadedogtreats.net and try to piggyback of your success.

8. Look for companies that offer telephone support. If you have trouble with your domain name, you need to be able to contact the company and talk to someone. If there is no phone contact, that may be a sign that you are not dealing with a reputable company.

9. Look for accreditations (i.e., ICANN). Reputable companies will seek out accreditations because they know it boosts their business image to be part of a group that enforces good business ethics and practices. Failure to have an accreditation does not necessarily mean the company is bad, but it could mean that. If the company you are looking at does not have an accreditation, make sure you check for other things like phone support, payment procedures, etc.

10. After you find a company you like, do a search on Google for "domain registration." Does your company of choice appear in the first couple of pages of results, or just via Adwords? If the latter, they may not have been around for a long time and may not be reputable. A legitimate company with a solid track record will be ranked in Google's search engine, especially within the first couple of pages. Beware of registration companies that you can only find in Adwords.

These ten tips will help you as you seek to register your domain name.

Cheap Web Hosting - Wide Selection

In addition to the many conveniences and headaches brought on by our increasing reliance on the world wide web, this new form of communication, advertising and commerce has brought with it  an altered mindset for the new consumer; we want it fast, we want it now, we want it perfect.  From small ecommerce web sites to large organizations, reliable hosting is the key to ensure that customers and viewers see the same site at the same speed every time they visit their favorites.  Reliable web hosting services provide the space, along with support (often 24/7) and the all important bandwidth.  Reliable hosting is key to  success in that it gives the consumer a consistent experience while preventing down time,  that could cost the company in question hundreds, and maybe thousands in revenue.

There is a fine selection of reliable web-hosting services online.  Often these services host in a specific region.  There is a multitude of web sites on the internet advertising the services of one or another reliable hosting company.  Luckily, there are also a couple out there to help you choose what is right for your company.  Netcraft and Web hosting Inspector are two examples of such sites.

Web hosting Inspector provides a comprehensive spreadsheet listing independent test results, awards, rankings services and prices for various reliable web hosters.  Though helpful, Web hosting Inspector feels a lot like paid advertising.  A better choice is Netcraft.  Netcraft supplies a lot of the same info as Web hosting Inspector, but also gives in depth analysis regarding down time, a fate worse than death to any e-commerce entrepreneur. Very often, these companies are run from private homes, a low cost, high return way for the internet savvy to make an income.  However, the very “under the radar” nature of some of these businesses makes it all the more crucial that sites such as Netcraft exist, providing checks and balances to an otherwise turbulent industry.

You cannot have a company on the internet without a reliable hosting provider, with a team of dependable customer service.  Their services are important to keep your e-commerce site consistent; visually consistent,  service oriented and most importantly, consistently lucrative.

As the use of the Internet increases every day, with more people than ever before utilizing the World Wide Web to find products and services they  need, reliable web site hosting becomes a bigger issue.  Consumers will not continue using companies who have web sites that are slow loading or are constantly having technical difficulties and down time.  It could be the death of a growing online company to have a site that’s unavailable for any legthy time frame because of a server problem.  The choice of a reliable web site hosting company is then imperative.

Online companies along with individuals will want to select a reliable web hosting company that also offers great customer service, fair and competitive pricing plus first class management. There are some suggestions you will want to remember when looking for a reliable web hosting company.  If you are seeking quality and reliability you will want to do a some research before you make your  final decision.

When you are ready to start a web site either for business or personal needs,  you need to find a reliable hosting service.  The reason for this is because that will be the place you keep the web pages for viewing by consumers and possible business clients.  If you are just starting with an online presence either as an e-commerce venture or even as an individual you want to first understand the basics of web hosting.  A server is a computer that gets the requests for pages or files from the Internet.  When someone types in a domain name a server somewhere is accessed.  It then shows the requested pages or files to the computer requesting the information.  Another way to look at a reliable web host is, they are a landlord renting you space on their computer to others.  You then have a choice between shared hosting or dedicated hosting.  The difference is evident in the name.  A shared host shares it’s server with more than one client and a dedicated host has one client on it’s server.  Dedicated servers normally are used by e-commerce sites that require a large amount of space disk space and more personal management plus cost a little more.

