Domain Squatting Explained

By Allan Burns

The one thing that annoys me most about the topic of domain names is when trying to find a domain name for a new site only to find most of the names I come up with are already taken. Even more annoying is that these names are not being used for a site that relates to the domain name.

Domain squatting or cyber squatting is the term used for someone who registers a domain with no intention of using it, that would otherwise be used for a site relating to the domain name.

Let me give you an example, recently I came up with an idea for a site and there was a couple of domains that were ideal, keyword1keyword2.com and the plural version, so I checked to see if they were available. I found that both the names I thought would be perfect were taken. Both domain names were directed to a generic search page whose sole purpose is to make money off of direct type ins.

Now I haven't given the names as I don't want to give away my idea and I don't want to give the sites any free advertising. This is not a one off incidence but something that happens quite often, especially with domain names with good or popular keywords. This activity is not illegal unless you use a trademark name, but it is against the ethics of what the internet is about.

There is a difference between domain squatting and domain parking and that difference is intent. If you register the domain with the intent of using it in the future for a purpose relating to the domain name then you have just parked the domain. If you register a domain with the sole intention of making money from reselling it or getting revenue from people typing in the domain name then that is domain squatting.

As I have explained it is not illegal it is just unethical, it is a free market economy and people are motivated by profit. I do not agree with domain squatting as it forces webmasters like myself to use domain names that are far from perfect, take this site on domain names, this name was far from my first choice. It also misleads internet users as the expect a site to be related to the keywords in the domain name making the internet less user friendly.

Find out more about domain names and get some advice before registering your next domain.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Allan_Burns

Domain Name Forwarding and Search Engines

By Dan LeFree

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

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

What constitutes and incorrect forward?

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

Here's what happens:

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

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

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

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

What's the solution?

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

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

Dan LeFree is a Web Design and Development Consultant specializing in database applications for e-Commerce storefronts, custom realtor websites, and other small business tools.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dan_LeFree

Instant Traffic Using Expired Domains

By Wayne Ford

Every day thousands of domains 'expire' and are put back into the pool of available domains that anyone can register. They can be very valuable if you are looking for a quality domain for your online business, or if you want to re-sell them for profit. But wait! There is another huge advantage to a domain that was previously owned -- Instant Traffic!

As I said above, expired domains have all been owned by someone in the past. Many of these previous owners built Websites for these domains, advertised them, registered them with search engines, and even exchanged links with other sites. All translating into traffic to that domain name.

Now, why would someone who took the time to do all that work let the domain expire? It could be one of several reasons:

* the author simply lost interest * an online venture ran out of funding * poor management of the domain * they couldn't afford the fees

Whatever the reason, it happens. And you can reclaim some of the wasted traffic and use it to your advantage. You can either point it to your existing site or use it to jumpstart and add value to a new site.

How do you know if an expired domain has traffic?

While there is no way to gauge the actual amount of traffic going to an expired domain, you can find out its link popularity in the major search engines. This will tell you the number of Web pages listed in a particular search engine that link to that domain. The more links, the higher link popularity and the more traffic that domain is getting (in some search engines, the higher ranking, too).

A free online tool to help you find the link popularity of an individual domain at five top search engines can be found at http://www.Webofsuccess.com/popularity/popularity.cgi

Another way I recently discovered is to use this powerful software program called Popular Domains. Among other features, it allows you to import a list of expired domains and automatically check the link popularity of each one. To learn more about it, check out http://www.Webofsuccess.com/domainsweekly/popular.html

As you can see, this can be an affordable way to gain instant traffic to your site. Be nice, though, and do not abuse this technique, make sure the site you are sending traffic to relates to the domain. For example don't register the expired domain 'ehairplugs.com' just because it has a high link popularity and then forward the domain to your site about Internet marketing. Other than that you may use your new domain with 'built-in' traffic however you wish!

About The Author

Wayne Ford, info@domainsweekly.com, is the founder and president of DomainsWeekly.com the leading supplier of daily expired and soon-to-expire domain lists. He also publishes a free weekly newsletter packed full of domain-related information and a list of quality available domains. You may subscribe by sending a blank email to domainsweekly-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Wayne_Ford

How to Register an Expiring Domain

By Sidney Parfait

Understanding the process and options involved with registering an expiring domain can be a confusing task. How, Where, When?

This article will explain the basic steps to researching an expiring domain name, and the many different options (or should I say necessary steps to insure success).

The normal domain expiration process for .com .net

(domain deletion cycle):

Phase 1. Active Domain

A domain is registered for a time period of 1-10 years. During this time the domain owner has unrestricted use of the domain.

Phase 2. On-Hold

At the end of this time period, the registrant is required to pay a renewal fee to the registrar to continue to use the domain. If the domain is renewed go back to phase 1, if not the domain is placed in an onhold (on-hold) status for 1-45 days (each registrar has determines how long this period lasts). During this time, the registrant (owner of the domain) can still pay the renewal fee and continue to use his/her domain name. During this onhold period the domain resolves to the registrars website or does not resolve at all.

Phase 3. Redemption

After the 1-45 day onhold period, the domain then enters redemption status (RGP - Redemption grace period), which lasts for 30 days. During this time the registrant of the domain name has the option to pay a redemption penalty fee (redemption fees generally cost between $100-200 depending on the registrar) and renew the domain. If the domain owner renews the domain go back to phase 1. During this redemption period the domain resolves to the registrars website or does not resolve at all.

Phase 4. Pending Delete

After the domain completes the 30 day redemption period without being renewed, it then enters a 5 day pending delete period. During this the time the registrant no longer has the ability to renew the domain name. The domain will be released to the general public and be available for registration on the sixth day at 2pm eastern.

(This drop process does not hold true for exclusive backorders)

Domains are an ever changing industry. Over the last 2 years, many things have changed including many variations of the domain deletion process. The above mentioned process is the norm, but every day more and more registrars are starting to have exclusive drops.

An example of an exclusive drop: A domain is registered with Network Solutions. The registrant fails to renew the domain within 60 days of the expiration date. The domain is then auctioned off at snapnames.com (a domain auction site).

Each registrar has their own time frame for exclusive drops. Current registrars that are participating in exclusive drops are: network solutions, godaddy, wild west domains, blue razor, bulk register, dotster, and enom. Domains registered at network solutions or bulk register must be backordered at snapnames. Domains registered at godaddy, wild west domains, or blue razor must be backordered at godaddy or a wild west reseller such as domainut.com. Domains registered at dotster must be backordered at namewinner Domains registered at enom must be backordered at club drop (if at least on backorder is placed at the above services the domain will stay with the original registrar, if no backorder is placed, the domain will follow the normal drop process) A backorder is the process of signing up at a drop catching service and making a request to be the next owner of a domain. The prices at each drop catch service vary. Pool.com - Backorders start at $60. Pool uses a pay for performance business model. If pool does not catch the domain when it expires then you are not charged. If you are the only person that backordered a domain and pool catches it, you are awarded the domain for $60. If the expired domain was backordered by more than one person, the domain is then up for private auction. People that backordered the domain prior to Pool catching it are only allowed to bid in the auction. The auction lasts for 3 days. SnapNames.com - Backorders start at $60. Snapnames uses a pay for performance business model. If Snapnames does not catch the domain when it expires then you are not charged. If you are the only person that backordered a domain and snapnames catches it, you are awarded the domain for $60. If the expired domain was backordered by more than one person, the domain is then up for private auction. People that backordered the domain prior to snapnames catching it are only allowed to bid in the auction. The auction lasts for 3 days. Enom Club Drop - Backorder start price is optional$10 or $30. Enom uses a pay for performance business model. If enom does not catch the domain when it expires then you are not charged. If you are the only person that backordered a domain for $10 the domain then goes to public auction, but if you backordered it for $30 or more and enom catches it, you are awarded the domain. If the expired domain was backordered for $30 or more by more than one person, the domain is then up for private auction. The auction lasts for 3 days. Namewinner.com - Backorders start at $30. Namewinner uses a pay for performance business model. If namewinner does not catch the domain when it expires then you are not charged. If you are the only person that backordered a domain and namewinner catches it, you are awarded the domain for $30. If the expired domain was backordered by more than one person, the domain is then up for private auction. People that backordered the domain prior to namewinner catching it are only allowed to bid in the auction. The auction lasts for 3 days. Godaddy.com or any Wild West Domains Reseller - $18.95 first come first served (only one person can place a backorder on any one expiring domain, if or when the domain expires and godaddy catches it, the backorder holder is awarded the domain.) It is always best to fully research an expiring domain name. There is no sure fire way of knowing if a domain will receive traffic, or how much a domain is worth. But by checking to see how many sites link to a domain (linkpop), how many people searched for the domain in the previous month (overture with extension), how many people searched for the terms that make up the domain in the previous month (overture without the extension), what the google pr is (google page rank), and what the domain was use for in the past (wayback archive), you can get a rough idea of how much traffic you should expect.

