Most of the desirable one-word, two-word, and three-word dot com domains are taken. However, if add plurals and hyphenated terms, there is still some gold left in the domain name game. If you find that you need or want to use a phrase or a compound word with two or more words strung together, you can use hyphens. All of the search engine robots read a hyphen as a blank space so you don’t gain or lose anything when you use hyphenated words.
The most important reason for using hyphens is readability. Your keywords are ranked by robots. Your website is read by human beings. If your domain name is theanythinggoesguide.com, it would be much easier to read it as The-anything-goes-guide.com.
A domain name as well as an online business is a long term proposition. You might have to put a bit more effort into your upfront marketing efforts, but don’t be afraid to use hyphens in your domain name. If it’s easy to read, memorable and enhances your online image, hyphens can add to the lasting appeal of your domain name.
Remember that the purpose of the domain name is to make sure that customers remember your web address when they need to get information or buy a product. Anything that is easy to read easily wins out over a long jumbled mess of letters.
About the author:
Syd Johnson is the Executive Editor of RapidLingo.com, a Financial Solutions Website. This article may be freely distributed as long as the author's bio is included with an active link to http://www.rapidlingo.com
Yes, You Can Use Hyphens in Your Domain Name: It Makes Them Easy to Read.
Posted by kofary at 7:52 AM
Hiding your IP address is the best way for surfing the net anonymously. IP address is the Internet protocol address. This is the unique address of a computer on the Internet. The IP address consists of four numbers divided by periods. These numbers indicate the domain, the subnetwork, the network and the host computer. Each IP address mostly has an equivalent domain name address, spelled with four letters. It is very important to hide your IP address online. Hiding your IP address online ensures that your personal information is not leaked out to the outsiders.
By installing software in your PC, you can hide your IP address. Anonymous surfing of the web will enable you to safeguard your Internet privacy. There is nothing illegal in hiding your IP address, for the proper reasons. If you have any doubt regarding this you can always consult your legal advisor. The legal advisor can guide you about the matter.
An IP address changer can help you change your IP address when you are surfing online. The tools of IP address changer will let you change your IP address anytime by routing your Internet traffic through an overseas server. The tool has drop down box that enables the user to choose an IP address from one of the countries mentioned in the box. Hiding your IP address is the best option to protect your self from any kind of fraud.
Hiding your IP address also enables you to protect your computer from spyware. Spyware is the software that monitors the activities of the user of a computer. Some webmasters and software producers offer free downloads for your computer. Most of the free downloads are embedded with spyware. After you complete the download, the spyware gets installed in your computer and your activities can be monitored.
Hiding your IP address also gives you freedom from the constantly bombarding pop up ads in your computer. Whenever you enter a website, you will be flooded by the pop up ads. Constant flooding of the pop up ads in the computer can be very irritating and disturbing for the user. The efficiency of the computer also gets diminished due to this. Your computer can stop functioning when you have an urgent piece of work to do. Hiding your IP address will protect you from such situation.
The main advantage of hiding your IP address is that you are protected from any website that wants to monitor your online habits and activities. Hiding the IP address also makes sure that you do not receive any junk or bulk emails in your inbox. Good software for hiding your IP address will keep your computer safe from the hackers. If the software has the ability to support frequent IP address change, the chances of protecting your privacy increases.
You can also use the web-based email to send anonymous email to people. This can sometimes be necessary for your work. Your IP address is meant for your personal use and nobody has the right to misuse this without your permission.
About the author:
Author – MattGarrett http://www.GhostSurf-Pro.com
Today, more and more people are gradually opting for eBay as an alternative market site for their items. And the more people try on selling their products on eBay, the more they conclude that eBay is the best market site to sell products online.
So, for people who want to know why eBay had fast become one of the best website for selling items, here are some reasons online shoppers need to know:
1. It is not just a marketing website, it acts like a "virtual" garage sale as well.
Usually, a marketing website caters to people who need to sell their products. But most of these marketing websites only allows people who are really into business and that the products they offer should be of high quality.
However, eBay does it differently. It acts like a virtual garage sale, in which, a seller can still sell items that are already old. And so, ordinary people who wanted to make profit out of some old item that still has value or those who want to simply get rid of it, eBay is the only site that can provide such service.
2. E-Bay builds the seller's character.
There are features on eBay that serves as ways for sellers to build integrity at the same time establish rapport.
The "seller's feedback" section and the "ask a seller question" tab create a solid foundation based on trust among the eBay members. In this way, the buyer gets the feeling of security while doing transactions with the seller. Just the same, the seller's reputation is solidly established.
3. It offers a low investment.
For those who really want to make a business out of selling on eBay, they are guaranteed of a low investment capital. Actually, there is no capital that has to be paid. It's the selling fees that only need to be accomplished by the seller. If compared to charges of other marketing websites, eBay's selling fees are relatively lower.
4. The selling process on eBay is a lot simpler.
E-Bay does not require sellers' additional requirements like trade name, domain name, or any other pertinent documents being asked by other marketing websites. The only thing eBay requires a seller to do before posting an item is to create an account, after which, he or she can already start the posting the items to be sold.
5. It has an "autoresponder" system.
This means that the seller do not have to stay online most of the times just to get hold of any response from the buyers. E-Bay eliminates the hard-selling type of sale.
About the author:
David Riewe is a Publisher and Online Marketer. Visit his eBay Blog to Discover 101 Ebay Auction Tips in this FREE ebook http://www.push-button-online-income.com/ebayblog
Web Hosting & Web Development: Unravel the Technobabble and Create a Great Site
Posted by kofary at 7:50 AMIf you’ve ever browsed the World Wide Web and wondered how you could stake your claim on the Internet, like the millions of others that have done so already, then web hosting can provide you with the services to do just that. The Internet is a great way of sharing information and it is possible for you to take a portion of the web and make it your own. This article introduces the term “web hosting” and provides some useful tips for web development once you’ve obtained some web space.
What is the World Wide Web?
The “World Wide Web” is the network of computers from all over the world that communicate with each other using the HTTP protocol, a language that allows the transmission of web documents. Be careful as this term is not synonymous with the “Internet” because it is defined as a network of networks, where the computers communicate with protocols other than HTTP. The web is what you see on your Internet browser, the web pages complete with graphics, sound and other information. All this has got to come from somewhere, and this is where web hosting comes in.
Web Hosting
The information that you see from your web browser is contained in web pages. These web pages are kept on computers called web servers. Web hosting is about the storage of the web pages so that people can access them. It is possible to host your own websites yourself but the reasons stopping most people doing this is that there are issues to consider with having the right hardware and software to successfully host your web pages. Your web pages will take a certain amount of space, users will need to download each page to view them and your Internet connection needs to be fast to offer good performance to your viewers. Using specialised companies that offer web hosting capabilities on their web servers will take most of these worries away from you but you will need to choose wisely and weigh up the costs and your needs. In addition to having access to a web server, you will also need to register a domain name (for a cost) that uniquely identifies your website.
What Web Hosting Can Do For You
The most basic service that web hosting offers is that it exposes your web pages for others to see. The other services are: email capabilities that allow for email to be received and sent from your server; database capabilities that allow for large amounts of information to be updated and accessed on the web; and dynamic content which allows for users to interact with the web pages you’ve made.
Website Development
Poorly designed websites will most likely turn away users and harm the credibility of the information it contains. Thought should be put in on the way it looks and the way you intend your users to interact with the content. It is also recommended for more complex websites, a structured development process should be followed. Here is a guide to the logical steps of web development:
· Requirements Analysis: What is the purpose of the website? What content should it contain?
· Design: How should the pages be linked? What structure should they take? How should the pages interact with the user?
· Implementation: This step is the actual coding of the websites in accordance to the previous websites.
· Testing: Does the website do what it should?
· Maintenance: Is the information on the website up-to-date?
Some useful hints for web development below are taken from software quality aspects but they apply to the development of websites as well. They are described in terms of web development:
Reliability: Is the website reliable? Do faults allow for the system to continue running?
Robustness: How does the website respond to incorrect input?
Performance: How fast does the web page respond to user’s actions? Is it efficient in processing requests and inputs?
Usability: Is the website easy to navigate and understand?
Maintainability: Is the website easy to change? Can new functionality be added?
Portability: What software requirements does the website require? Will this limit the amount of potential users?
Understandability: How well do you understand the website you’ve developed?
When designing your website, keep these quality aspects in mind as they will help you develop pages worth visiting. How to choose the way to host your website is half of the problem, the other half is to create a website that people would want to visit and come back to. Knowledge of producing a good design can help you get the most out of your creations.
About the author:
William Ly
M6.Net
http://www.m6.net
It has been reported there are currently more than a staggering 50,000 web hosting providers all competing for the honour of hosting your website.
Every day dozens of new web hosting compaines are launching and struggling to get your attention and your web hosting business.
Even though the web hosting industry is really quite young, it is certainly one of the most competetive and cut-throat industries on the web today. Yet the growth of this marketplace is assured for the forseeable future.
Now each and every week it is estimated more than 50,000 websites are launched and need to be hosted somewhere online. This figure continues to grow and grow.