As the Internet is growing so is the number of companies offering hosting services and the more competitive the market is becoming.  Some offer inexpensive monthly prices, some even offer free hosting.  As a business free web hosting may sound like a great solution however; having a website that is also shows advertising that may or may not compete with your online business is not a very good idea.  In general a free web host does not have the quality of customer service a paid reliable web hosting company would have.  These servers are also normally crowded with personal web pages and have limited options.  Many have technical issues that may include down times which could have a negative effect on your new business.  These are all factors you need to consider.

Paying  more for a reliable web hosting company is a better option.  You want to make a good entrance into the web and if you are already established you want to keep your appearance and your clients experiences positive.  Another issue to think about is future expansion.  A reliable web hosting company can offer a multitude of services and packages to grow as you do.  When choosing a reliable web hosting company think of it as a long term business arrangement.

Before looking into reliable hosting options make a list of what is going to be important to you.  This not only in regards to the web site, but to other aspects such as budgets, what you want to accomplish, short and long term goals.  All these factors need to be considered.  Sit down with other companies about their relationships involving several different reliable web hosting companies.  This may give you a great place to start your search.

We mentioned budgets which most start up businesses need to deal with.  A word of caution here, a reliable web host may not necessarily be the cheapest but you will get what you pay for.  Reliable web hosting can be found at a price to fit just about every imaginable budget.

Cheap Domain Transfers

You may decide to transfer your domain for not getting adequate services for the money you are spending. A domain transfer is in effect a domain registrar transfer as it means the transfer of the name from one registrar to another. Nowadays you have got more than a hundred registrars to choose from.

For transfer of domain, you should apply to the gaining registrar, as it is responsible for the operation. It is the duty of the gaining registrar to ensure that the application for transfer by the domain owner is a valid one. The validation usually is in the form of an email sent to the admin contact that requires a reply. In some cases, however, signed faxes are used. Losing registrars these days may resort to 'double-checking.' In this case, they will perform additional security checks if you seek transfer from them. The losing registrars may ask you to reply to an email, or dispatch a notarized letter.

There are a large number of registrars that provide cheap rates for transfer of domain names. Most of them charge less than $10 for the first year and adds another additional year to your present registration term. Moreover, many of them have special prices for bulk domain transfers if you have more than one name to transfer.

Some of the registrars offer complete email for all new domain registrations, transfers and renewals. Get your own personalized email address and 25MB total storage. They are absolutely free. If the transfer fails for one reason or the other, they will refund your fee. The rate of discount sometimes depends on the domain you want to register because some domain extensions are costlier than others.

GoDaddy, TopBusinessDomains, LuckyRegister, IndiaInternets, Domain Names help4u, 2CreateAWebsite, Namecheap, and RegisterFly are some of the places where you can look for cheap domain transfer.

Cheap and Reliable Web Hosting Companies

Choosing a reliable web hosting company can become a daunting task if you are not sure of your expectations. There are some essentials to look for in a good web hosting company before making you’re your choice.  It is necessary to ask yourself the following questions before continuing to freeze on a web hosting provider.

1) How much money is involved in getting your site up and running? There are affordable and reliable hosting providers who can make your site function, usually in 24 hrs.. Website hosting may not be the only influential factor for your site expense though. Others might include: SEO, Marketing etc...

2) How much space will your website need? It’s important to make sure if your site requires large database storage or simple static site with the use of less space.

3) Bandwidth should also be a criteria.  If you run large files through your site every day, you may require more bandwidth. And for a static site, providing just the information about the company and contact details, you can go for lesser bandwidth.

4) Make sure, if your site requires any special software to run scripts correctly on your website. Check with the website hosting company before you make your choice.

5) Does your site require a database? It is wise to check with the hosting provider, if they can host a database and some providers host only certain types. If your website requires a database, check all the requirements with the web hosting provider.

Well, after you have asked yourself the questions above, visualize your site and its purposes.  Have a neat navigation chart with links from home page to all internal pages and so on. Write down the function of each link on the website. It is better to work on it twice even three times so that when it is actually set up on your system, you and your   hosting provider won't be surprised by any additional requirements which may arise that you have missed.

Its always wise to research multiple web hosting companies before you make your final decision. Go through their server software, technical requirements and hardware. Compare with other web hosting companies before you make up your mind.

Lastly, go through various forums pertaining to website hosting  providers, you will find an abundance of good information.

All About The DNS Domain Name System

We all know that in the world of domain names today, the presence of the DNS domain name system is very much significant. It is interesting to know that the acronym DNS actually stands for Domain Name System/Service/Server. However, I will be using the term DNS domain name system here to provide you with a clear knowledge about the meaning of this particular thing.