Once you have completely researched a domain, you should then decide if the domain is worth backordering at pool or snapname for $60, at enom or namewinner for $30, at godaddy or a wild west reseller for $18.95, or enom for $10. Remember to cover all your bases if an expiring domain is worth at least $60 to you, then backorder at all of the above services. If it is only worth $30, then backorder at any service that is $30 or cheaper (but remember someone else may backorder it at the $60 service, and then you have no chance at getting the expired domain, if you don't have a backorder placed at that service.)

For more tutorials and information by Sidney Parfait, owner of the best domain resources on the web (StartName.com ParkingIncome.com and DropWatch.com)

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sidney_Parfait

10 Benefits Of Having Your Own Domain Name

By Glenn Sojourner

Want an edge over 95% of the affiliate marketers on the web? Get a domain name. A domain name is like setting up an address for people to stop by and do business with you.

1. Professional appearance.
Really, which website are you more inclined to click:
http://www.mypowermall.com/Biz/Home/555555 or http://www.onlinesavingsforyou.com? The first one reeks of “cookie cutter” or replicated websites and there are thousands of others out there EXACTLY like it. The second one shows independence and singularity. For this example, hundreds of thousands of people have clicked on a Power Mall website. The chance of click-through to your affilitate generated website is slim and getting slimmer every time another signs up for this opportunity. More people will click on the second because it is something they have not seen before. You move from the crowd promoting the cookie cutter website to standing apart and representing yourself as your own business.

2. Recall of your website.
Look at those website names again. Which one is easier to remember? Which one will look better on a business card? Are they going to get your replicated site if they the search for “Powermall” because that is what they remember or are they more likely to remember onlinesavingsforyou.com?

3. Promote yourself and not just your affiliates.
At some point, you may decide you do not want to continue to represent the affiliate site you are promoting now. Any of the ranking you have achieved in a search engine will be worthless to you.. If you have your own website, you simple change your content, remove the link to the opportunity, add a new link or whatever and maintain your presence.

4. You can build a contact list with your own capture page.
Anyone in internet marketing knows the “list” is the vehicle to success. If you are promoting several different affiliate businesses using only their back office auto-responders, you are missing the opportunity to cross sell to your other opportunities. You need to set up a capture page using your own auto-responder to collect their contact information, before you send them to your affiliate website.

5. Give yourself a true web presence.
You can create your own content with your name creating credibility. Use your website to promote yourself while you promote your affiliates. As you develop multiple streams of income, you can use your domain to promote them with your “branding”. As you build your presence, you will be building your credibility.

6. A “real” email address
Think about it. Which shows more credibility as an online marketer?
AnnMartin@OnlineSavingsForYou.com or aprilsmom@yahoo.com? It is as simple as that.

7. Able to promote multiple products
Because you have your own domain with your own website, you can promote multiple products or opportunities from one place. When you use websites like MySpace, Ryze, DirectMatches, etc. to market, you take people to your website and not put in four or five affiliate links.

8. Investment in your online future
You have made a move toward having an online business by signing up as an affiliate so you have an obvious interest in online business success. You need to think about your future as an online marketer and what will take you to the next level. A domain name of your own is the next logical step. You will learn a tremendous amount of information online and but all will point you toward getting your own domain name to be in business.

9. It is easy to do.
You can get a domain name for less than $10 for a one-year registration. Hosting can cost you less than $20 month. Doesn’t it make sense to put these tools to work for you?

10. Puts you into business at a mental level
If you have made a commitment to a domain name, virtually that puts you into business. You need to use that to pull yourself into business mentally and physically. Get to work! Learn as much as you can but most of all, start promoting your domain!

If you don’t understand the benefits of having your own domain name and how it can make your business explode, you really should rethink your desire to have an online business. Your domain name will be the cornerstone and provides a base for building a solid online business.

Glenn Sojourner has more than twenty five years experience as a management consultant working with large major corporations. He has been a success affiliate marketer for the past three years.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Glenn_Sojourner

5 Steps For Domain Name

By James Krawder

Every online business holdings needs a domain name. With increased web presence of the companies there is an increased demand for suitable domain names. People are willing to shell out big amount if the desired domain name is offered to them. Since appropriate domain names signify professionalism, everybody wants them. To get domain name people are searching for people who have already purchased them and can offer them the name for some cost. Here are five steps for domain name.

First step for domain name is to have a list of domain names you think can be best suited for selling. The domain names should not have been registered before and should be new. You can also search for domain names that are expired.

Second, try to get some guidance and information from professional brokers. But this point should be done with great care as any mistake in choosing the broker can cost you heavily.

Third, do not get ridden by some ones suggestions including you for choosing the domain name. Make use of statics and upcoming companies that might need that name and then buy that name. Do not buy any name just because it looks sweet or unique.

Fourth, try to get all the variants of the domain name. For instance if you have registered xyz.com then try to get .co.in, .net. .org etc. this will help in selling to big companies who want to have all the variants for themselves for not letting the clients to land on some other site by mistake.

Fifth, once you are ready with the names, you need to advertise. You can go ahead with a blogs or a website that can display the links for your domain names. This will give you a market standing and improve your business.

Want to learn more about it? Download the free ebook, Steps to Article Marketing Success.

Do you want to learn how to build a massive list fast? Click here: Email List Building

Want to learn more about driving traffic like I do? Download my free traffic guide here: Traffic Generation

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Krawder

A Little Secret About Public Domain Treasures

By Manjit Kaur

I bet this little secret is going to get YOU excited... just like it did me. I just discovered public domain treasures and it’s a perfect business opportunity for many new internet entrepreneurs.

Did you know there’s a little known loophole in US law that allows anyone to distribute, resell or give away expired copyrighted content? Officially, its called public domain, and savvy marketers “borrow” it to publish instant products.

Public domain refers to anything that is NOT protected under US copyright law. This includes all works published before 1923 and under certain conditions, works published up to 1978. A “work” can be anything, a book, movies, plays, songs, photographs, instruction manuals, posters, courses, reports, etc. You could take these works, repackage them and sell them for a profit. By tapping into public domain content, all the nitty gritty work has been done for you.

There are almost an endless number of ways that you can make money with public domain content. Let me suggest 10 different models you can use to activate and tap the public domain treasures.

Model 1: Resell It.
You can re-publish public domain content exactly as it is. Whether it’s a book, a movie or even music, you can take this content and quickly turn it into a product. Just copy it as it is and start selling it.

Model 2: Website Content
You can take the text of the public domain work which relates to a product you are selling or an affiliate program that you are promoting. You then create web pages and include links back to your product page.

Model 3: Repackage
You can repackage a public domain work into a new product. You can use the ideas and some of the content of public domain works to create new and better products.

Eg. Walt Disney characters Snow White, the Little Mermaid were all stories from the public domain.

Model 4: Multimedia
You can change the books in print into a CD or even a video set. Add to the perceived value of the product by offering ways to consume the information. What was once simply a “book” can now be a complete home study course or training program.

Eg. The famous “Think & Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill has been made into an audio CD which is a more convenient format.

Model 5: Reprint Rights
You could sell your version of the information product along with marketing materials. People love reprint rights and it’s a quick and easy way to make tons of money immediately. You can sell reprint rights only to a derivative product you have created from the original public domain material.

Model 6: Upsell
You can use public domain works and use then as an “upsell” to a regular version of your best selling product. You simply present your buyer with an additional opportunity to “upgrade” their order or add something to their order.

Model 7: Bonuses
Simply use the work as a bonus to your main offering. People love bonuses and will buy a product just for the bonus, if its unique and not something they’ve seen all over the net already.

Model 8: Viral E-books
You simply take parts of the book and turn it into a viral e-book by allowing others to pass along or even sell this e-book as their own. Once you trigger the “virus” its nearly impossible to make it stop because people keep passing it on and than these people keep passing it on etc, etc.