In fact the current monthly count for the number of searches at Yahoo for the term 'web hosting' is a whopping 2,149,851. That's right, over 2 million!
Also just recently it was reported that the popularity of blogs was seeing tens of thousands of new blogs launched each and every day. While many of these are hosted freely, the more serious bloggers each require an account with a reliable web hosting provider.
Of course every paid web hosting account usually requires at least one domain name registration. Here are some amazing domain name figures for you:
The registrar holding the largest number of domain names is said to be WildWestDomains. They may be better known to you as Godaddy. They currently hold over an estimated 5 million domain name registrations!
The registrar holding the second largest number of domain names is estimated to be Enom. The registrar holding the third largest number of domain names is estimated to be Networksolutions.
Domain Name Registration Growth:
By far the most popular top level domain is the .com There are currently over an estimated 40 million of these registered.
The .com top level domain currently holds over an estimated 70 percent of the domain name marketplace.
The .net top level domain currently holds just over an estimated 10 percent of the domain name marketplace.
The good news for web hosting and domain name customers is that incredible deals have become available as competition increases among web hosting providers.
In fact the price of web hosting has plumeted to just under $10 per month for a quality service. Domain names that cost up to $35 just a fews years ago can now be bought for as little as $4.99.
This is a winning situation for both the web hosting providers and their customers. The quality of service continues to grow. The new web hosting providers must impress their customers to compete with more established organisations.
There has never been a better time to find a web hosting provider and establish an internet presence of your own.
About the author:
Andrew James is the webmaster at http://hostingdiary.comproviding daily web hosting news, reviews and special offers. Visit us today and subscribe to our RSS feed. This article may be distributed in full and must always include an active link to our site.
A few time ago appeared a lot disagreements between opinions on the internet regarding, which is the best operating system for web hosting. There are people who hate windows, there are people who love FreeBSD and many others.
The thing is that the best system that suits you depends on what you are doing. The servers and the softwares, all run on a program named operating system. on a personal computer you will probably have windows ME, XP, NT or something similar to those. You can call this program the operating system. Any hosting server also needs running on an operating system. There are 3 different versions.
The first one powered by Microsoft is Windows. So, Microsoft also makes a system designed for servers. Microsoft products can trill integrate in this operating systems. It also allows web sites to run Active Server Pages. The Microsoft servers also allow the integration of SQL databases. The only problem of the Microsof web hosting servers is that they are very expensive. You will probably find one that costs several thousands of dollars.
The second version for web hosting servers is Linux. Linux was created and developed by some individuals who wrote the main part of the Linux operating system. After that, there were added some other parts to customize the operating system for the particular use of any user. There are many companies that market Linux, like Red Hat, Debian. The main advantage of Linux is that is compatible with PHP. Also it's very stable and has a great security. The best thing about it is that Linux is free.
The third version of operating system for web hosting servers is Unix. Unix is almost the same thing as Linux. If we think more, we will find more similarities than differences between the two programs. The most important difference is the way they came to the world. So let's make it clear. Linux is something like a cousin of Unix. There are two main Unix-based operating systems: FreeBSD and OpenBSD. The good thing about this systems is that they seem to be very stable once you manage to install them. But they are very hard to install. OpenBSD is also known to be one of the most secure operating system in the world. But with OpenBSd you will have to sacrifice some features for a plus of security. Again the best thing about these systems is that they are both free.
The best for you depends on what you are going to do with it. If you want great security, you should try OpenBSd. If you are looking for compatibility with all the windows products, then choose Windows. For compatibility with PHP programing language choose Linux.The fact is that one cannot tell which system is best, but employing and using it according to his needs.
About the author:
For great web hosting packages, domain names, great customer support just visit us at http://www.domainsforall.co.uk
| If you have decided you or your company is in need of a website, you will have to purchase web hosting services from a hosting company. There are many different web-hosting companies to choose from, and they can easily be found on the internet. If you do a quick search for them in any search engine, you will find that there are almost too many to count. Choosing the company that is right for you can be a harrowing experience, but there are really only a few basic things to consider. The first factor to consider when choosing a web hosting company is how much space they will give you for your account. If you merely want a single page on the Internet with little or no graphics, you can get by with purchasing an account with the smallest amount of space available. However, if you are planning to create a full e-commerce site with multiple pages and order forms, you will need to make sure you have enough server space to support your entire operation. Before you sign your web-hosting contract, you will first have to choose and purchase a domain name. Though many of the names you might want are already taken, you can often find one that suits your needs, especially if you get creative with it. For instance, if your business is called Cards For You and that domain name is already taken, you might consider choosing More Cards For You or Cards For You Today. The possibilities are endless, and with a little thought you will be able to think of a snappy domain name. You can often purchase a domain name through your web hosting company, or you can purchase it through a private domain name retailer. These companies are very easy to find. Often times, if you type the domain name you want into a search engine, a domain name seller will pop up if the name is not already taken. You can purchase a domain name for a year at a time, or for several years, depending on how much you want to invest at the get-go. Once you have a domain name, you will of course have to create a website to put on the Internet. There are many do-it-yourself web design programs that are fairly user friendly. Software like FrontPage makes web design a cut and paste, fill in the blank soft of affair. However, if you would like a more professional look, you can use programs like Dreamweaver or Image Ready to make your sites. There are always freelance web designers looking for work who are ready to take on your cause if you are not savvy enough to do it yourself. Web hosting companies give passwords to allow you access your space on their servers. You can upload files and pages using their own interface programs, or you can utilize the upload tools built in to your web design program. Once you upload a page, it is important to make sure it looks correct on a variety of different web browsers. Because each browser interprets information differently, you may run into trouble if you build a site while only previewing it in Internet Explorer. There are often compatibility issues between Safari and Mozilla browsers that distort site tables and images. However, once you work out the kinks and create an excellent site, all you have to do is pay your web hosting bills, and your site will be available for the whole world to see. Web hosting companies usually offer options regarding payment plans. You can pay for a year at a time, or you can monthly or quarterly to maintain your place on the World Wide Web. About the author: Sintilia Miecevole has many years experience on the internet. Be sure to visit http://www.ritzyhosting.comfor expert information on hosting, providers, host finders, resources, reviews, reliability and much more. To find the right web hosting plan to meet your business and ecommerce needs click on http://www.ritzyhosting.com |
Once you have considered the design for your website and it is ready to be hosted, there are some matters to be considered when choosing the adequate web host:
I - Accessibility of the site?
Once you have applied for a web host provider you should take several aspects into account such as the time it takes to load or the period of time it is up.These aspects are very important because if there are problems related to them, this can create extreme annoyance and renouncement of the possible visitors.
The same possible visitors can also have problems in finding your web page, as search engines do not show those who are always down or have difficulties in loading.
The best method to acknowledge if a server is usually up would be to take a look over the reviews written by other persons who have applied for the server before you.
II - Does the provider offer SSL??
In the case of a hobby websiter or, in other words, if you will not be making any transactions on that particular website, the SSL protection is not necessary.In the other case, if transactions should be made in the near future it is necessary for you to choose the webhost which includes the SSL protection upfront.
SSL is generally used for encrypting any piece of information such as:credit card codes, names, etc.
Deciding to subscribe to a webhost which does not comprise of SSL protection and choosing afterwards to have it installed, could turn up to be more expensive than having applied for a webhost which provides SSL in the first place.
Websiters which have Automatic SSL protection can be exemplified by www.powweb.com and www.ipowerweb.com
III - Is server side scripting available from the server?
Despite of the fact that these server side scripting is provided by almost all servers, it is still advisable to check out if they do.Pages changing in real time are given the chance to be created by the webmasters due to the server side scripting.
For instance, in the case of running a business and having all products arranged in a database, the server side scripting will give off the pages by means of the ranges the customers choose to see.
You should not think of using a server which does not provide functionality for a server side scripting. www.powweb.com and www.ipowerweb.com can also be shown as examples for sites which comprise of servers side scripting.
IV - Customer Support
The support given to customers is of an utmost importance when choosing a web hoser.Even in the case of an experienced webmaster, I am sure that there are still some questions to be asked when signing up with a website.Some of them have created special forums for frequently asked questions(FAQ-S).Actually the only one of this type I found up to now is www.powweb.com.
Even tough these aspects are widely known, the attention should be drawn anyway, for there are many persons who pay significant sums after having signed to a web hoster on the basis of having ignored these conditions.Taken this into account, the collaboration should be nothing but successfully.
About the author:
For great web hosting packages, domain names, great customer support just visit us at http://www.domainsforall.co.uk
For most of us, changing our primary email address to get rid of spam is not really an option. This is because our email addresses are known and used by many of our contacts and may also be printed on business cards and other material. We certainly don't move to a different residence because of some junk mail in our letter boxes. Luckily, there are some very effective ways to combat spam and one such was is using a Spam filtering tool.