The DNS domain name system is actually a powerful tool that contributes a great part in the domain name process. It is often described as an internet service that translates or transforms the domain names into an IP or Internet Protocol address.

Aside from knowing such basic function of the DNS domain name system, it is also interesting to learn that a basic possession of the DNS domain name system is caching. This property takes place in situations when a server welcomes information about a mapping, it caches that information. Therefore, with such function, a later question for similar mapping can use the cached output, and will not result to additional questions to other servers. And generally, the DNS domain name system applies the caching to optimize the cost of the search. But how does the DNS domain name system caching works?

In terms of caching, it is very nice to know that every server has a cache for currently applied names along with records of where the mapping data for a particular name was taken. So when a particular client is asking the server to determine a certain domain name, the DNS domain name system then does check if it has the power for a domain name, and if it does, the system doesn’t need to cache the information. However, if it has no authority for a domain name, the DNS domain name system then checks its cache whether the domain name has been resolved currently, and if yes, the DNS domain name system reports the caching data to its clients.

There are some instances that the DNS domain name system cache can be examined when the system cached the data once, but didn’t adjust it.  Due to the reason that the information about a certain domain name can be changed, the server may have inaccurate data in its caching table.  There is a certain value known as the Time to Live or known as TTL which is applied when to age the information. So whenever an authority responds to a request for a domain name, it then involves a Time to Live value in the answer which indicates how long it assures the binding to linger.

5 Ways To Think Up A Great Domain Name That's Still Available

I'd be a zillionaire if I earned a dollar each time someone complains that all the great domain names are already taken. It's just not true, however. Even in a highly competitive industry, you can think up original, appealing domain names for businesses by using naming tactics that few people use, such as these:

1. Focus on results. What is the outcome or end result that people want to have from buying a certain product or service? How do they feel when they have finished the transaction? My own company name, Named At Last, falls into this category.

2. Look for puns. Make a list of relevant keywords, say each out loud and play around with the sounds. Puns are much less likely than other kinds of names to have been registered because their component parts are not actual words. For instance, the name Sitesfaction, for a web design company, was a finalist in our first naming contest - and an available domain at that time despite tens of thousands of web design firms in the English-speaking world.

3. Think slang. Let your imagination and memory fly around for pleasing-to-the-ear expressions. As of today, the domain BoyOhBoyToys.com for an online toy store is unregistered, as is a domain for its sister store AttaGirlToys.com.

4. Go symbolic. Suppose you're an expert on the horror genre and want to start a paid online community for horror fans. Horrorific.com, horrorgate.com and Horrornet.com are all taken, but as of today, the less obvious and more vivid FrightOwl.com is not.

5. Vary real words. "Google's name is a play on the word googol, which refers to the number 1 followed by one hundred zeroes," says the Press Center of the world's most successful search engine. "The word was coined by the nine-year-old nephew of mathematician Edward Kasner," it continues - providing another hint for creative naming: consult a kid.

Happy Naming!

7 Strategies to Choosing an Effective Domain Name

A friend of mine calls me the "Domain Queen", since at one time I owned around 50 domains.  I've let many of them go (I own only 22 now) as my business has changed and developed, or I've just simply lost interest in the project.  I'm often asked how I go about picking effective domain names, so as the "Domain Queen", I'll share my thought process with you.

1.What's the purpose of the domain name? Are you planning on using this name as the main website for your company, as a one page sales letter site, or squeeze page site?  If the domain name will be your primary company website, try and find the closest version to your company name that you can.  If you're just starting out, choose your business name and domain name with care.  When I started my virtual assistant practice, I chose the name SOHO Business Solutions, as I thought everyone knew that SOHO stood for Small Office, Home Office.  I think I've run into 2 people in my 7 years in business who knew what that acronym stood for. If I had it to do over again for this business, I would choose a business name and domain name with virtual assistant in the title, like InternetMarketingVirtualAssistant.com, a name I just recently purchased.

If the purpose of a domain is for a one-page sales letter site or a squeeze page, think ahead as to how you might promote this site.  Because content is king in today's internet marketing world, there's little chance that either of these types of sites would be picked up by the search engines on key words.  Therefore, your best promotion strategy is PPC, or "pay per click", where you're buying keywords for placement in search engines.  If you're buying keywords from Google, for example, the paid listings appear at the top of a search in a blue box, or down the right-hand side of your screen.  You want to be sure that the info displayed there is compelling enough to get someone to click and visit your site.  So, for example, I've created a squeeze page, GetMoreClientsOnline.com, which has a compelling solution to a common problem that my clients have, as a side door gateway to my OnlineBizCoachingCompany.com coaching website.