Eg. Rebecca fine from Seattle, WA used this exact technique to accidentally launch her six figure business with an interesting book, written in 1910 “The Science of Getting Rich” by Wallace D.Wattles. You can “super-size” this strategy by creating a viral e-book with the material and then including affiliate links that pay you commissions anytime someone buys from your recommended resources.

Model 9: Google AdSense
You can use the material to create an information-rich website and then place a tiny piece of code from Google to run their AdSense program on your site. You’ll essentially partner-up with Google and get paid a percentage for everyone that simply clicks on the ads Google places on your site.

Model 10: Articles/ Mini Courses
You could use little contents from public domain works and create a mini-course that people would subscribe from your site. You just load a series of 4 to 10 articles into your auto-responders and it delivers it on a total auto-pilot.

You can also use the material into 500-800 word articles to distribute for free publicity and traffic to your sites. Editors of e-zines and owners of web sites are always looking for hot fresh content and in exchange they’ll send you over targeted traffic.

Eg. Matt Furey discovered a little unknown book on “Catch Wrestling” and turned it into a complete manual and video e-course of 12 lessons for his market of fitness and wrestling buffs. He had earned over $1million dollars in sales from this one book.

Among the topics available in the public domain treasures are:

Health & Fitness

Fun & Games

Sports & Recreation

Hobbies & Crafts

Education & Self Improvement

Food & Cooking

Animal & Pets

Home Garden & much much more.

Public domain works provides a huge opportunity to newbies in the internet world to tap these vast treasures. Simply put, you can use these works to instantly create e-books, manuals, articles, reports or any other type of information products in a snap. GOOD LUCK!

You’ll find step-by-step advice on 19 killer internet business and internet marketing models as marketed by TOP internet Entrepreneurs at http://www.e-HomeBiz.net. It is one of a kind mini-encyclopedia with Master Resell Rights.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Manjit_Kaur

1-800-Get-Rich Can Toll Free 800 Number Domains Pay Off?

By Mike Valentine

The toll free number 1-800-Get-Rich belongs to the Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City. Perfect vanity number for a casino, right? Well apparently not. Their website shows the actual numbers, 1-800-438-7424 for the marketing department of Resorts Atlantic City. Those NUMBERS are nowhere near as memorable as is the mnemonic device of letters representing those numbers on the telephone keypad. It makes you wonder, did the casino have bad luck (no pun intended) or receive bad publicity for their 800-Get-Rich phone number?

Doing a Google search for 1-800-GET-RICH returns several spoof articles using the toll free number to make light of get rich quick schemes. Seems as well suited to a casino as to satire, since gambling represents the ultimate get rich quick scheme.

But on the web there's a another element to toll free numbers you must consider. 800 numbers are used as domain names which seem to stick in our memory as a web address just as well as a phone number. Resorts Atlantic City Hotel Casino should buy the domain name www.1800getrich.com from the current owner and assign their marketing department toll free 800 vanity number to the Casino instead.

The domain name www.1800GetRich.com is for sale as of this writing if you visit that web address. You can be certain that the current domain owner knows that the toll free vanity telephone number is owned by Resorts International Hotels www.resortsac.com which matches the domain www.1800getrich.com. It has to be enticing to think a large international hotel corporation may want his domain.

The casino owns the toll free number but isn't using the mnemonic for the numbers (GET-RICH for 438-7424). Makes you wonder about the history of the domain name, since WHOIS records show it was reserved only this past May of 2004, AND the history of the vanity number since it is going unused, at least on the web site. Hmmmm...

There are vanity phone number resellers online that actually specialize in providing 800 numbers with matching domain name for those seeking the consistent branding for their business. Clearly this is simply a marketing ploy by savvy 800 number vendors, as those domains may be full of hyphens and may cost more than they should due to the perception of value-added.

An interesting aspect to toll free numbers as domain names is that of 1-800 copyright and trademarks. Take for example, the well known flower retailer 1-800-FLOWERS.com where they use both the domain name and the toll free number. Both are copy- righted and trademarked names and essential to the business.

Legal precedent allows trademark owners to confiscate domains from "cybersquatters" who buy domain names containing trade- marked or copyrighted words and phrases hoping to sell that domain back to the trademark holder. But it is less clear an issue when it comes to descriptive toll free and vanity phone numbers. How about 1-800-PINDROP.com - which you would think would be registered to Sprint Communications? Curiously, as of October of 2004, this domain was available. What do they use? www.pindrop.com (without the 1-800) goes to Sprint.com.

It appears there are wide inconsistencies in using toll free 800 phone numbers as domain names but they can be memorable, which is one measure of a good domain name. They also aren't limiting as to word length. I've always felt it's a bit odd to type in 1800keywordphrase.com as a domain name, but only because there is no hyphen in it. 1800 looks like eighteen hundred and is just as strange as typing 247 for domains as a suggestion they are always open, more often seen as 24/7, but domain names can't have that slash mark in them.

As a matter of fact, I've always disliked numbers of any kind in domain names - especially those using numbers in place of the words "to" (up2me.com)& "for" (good4you.com) But, as owner of http://website101.com I'm at odds with the dislike for numbers in domain names. Still, it works better than 1800website.com or 1-800-website.com, both owned by Verio Web Hosting and both purchased in August of 1996, but neither have web sites configured at those addresses. They must not have been a worthwhile domains, yet they keep them.

If it offers you another option for a memorable web address, 800 number domains may be worth considering.

Mike Valentine operates WebSite101 domain name tutorial http://WebSite101.com/Domain_Name/ Free domain lookup tool to find out who owns domain names at http://website101.com/Domain_Name/Domain-WHOIS-database.html This article written for 800 Numbers Toll Free http://800numberstollfree.com/toll-free-800-number-index.htm

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Valentine

Domain Name - How To Pick One

By Halstatt Pires

Picking a domain name should be easy, right? Why, I'll just use my business name. Not so fast, Sparky. A good bit of thought should be given to selecting a domain name.

A Cautionary Note

Picking a domain name is like getting married. You are going to have to stick with it till the bitter end. People that use your site will come to know it by the domain name. Repeat visitors will often simply type in the domain name to get to the site, better known as "type in traffic". As an example, do you search for "Amazon" when you want to buy a book or do simply type in amazon.com? If Amazon were to change its domain name to Desert, there would be a lot of confusion. The same goes with your domain. Once you pick something, stick with it.

Your Choices

Well, the obvious choice is your business name, but it may not be the best. There are four significant issues to consider.

First, is there something about your business name that makes using it as a domain an unwise choice? This situation typically arises if you have a long business name or have plural words. "Halstatt's Rip'n Marketing Campaigns, Inc." is going to be a horrible domain name. Clients are going to find it difficult to type in such a domain name.

Double letter problems are a second issue that is entirely unique to the Internet. What if Sams Salon wants to use its business name as a domain? The "s" at the end of first word and beginning of the second can cause confusion. Is the domain name Samssalon.com or Samsalon.com? Confusing your users is a bad way to run a site.

The third issue concerns the nature of your site and search engine optimization. If you are shooting for a particular keyword phrase, you may be better off using that keyword phrase in your domain name. Google, for instance, looks at the domain name when evaluating a site. If the words in your domain name are spaced with dashes, many believe it will help in the ranking process. This is why you see so many xxx-xxxx-xxx.com domain names on the net. If your business focuses on a very specific area, strong consideration should be given to using relevant keywords in your domain name.

Finally, your domain name should end in ".com" and I don't want to hear any argument or see any rolling of the eyes. The simple fact is that when people think of sites, they always type in .com. Yes, there are other extensions and .us, .net, .biz, etc., may seem unique, but it kills your traffic. Pavlov and his dog experiments had it right. People have been mentally conditioned to type in .com, so don't select any other ending. If you do, a smart competitor will register the .com version of your name to get some free traffic. If you are really lucky, a porn site will do it!

Take a breath before you select a domain name. Like a spouse, it can be either a good or bad choice.

Halstatt Pires is with MarketingTitan.com - a firm providing internet marketing services.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Halstatt_Pires

How to Register Your Domain

By Ted Prodromou

When you launch a new website you must register a unique domain name with an authorized registrar. When the internet was first starting, all domain names and IP addresses were registered through one organization, Internic. Eventually Network Solutions took over the role as "keeper" of the internet domain names. Today, there are hundreds of websites where you can register your domain name but Network Solutions still maintains the main database of domain names. Some websites charge as little as $2.95 per year for your domain name while others charge as much as $35 per year for the exact same service. Some even offer one year free if you register your domain name with them and host your website on their servers. Why pay $35 when you can register your domain name for much less at another website?