The particular tool that I am referring to is called MailWasher. It is a tool that I cannot do without. I've been using it for about 2 years now and my running totals shows that 72% of emails received are automatically deleted by Mailwasher. For more product information on Mailwasher, please visit: www.BSDRegister.com/products/mailwasher
Mailwasher is a piece of software that works at the source i.e. it connects directly to your inbox on the server and takes care of emails there. This is very different to using email filters in your email software for example Outlook or Thunderbird. The major difference is that Mailwasher wipes out emails on the email server so that you never have to download them. Having a filter in Outlook would mean that the email has to first be downloaded onto your computer and then examined and dealt with accordingly. For those messages spreading viruses, this could well pose a threat.
Mailwasher is easy to setup and takes a few minutes. There is a 30-day free trial of the software so that you can have ample time to decide if it is working for you. Initially, I started setting up my own spam filters and was having some success, but then I stumbled upon a link on the company's website that pointed to a link where an avid user was offering his filters for free. I downloaded those and installed them and have never look back. The amount of spam that was identified started to steadily increase until the 72% level that it is at today. This means that on average, 3 of every 10 eamils I receive are legitimate and are allowed through by Mailwasher. The rest are deleted at the source and I don't have to spend time downloading them. This is a big deal if you are using dialup access to the Internet.
There are many controls within the software. You can specify emails be deleted automatically without your knowledge or you could have the program mark them for deletion but let you glance at them just in case. This is useful initially until you get a good feel for it. There are many other options that fall in between these. The good thing is that they are all on one screen.
There is a concept of a blacklist and a whitelist. You can import all of your address book from Outlook with a couple of clicks and from other email programs as well. These go into what is called a whitelist. Mailwasher will allow all emails through that are on the whitelist. It will mark or automatically delete all those that are on the blacklist. Adding or removing someone from either list is a very simple point and click exercise.
Mailwasher also allows the setting up of legitimate filters. These are methods of specifying an email as legitimate. For example, if you identify all emails coming from your company domain name as being legitimate, then all messages from your coworkers will be allowed through without you having to specify each person. This is achieved using a wildcard setting such as "*@youworkdomain.com". This can also be used to blacklist an entire domain such that all messages are immediately marked for deletion or automatically deleted depending on your settings.
MailWasher is an independent program and does not interfere with your email software. It sits in the system tray and does its work diligently. In my case, it checks my inbox every 10 minutes and does a cleanout. I have my email software setup to only retrieve messages when I instruct it to so that MailWasher has the most opportunity to do it's work.
Mailwasher also has more advanced controls, one of them being something known as "Origin of Spam". There are servers on the internet which list known spam addresses. When you receive a message from one of these addresses, it is automatically marked as spam and deleted without your filters even being invoked. This is a remarkable system and comes free with MailWasher. A whopping 14% of emails that I get are identified in this manner and automatically deleted.
MailWasher is an indispensable tool in my email arsenal. If spam is a problem for you, it could do likewise for you. Download your free trial today and use it for 30 days. If you like it, you only pay $37 which in my book is a small price to pay for so much time saved everyday.
About the author:
Balraj Dhaliwal is an Internet Consultant for BSD Register, a well respected and liked domain and hosting provider because of its no nonsense simple approach to getting things done. Visit BSD Register at http://www.BSDRegister.com
By Clare Lawrence 3rd November 2003 Clare is the CEO of Discount Domains Ltd a leading UK Domain name registration service.
Before buying your domain name, give some thought to the followng:-
1) If possible use your sites name as the basis of your domain name e.g www.discountdomainsuk.com for Discount Domains UK. This might seem common sense but not every site follows the convention. If you use your name in your URL it will be much easier for your customers to find you.
2) Generic names – if you can register a generic domain such as toys.com that’s great, but most of these have already gone. Also getting ranked in the search engines is likely to be harder. Selected a domain closer to your market segment will cut down the competition. E.g toyplanes.com
3) Hyphenated Names – Its easy to forget the hyphen! Which is the problem, particularly if your customer remembers your name but not your URL. Though on a positive note hyphenated names are less likely to be registered already.
4) If the .com or .co.uk extension is not available then consider the alternative TLD ( Top level domain types) such as .net or .biz. If your domain name has already been registered then approach the owner and ask if they’ll sell. They may accept a £100. If you ask, they can only say no.
5) Plurals. Very often a domain name will be free in the plural but not in the singular form. It’s a personal choice, but if your prefered choice of domain name is not available you might be stuck.
6) Short or Long domains – A short domain name is more memorable, but less likely to be available. A longer domain is harder to remember, but can contain more keywords which is important as some of the search engines, use keywords in a domain name as part of the search algorithm.
7) Which Top Level Domain Type - .com, .co.uk , .net etc This is a question I am often asked. There is no evidence that any domain name type is given preference by the search engines. However some search engines such as Google, have local searches e.g www.google.co.uk which do select local content. Customer often get re-assurance from seeing a local TLD as they know they are dealing with a local company etc. You can, of course, register all of them!
8) Variations – If your prefered domain name is not available then its always worth trying a prefix my e.g mydomains.com or suffix e.g domains4U.com etc
Would you like to be that lucky person who sells their domain for thousands or even a million dollars? It IS possible to find quality domains and resell them for huge amounts of money. The time is ripe for acquiring top domains and selling them. Now that the Internet Boom is behind us, valuable names expire everyday. The best way to find these domains is to use services on the Internet such as DomainsBot to weed out the bad names. Or just check out Hot Lists on sites like Namewinner or Pool.
So what makes a "good" domain name? Usually short, single word domains and 2-3 letter .coms, .nets, and .orgs are the best. The more specific the better. These can be hard to come by but when you find them, you can almost guarantee that you can make good money from them. Once you have purchased a nice domain name, get a good appraisal of the name to get an idea of the possible worth (see http://www.appraisalblast.com). In order to sell your newly appraised name, you have to find a buyer. Here are your basic options for selling your domain name in a nutshell:
1. Sell it on Ebay
This is the easiest and quickest way to sell your domain name. There are several tricks to landing a good sale at Ebay. One is, start your price low. People want a bargain. Once you have received an initial bid, it will draw peoples attention to your name and create more bids. You may want to set a reserve price if you want to make sure you get X amount of dollars. When selling your domain on Ebay, make sure your domain name is in the title of the description. Also, include an appraisal to show to possible buyers the value of the domain. Keep your description short, clean, and really emphasize how important and rare your domain is. For example, if your domain is 3 letters and ends in "I", stress how most 3 letter domains that are highly valuable end in "I" because it usually stands for "Incorporated". If it ends in "E" it could stand for "Enterprise". A little bit of marketing saavy can go a long way. I once sold the domain 0pp.com for over $200. It even has a number in it making it worth very little. But I emphasize its possible uses and potential. Also, spend the extra $1 for the Bold Listing and make sure your auction ends on a Sunday afternoon or evening. This is when most people are browsing Ebay. It will make a big difference.
2. Sell it on Domain Sites
The only sites you should even consider putting your name up for sale is on ebay.com, Afternic, or Sedo. These are the most popular and where some huge sales have taken place. The only downside is that there are high numbers of domains already for sale and usually the site will get a commission of something around 10%. There also may be a small fee to join. Appraisal Blast charges a minimal fee but no commission. Your domain will get more exposure there just because there aren't hundreds of domains for sale. You may also have luck selling it on forums such as DomainState. The prices of sales there seem to be lower.
3. Contact Large Businesses with Deep Pockets
This approach takes some time and patience. Let's say you have acquired a great domain name that would work great for any business in the field of the stock market. You may want to locate some of the bigger sites or businesses and make an offer to sell your domain name. Make sure the name you own doens't have any elements that are already trademarked because you may be forced to give up the name. You may want to go on the Internet and look up current websites that deal with stocks and find ones that don't have the greatest domain names. Make offers to these sites stating how your domain is much better and will HELP them. If you get a company to bite, the rewards are usually very generous!
In summary, selling domains for high amounts of cash depends on two key elements. First you must have a quality domain, one that doesn't have numbers or isn't too long. It must be clear and easily recognizable. ".com" is the best, but even domains such as the ".us" are gaining popularity. The second key is Marketing, Marketing, Marketing! I can't stress that enough. You have to create a good reason for someone to buy your domain. How can THEY benefit from it. When these two steps are fulfilled, a sale is almost guaranteed!
About the author:
About The Author
Dayne Herren is a domain seller and buyer, web developer, and artist.
Find out if your domain name is worth THOUSANDS at
http://www.appraisalblast.com).
This fearful, ignorant guy has got a blog on the Internet. It must be easy!
Posted by kofary at 7:43 AMOf all people in the world I was easily one of the most pessimistic about computers, the Internet and now that I even know they exist-blogs. I think blogs are pretty cool but I never thought I could have one. I thought the processes of getting a site; domain name and the actual building of the blog would just be out of my league. I’m a complete novice when it comes to technology, but I do like writing a journal, and I thought having a journal on-line would be both fun and make life simpler for me. No more writing with pens, other people can read my stuff and comment on it, and I could add pictures to illustrate my points and make things look more interesting.
Well, now I’ve got one! It’s awesome. I won’t lie and say it was easy, but I think if you hook up with a good web hosting company it’s not such a daunting experience as you might expect. I got a few work mates to help me. I went through a couple administrative hitches when filling in my personal information forms for the registration-just because I’m a bit silly in the head. We had a little trouble with the blog program we used, but these challenges were eventually overcome. My boss says he’s going to make a simple program that people can hook up easily.
