Archive for the ‘Domains’ Category

Select a Domain Name That Boosts SEO

Jul
29
2010

There are two ways of selecting a domain name. You can choose the domain name first and use it as your organization name or vice versa. Most of the old organizations prefer to retain their brand name in their URL.

Many startup organizations select their URL first and then name their organization. This is because of the non availability of the perfect URL.

Your website URL is your online identity that is visible to millions of internet users. It impacts your organization name, website seo and future business endeavors. All these factors should be taken into consideration before selecting a URL.

Boost Your Website SEO with the Following Domain Selection Tips:

1. Choose a Keyword Rich Domain Name:

A keyword rich URL is a bonus for any website. It helps boost ranking in the search engine results pages. If the desired keyword rich URL is not available, you can add a prefix or a suffix to the keyword. A URL which contains a combination of keywords helps in drawing more traffic to the website.

c. Make sure that you are not infringing another organizations brand name.

d. If your organization belongs to a particular region, Purchase a geo specific URL. This helps in capturing the target audience.

5. Purchase an Aged Domain Name:

Always check the background of an aged domain before purchasing it. Aged domains can give your website seo a good boost.

Tips for purchasing an aged URL:

a. Check the domain age. This will give you an idea of how old the domain is. Google gives a lot of importance to aged domains in search results pages. Your chances of ranking well improve with the age of the domain name.

b. Note the page rank of the aged domain. As the page rank increases, the importance of the domain increases.

c. Calculate the number of backlinks of the aged domain. An aged domain should have a few hundred backlinks. If the backlinks are not sufficient or are of poor quality, move on to purchasing another aged domain.

A good domain name should not exceed 67 characters. Look for a reputed service provider to host your URL. Register your URL for a few years instead of one year. Your website will leave a good and lasting impression on Google.

About the Author: Debbie A. Everson, CEO SearchMar.com, experienced SEO Consultants and Search Engine Optimization Agency to over 2,000 small businesses. Learn about search engine marketing, pay-per-click, social bookmarking, and email marketing at our SEO Blog. Follow us on Twitter @searchmar or call 866.885.6263 to speak to an SEO Consultant.

Posted in Domains, SEO | Comments Off

Registering Your Domain Name

Jul
10
2008

Registering a domain name is a quick process that often seems complex. It is far easier than most general web surfers suspect. You can quickly learn how to register a domain name with a little forethought.

You need little know-how to register a domain name. Your first task is to find a company that will let you perform a search in what is known as a “WHOIS” database. These databases contains all registered domain names worldwide. Domains that are currently in use will offer the name of the individual or company with ownership. The WHOIS will also tell you if your desired domain is free.

Domain names are an evolving aspect of the web. The development of new extensions has created many wonderful Internet opportunities. Extensions are the letters at the end of a URL, or web address. The most popular extensions are “.com”, “.net” and “.org.” Webmasters can find additional extensions, such as:

* .biz * .info * .tv * .us

New extensions allow webmasters to use the precise domain names they want. Potential webmasters are often disappointed to see the name and extension they want is already taken. It may belong to a rival company or may have fallen victim to a common practice of reselling.

Domain name reselling is where a company purchases a large number of generic domain names in order to raise the resell price and turn a profit. It is not recommended to buy a domain name that is being virtually scalped. Webmasters can find many other name/extension combinations available at the standard price.

The added bonus of these new extensions are many. It is common to find multiple domain registrar companies offering discounted prices on domain names with these new extensions. This will lower the costs of starting a website and give you a unique slant for your domain.

The best domain registrar companies will be established. They should have a good rating at independent websites. The domain registrar should offer constant customer support and a variety of payment options. It is a trend amid many registrars to offer “credit card only” services. It is best to avoid these practices. Your registrar and your hosting company should both be eager for your business. This means providing good service and accommodating your payment needs. The credit only sites tend to be lax in their customer service and will not readily work with clients who must change payment information. They have a company infrastructure that automates as many functions as possible.

You will move on to the registration process when you have selected your company. Resources are available across the Internet to help if you have specific concerns. Domain name registrars are the record keepers of the Internet. Your registrar sells you your domain name and sends out information that your respective domain has been purchased. You will need to pay for your domain annually. Many companies offer services that allow you to purchase a number of years into the future.

The checkout process for buying a domain name is much like buying anything else online. You enter your standard information and payment information. Your receipt is sent via e-mail.

You will need to wait for a period of 48 hours before you can begin publishing your domain. This is to allow adequate time for a process known as propagation. When your domain name propagates, it travels to WHOIS databases worldwide and submits the data that the domain name is in use. It really is a simple process. Even if you don’t know how to register a domain name, you should be confident. It’s an easy process.