So why does Network Solutions charge $35 a year if they are the keeper of the database and their resellers charge a fraction or even nothing? Who knows and who cares! Register your domain with one of the cheaper providers and you'll be fine. A word caution - be care who you choose to host your website. Getting a free year of your domain name isn't worth it if your webhost is unreliable and your website is down more than it's up.

You pay for your domain name on a yearly basis. It's a separate charge from your webhosting bill. When you register your domain name choose the autorenewal option if it's available. This way your domain name will not expire if you forget to renew it. If your domain name expires, it's free for anyone else to register so you need to stay on top of when it's expiring. Also registering your domain name for a 3 to 5 year term will often save you money. For example, godaddy.com charges $8.95 a year for your domain name but only $7.25 a year if you register for a 5 year term.

When you register your domain you can create different contact names. The three contacts are Administrator, Technical and Billing. Most of the time the same person is all 3 contacts. If you web designer registers your domain name for you, make sure you are designated as the Administrative contact. This gives you control over the domain name and you must be notified if someone is trying to make changes to your record. If you aren't one of the contacts then someone can transfer ownership of the domain name without your permission.

To see a record of your domain name, go to www.networksolutions.com and use their WHOIS utility which is located in the bottom left corner of their home page. Simply enter your domain name and click Search. You'll see the complete record of your domain name, where it's registered and where your website is hosted. For a complete video of how to use WHOIS, visit www.valiss.com/video/whois/whois.html.

When you register your domain name you'll have to the option of making it a private registration. I highly recommend paying the additional fee to make your information private. If you leave your registration public anyone can look up your domain information which includes your home or business address and your email address. Many spammers scan public domain registration records to find valid email addresses to spam.

I always use a yahoo or hotmail email account when registering my domains. This way if spammers to find my email address, I can just get a new "throwaway" email address and I won't receive spam at my primary email address.

Always make sure your domain record remains locked. Locking your domain name is a feature implemented a few years ago. When you want to transfer your domain name to a different registrar you must unlock it. Once it's unlocked the new registrar can "pull" your domain name from your current registrar. Once the transfer is complete, the domain name will be locked to prevent anyone else from "pulling" your domain away from you.

About The Author
Ted Prodromou spent over 25 years in the computer industry working for IBM, Digital, and Cellular One. Today he's the owner of Valiss IT, a consulting firm that provides personalized web design and small business marketing solutions. Visit http://www.valiss.com for lots of free "how to" articles about marketing your business online. Copyright 2005 Valiss IT, Inc. All Rights Reserved This article may be reprinted only if it remains unchanged.

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Domain Parking Explained

By Allan Burns

Domain names are being snapped up all the time so if you have thought of a cool domain name for a future project then it might be wise to register it now. There is a chance that if you leave it too late someone else may register it. While your planning your site you can park the domain name.

Domain parking is a process where you register a domain and do not enter the domain name servers of your hosting company. Usually the domain registrar will park your domain by default on their server, this means that if you type your domain name into a web browser you will arrive at a default page provided by the registrar.

If you are going to hold onto the domain for a while or not develop a site straight away then you may want to consider a domain parking service that offers you revenue from your parked domain. Domain parking services such as Traffic parking and sedo offer revenue sharing from your parked domain.

Revenue sharing from a parked domain works by traffic being directed to a search page or pay per click page where any visitors to your parked domain may click on the ads and you receive a percentage of the revenue from this.

Traffic parking claims that a parked domain receives on average 8 hits per month but a popular domain name may get thousands of visitors due to direct type ins and miss typed domains. Unless you have a popular domain name it probably isn't worth the effort to use a revenue sharing parking service and just use your registrars default parking page.

So domain parking is a process where you register a domain and leave it until you are ready to use it. You may or may not have a parking page where any stray visitors will see a default host parking page or if you use a domain parking service an ad targeted page.

Allan is the webmaster at NameSearchDomain.com where you can find out all about Domain names.

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The Mechanics of a Domain Name

By Aaron Brooks

Human beings like to "name" things, babies, horses, homes, places, nations, continents, businesses, learning institutions, vehicles, and now web sites. As far as the internet is concerned a domain name is the core identity of a website.

A domain name for any website is its address and it is by suing the domain name that users find what they are looking for on the World Wide Web. And since websites are in the primary business of attracting surfers it is the selection of a domain name that could make or break your business.

So, here are a few thoughts:

? A domain name that is short and has great recall will be most successful. Unless surfers on the net remember your domain name or bookmark it they are unlikely to return or recommend your website to others.

? Even if you do have an innovative domain name like " cosmetics.com" you need to consider registering other names like " sunblock.com; blush.com; lotions.com; perfectcomplexion.com and so on" The purpose is that any potential customer looking for any cosmetics or information on cosmetics must be led to your site irrespective of what they type into a search engine browser.

? And it is important to think beyond.com. consider options like .net, .org, and so on.

? Weigh the pros and cons of using hyphens in a domain name. Hyphens are advantageous with search engines but people tend to forget them.

? Ensure that the domain name you choose does not infringe any trademarks or copyrights.

? Be sure to register your domain name and take all steps to protect your property and rights.

? A domain name is your identity or "company" name on the net. So you must choose wisely if you intend your world wide business to be a success.

? Use keywords that pertain to your business or website in the domain name. And be sure to cover all bases.

? Weigh the pros and cons of choosing a country specific domain over a universal one. A dot com is universal while a dot co.uk is country specific. Here you need to study your business plan carefully and think about future growth potential.

? Cover your basis legally and consider registration and copyright infringement.

When choosing a domain name think: profits, search engine optimization, human recall, and relevance. In the World Wide Web it is traffic that will drive your business and what drives traffic is easy accessibility.

In the cyber world what can make or break a business is a domain name so choose with care and you will be tension free.

Aaron Brooks is a freelance writer for http://www.1866webhosting.com , the premier website to find Web Hosting including topics on web hosting provider, cheap web hosting, business web hosting, web hosting company, small business web hosting, business web site hosting, web hosting solution and more. He also freelances for Free Software Downloads Site http://www.1888softwaredownloads.com

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Best Domain Names - How to Choose the Best Domain Name

By Sean R Mize

A domain name is very important in online business. It is actually one of the reasons why your business would bloom into a big online business. And since this is very important in a business, you might as well want to check on these tips when choosing the best domain name for your business.

1. Be sure that your domain name will also be your web site name. Does it make sense? Of course! As you see if your customers think of your company, it would be easy for them to look for you if they are reminded of your domain name. It would be easy for them to remember your URL that way.

2. Try using the brand name rather than the generic. Though the generic are quite expensive, it is still suggested that you use the brand name since people will search for something that they already have an idea using the brand names.

3. Actually it does not matter if your domain name is long or short. You can go with short domain name as long as it is easy for your customers to remember it. Try to shun away from obscure spellings that people would be confused remembering it. You can also have long domain name that would represent relevant keywords that would help the customers get the idea of what your business is all about.

4. Punctuation or special characters on your domain name should be avoided. While these characters could differentiate you with other domain names, still there are a lot of possibilities that your customers could miss where these characters are located on your domain name. This is true especially if your domain name was just referred by other verbally.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, 'Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide'

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Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks.

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6 Quick Steps to Create More Money in Domain Names

By Sean R Mize

Selling domain names is a business that is rapidly gaining in popularity. Many people like to be creative and work out names that they can buy up and sell at a profit. Here are 6 quick steps to finding profitable domain names and reselling them.

Step 1: Get a Broker
You can find lots of different domain name brokers out there, but you need to make sure they will do more than just sell you names. These brokers offer different services, so make sure you choose one that fits your needs.

Step 2: Choose Sensible Names
If something sounds like a clever domain name, don't buy it on that premise alone. Make sure someone else will also want to buy it--otherwise, let it pass.

Step 3: Research
Always make sure the name you are buying has not bee chosen already. There are registries you can check to make sure someone else doesn't own it. Profitable domain names begin with making sure it's yours.

Step 4: Buy Different Versions
If you can, buy different versions of the name--someone may want to use a similar domain name as a secondary web link and you can market the names just that way. For instance, you might want to purchase ColumbusFlorist.com and CreativeColumbusFlorist.com.

Step 5: Buy Different Versions, Part 2
In addition to variable names, try variable suffixes like .org and .net in place of .com. This can give you a large variety of name choices for your profitable domain names.