I chose my domain name: thepowerofeverythingthatis.com. It’s my own name-no one else on Earth can have it. I own it. I picked a nice picture out for the background-it looks really sweet, much better than a blank sheet in a diary. I got it from a site that gives photos out without charging a royalty (the first few): www.istockphoto.com.
I just want you to know the great feeling I got when I first typed in my domain name and my site came up! It was the equivalent to a person who’s afraid of heights being accepted into an astronaut’s mission into outer space. Or maybe it was like a turtle driving a Ferrari 300km per hour. Possibly it was like all the ants in the world getting together for peace talks.
It’s a real blast having this blog. I can write on it any time, anywhere, from my laptop, at an Internet café etc. I can write as much as I want, and I’m hoping one day my writing may inspire others to communicate with me about the subjects that I’m interested in.
Look, if you like writing about anything, and want to have your thoughts and opinions on the Internet, maybe meeting others similar to yourself in the progress; you have to get a blog and get it now. Don’t be afraid any longer, the world is in the palm of your hands; it’s time to get on!
About the author:
Jesse S. Somer
M6.Net
http://www.m6.net
Jesse S. Somer is a human hoping to inform other novices like him about the magic opportunities awaiting us all in the world of the Internet.
There are many free web hosting options on the web, but do some research before you use one for your online business.
Posted by kofary at 7:42 AMWhere can I find free web hosting?
There are hundreds of free web hosting services on the web. You can type “free web hosting” into any major search engine and get an expanded list. However, when you sign up for free hosting account, you are basically signing an expanded advertising agreement.
What exactly is free hosting?
In exchange for free hosting, the company can place ads your website. The ads can be placed on the top of the main page, the top of every page, or on the sides. The ads are usually not targeted. It is possible that they won’t match the demographics of your web visitors. In addition, they are not customized to match the content on your web page.
This is a very expensive exchange program if your goal is to build up an online business. The area above the fold, everything that is visible without scrolling, is the most effective advertising area on the entire site. This is the area you should use for your affiliate links, Google Adsense, paid links and expanded site navigation.
Some free web hosting contracts go a step further and ask for your participation in their email marketing campaigns. You will receive emails that require a click through to a merchant site, and/or fill out endless surveys. This can be very time consuming and annoying.
Before you sign any free hosting contract ask to see sample sites. You want to get a feel for the types of ads that are being shown on other website. What do you want to look for?
1. Do you see pop-up ads? What about banners?
2. How large are the ads?
3. Are they just off topic or are they inappropriate?
4. Where are the ads? Are they on every single page or on selected pages?
Even if the ads are not on every page, watch out. It could mean that the hosting service has figured out which pages bring in the most revenue and they can afford to ignore everything else. Guess what? If it brings in lots of revenue for them, it could probably bring in lots of revenue for you.
There’s free and then there’s FREE
If the space is free, what about the domain name?
If your new site will look like http://yoursite.freewebhost.com you’re getting a subdomain for your site. It’s not really your unique domain name. They are simply loaning you a space for your stuff.
This is not a unique domain name that you can use to brand your business. You can’t use it anywhere except with this particular web hosting company. Ditto if the new domain names is http://www.freewebhost.com/yoursite/.
So what if they offer a truly unique domain name?
How long will it take before you actually own the domain name? Even the cheap web hosting services will require that you stay with the company for thirty to sixty days before you can keep a free domain name.
What happens if you want to switch to another company before the period is up? Sometimes there’s a charge to keep the domain name or to transfer it. This should be clearly stated in their FAQ's or in the text of the hosting contract before you agree to use their service.
Do you have enough bandwidth?
Many free web hosting services are providing their services in such a way that you will need to upgrade your hosting package if your site has any degree of minor success. The tipping point is usually bandwidth. That is a measure of how much text, pictures, ftps etc. you can send to your web customers every month.
The Bandwidth in your contract is measured on a monthly basis. Check the contract to see if there are any fees for going over your monthly amount, or if you will lose your free hosting privileges.
Free host today, no host tomorrow
There is a very high turnover for free web hosting services that heavily depend on advertising revenue. Even the most successful web companies will find that their advertising revenue varies on a monthly basis. Will the company suddenly go out business if they hit a three month slump?
There should be a written policy on what happens to your content if they site suddenly goes out of business. Can you still access your files? Is there an alternative URL or login site with your information? How much time do you have?
You are only as reliable as your hosting service
Check out the statistics on the uptime for their servers. This applies to any hosting service, whether you are paying or not. If their uptime is in the low 90’s and below, then try to find another hosting provider.
You are taking a big risk if you use a free web hosting services for your business site. The inability to control your advertising, high turnover rates among the free hosting providers, and variable contracts usually spells disaster for e-commerce sites.
To run a successful online venture, 24-hour live customer service, high uptimes ratios and control of your advertising space is a must. These features are also the major weaknesses of the average free hosting provider.
A better option for you company would be to sign up for an affordable or cheap web hosting provider. You will have many service options in this category and can usually avoid the limitations of the free hosting companies.
About the author:
Syd Johnson is the Executive Editor of RapidLingo.com, a Financial Solutions Website. This article may be freely distributed as long as the author's bio is included with an active link to http://www.rapidlingo.com
The Money Keyword List - Superchrage Your Website’s Earning Power! - Part 1 Of 2
Posted by kofary at 7:41 AMMany webmaster are making money or want to make money with Google AdSense. The problem is that some of them don’t know the keywords to use in their websites. It’s become necessary that those of us in the know share this key information with them to cut down their frustration. It should also help those webmasters boost their income.
Below are the keyword list I use when I build my AdSense websites. I call it “My Money Keyword List”. They pay from $1.00 to $100.00 per click. Can you feel the power in this list?
The list is in alphabetical order. A few keywords may drop in and out of the list from time to time, but 99.9 f them stay on the list.
In the interest of saving space and not make this a very long document, I’m presenting this list in 2 parts. This is part 1 of 2 of the list.
Drum roll please-----:-)
1. Acne
2. Adult Diaper
3. Adult Education
4. Alcohol Treatment
5. Annuity
6. Anti Spam Software
7. Anti Virus Protection
8. Asbestos
9. Bachelor Degree
10. Bankruptcy
11. Bextra
12. Blue Cross
13. Bonds
14. Borrow Money
15. Business Credit
16. Calling Cards
17. Canadian Pharmacy
18. Cancer
19. Car Insurance
20. Cash Advance
21. Casino Online Game
22. Casinos Online
23. Cell Phone Plans
24. Cellular Phone Rental
25. Cheap Hosting
26. Consolidate
27. Consumer credit
28. Credit Cards
29. Credit Counseling
30. Credit Score
31. Death Insurance
32. Debt Consolidation
33. Dedicated Hosting
34. Dental Plans
35. Depression
36. Distance Learning
37. Doctorate Degree
38. Domain Name
39. Drug Rehab
40. Eloan
41. Email Hosting
42. Equity Line Credit
43. Equity Loans
44. Extra Money
45. Facelift
46. FHA Mortgage
47. Fioricet
48. Free Credit Report
49. Gambling
50. Gambling UK
51. Gambling Online
52. Helpdesk Software
53. Home Equity
54. Home Equity Loan
55. Home Insurance
56. Homeowners Insurance
57. Internet Broker
58. Internet Poker
59. Investing
60. IRA Rollover
61. Jet Charter
62. Laptop Computer
63. Lasik
64. Legal Advice
65. Lenox China
66. Lexington law
67. Life Insurance
68. Loans
69. Low Interest Credit Card
70. Malpractice Lawyer
71. Master Degree
72. Mesothelioma
73. Mortgages
74. Need Money
75. Online Banking
76. Online Casino
77. Online Casino Gambling
78. Online Gambling
79. Online Marketing
80. Online Poker
Copywrite © Kenneth Echie.
You can get part 2 on my website: http://www.extra-income-ideas.com/articles.html or my AdSense Money E-Book: http://www.bye925.com/adm
About the author:
Kenneth Echie updates the latest extra income ideas at http://www.extra-income-ideas.comYou can subscribe to his informative newsletter by sending blank e-mail to Mailto:bye925@getresponse.com His other websites include: http://www.bachelor-degree-online-directory.comhttp://www.online-master-degree.net
The Money Keyword List - Superchrage Your Website’s Earning Power! - Part 2 Of 2
Posted by kofary at 7:40 AMMany webmasters are not making money or want to make money with Google AdSense. The problem is that some of them don’t know the keywords to use in their websites. It’s become necessary that those of us in the know share this key information with them to cut down their frustration. It should also help those webmasters boost their income.
Below are the keyword list I use when I build my AdSense websites. I call it “My Money Keyword List”. They pay from $1.00 to $100.00 per click. Can you feel the power in this list? The list is in alphabetical order. A few keywords may drop in and out of the list from time to time, but 99.9 f them stay on the list.
In the interest of saving space and not make this a very long document, I’m presenting this list in 2 parts. This is part 2 of 2 of the list.