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About the Author: Doug Milton – More information on Registering domain names is available at http://www.domainnamehostingblog.com/.

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6 Qualities of a Good Domain Name

Jun
26
2008

Choosing a good domain name is crucial to the success or failure of your business. You may wonder how something so small and slight could have an impact on your business, but the best way to compare this is to think about how important location is to an offline business? If you do not have a good location, you are likely not going to get many visitors. The same holds true for a good domain name as well.

Here, you will discover the six qualities that a good domain name must have to ensure maximum success.

1.) Memorable

A good domain name must be memorable. Yes, we have the option of bookmarking a site that we enjoy; however, the hard truth is that many people do not take advantage of bookmarking. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that your domain name is one that is easy to remember and makes an impact. It should be easy, memorable, and straight forward.

Avoid complexity and it is usually a good idea to avoid initials in most cases. The only exception to this rule would be if the letters represented the website name or business and was still easy to remember.

2.) Short and Sweet

Twenty characters is the maximum that you should use for a good domain name, ten is even better. A long and complicated domain name is not going to help you. Your best bet is to keep it short and sweet. A great domain name is less than ten characters; a good domain name is less than twenty characters. A bad domain name goes over twenty characters.

3.) Be Choosy On Your Extension

There are several domain extensions available to you such as .com, .net, .org, .tv, .info, .gov and so on. However, some of these work better than others and are more memorable at the same time. It is important to understand that some extensions also have restrictions such as .gov is reserved specifically for government websites. The .com domain name extension is the best by far, because it is the most widely used.

The .net extension is the second best, but be prepared most people will type .com before they will .net if they cannot remember which extension you use. The type of extension you use might also have a bearing on the type of website. Some people have come to expect certain things when a particular extension. For example, .org is typically used by not-for-profit organization and educational websites. The .info extensions are generally used for informational websites.

4.) Spelling Means Everything

Having a difficult to spell domain name could cause you some trouble. Again, many do not even make use of bookmarks; therefore, if your domain name is hard to spell, they may end up at a competitor’s website.

A good domain name contains only words that are easy to pronounce, have a good combination of words or letters that are used in every day language, and does not contain foreign words that may be difficult to non-native speakers.

5.) Tells a Story

A good domain name should be descriptive and tell a story. In other words, when your visitors, customers, or potential customers see your domain name they should instantly be able to tell what they are going to find. For instance, if it is your business, a business name is good.

6.) Avoid Fancy Symbols

It is never a good idea to use numbers or hyphens within your domain name. Even if your domain name is memorable, many people will not pay attention to the symbols, which could lead them to someone else’s website.

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About the Author: Joseph Nyamache has the worst domain name. Learn not to make the same mistakes at expired domain names blog.

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The ABCs of Domain Names

Mar
27
2008

Everything on the Internet starts with a domain name!

I know that may come off as a bit over reaching – but its true. From email to news, search, video or anything else on the Internet – you have to know where you’re going which is only achieved by a domain name.

The ABC’s of domain names, which as a title may come off as a little corny to you, is an exercise that makes you think about your industry or business, what you’re doing in it, and how you go about doing what you do as it relates to domain names. The use of the ABC’s format is to provide a simple, back to basics approach to deliver fundamental concepts that provoke thoughts, ideas and questions on domain names and how they are a part of your world.

So, whatever all of that means – lets dive into the ABC’s of domain names and find their relevance in your line or work, personal life, hobbies, educational background, experience or special areas of interest to see what jumps out and comes naturally to you:

A: Advertising – domain names offer the perfect venue to advertise your product or services or to provide potential revenue by domain parking and/or affiliate programs.

B: Branding – the brand is in the name. Having a great targeted domain name can really build a brand, or can actually be the brand (eg: Google.com)

C: Community – the Internet is all about an interconnected community. Through domain names, you create a real destination and an identity for what can become a community.

D: Direct Search – having a generic word based domain name is your best path to direct search traffic. Direct Search is here to stay and will likely take an increasing share of the overall search marketplace. Direct search bypasses the likes of yahoo.com and google.com as the user types in the destination site directly into their browser (ie: www.computers.com).

E: Ecommerce – want to conduct business online – you need to start with one primary thing – a domain name. Ecommerce is one of the leading uses of the Internet.

F: Friends & Family – connect with your friends and family with domain names – either by email, your favorite websites, or photo sharing sites and videos, etc.

G: Global - synonymous with the Internet – domain names (particularly .com) have mass broad appeal on a global basis, with global potential.

H: High Returns – where else can you buy a piece of virtual real-estate for $8.00 and sell it within a matter of weeks or months for over $1000? Fund.com just sold for $9.99 Million in March of 2008.