Step 6: Tell the World
Even if your broker provides advertising and space for a listing on their website, you should still write about your domain name business in blogs, forums, chat rooms and even MySpace and Facebook.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, 'Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide'

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Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks.

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Getting the Right Domain Names

By Sean R Mize

One of the most essential things that one must consider in building a site is choosing the right domain name for the site. A lot of reasons may be attributed to asking why the need for a better domain name. The reason may be simple -- it is business. So, how then should one choose the right and perfect domain name for his or her site. Regardless of the purpose, the site must have a carefully thought domain name to ensure that both the site and the domain coincide with one another. Are there actually lists of things to do and remember when getting a domain name? Well, the answer is that, yes, there are!

. When choosing a domain name, always remember to make it the shortest. A short domain name allows to be remembered easily by visiting clients. Not only it does not test the memory skill of the client but it also tries to be search engine friendly. Indeed, the saying "the shorter the better" in this aspect really works!

. When choosing a domain name, always remember to look for the relevance. A meaningful, relevant, and related domain name is a domain name that will surely be most accessed. You do not want to be getting a domain name that has irrelevance on your site, do you? Therefore, when choosing a domain name, try to equate the content of the site with the domain name to determine the equality of the two.

. When choosing a domain name, learn how to incorporate keywords. It is essential that you know how to play keywords because keywords play a vital role in getting the right rank and proper index from the search engine.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, 'Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide'

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Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks.

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Choosing A Domain Name The Smart Way

By Michael Kryzer

When you are setting up an online business you should take great care over choosing a good domain name. This article looks at how to choose a domain name the smart way.

Top Level Domain
It is best if you use .com as your top-level domain. Generally .net and .org domains are not seen as being as professional as .com domains.

Keyword Optimized -- It is good if your domain name contains keywords relating to your topic. This helps your site to rank higher in the search engines. You can use a keyword tool such as the Overture Inventory Search -- now Yahoo - to check which keyword combinations are searched more frequently.

Easy to Remember -- Your domain name must be easy for visitors to remember and should be memorable so that they can type it correctly into their browser without having to look it up somewhere.

Shorter Name -- Although domain names can be up to 67 characters, your domain name should be shorter, preferably seven characters or less. Shorter domain names are easy to remember, easier to type and less susceptible to mistakes. Unfortunately domain names with seven characters or less are harder to come by these days, so you may have to settle for something slightly.

Say It Aloud? - If you need to tell someone your domain name over the phone, will they be able to easily spell it correctly the first time?

No Trademark Conflicts - For goodness sake make sure that your domain name is not infringing upon some company's trademarks.

A good place to check if a domain name is available is Whois.org.

Keep these tips in mind, and you will be well on your way to choosing a good domain name.

Michael Kryzer is an online business expert working successfully from a remote location in Asia. If he can do it so can you! Download a Free E-book on Driving Traffic to your New Domain at http://www.online-business-series.com/domains.htm

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Lucrative Domain Names - Ways to Excell at Domain Names

By Sean R Mize

Domain names are very important to the success of a web based business. Domain names actually act as the names of the websites. The location of a web site on the World Wide Web is generally expressed in numbers. Just imagine how difficult it would be for people to remember the long sequences of digits in case we did not have the domain names.

To handle this problem of the difficulty of remembering sequences of digits to locate a web site, domain names came into being. The domain names represent the name of a web site. Domain names are important. Whenever a person conducts a research on the internet using the search engine, he or she will type a key word in the search bar. If this keyword happens to be the domain name of any web site, its chances of being noticed by the search engine improve. Thus domain names can help you a lot in getting a lot of web traffic through the search engines.

Domain names are really important for the success of a web site. If you want to excell at domain names, you need to be a bit creative. The domain name should be easy to remember for the masses. Also, it should be related to the content and nature of business of the web site. If any of these points is lacking, the domain name will not be able to attract people towards your web site. Once you have selected a domain name for your web site, you need to check its availability. As there are millions of web sites currently existing on the web, many attractive domain names may not be available now. You thus need to be a bit creative. Churn out something which is new and still attractive enough to catch the attention of the internet users.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, 'Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide'

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Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks.

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Fast Domain Names - How to Get Started With Domain Names

By Sean R Mize

The location of a web site on the internet is just like the postal address of a place on the face of this earth. If you want to locate a house, you will need to know its address. If you know the address you can find that place. Same is the case with the web sites which exist on the internet. These web sites have their own numeric address. As it is very difficult for people to remember the numeric addresses, the scientists have converted the numeric addresses into the words and alphabets which people can recognize and remember. These names of the web sites are called as domain names. Domain names are very important. If a web site has a domain name which is easily memorized by people, the chances of getting more web visits will be higher. On the other hand if a website's domain name is not attractive enough, it may fail to attract the attention of the internet surfers. As there is a lot of competition in the online world, every small detail may have the potential of giving you an edge over the competitors. Keeping this in mind you must pay all due attention towards the domain name of your web site.

If you want to get a proper domain name for your web site, you need to use your own creative abilities for this purpose. First of all, you need to find some good domain names. These names need to be attractive enough and still easily memorable. It is important that these names should be related to the nature of business you want to carry out. Select some appealing name and get it registered.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, 'Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide'

Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion

Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks.

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Creating A Domain Name for Easy Profit

By Anthony Chambers

Creating a domain name without knowledge can cost you money. Don't believe me? Listen to this. If I cannot find your domain name or even remember it after you told me about it, I cannot do business through your site. There are so many websites on the Internet that you will be lost in cyberspace even before you can get off the ground! Registering a catchy, well researched, and keyword-enhanced domain name is as good as money in the bank.

The ignorant chooses a domain because it sounds good, or they just like it. The wise will have no such compunctions and will in fact research the name exhaustively just to get the right fit. If you are choosing a domain name on the World Wide Web for any reason other than charity, then you will want to make the most profitable choice you can find.

Here are some of the best reasons to think carefully when creating a domain name. Get this right and your profit could be assured, just from the domain name alone.

Get A Domain Name That Will Increase In Value Each Year.

How will you know that your domain name will be more valuable with time? You can start by looking at trends in the industry or niche that you want to operate in. The days of the analog telephone is dead so you may not want to register a domain that includes the words analog telephone if you are in that industry. Instead look at where the industry is going. Internet, cellular, satellite, or mobile phones are in and will be here for a while so if you are operating in the telephone industry, it would be safer to go with words that have a future.

Create A Domain Name That Will Get Some Traffic

Do some quick research to get some ideas using the Google ad words tool located at this address: adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal. You will get a graphic of how many searches are made for that term and how many people are trying to market on the web, using that term. You can also type in your term at Google.com to see how many websites are on the Internet with those terms. Enclose the word or phrase in quotes like these ( " ") to get more accurate results. For example "holiday camping gear".

Combine Keywords When Creating a Domain Name to Get the Best Fit

If you think about it, it makes sense. If you are selling bull horns, automotive air horns, or goat horns you may want to include those words into your domain name. Remember that the days of single word domain names are long gone. These days you need to find short and preferably memorable phrases that will help you out. Combining words that tell your story will immediately tell your customers what you are selling.

Find a Good Registrar to register your domain names

There are many of these registrars competing for your business. Prices range from $1.99 to over $30.00 for the rights to use a domain name for a year. ICANN currently has an accredited list of registrars. Go here: icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html and browse their list. You will also find a good list of TLD's (top level domains) here as well. Do not get hung up research however. Remember that a .com is still the most popular form of the domain name. If you type the domain name with www but without a TLD, your browser will default to the .com form of the name.

Find Quick Ways To Profit From Creating A Domain Name

Now that you have a domain name and hopefully a website, here are some ways to use the domain name and quickly profit from it:
1. Redirect an affiliate URL to the domain name without setting up a website.
2. Park the Domain Name for profit from type-in, and search engine traffic
3. Develop the domain name and resell it for a profit later
4. Develop a brand around the domain name and sell advertising on it
5. Use the domain name as a gateway to send traffic to other sites you own

All of the above would be viable options for creating a domain name and quickly profiting from the same. Creating a domain name will land you in the middle of a growing online business with no end in sight. Get start today and profit for years to come.