Drum roll please-----:-)
81. Online Poker Game
82. Online Poker Room
83. Online Trading
84. Online Video Poker
85. Pacific Poker
86. Party Poker
87. Pay Day Loans
88. Pay Per Click
89. Personal Domain Name
90. Personal Injury Attorney
91. Play Poker Online
92. Poker
93. Poker Blackjack
94. Poker Chip
95. Poker Download
96. Poker Game
97. Poker Game Online
98. Poker Online
99. Poker Room
100. Poker Rule
101. Poker Site
102. Poker Table
103. Private Jets
104. Quick Book
105. Reduce Debt
106. Refinance
107. Refinance Home Loan
108. Refinance Mortgage
109. Refinance Mortgage Loan
110. Refinance Quotes
111. Register Domain
112. Rehab
113. Rewards Cards
114. Royal Vagas Casino
115. Rule Of Poker
116. Satellite
117. Slot Gamble
118. Slot Machine Picture
119. Spam Filter
120. Spyware
121. Structured Settlements
122. Stud Poker
123. Taxes
124. Teeth Whitening
125. Term Life
126. Texas Holden
127. Texas Holden Software
128. Texas Holden Tip
129. Texas Poker
130. The Poker Club
131. The Poker Forum
132. Three Card Poker
133. Tip Poker
134. Tournament Poker
135. Tramadol
136. Trans Union
137. Transfer Money
138. Travel Insurance
139. True Poker
140. Ultimate Bet
141. University Degrees Online
142. Video Conferencing
143. Vioxx
144. Viop
145. Wagering
146. Web Host
147. Web Poker
148. Weight Loss
149. Wild Poker
150. Win At Poker
151. Windstar Cruise
152. Work At Home
153. World Championship Poker
154. World Poker Championship
155. World Poker Tour
156. World Series Of Poker
157. World Series Poker
158. Wrongful Death
159. Yellow Page Advertising
160. Zero Roulette
You can get part 1 at my website: http://www.extra-income-ideas.com/articles.html or my AdSense Money E-Book: http://www.bye925.com/adm
Copywrite © Kenneth Echie.
About the author:
Kenneth Echie updates the latest extra income ideas at http://www.extra-income-ideas.comYou can subscribe to his informative newsletter by sending blank e-mail to Mailto:bye925@getresponse.com His other websites include:
http://www.african-safari-vacation.nethttp://www.quick-payday-loan-resources.com
All the good ones are taken. The really good ones, that is. But they don’t always stay taken.
Domain names often come back onto the market. Even before they do, domain name prospectors are sifting through them to find the gold domains among them.
Why domain names become available again
Thousands of domain names expire every day. Other domains are offered for sale. The reasons are varied:
- Carelessness
- The webmaster forgets to renew the domain by the expiry date.
The email address that the domain is registered with becomes invalid, and the domain name registrant doesn’t receive the renewal notices.
- Lack of need or funds
- The company that had registered the domain goes out of business.
- The website owner loses interest in or doesn’t have time for the website.
- The website owner doesn’t have funding to continue the website venture.
- The domain name registrant registered numerous domains on speculation and couldn’t afford to continue renewing unused domains.
Profit
- The domain name registrant may realize how much a domain is worth and decide to sell it.
- The domain name registrant may have registered the domain because of its potential worth, with the aim of selling it later.
What makes a previously registered domain name valuable?
In July 2005, the domain name website.com sold for $750,000, the highest-valued domain name sale this year. Why would anyone pay so much for a domain when they could register a new domain for under $10?
- Instant traffic
If the domain name previously pointed to a website, search engines have already indexed that domain name. Other websites probably still have links to that domain. If the domain is listed in directories, these links bring in even more traffic. You register the domain, and the work getting incoming links has already been done for you.
- Surf value
Sometimes web surfers search by typing generic words followed by dot com (or other extensions) into their browsers, for example, dogs.com. This particular domain name redirects to the website for a company that sells pet products and services. A domain name like this constantly brings visitors to the website without the cost and effort of advertising and marketing.
- Easy to remember
Your company name may not be memorable, but domains such as dogs.com and website.com are. People are more likely to return to a site or pass on the name to their friends when they can easily remember it.
How to find domains pending expiration
You decide to join the gold rush for valuable pre-registered domains. Finding expiring domains is the first step, but you also need to research domains that are about to come back on the market.
Lists of domains pending expiration
At these websites, among others, you can search for domains containing keywords you enter. At expireddomains.com, the results contain domains that are currently available, soon to expire, on hold, in the Redemption Grace Period (RGP), or for sale by their registrants. Extensions searched: .com, .net, and .org.
The domainsbot.com database searches .com, .net, .org, .info, and .biz extensions for domains that are available, for sale, or expiring.
Domain research
You can find some (but not all) incoming links to a domain by entering “link:siteURL” (replace ”siteURL” with the domain name) into Google or Yahoo. When you find the links, follow them to see what types of sites link to the domain. How would you feel about having these particular sites linking to your site?
Also look into any possible problems associated with the domain. Search engines may have banned the domain if the previous site had controversial search engine optimization techniques employed, such as the use of hidden text or links. Check the history of the site at a domain name via the WayBack Machine. If the domain previously pointed to a site with gambling or adult content or a lot of affiliate links, or if it employed questionable search engine optimization techniques, search engines may have banned the domain. Aside from the possibility of a domain being banned, you may not want incoming links from sites associated with these types of content.
How to register domains pending deletion
You’ve decided on a domain that you want. How do you maximize your chances on getting it?
At eNom.com’s Club Drop, you can bid on expiring .com and .net domains the day before they’re available to the public. You can also be notified when domains matching your search criteria become available.
The NameWinner system places bids on .com, .net, .org, and .info domains for you. It bids only as high as is necessary to maintain your high bid position up to your maximum bid.
How to profit from your domains
- Selling domains
If you have a domain that may be valuable and that you aren’t using, consider selling it at a domain auction. If you already have a buyer for a domain, you can transfer it securely through Escrow.com.
- Paid parking for domains
With paid domain parking programs, also called "domain monetization" or "monetize domains," you can earn pay-per-click revenue via targeted advertisements. These sites offer domain monetization services:
- DomainSponsor
- Park Quick
- Domain Spa
- Google Adsense for domains
With the right knowledge, timing, and a bit of luck, you have a chance as a domain name prospector to hit pay dirt.
About the author:
Lois S. is a Technical Executive Writer for http://www.websitesource.com and http://www.lowpricedomains.com with experience in the website hosting industry.
You probably know that a domain name is a name given to a website or email account. Because IP addresses mark individual computers, the domain name is usually much easier to remember as it can be a catchy phrase or an on target description of what the website has to offer. In this day and age, the game of domain name selection is heated and often times a demanding field.
What does an effective domain name get you, anyway?
You may ask yourself why is it so very important to have a good domain name for your website. Besides being the best way to attract your customers, it is one of the best ways to have customers remember you. The returning customer is after all the best one to have. Yet, many websites fail at this point simply because there are so many other, just as good if not better, websites out there. Having a good, on target domain name is necessary for name recognition.
Finding Your Domain Name
Just like writing a jingle for a commercial, having an effective domain name should be something that people will remember. Catchy phrases or very targeted phrases can be the best way to get the attention of the user. More than likely, the first time they find you will be through advertisements or through a web search. But, once they are there, getting that domain name into their heads for next time is necessary.
But, its not really that easy. There is huge competition of domain names and many times you will find that the ‘good ones’ are already taken. But, when you get creative and think outside of the box you can really find the right niche and make your domain name the next one to be remembered.
There are also many information portals now devoted to the subject and we recommend reading about it at one of these. Try googling for “domain names” and you will be surprised by the abundance of information on the subject. Alternatively you may try looking on Yahoo, MSN or even a decent directory site; all are good sources of this information.
About the author:
for more information please see http://www.domain-name-shack.co.uk
So, you’re looking to build a web site or so fed up with your current web host that you are desperate to transfer your site elsewhere? You may not even be aware of your current host’s vulnerabilities in an industry where each week there is news about a host going down for one reason or another. Your first problem is narrowing the thousands of choices down to a few that you can research further. Seek friends or associates that have a web site and ask for their advice. Visit one of the many forums about web hosting, ask the members for advice or search threads from those that have asked before you. Once you’ve located a few hosts to research, the ten questions below will take you a long way towards making an informed decision. You may be able to find many of the answers to these questions on the hosts’ web sites, but always feel free to call the host and quiz them about their operations. The quality of the answers and degree of professionalism you get from a potential host often transfers to the type of support you’ll receive once you become a customer. Without further ado, the ten question to ask your web host:
1. How long has the web host been in business?
2. Does the web host own its data center?
3. How many upstream Internet providers does the web host have?
4. Does the web host monitor its customers’ sites twenty-four hours per day? How?
5. Does the web host provide 24/7/365 phone and email support?
6. What levels of redundancy does the web host’s architecture provide?
7. Does the web host automatically backup customer web sites in case of data loss? How often?
8. What is the web host’s billing policy?
9. Does the web host provide the features that you need for your web site?
10. Does the web host have the products and services to handle your growth?
1. How long has the web host been in business?
The length of time that a host has been in business can be related to their ability to provide a quality, reliable product. If your host can satisfy its customers, then those customers are likely to stick with the host’s service. Therefore, stay in business. There are, of course, situations where this is not applicable or becomes a bit hazy. Be sure to also inquire about whether a host has recently been involved in a merger, acquired what was once a well-known brand name, or launched a new brand. If any of these apply, then delve deeper into the story behind what has happened and determine whether quality resources are still with the company.