I: Investment - domain names are appreciating more than any investment for the price. Similar to investing in stocks, bonds, real estate or insurance – domain names offer what I believe to be stable long lasting appreciation with the potential to create astonishing returns. Want to learn more about domain investing – you can always check out www.domainprofitsbook.com.

J: Justify – Justify your web presence and online business with a great domain name that demonstrates who you are and what you do.

K: Keywords – domain names can be based upon major key words for your industry or target market. Just the same, the key words you use in your Internet marketing can be generated from the domain name you choose and how it relates to your target industry/product/service/noun/verb.

L: Localization & Location – targeting niche audiences by location and a specific geography has proved to be a very strong, identifiable marketing opportunity for anybody online. Embracing localization for your domain investment objectives is a great path to consider.

M: Monetization – making money and creating multiple sources and streams of income are the cornerstones to the potential and reason why people buy savvy domain names.

N: New Markets to seize – new products and services are always being launched, just as new companies and markets are being formed. Finding with a good strong domain name to capture the essence of your business or target market for your online presence is always a great starting point.

O: Organization - a domain name is the perfect way to identify with your organization. Whether it’s a product, service, or brand – your domain name is your face on the Internet.

P: Profits – Domain are a great way to make money and profits. Invest wisely and you can find yourself with a great windfall.

Q: Quest – Like any business venture, you are on a quest to explore, learn and make money.

R: Revenue – domain names offer a myriad of ways to generate revenues. There are numerous ways and avenues to generate revenues with domain names, however, in some cases are closely held ideas and resources. Becoming educated about domain names and being focused on creating a long lasting business is a great path towards generating revenue.

S: Search Engines – Search engines are the gateway to choices on the Internet and essentially, a directory of domains classified by the type of information, product or service they offer. Search engines are a powerful marketing tool and a source of traffic for the domain name owner.

T: Technology – simply, without technology, there are no domains, websites, search engines, email or the like. The beauty of domain names is that you really don’t have to understand or learn too much technology to get started, or to make money.

U: Unique Users - people coming to your website/domains generate traffic. The more unique users that visit your website – the more traffic they create. The more traffic – the greater the value. The best way to create long lasting value with domain names is creating a venue where a consistent and growing base of unique users visit your domain name/website.

V: Virtual – Domain names are virtual real estate. Some represent ocean-front property while others can represent sky scrapers, apartments or vacant land in the middle of a barren desert. Build your portfolio of virtual real estate for the longer term or flip your domain name for a quick sale and profits.

W: World Wide Web – The world wide web and its beginning started with domain names and/or their underlying numerical identities. With the advent of the world wide web, email, search engines and the increasing convergence of communications and media – business and industry has created high demand and appreciating values for good domain names.

X: The X Factor – there is a mystique and certain unknowns regarding the true value of domain names, how to create revenue and profits, and what strategies are best to create traffic to your domain name or website. The more knowledgeable and prepared you are to dive into the domain name world – the better off you are in managing the X Factor when it rears its head.

Y: You – buying, selling, and owning domain names is a reflection upon you, what your goals are, where your interests lie, and how you want to make money with this virtual real estate. You need to decide what your objectives are and how you are most comfortable in approaching your investment and dedication towards making money with domain names.

Z: Zeal – approach your domain activities with passion and enthusiasm. The more positive your thinking and focus is with domain names – the better you will be able to manage it, be prepared, and have an open mind to seize new opportunities and make money with your domains.

We hope you enjoyed this article and find that each time you read it you take away something new and different that can add value to your world of domain names.

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About the Author: This article is written by Chris Kern. Chris has been a serial entrepreneur, corporate finance specialist and domainer for the past 13 years and is the author of the authoritative resource book on domain name investing “How To Make Money With Domain Names” which can be found online at: http://www.DomainProfitsBook.com. “Everything On The Internet Starts With A Domain Name” is a Service Mark of Chris Kern.

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Cutts On Paid Links, PageRank, Subdomains

Dec
13
2007

The wild debate about Google’s increasingly hardline stance against paid links looks like Wimbledon, with Matt Cutts taking on Rich Skrenta, while Danny Sullivan volleys against Michael Gray.

Internet Drama, in the form of the ongoing paid links debate, received a couple of new entries to fan the flames. Webmasters see paid links as a way to boost their search engine presence against the competition. Google perceives paid links as a mechanism that devalues their core organic search results.

Rich Skrenta posted his stream-of-consciousness thoughts about the paid link debate. He said “PageRank wrecked the web,” a reference to part of Google’s model of weighting search results based on inbound links.

“Links used to be for human navigation,” said Skrenta. “Google made them count for money and they’re ruined now. Nofollow isn’t going to put it back the way it was.”