Anthony Chambers is an expert writer and online marketer who specializes in helping people get the most out of the Internet. If you are pondering a career online, check out his latest offer at: Domain Profits Guide

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Buying Expired Domain Names

By Ronald Firquain

Whenever you encounter a popular name online, attached to a dot com or dot net, you might be wondering when you can one day get enough financial clout to put up your own immensely famous web company. With a dot com or dot net address that is easy to recall, you can have visitors flocking to your website easily, potential customers looking for a good deal on your products and services, and ordinary, run of the mill Internet surfers just curious to see what you are all about.

Not all dot com or dot net addresses last forever. When companies move out of the Internet and find new business opportunities to sink their teeth into, they can leave their domain name hanging. Along with this domain name is a built in market: because a large number of people have been going to the domain name and its adjoining website for so long, an expired domain name literally has its own market hanging on to it. With a lot of traffic, you can have a potential website waiting for you to create it.

Note, however, that domains do not simply expire and run into the next highest bidder arms. When a domain name passes its expiration date, it rests in a forty day static period, where the current owner of the domain name can still re enter it into a domain name registry. After forty days of not being touched, the domain then goes into a thirty five day period where the owner can still re enter it into a domain name registry, but for a much higher fee than when it was offered. After all these grace periods, the domain has finally expired, and the next owner can be you.

You can look for expired, or soon to expire domain names in domain registries online, which can advertise which domain names may soon be up for grabs. When you finally get that expired domain name, you have to get down to business. Because you have a constantly flowing market that goes with the domain name, you are pressed for time to create a new website that this market will go to when they type the old domain name into their web browser address bar. If the domain name is related to a site that you already maintain, then you can redirect it to your site and have all the traffic run over to your side of the Web universe.

If you must create a new website, do so within twenty four to forty eight hours of purchasing the expired domain name. You do not have to create a site heavy with graphics or animation: you need five or more pages of useful content that can contain information relevant to the domain name, and useful to the website visitor. Prepare to meet this incoming traffic head on by enrolling in affiliate programs and posting your AdSense ads in strategic places in your new website.

When creating a new website, follow all the rules of good web design. Make sure that your text contrasts well with your background without straining the eyes of your visitors. Avoid putting too many graphics or animation that can slow your site down when it loads into the browsers of your website visitors. Make sure that your site is secure enough to accept payments from your buyers should you offer products or services online. Lastly, make sure that you have well-written content that you can update regularly, keeping your readers coming back for more.

These are only a few tips in correctly using expired domain names. Be on the lookout for expired domain names by updating yourself constantly. Do research on popular domain names and web content that you can work on. You, too, can earn money, web traffic, and online fame, if you have enough mettle and know how.

Ronald Firquain is a writer, marketer, entrepreneur, webmaster and has 16 years of computer knowledge. You can download e-books for making money online, building a website, improve your golf game, playing guitar and much more. For more information go to: ebooks

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Internet Marketing Tips - How To Choose A Domain Name

By Simon Akers

Once you have decided that you want to have your own website on the internet its important that you choose a domain name that accurately represents what you plan to use it for and what extra features you need to get the most out of it.

With over 80 million registered domains on the internet its becoming harder and harder to find relevant names that are available which are related to the topic you want to target, especially for .com domain names which are by far the most popular. For this reason there are now many other types of domain which you can choose from such as .net and .info.

The first thing you will need to do is visit a website such as Go Daddy and start searching for available .com domain names using the search feature on their home page. As most names are already taken you will probably need to use three or more words to find one that is available (you can also use hyphens between each word to find available names).

Because people are familiar with .com domains you should start searching for them first but its not absolutely necessary and you can find a much shorter name using a different extension such as .net or .info. The extension of your domain will not effect the performance of your website or how well it operates.

If you want to generate free traffic from the search engines and achieve top rankings you should try to use keywords that you want to target in your domain name. So if you want to start a website about losing weight you should try to use words like "weight loss" or "diet" in the domain name to help your rankings in the search engines for those keywords.

Just having a popular keyword in your domain name is not enough to achieve top rankings but it will help the search engines identify what your website is about so its important that you include at least one keyword that relates to the market you want to target if you want to generate free traffic in the future.

When you have found a domain name for your website you should seriously consider adding the private registration option to your order. This will protect your domain from unwanted attention by hiding your personal details such as your email address which could be collected by spammers.

After you have purchased a domain name you will need to find a website hosting plan that suits your needs and meets your requirements depending on how much disk space and data transfer you need. Once you have a hosting account you can set up your website and have it up and running within a matter of hours.

About the Author

This article was written by Simon Akers who is the editor of the Marketing Oasis newsletter, a free internet marketing ezine packed with tips to help you succeed and increase your profits: http://www.MarketingOasis.com

My "Free" Domain Name Cost Me $99!

By Vernon Sandel

Internet hosting service providers often provide a free domain name as an incentive to sign up for a hosting account. What they don't tell you is that the domain name may be registered in the web hosting company's name in stead of your own. While there is no problem as long as you host your web site with them, things become a bit sticky if for some reason you have to move your web site to another host.

When I first put up a web site I used a internet hosting service provider that charged $80 per month. In addition to providing a free domain name, they promised to provide search engine optimization, drive traffic to my web site, etc. I found that all the extra services were provided on a "do it yourself" basis, they gave instructions and I carried them out. After several month of paying for hosting at that rate I decided that I was not getting good value for my money. I asked about transferring my web site to another host, and was told that I could not since I used their proprietary web building software to build my site, and they owned my domain name. I was charged $99 to transfer the domain name to me, which is about a five minute process for them.

If you are using a domain name registered in the internet hosting service provider's name, any effort you expend and any cost incurred to drive traffic to your site is really adding value to the hosting company, not you. Domain names of successful businesses often worth thousands of dollars. While some web hosting companies may give up a valuable domain name for a nominal fee, you shouldn't count on it. The host owns the domain name and they can charge whatever they choose to transfer it into your name, nor are they even obligated to do so. Also, what happens to your domain name if the web hosting company should go out of business? The folly of this situation is not widely known.

If the domain name of your web site came free with a hosting package, please check the Whois data base to find out. This can be checked at http://whois.domaintools.com/. You should immediately request that the domain name be transferred to you if it is in the internet hosting service provider's name. If you are considering a hosting plan, the site http://www.hostingplanscompared.com lists complete information on fourteen hosting plans of ten top rated internet hosting service providers, including whose name the free domain names are registered.

About the Author

Professor Emeritus of Chemistry, Michigan Technological University. An active (74) senior trying to remain relevant. New interests: Inventing (one recent patent, working on another), internet marketing, web building.

Choosing Domain Names - Hyphens or Not?

By Daniel Moro

Choosing a good domain name is one of most important steps in setting up your online business, but it's getting harder and harder to find good names that are still available. You could use a domain name with hyphens, but is that really a good idea?

Let's quickly review what makes a good domain name. A domain name needs to be relevant, easy to remember, keyword optimized, and free from trademark conflicts. It should also be shorter. Although seven characters or less is ideal, you may have to settle for a domain name that's a little longer.

So you've just set up your new barbecue grills business and now you discover that barbecuegrills.com is already taken. Should you consider hyphenating the domain name to barbecue-grills.com or should you go back to the drawing board?

The first choice should always be to take the name without a hyphen. Having established that, there are some exceptions. Let's look at hyphenated domain names and when they are might be good to use.

Domains with hyphens can sometimes be a good idea if you really want certain words in your domain name but all the domains without hyphens are already taken.

Another reason to use a hyphen is when the words you plan to use are harder to read without the hyphen. The domain hotellamps.com is harder to read than hotel-lamps.com. That is not necessarily a great domain name but it does serve to illustrate the point that some domains are easier to read with a hyphen.

You might also consider using hyphens for search engine optimization. Some people suggest that using hyphens helps the search engines to distinguish your keywords better. This may be a good option for webmasters whose primary goal is to optimize their sites for traffic from natural search engine rankings. The only catch here is that this could change over time since search engines are constantly adjusting their search algorithms.

Incidentally, if you decide not to use hyphens in your domain name, watch out for any unintended double meanings that might be embarrassing. To illustrate this point a couple of fairly suspicious domain names are therapistfinder.com and molestationnursery.com. In case you are wondering the latter was reportedly the domain for the Mole Station Native Nursery based in New South Wales, Australia, although it seems, fortunately, to have moved.

Whatever reason you have for using a hyphen in your domain name, it would be good to remember one thing. Some people will forget the hyphen when they type your domain name. So whenever you invest in promoting your site, some lucky webmaster who owns the un-hyphenated version of your domain is going to get some free traffic, courtesy of your hard work.