• Complete a domain name “whois” lookup on the web host: http://www.internic.net/whois.html. Type in the web host’s domain name and determine what year the domain was registered. If only registered in the recent past, ask the host about it. If the domain name was recently registered this is not necessarily a red flag. Simply inquire with the host about it. They may have recently launched an affinity-based brand to cater to your market.
• Type the host’s name into a search engine and check out the results that you get, other than those from the host itself. You may run across reviews, interviews, or industry articles about the host.
2. Does the web host own its data center?
A data center is the foundation from which all products and services are built upon. If your host owns its own data center, then they are likely quite entrenched in the hosting business. They also have an experienced staff and knowledge base from which to draw from when supporting your web site and building new products. In other words, if a host owns its own facility, then it controls more of the variables that can make or break your web presence.
3. How many upstream Internet providers does the web host have?
Your web site performance is not just a measure of your web server's speed. The ability of your web host to route traffic through the cleanest Internet connections is also of great importance. It is crucial that your provider have multiple connections to the Internet. Accidental fiber cuts in construction or telecom work and data center equipment failure can cause your site to go offline for an extended amount of time. This can be avoided if your web host has other connections to the Internet that will reroute traffic that would have normally been carried on the failed circuit. Yes, this means your host must also have extra capacity on hand to handle normal traffic levels when one connection is lost; which is another area where a host can attempt to cut cost. This is much like when driving your car, there are several streets that you can take to get to your desired destination. Sometimes you will encounter construction or an accident that will require you to take an alternative street. Well, the Internet works the same way. There are several routes that traffic can take to a destination. Your host should be able to choose the cleanest, or most efficient, route to your web site visitor. In fact, your host should be able to continually tune these routes to find the best path to your visitors. Another way to achieve this is by minimizing the number of different networks traffic will pass through before reaching its destination. It is extremely important for your host to have direct connections to networks that have lots of eyeballs. In other words, your web site will be served better if your web host is using connections with networks that facilitate Internet access to large volumes of subscribers.
4. Does the web host monitor its customers’ sites twenty-four hours per day? How?
There are a couple of factors that can influence the answer to this question. Does the host own its own data center? If not, then they are physically removed from their servers and likely paying a co-location company to provide monitoring for them. When another company controls the environmental systems that provide the home for the host, one can argue that you’ve created another potential point of failure; that being the communication of an issue from the data center to the web host. That point of failure can increase the latency between an issue and its resolution, resulting in increased downtime for your web site. Second, if your web host has an issue with its own infrastructure, then there may be travel time associated with their engineers getting to the data center to resolve it or, once again, increased latency by trying to remotely resolve an issue.
5. Does the web host provide 24/7/365 toll free phone and email support?
You might be surprised at how many web hosts don’t provide 24/7/365 support. The industry’s hosts run the gamut from only email support to providing phone and email support 24 hours per day and 365 days per year. The best way to eliminate not having support when you need it, is to choose a host that can assist you whenever you need it. When an idea wakes you from a slumber at 3 A.M., it’s nice to have your host on the other end of the phone to discuss it. When your site malfunctions due to a programming glitch the night before your store is to open, it’s wonderful to have your web host on the phone to decipher the issue with you. When your cat accidentally deletes some important files, know that your host is there to help recover them. Also make sure that your host is providing support over the major holidays. Many web hosts will close their support center, decrease their support to only email, or send their support team home with a pager to be called in case of emergency. All of these decreases can create latency if your web site goes offline. And, holidays are often days which persons will spend time on the Internet after they’ve completed all of their social plans. Matter of fact, word-of-mouth business is one of the most effective means to customer acquisition. When people get together, they exchange ideas.
6. What levels of redundancy does the web host provide?
Failures that cause your site to lose connection can happen. Therefore, it's crucial to find a provider whose hosting architecture provides the least-risk of failure. Redundancy is necessary. Single points of failure are very bad, but many hosts attempt to cut costs by risking single points of failure. Ask your web host about their redundancy in server architecture (web, email, and DNS servers), load-balancing, and file storage.
A web server is the hardware and software combination that serves requested web pages, files, or other information. Servers answer requests from web browsers to provide information from web sites, email, and databases. They then send that information to the requesting browser. Load balancing divides the amount of work that a server has to do between multiple servers, which also adds redundancy, so that more work gets done in the same amount of time and, in general, all web sites requests within the network get served faster. The load balancers stay in constant contact with the servers to determine how busy they are and/or if one of them has failed. It may sound like a no-brainer, but having your site connected to the Internet is the whole reason for having a web site and a load-balanced, redundant network is vital to that endeavor.
Has your email server ever been down? Redundancy is also vital for email and DNS servers. A Domain Name System (DNS) server translates requests to locate a web site. As you can imagine, keeping email and DNS servers online is a mission-critical task for a web host. For file storage, seek a host that uses a reliable storage solution with multiple auto-fail over and hot-swappable drives to ensure continuous delivery of your web site.
7. Does the web host automatically backup customer web sites in case of data loss? How often?
Backing up web sites should be a routine part of your web host’s operation. Backup is the activity of copying files or databases so that they will be preserved in case of equipment failure or any other catastrophe.
8. What is the web host’s billing policy?
Look for a web host that provides a money-back guarantee. This will allow you to try out the host’s service. Should you find that the service is sub-par in site performance, reliability, or lacking the features that you seek, the ability to request your money back, within the parameters of the guarantee, is priceless and liable to save you from later trouble. It is always a good to idea to inquire about the web host’s cancellation procedures. There are many out there who require you to send them an email or make a phone call to cancel, which can extend the time frame to cancellation. A host who is confident in their service will have a cancellation form or online avenue within their control panel. Now, they will likely also have a retention program, so don’t be surprised when they call or email you to ask why you are leaving. After all, your feedback helps them to evaluate their service.
9. Does the web host provide the features that you need for your web site?
Sometimes people choose a host because it has the exact feature set that they need, but later find that feature set means nothing when access to those features is unreliable. Make sure that a host has your desired features and is also reliable. To make sure that the host you are evaluating has everything you need, use the following list:
• A domain name, but be sure to look for hidden registration fees or renewal fees
• An ample amount of versatile email accounts including web-based, POP3, and IMAP
• Email spam filtering and virus protection are a must these days, unless you are providing this on your own
• Enough disk space to meet your site’s needs
• Monthly bandwidth allotments that will cover your traffic and the ability to increase that allotment based on your site’s success
• Site building tools such as extensions for FrontPage or other online/downloadable site building programs
• Ease of upload to your site via FTP or other means
• Access to a robust traffic analysis program or the raw logs for you to process yourself
• Programming languages, including CGI, PHP, MIVA (if needed)
• Ecommerce shopping cart alternatives
• Database capability, dependant upon your application preference
10. Does the web host have the products and services to handle your growth?
You might be surprised how many sites that once started for fun or as a hobby have grown into some of the most popular sites on the Internet. Hence, you never know when you’ll outgrow your current product or service and need to move up the ladder to the next rung. Make sure that your web host can meet your anticipated growth, not only within the product range of shared hosting, but should you ever need a dedicated server or co-location solution, your host is there to discuss and provide the best solution.
Do your homework by using the above questions as a template and you will likely save yourself some major headaches down the road. If you’ve gathered information about multiple hosts, you can now compare apples to apples and decide on the best host for your needs. Hopefully, the work that you’ve done will avoid forcing you to use your gut, but rather make an informed decision based on the facts. Perhaps, the best piece advice that you will find in any article or forum about choosing a host is, if something seems too good to be true, then it probably is.
About the author:
About the author:
Bob Roth is a Marketing Consultant and the Director of Marketing for SimpleNet.com Web Hosting. He has worked for some of the most influential and successful companies in the world. Distribution of this article allowed by linking back to http://www.simplenet.com/jump/articles
If you own your own website or have a page supplied by a program, growing website traffic will be one of the keys to your success. You need a growing, self-generating stream of website traffic and plenty of it. Preferably free and preferably preconditioned to buy your product of service.
This article provides some ideas for growing website traffic.
(1) Directories
Directories are website listings. The trick is to find a directory which receives huge volumes of website traffic. Start by applying for listings in Yahoo, DMOZ and Looksmart. These are huge portals with significant website traffic. Getting listed isn’t easy but once achieved you will see a significant lift in your website traffic. Look at other directories but make sure they have a good traffic rating (use Alexa).
(2) Traffic Exchanges
Every website you view in a traffic exchange generates credits which are exchanged for views of your site. This website traffic is free and can be generated almost instantly. The more sites you view the more people visit your website and the more your website traffic grows.