Cutts answered from the comments, defending Google’s position:

I truly believe any successful system (be it eBay, Amazon, Usenet, Wikipedia, DMOZ, or government spending) will attract people who try to optimize for that system or even game it. When Google came onto the scene with its new way of ranking search results in 1999/2000, it was inevitable that people would try to optimize for Google and link-based reputation.

Tools like rel=nofollow give site owners a method to decide whether to flow PageRank at a link-level of granularity.

Over on Graywolf’s blog, Gray called Google crybabies over the paid links issue.

“The problem is you figured a way to make money off of a link based analysis, and now you’re upset and ridding the waaaaaaaaambulance when other people move in on your cash cow,” said Gray. “You feel like you have some god given right to be the only one who makes money off of it.”

Sullivan answered back in the comments:

If we’re talking crybabies, then include the website owners that have tapped into the PageRank economy and now are upset with the Federal Reserve Of Google has decided to cut interest rates.

Hey, newsflash – Google’s an independent company that at least in the United States has a court-backed decision that says the First Amendment gives it a constitutionally protected right to do whatever the hell it wants with the PageRank meter.

So you built your business around selling ads linked to PageRank, and now you’re upset when Google pulls the plug? Suck it up – the writing’s been on the wall that this WILL happen (not could) since 2003, and all Google has really done is finally made it more visible that many sites selling PageRank weren’t actually passing along credit at all.

The point about Google being an independent company summarizes the whole paid link issue, though we understand it will continue to be a sore spot for many. It’s Google’s game, and they can change the rules. Betting that they would continue to favor outsiders as much as Google favors itself looks like it was a poor wager.

About the Author:
David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

Posted in Domains, Google, SEO | 1 Comment »

Domain Taste Test Sweet For Small Business

Aug
16
2007

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the quasi-independent organization that oversees domain and registry practices, have launched an investigation into the practice of “domain tasting.”

Domain tasting occurs when registrants take advantage of the grace period offered by ICANN when registering new domains in order to test profitability. Registrants have five days to finalize the purchase, and if they decide against it during the Add Grace Period (AGP), they are refunded registration fees.

Within that period, domain tasters will measure the popularity of the site to see if the potential revenue will surpass the yearly registration fee (approximately $6).

Six dollars seems like an innocuous amount in isolation, but when this is manipulated on larger scales, it can have big impacts. For example, a domainer can buy up 10,000 domains, slap AdSense ads on them and monitor their profitability for four days.

If 200 of those made-for-AdSense sites show a positive profitability, the domainer can return the other 9,800 and repeat the process. This can go on, obviously, indefinitely.

It may be safe to say that smaller, less inventive (read: less weasely) business owners don’t think in gaming terms. They have an idea for a business, a domain name they like, and then register the site without even realizing there is a grace period to begin with.

But it may have larger implications than just bulk domainers being clever enough to leverage a bureaucratic loophole. Manipulation like this can affect organic rankings in the search results, and most likely has a direct impact on the cost per click of paid advertisements.

And there’s where the smaller businesses (i.e., not so much the search engines) have a problem.

ICANN’s seems to not like this practice, as it does tend to screw with their numbers (and revenues), but ICANN being the quasi-governmental entity that it is, it has to go through the proper channels before cracking down.

They put out the following notice over the weekend:

In view of the increase in domain tasting…the GNSO Council recently considered an Issues Report on Domain Tasting and resolved to form an ad hoc group for further fact-finding on the effects of this practice. The ad hoc group has prepared these questions to assist in gathering facts and opinions, while inviting both qualitative and quantitative input.

The fact-finding mission includes some interesting questions. The questionnaire asks: which industries benefit and which ones suffer; whether there is a security and stability issue associated; what are the reasons for the practice.

But more importantly to those in the domain game, the inquiry seeks guidance on just how ICANN should handle the situation. Suggested options are as follows:

A) eliminating the AGP so that domain registration fees are non-refundable between registry and registrar;

B) making the ICANN annual transaction fee (currently 0.20 USD per year) apply to names deleted during the AGP, or to a significant portion of them;

C) imposing registry ‘excess deletion fees’ charged to registrars for disproportionate deletes (for example in .org, PIR registry charges 0.05 USD per deleted domain if more than 90% of domains are deleted in a given time period).

This suggests that something will be done about domain tasting, and that earlier questions merely seek additional justifications. And that will leave a bad taste in the mouths of a few.

But that few will most likely be the ones making a tidy profit by gaming the system.

“If ICANN did away with the five-day grace period on bulk buys only,” suggests Susan Coppersmith, Director of Sales for iEntry, Inc., the publisher of WebProNews, “it would possibly help clean up organic search – could actually help the traditional small business owner be found a little easier. I think it would also make the quality of the click better in paid search campaigns.”

About the Author:
Jason Lee Miller is a WebProNews editor and writer covering business and technology.

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