2.  Brainstorm a list of ideas of the problem you're trying to solve or the solution that you have.  A domain name that clearly indicates what you do, or a problem that you solve, or a solution that you have to a problem will give a visitor a fairly clear picture of what s/he'll find on your website.  What I typically do is go to my domain registrar, www.UltraNetDomains.com, and just start plugging in the names I'm brainstorming until I come up with 3 or 4 that are available.  If the domain name that you type in isn't available, the service will come up with 10 or so alternates for you to consider.  I found this alternate listing quite helpful recently in picking the name of an article directory site that I want to create.

3.  For SEO (Search Engine Optimization) purposes, it helps to have your keywords in your domain name.  Marla Regan, who's a professional organizer, has put two keywords in her domain name, OrganizedTime.com. Retirement Coach Lin Schreiber has her keyword niche in her domain, RevolutionizeRetirement.com.  Consultant John Reddish has the desired outcome keywords in his domain, GetResults.com.  I own a domain that I haven't yet developed for house sitters, BecomeAHouseSitter.com.  Before buying your domain, make a list of keywords that someone might use to find you online.  This list could include your industry, your target market or niche, a problem your target market has, or a solution that you can offer.

4. Shorter is better, if it's to be your primary domain. I haven't always followed my own rules here, as I tend to have business names that are quite lengthy. If the domain name is going to be your primary domain where your primary email address will be housed, you want your domain name to be as short, catchy, and memorable as possible. After a few times of spelling out your lengthy email address, you'll come to appreciate the beauty of a short domain name. Your domain name can contain up to 67 letters and numbers, although I would encourage you not to have one of this length, and can contain no special characters other than hyphens.

5.  Purchase your your given name as a domain name.  I typically tell my clients not to try and brand their given name as their business name, as that takes many years, much money, and lots of hard work to have the name recognition of Oprah, for example.  However, it still pays to purchase your given name as a domain name, as well as any common misspellings of your name.  Many people think my name is Donna Gunther, with an "h" in the last name, but I've been unable to register that common misspelling of my name, as a photographer in Venice, CA, has owned in since 2000. Once you've purchased your name as a domain, you can redirect it to your primary website.  This means that when someone types in a domain, they land at the website to which you pointed that domain.  So, currently DonnaGunter.com redirects to OnlineBizCoachingCompany.com because I don't want to use my name as a website, although that might change in the future.

6. Buy the .COM version of the name if it is available.  When people hear a domain name, they "hear" .COM whether it's .NET or .BIZ or .ORG or whatever.  So, it pays to find a domain name that you like that is part of the .COM family. If you just can't get the name you want, try a hyphenated version of the .COM name.  For example, when I was seeking a domain name for my Self-Employment Coaching Gym, I really wanted SelfEmploymentSuccess.com, but it wasn't available.  However, Self-Employment-Success.com was available, so I grabbed that.  Many SEO specialists state that search engines like hyphenated names, and many online business owners use hyphenated keywords in their domain names to be more attractive to search engines. I don't have a clear answer as to the validity of this theory, so I just advocate going this route before having to resort to the .NET or .BIZ of the name you desire.  Some domain name holders may be willing to sell you the domain name that you want.  You can find out who owns a domain name by checking the WhoIs Registry at Internic, http://www.internic.net/whois.html.  For info about country codes (two-letter) top-level domains (.UK or .CA, for example) visit http://www.uwhois.com/cgi/domains.cgi?User=NoAds

7.  Consider owning other versions of your primary domain name. If you are registering the .COM version of a domain for your business, you may also want to secure variations of the name, alternate spellings, common misspellings, and the .NET and .ORG versions of your domain and repoint them to your main site to keep them out of the hands of your competitors. You can also go broke very quickly by purchasing all of these variations, so exercise some restraint in your purchases and don't go crazy with purchasing every single variation of your domain name.  For my coaching company site, I own both the OnlineBizCoachingCompany.com and OnlineBusinessCoachingCompany.com and decided that was good enough.

Your domain name is the beginning of the establishment of your presence online,  Take some time and put some thought into the process so that the domain name serves you well in the years to come, and is an effective tool for helping you get more clients online.