(3) Article Writing
One of the most effective methods of generating website traffic. Best of all its free. Magazines, Ezines and Webmasters are always looking for fresh content. Just write an article on any topic which interests you, optimize it for keywords and be sure to include your website URL in the bio line at the bottom of the article. Then submit it to ezine directories on the web. This will generate website traffic and create backlinks to your site, which in turn helps with search engine rankings.
(4) Search Engine Optimization
Making sure your website is search engine friendly will certainly help grow your website traffic. Ensure all the meta and alt tags are completed, optimize the text for your chosen keywords, ensure there is an H1 header, update your robots.txt, update your google sitemap and ensure google is alerted each time you make a change. There are a number of sites which provide a “spider simulation” which shows you what your site looks like to a spider and what you can do to improve its search engine ranking.
(4) Blogs
Ensure your blog is located on your site, that it links to your key pages and that you ping each time your blog is updated. A regularly updated blog will attract readers which in turn builds website traffic.
(5) Forums
Leaving your URL in forums will generate website traffic in two ways. First, people who read your post are likely to click the link to checkout your site. Secondly search engines will generally accept the link a counting towards your link popularity.
(6) Viral Advertising
If you have a message and you tell 10 people and they each tell 10 people and so on, by the time the message goes through 10 levels it has been passed on to a million people.
A similar principle can be used in marketing. If you produced a free report or ebook filled with links back to your site and gave it away, the chances are those you gave it away to would do the same thing. Your links would be spread all over the Internet and your website traffic will grow.
There are also couple of viral websites which successfully use the same principle to grow website traffic. Follow the link in the resource box below to see some examples.
(7) Reciprocal Links
By swapping links, webmasters hope that people will click on their link in other websites thereby generating website traffic. This strategy is one of the very best ways of generating free, targeted website traffic and should be high on your list of priorities. It also is highly rated by search engines
(8) Classifies Ads
Do a search for “classified ads” and you will find many sites, which accept classified advertisements. Make sure you place your ad in a site complimentary to your product. Generally sites at the top of google/yahoo searches will perform better than those lower down. Again make sure the site you are placing your ad on has a high traffic rating or it will not assist with your website traffic.
(9) Pay Per Click Advertising
Programs like Google's Adwords will deliver pre-qualified targeted website traffic to your site. I have found this to be an excellent way of delivering high converting website traffic.
(10) Expired Domain Names
Some expired domain names are still receiving traffic. If you are lucky you can pick one up quite cheaply. These can provide a very cheap source of long-term website traffic.
The greater your website traffic the closer you will come to your goals. I hope this article will help you grow your website traffic and reach those goals.
To your success!
About the author:
Brian Pratt is a 47 year old New Zealander with over 10 years internet experience. He owns and operates a Plug-In Profit site at http://www.bestrealincome.comBrian can be contacted at brian@bestrealincome.com
Way back in the good old days of the Internet (mid to late
'Nineties), you could find all sorts of free "stuff"
online.
Everything from website hosting and email, to software and
long distance phone calls came free of charge.
Some of the free services survived, while others used their
venture capital to pay for the mansions and yachts of their
CEO's and then closed up shop within a few months - leaving
investors high and dry.
A few free services still exist on the 'Net in today's more
realistic dot-com economy and today rates as good time as
any to take a closer look.
** Free Email **
Log on to HotMail.com and get yourself a free email account
you can access from anywhere on the planet you can find an
Internet connection.
HotMail.com and http://mail.Yahoo.com (with twice the free
storage space of HotMail) rate as two of the most
successful and long-lived no cost services left over from
the "free" glory days of a few years ago.
** Free File Storage **
http://briefcase.Yahoo.com still ranks as the number 1 free
remote file storage service on the Internet.
Store up to 30 MB of files remotely for access and sharing
from any Internet connection anywhere in the world.
Instead of lugging floppy disks around between office,
home, and laptop, you can store them online in your own
password-protected briefcase on the Yahoo high-speed
servers.
A great way to back up and share files worldwide.
** Free Website Hosting **
Tripod.com allows you to set up your own website absolutely
free.
They support their service with third party banner ads at
the top of every page you display.
A great way to get started, but any serious entrepreneur
will eventually want to get their own low-cost hosting
account costing as little as $5 a month.
DotEasy.com presents an excellent alternative to Tripod.com
if you want your own domain name and a year's hosting for
only $25 a year.
Other free hosting services include: GeoCities.com,
gurlpages.com, and myfamily.com.
** Free Software **
Freeware and shareware, two ways software developers
distribute their creations, either in a "try before you
buy" mode, or as truly free software.
Many developers around the world create software for their
own personal use but, lacking a huge buying market or the
skills to sell the software, some of them just give it away
or sell it for a nominal fee after you try it.
If you know where to look, you can get everything from
graphics programs and website builders, to FTP programs and
recipe books.
Log on to Download.com and Zdnet.com for two of the most
popular places online to find software before paying full
retail.
NOTE: make sure your anti-virus program is up-to-date and
backup all your important files before installing any
software.
Free stuff online will never disappear because, when
appropriate, it represents the perfect way to start and
develop a relationship with customers. Unfortunately, the
"boom" days of the truly free online "lunch" seem gone
forever. Sigh.
About the author:
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-
author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to
use free articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted
visitors to your website or affiliate links...
Simple "Traffic Machine" brings Thousands of NEW visitors to
your website for weeks, even months... without spending a
dime on advertising! ==> http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com
An effective domain name can help to brand your site. It can also communicate to your customers the types of products you sell online. An easy to remember domain that describes your services should be the goal of every site owner. Here are some techniques that you can use to create the best domain name for your company.
Describe your products or services
One way to come up with an effective domain name is to describe your product or services. Write down every word or phrase that comes to mind when you think of your product or service. The easiest way is to keep writing for two to five minutes without stopping. It’s a creative writing technique that can yield a huge cache of keywords that you can plug into any registration application until you find a domain name that fits. This technique is effective, quick and free.
English has a large vocabulary list
The English language has one of the largest vocabulary lists in the world. If you can’t find a way to describe a product or service, take a break, come back in a few minutes and try again. Try to see how many different ways you can say the same thing. You already have access to the vocabulary list and ideally you will know your product or service better than anyone else. Pretend that you’re describing it to a friend and in a few minutes you will have a long list of words that you can use as your domain name.
Most short words are taken
Yes, many of the shorter words such as “men”, “women” and “book” are taken. In today’s marketplace, you can’t rely on such generic terms to bring in traffic. An effective, memorable domain name must go beyond being a novelty to being an asset that helps customers remember your site and your product. Try putting two or three words together. This will make it easier for them to come back to your site and make a purchase.
Brainstorm your way to a great domain name
Brainstorming is the only way to get a good domain name. Whether you write, use a name generation software, a dictionary or try random words, it’s your creative approach that will give you quality results in less time.
Here are 4 easy domain name generation ideas:
1. Write about the product(s) that you plan to sell
2. Write about the topic or theme of your site
3. Write about the type of customers you want to visit your site
4. Start with one word descriptions and then add secondary words until your get an effective word or phrase that you register as your domain name.
Check out your competitor’s websites.
Are they using words that fall into a specific category like product names, rhyming words, or names of cities? These can all give you clues about what types of words and descriptions that make the best domain names for your type of service. It can also give you some clues into what works best with customers and search engines. In this case, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, you just tweak it a bit to get better results.
You’ll also have words for your Search Engine Marketing Campaign
The cool thing about this technique is that it will also help you to generate a list of words that you can use later on as part of your search engine optimization campaign. Whether you plan to do this on your own or through a Pay-Per-Click service, you will be ahead of the game with a long list of keywords to choose from.
About the author:
Syd Johnson is the Executive Editor of RapidLingo.com, a Financial Solutions Website. This article may be freely distributed as long as the author's bio is included with an active link to http://www.rapidlingo.com
t's your domain, or so you say. One morning, you wake up to find that it's registered in someone else's name.
Can you prove it's yours? Can you get it back?
The sex.com story
One morning, Gary Kremen woke up to find that the domain name sex.com, which he'd registered in 1994, had changed hands and was registered to ex-convict Stephen Michael Cohen. In 1995, Cohen had allegedly written a fake letter with a forged signature to Network Solutions, the registrar. He stated in that letter that control of sex.com was to be turned over to him.
In 2000, the court found the letter to be fraudulent and ruled that sex.com was to be returned to Kremen. Cohen was ordered to pay $65 million in punitive damages and for lost revenue. He never paid it, however, fleeing the US instead.
The story continued with charges against Network Solutions for mismanagement of sex.com. A lower court ruled in 2000 that Network Solutions was not accountable for its negligence in handling the domain. A domain name was not tangible property, according to the judge. In 2003, the US Appeals Court ruled that Kremen did have property rights to the domain. The following year, Kremen reached a settlement with VeriSign, the owner of Network Solutions. While the amount was undisclosed, it was rumored to be over $15 million.
Domains and ICANN
It's doubtful that any other domain has the value of sex.com. Our domains are valuable to us, though, and we want them to be protected. If they are stolen, we don't want to spend years fighting to get them back.
ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) was created in 1998 to help manage domain names, among other responsibilities. At the ICANN website, we read that ICANN "…is dedicated to preserving the operational stability of the Internet…and to developing policy appropriate to its mission…."
Developed in 2004, ICANN's Registrar Transfer Dispute Resolution Policy (TDRP) provides detailed steps for registrars to follow if a domain transfer is disputed. Registrars aren't obligated to follow this policy, and it doesn't guarantee resolution to domain transfer disputes. However, it provides a suggested policy for registrars to help reach resolutions when domain disputes arise.
Domain theft and ICANN
What should you do if you discover that someone has hijacked your domain name?
First, contact the registrar where you had the domain registered. With evidence that you didn't authorize the domain to be transferred to another person, that registrar should take the necessary steps to try to return the domain to you.
Unfortunately, some registrars aren't inclined to make the effort to do this, particularly (but not necessarily) those with a lower profit margin per domain.
If the registrar for your domain won't take action on your behalf, go to the gaining registrar with your case. This registrar; the one where your domain is now registered; may or may not want to look into the situation, but you can try your luck with it.
According to ICANN's TDRP, registrars should "… first of all attempt to resolve the problem among the Registrars involved in the dispute…." If they aren't successful, they should then file a dispute with ICANN.
In this ICANN April 2005 report, the suggestion was made (on page 5) to make the dispute resolution process accessible to registrants. At this time, though, if neither registrar will work to help you or will take the issue to ICANN, the ICANN dispute resolution process isn't available to you.
Although ICANN's Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy is intended for disputes over trademarked domains, some registrants have used it to try to get hijacked domains back. You can file a complaint via one of ICANN's Approved Providers for Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy.
Domains and the courts
The legal route that sex.com registrant Gary Kremen took is open to you as well. Look for a lawyer in the country of the domain registrar who has experience handling domain name disputes.
At this point, you need to weigh the value of your domain with the costs involved in getting it back. The value of sex.com made the legal battle financially worthwhile for Kremen, but many of us would have to stop at this point.
Protecting your domain
Nothing you can do can guarantee that your domain won't be hijacked. However, you can take a number of precautions to greatly reduce the chances of it happening. For tips on protecting your domain, see the article Information Highwaymen and Your Domain here: http://articles.websitesource.com/information_highwaymen.shtml .
About the author:
Lois S. is a Technical Executive Writer for http://www.websitesource.com with experience in the website hosting industry.
One of the most common questions I'm asked by my clients is "What domain name should I use for my website?". In response, I would recommend considering several factors. In the following article, I will go through these factors in a question and answer format:
1. Should I choose a country code domain name (like .CO.UK or .CA), or a global top-level domain like .COM?
If your target market is specific to one country, I would recommend using a country code domain name, especially if you sell physical products that can only be delivered within that country. Many people I have spoken to tell me that they are often uncertain of where online stores are located, and it is not until they reach checkout and are asked to pay in a foreign currency that they are not able to order the products in their shopping basket due to the website not selling internationally. Having a country code domain name instantly lets your potential customers know that you are located in the same country as them, and that your service is designed specifically for that nation.
Alternatively, if you have a website developed for the purpose of sharing information, with little or no content which is only relevant in one part of the world, my advice would be to choose a global top-level domain such as .com.
2. Should I break up words within my domain name with hyphens? Is 'widget-shop.com' better than 'widgetshop.com'?
There seems to be a general consensus within the search engine optimisation industry that using hyphens helps search engines deduce what the actual words within an URL are, therefore leading to those pages being ranked higher in the search engine results. However, there is also speculation that using 2 or more hyphens within the domain name incurs a penalty. With this in mind, I would advise anyone who plans to receive most of their custom from organic search engine results to use one hyphen in their domain name to separate their targeted search keywords.
However, if your business model is not heavy on search engine optimisation, my recommendation would be to not have any hyphens in your domain name, as the vast majority of internet users intuitively enter domain names in their browser address bar without any hyphens. In domain name value appraisal circles, the non-hyphenated version of a domain name is usually considered to be of greater worth.
For search engine optimisation, studies show that one hyphen may give you an advantage, but on the whole I would recommend not using any hyphens in your domain name.
3. Is it better to have digits (2, 3 etc.) or words for numbers (two, three etc.) in my domain name?
Generally speaking, I would dissuade anyone using word of mouth advertising from having any numbers, either as digits or as words, in their domain name. The reason for this is that a domain name should be easy to remember and easy to spell correctly. Lets say for example you had the domain name 'widgets4u.com'. If you meet someone that is interested in your product, and tell them to visit your website, you are going to have tell them specifically that the 4 is numeric and the U is just one letter. Otherwise, they may input 'widgetsforyou.com', 'widgets4you.com', 'widgetsforu.com' and end up at the website of one of your competitors.
If however you are prepared to accept this risk, in my experience the layperson tends to instinctively put the numeric version of a number in a domain name. Therefore, use 'widgets2.com', not 'widgetstwo.com'.
4. How long should my domain name be?
As short as possible. Long domain names are harder for your customers to remember, take longer to type, longer to spell out (you may find yourself having to spell your domain name letter-by-letter to some clients) and also may be harder to actually fit onto your business cards, print advertisements and similar. I have one client whose business name consists of four words, two of which are tricky to spell. My advice to him was to use a domain name with the first letter of each word only, which has proved very easy to remember.
If you are targeting specific search keywords, I would recommend that your domain name consists of those keywords and as little else as possible. If you were targeting 'purple widgets', my advice would be to use the domain name 'purplewidgets.com'. If that domain name is not available, I would recommend adding one extra word to the end. For example, I personally have a web site which targets the search keyword 'weight loss'. As one would expect, 'weightloss.com' and 'weightloss.co.uk' were already registered - so I opted for the domain name 'weightlossweb.co.uk'. Choosing an added word that begins with the same letter as your first keyword helps your visitors remember your domain name. So, going back to the purple widgets example: Alternative domain names could include 'purplewidgetpro.com', 'purplewidgetpower.com' and 'purplewidgetparadise.com'.
5. Are some domain name extensions better than others?
Yes. Generally speaking, the most desirable top-level domain is the .COM. Charitable websites may choose .ORG in order to declare that they are a charitable organisation, but there are currently no restrictions on who can register .ORG domain names or what they need be used for - and many commercial websites still use them.
My personal "league table" of favoured domain name extensions is as follows:
1 .COM
2 Country-code (.CO.UK, .CA, .IE etc.)
3 .NET
4 .ORG
5 .BIZ
6 .INFO
7 .NAME
I currently have in excess of 300 domain names registered, none of which are .INFO or .NAME. I would only recommend that one registers .BIZ, .INFO or .NAME domains if they have a large website with a brand name to protect. For example, my business trading name is 'Starsol.co.uk'. At the time of writing this article, 'Starsol.com' is currently registered by a domain name squatter, who is asking for an extortionate price. I have chosen to register 'Starsol.biz' to prevent a similar situation occurring in future. I feel it is very unlikely that anyone actually types the domain with the .BIZ extension into the address bar looking for my website - but if I didn't register the name myself - someone else might and go on to use it for purposes that may harm my brand.
6. What about .TV and .WS?
Although they may be marketed as such, .TV does not mean tele-vision and .WS does not mean web-site or world-site. .TV is the country code extension for Tuvalu and .WS is for Samoa. Tuvalu is small island country located in the Western Pacific Ocean with a population of approximately 11,000 in the Western Pacific Ocean that gained independence from the UK in 1978. Samoa, also in the Pacific, gained independence from New Zealand in 1962 and has a population of around 180,000. If these countries are not your target markets, I would personally dissuade you from using their country code domain names.
Other similar domain names include .FM (Federated States of Micronesia) which masquerades as the TLD for radio stations and .CC (Cocos Islands).
7. Why do some domain name registrars charge more than others? Are their domain names better?
Perhaps surprising, this is a question I have been asked on several occasions. Just like how some supermarkets which charge more than others for identical cans of fizzy drink than others, domain name registrars also charge differing domain name registration costs. Although some domain name registrars may provide extra tools with domain name registration, a domain name registered for $8.95 a year will work in exactly the same way and one registered for $35.00 a year. If I may give my own service a plug here, Starsol Domains at http://www.starsol.co.uk/domains/ offers .COM registration for what I believe are some of the fairest prices on the 'net.
I hope this article has helped you in your search for a perfect domain name. I would like to add however, that with domain name registrations being so cheap, that registering multiple domains and redirecting them all to your one "main domain" may prove to be a very good idea. If there is one domain that you will be heavily marketing, I would strongly advise you to at least also register the .COM version of that domain name too, and if you are outside the United States to also register the relevant country-code version of the domain name. Many of your customers may input the wrong extension when looking for your site, possibly leading to you losing their custom to a competitor of yours; or like my personal situation which I described earlier, may lead to a domain name squatter registering a domain similar to yours in the hope that you will spend many thousands buying it from them.
About the author:
Rupe Parnell is the founder and lead developer at Starsol.co.uk, a website development and management firm located in Norfolk, England. Rupe specialises in creating professional grade PHP scripts, a selection of which are available free at Starsol Scripts at http://www.starsol.co.uk/scripts/