As you can see, there are some situations when using a hyphen in your domain name may be a good decision.

About the Author

Daniel Moro has been successfully building online businesses for ten years. Download your free report on '10 Remarkably Effective Traffic Building Techniques' at http://www.DanielMoro.com/domains.htm

Cheap Domain Names

By Zhang Xiao Hong

A lot of places advertise the prices of domain name registration very cheaply, however once you go through the process of registration and onto checkout you may well find that the initial price has increased slightly, this is not uncommon and many of the big domain name registrars are known for this. In the majority of cases there are some legitimate reasons for this such as tax being added or V.A.T if you purchase your domain name registration in the UK. In other cases you may acquire the domain name for a very low price only to find other hidden costs after registration, these often include administration fees for changing the DNS records (Domain Name System). The DNS is a record, at the registry that converts IP addresses from numbers into names, i.e. 123.456.789.0 to www.yourdomain.com). This is needed when you come to host your site, the server that your site is hosted on will have a unique IP address, this address needs to be associated with your domain name in the nameservers section of the DNS setting. The most common hidden charges you will likely come across are the transfer out fees, this becomes relevant when you want to move your domain name to another company for whatever reason, this can be very excessive and I have seen cases where this fee is as high as $100.

What to look for when registering a domain name?

Not all companies have such hidden charges, there are some registrars that adhere to the price you see on the registration page, and there are many companies that will register domain names quite cheaply in the hope that you will take up some of their other services such as hosting or other additional services, this is fair practice, What you need to look out for when buying a cheap domain name registration is that you have complete control over it, a lot of companies will register your domain name and that is it the end of it, however there are companies that will give you a control panel where you have complete control over your domain name once registered, this is a vital feature as a domain name control panel will make it very easy for you to change the DNS settings, your registration and contact details, privacy options and a whole list of other services quite easy.

Finally you need to make sure that the domain name company is trustworthy, many of the top domain name companies will charge your credit card on a recurring basis, this is to be avoided, you really should have a registrar that reminds you of your domain name renewal and gives you the option on whether to renew the domain name or to leave it lapse. The resource box below will recommend a domain name registration company that ticks all the right boxes.

About the Author

For the cheapest domain names that tick all the right boxes go to BusinessHostingPlus.com or for cheap UK domain names Brython.com

Out of Control WWW Domains

By Jim Degerstrom

People take advantage of small business owners who leap into the online world without the knowledge to make proper choices. Registration of a www domain gives you a license for a set period of time, and must be renewed to retain control, so you do not own it. Don't wait to be asked the next question "Do you control your website domain?" because twice in 2007 I designed custom websites for clients who lost control due to an uncooperative originating party who registered the domains in question.

In both cases the client paid for their domain. In the first instance the registrar simply registered the new domain in their company name, not the client's. In the more recent situation, my client bought a business and the previous owner did not take action to transfer the registrant information. Each relationship deteriorated to the point where the clients felt compelled to register another domain, and fortunately the productivity of each business site was insignificant, so the downside of letting it go was minimal.

Each finally realized the risk of a hostile party pulling the plug on their website, and came to me for help. After lengthy discussions, and advice for attempting to regain control of their www domains, each entrusted me to register a new domain. The only recognized authority as the bona fide registrant of a domain is the administrative contact listed in the worldwide registry for a given www name. To be more specific, it is not the person shown, but the email address of the administrative contact in the registration who controls a domain.

It is not the billing contact. It is not the registrant. It is not the technical contact. All correspondence affecting control of a www domain must originate from the administrative contact email address listed in the registration files. Regardless of the person listed, whoever can reply to emails as the adminsitrative contact for that domain is the only recognized authority.

Small business owners are at risk whenever they buy a website domain, and the risks increase if you acquire a business that includes a website. If you buy an established business with a productive website you could lose significant revenue and good will depending on the previous owner. Most sellers will cooperate and transfers will go smoothly. In the rare case of deals being made and then a hostile relationship develops, the legal recourse may only exacerbate the financial loss.

Before we continue, consider the 3 things you need to get your new small business website online.

1. You must select and acquire a www domain name that is not already taken, and pay the registration fee.
2. You must find and pay in advance or month to month for hosting which is storage space for your pages.
3. You must have a website design whether it is purchased with a business, done in-house, or contracted.

Each of these involve services without a tangible product. There is nothing physical that you receive to put in a safety deposit box for secure storage. Domains, websites, and your site graphics are all digital and therefore more susceptible to problems controlling and protecting your rights. The exception would be having all files on a CD or DVD, yet the mechanics involved of having the files online and controlling their use means there is still untold risk involved for unwary small business owners.

Due diligence is critical in any new business venture. Some people registering domains on behalf of clients are looking for a residual income stream. If a small business owner does not ask, or know to ask, some registrars will intentionally keep their name as the administrative contact on domains they acquire on behalf of clients thinking they have them locked up as a customer indefinitely. In most cases it works unless that customer learns of more cost effective options, or in the worst scenario, their relationship becomes hostile. The real disasters are companies holding www domain names for clients, and then the registrar goes out of business and the administrative contacts become a non-existant email address.

That last one happened to one client who contacted me. It took more than one year of wasted time and frustration before they established control as the legitimate holder of the www domain, and during that year their site was offline.

In conclusion, you do not own your domain. You own the license. You must be wary and should get several opinions before you delegate the process of acquiring a www domain, and let it be known up front that you must be listed as the administrative contact for your website. Shop around to make sure the price per year for your domain is not excessive. Take the same approach to understand hosting. Finally, consider the website design and cost involved, and make sure you are comfortable with your choices before agreeing to proceed.

Jim Degerstrom writes small business advice based on 30 years in management, sales, and marketing, including GM or President of small companies in 5 states. He is proficient in website and graphic art design, and runs his online Small Business Resource Center and offers advice on his Small Business Advice Blog from Kissimmee, Florida USA.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_Degerstrom

Making Money from Parked Domains

By Derek Vaughan

Let me tell you a true story. A friend of my who likes to collect domain names was describing a few that he had acquired. While he has a wide range of domains in various categories, these particular domains were all related to web hosting.

Some of the domain names were similar to existing web hosting company names (or derivatives of web hosting company names). Others simply had 'hosting', 'host', or a related term in the domain itself.

So my friend and I were talking and he said something like, "Yeah, it's a shame -- if only I had the time to develop some content for some of these domains then I might make some money form them". It turns out that he had no content on any of the domains -- just parked pages, or no content at all. When I investigated the domains, it turned out that there was a small but steady traffic stream that visited these domains. Some simply typed in the domain, others apparently found the domain through a search engine that had categorized the parked page.

So I suggested the following to him -- why not use a service that will take the domain as is -- with no content whatsoever -- and suggest search options that generate revenue for each click? He took my advice, grudgingly I might add, and guess what? He made $50 the first month from just a few of his domains.

He was so excited that he asked what he might do to further increase his revenues from his domain names. I suggested that he use his parking pages (these can be customized with some hosts) to test banners from affiliate programs with the highest paying hosting companies. He placed only three banners at the top of his pages -- with a brief description of the company's product offerings taken straight from their web sites. This also proved to be a great success -- and his revenue stream increased.

My friend has since invested some time and energy in monetizing his other domains. He has either pointed the domains to a pay per click search engine, or listed affiliate links on almost every domain. This has turned a lackluster domain speculation business into a profit generating pay per click and affiliate business that requires almost no effort to maintain. Needless to say, my friend has taken my out to lunch a couple of times since then.

If you have parked domains and what to try getting paid for search results on those pages, check out this service offered by Sedo (there are others out there as well):

http://www.sedo.com/services/parking.php3

Good luck in transforming your parked domains into cold, hard cash!

About The Author

Derek Vaughan has been actively marketing on the Internet since 1995. Mr. Vaughan has marketed products at the Walt Disney Company as the online marketing manager of ecommerce for ESPN.com. Mr. Vaughan is also the founder of Cheap Hosting Directory - a web hosting review site. Mr. Vaughan holds degrees from both the Indiana University and Purdue University. He has also received a Master of Business Administration degree from the Owen School at Vanderbilt University. Cheap Hosting Directory - http://www.cheaphostingdirectory.com - is a part of TechPad Agency's network of web hosting portals.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Derek_Vaughan

Productive Domain Names - Advanced Ways to Make a Profit with Domain Names

By Sean R Mize

Domain names are really important to the success of any online business. The online businesses need a very regular flow of web traffic. If the web sites receive a lot of visitors every day, the chances of staying in business are much higher as compared to the situation if the web site is not getting its fair share of visitors. Thus getting web traffic is very important to the basic survival of a web site. Now the most important thing is that domain names are helpful to a web site in generating traffic. If a domain name is closely related to the content of the web site, this name will be able to attract a number of people towards the web site. If the domain name is not appropriate, it will not be able to help you in getting more web traffic. Domain names are important thus you should pay all due attention towards finding a good name for your web site. This can bring you a lot of help and support. Your web site will be in a much better position to face the competition in this manner.

People make a lot of money through their domain names. If your domain name is one which people can memorize easily, it will help you get more web traffic which will increase the chances of making a sale. This will in turn result in the increase in the volume of business over all. Keeping this in view we can say that domain names are important. They help you in making lots of money by being a support in your promotional efforts. You can use these ways to earn through domain names.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, 'Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide'

Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion

Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_R_Mize

How to Buy and Sell Domain Names Profitably

By Oseremen Aigbokhae

I have been asked time and time again by my readers of how best to buy and sell domain names profitably and without stress. In my no-holds-barred research approach and attitude, I earnestly went to work on that assignment. My findings have been serialized in this article for the benefit of all.

What is a Domain Name?

Domain name is an online unique identity that distinguishes one web site from another. It could be your personal name, your offline business name or any other name that has not been registered by somebody else online with domain registrars.

Buying and selling domain name is a serious and big business. The good tiding is that you can start with as little as $8.00 and rake in profit of say, $1,992.00 within a month. That is the naked truth! All you need to excel in this domain name business is a bit of your creativity and ingenuity. Your creativity can out perform any known robot or software so far developed. This is because as you check for domain name availability on the Internet, other names naturally come up as you are told the one you want to register has been taken up. In my experience, I have found out that premium and generic names sell fast and highest on the internet. This is so because business people are desirous of either protecting their brand names or want a name that will easily ring a bell to any internet user. Therefore, they can go to any length to ensure that they repurchase their names if it has been registered before they do. This is where the money juice lies! It becomes a matter of bidding. As the saying goes: "The highest bidder wins the deal."

If you are low in capital to jump-start your dream business, the cheapest and easiest place to start and earn a reasonable seed capital is in Domain Name Business. Also if you ask me for an excellent resource/e-book that succinctly outlined the basics of domain name selling in easy steps please email me for recommendation for your financial freedom.

Heard of Domain Parking?

Do you know you can register a domain name and be earning money without hosting it? To this end, you won't be tied to any monthly fee whatsoever. You earn revenue from one-time investment of buying a domain name throughout the year. It is as sweet as that! The simple thing to do is just to park that registered domain name with a parking company and voila, you start earning cool bucks.

Domain parking means registering a domain name and pointing it to a "parking company" (at no cost of course) so that your site will show a page with adverts when any internet user searches key words or key phrases that relate to your site adverts. When someone clicks on those adverts you earn money. That is domain parking, pure and simple! It is akin to putting google adsense adverts in your site. However, parking is simpler since you do not need to worry about designing a website nor pay monthly web site hosting fees. Truly, online business ideas are limitless. Domain parking is really domain "monetization" business.

Marketing and Profiting from Domain Name

If you are in the camp of "buying and selling domain names", what you should do is buy popular, premium, generic or key words or key phrases that will be easy to remember and market. People are always enthralled with unique names. There are whole gamuts of a combination of key words that have not been registered. Market them and profit from it. It is your business! But beware: You cannot run this business and excel with naivety. That is why I am recommending a great resource that I can cross my heart for to you when you reach me on email as a quick start.

Take action, become a domainer and add it to one of your income streams. It is a win-win deal!

You will excel!

Oseremen Aigbokhae is a Multi-Disciplinary Business Consultant and Freelance Writer. He can be reached on edose345@yahoo.com for his services.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Oseremen_Aigbokhae

Choosing the Right Domain Name

By Sean R Mize

After your site has been carefully designed and after it has been created, the next grueling task to do is to choose the perfect domain name that will match the content of your site and what it basically tells. In choosing a domain name, you need to basically assess any of your options. There must be an intelligent weighing of the various considerations in choosing the name before it gets to be registered. To help you out weed out the best option you have when choosing the right domain name, I have cited below some of the useful tips.

. When choosing a domain name, choose a name that has relevance on your site content. By doing this, you can make sure that the search term used by the net user can somehow get relevance on the content that are posted on your site.

. When choosing a domain name, choose a name that is specific. You do not want to be overly generalized as the search engine might find it difficult for your site to be searched, thus, will not be given the traffic it will want.

. When choosing a domain name, it is best that you come up with your combination of names to choose from and not rely on what seems to be copied forms from high selling and well-established domain names. You may seem to think that you get to ride on the popularity of the domain name when you somehow copied the name of that popular site, but in reality you will not be gaining any popularity because you will suffer the fate of becoming a second-class domain name.

. When choosing a domain name, choose a name that is search engine friendly. For one, to become a search engine friendly domain name, it must contain some relevant keywords on it. Search engines are driven by keywords, therefore, to be pleasing in the "eye" of the search engines, you have to give them the reasons to be one -- be keyword conscious.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, 'Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide'

Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion

Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_R_Mize

Targeted Domain Names- 9 Ways to Make More Profit With Domain Names

By Sean Ray

Targeted Domain Names: 9 Ways to Make More Profit With Domain Names

While domain names obviously are utilized as the addresses that get people to a particular Internet website, the correct domain name can be instrumental in opening doors to a business owner when it comes to potential clients or customers. Towards that end, it is important for you to understand targeted domain names. By understanding the ins and outs of targeted domain names, you will be in a far better position to make more profit through the use of these targeted domain names.

1. Targeted domain names help you connect with a niche market.

2. Targeted domain names are vital in assisting you to dray appropriate traffic to your website.

3. Targeted domain names can aid you in reducing the amount of traffic to your site that simply will not be interested in the products or services you offer.

4. Targeted domain names can save you money in the short and in the long term.

5. Targeted domain names can be of great assistance to you in developing an overall marketing and promotional campaign.

6. Targeted domain names in and of themselves are fantastic marketing tools.

7. Targeted domain names help you to better define your own business enterprise.

8. Targeted domain names are vital when it comes to raising your search engine rankings.

9. In the end, targeted domain names sometimes can even make the difference between a successful and a withering business enterprise. Truly, targeted domain names can help your business profit.

As you can see a domain is important to your image. Choose your domain name wisely.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, 'Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide'

Download it free here: Internet Article Marketing

Do you want to learn how to build a massive list fast? Click here: Email List Building

Want to learn more about driving traffic like I do? Download my free traffic guide here: Traffic Generation

Sean Ray is an accomplished internet article writer, and uses articles to drive online traffic.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_Ray

Intermediate Tips for Domain Names

By Sean Ray

When businesses look for productive domain names, they try to find something that reflects accurately what they do, or simply try to use their company name. However, many other companies with similar names have possibly purchased that domain name and just keep it unavailable for other businesses, or they serve as a secondary domain that links to their primary website. This can make choosing a name complex and frustrating, but there are some things you can do to ease the process of finding productive domain names.

Productive domain names are sometimes very different from the company name simply because the name of the business doesn't really describe it very well. For instance, a gift shop called Toad and Marie doesn't tell you anything. So you might have to add other words. In this instance, ToadAndMarieGifts is a fine domain name, and you can even choose secondary domain names like ToadAndMarieFineGifts, TandMGifts, etc.

You might also consider using the search term your customers will use when looking for products like yours. For example, they may be searching for "discount fine gifts." If you are convinced your customers will be typing in just that phrase and it's available as a domain name, by all means try it--then use ToadAndMarie.com or something like it for secondary domains. If .com is taken, try the same name using .net, .org, .biz, etc.

And don't forget the power of the metatag. Even if you don't get the productive domain name you want, all is not lost. You can use the metatag that is embedded in the code--simply put in your keywords--discount fine gifts--and you will rise in the rankings.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, 'Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide'

Download it free here: Internet Article Marketing

Do you want to learn how to build a massive list fast? Click here: Email List Building

Want to learn more about driving traffic like I do? Download my free traffic guide here: Traffic Generation

Sean Ray is an accomplished internet article writer, and uses articles to drive online traffic.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_Ray