Saturday, October 13, 2007

Domain Name Renewals - Renewing Your Domain Names

Domain registration and domain name renewals s can be loaded with problems if you are not careful in selecting your registrar and fully understanding the terms and conditions associated with renewing domain names. As a general rule, when renewing domain names - don't leave it to the last minute! Domain name renewal should occur at least 2 months ahead of expiration. Your domain name registration period will continue to run from the expiration date so you don't lose by earlier domain renewals.

If you can, renew for 2 or more years at a time - this will reduce the frequency of the hassle of renewing your domain name. On the other hand; you could forget all about the registration and the domain name expires anyway! If you have multiple domains, create a spreadsheet or database - or simply a word document with your domain details and domain name renewal schedule so you always can keep track of domain expirations.

Watch who you do business with. There are some shady characters out there who may either not deliver a service or will try to acquire value domains, and they'll be happy to take your money to boot. Domain name management - Key points to keep in mind

1. Maintain a database of domain details

2. Maintain records of userids, passwords, admin emails for the domain, URLs pertaining to the domain registration

3. Keep who's information current. This is imperative. Do not use your domain name email as your contact info for your domain - no matter how cool it looks.

4. Use a web-based email address like Yahoo, Hotmail, any address that won't go away.

Domain names can go away and if you need to switch hosts; you will be able to do so with a minimum of hassle.

5. Register as close to the registrar as possible (eliminate as many links in the chain).

For example; you may have registered a domain name.

Ideally; you have registered with an Opensrs registrar. Your tracking path or links will look like this:

Registrar (Opensrs) > DomainMonger (Reseller for Opensrs) > You (Opensrs is used here as an example because they are reliable and even it you don't know who the Reseller is; as long as you have a user and pass you can access your control panel to manage domains or get support.) If you have a tracking path that looks like this:

Registrar > Reseller sells for the registrar > Vendor - sells for the reseller who sells for the registrar > Some guy - sells for the vendor who sells for the reseller who sells for the registrar > You It will be extremely difficult to get support; indeed you may not even be able to find out who the registrar is.

6. Use as few registrars as possible.

7. Renew your domain as early as possible to give time to resolve any problems which might arise.

If for whatever reason you are unable to move the domain to a new registrar, and the registrar is not giving you major issues. Go ahead and renew the domain name. In a couple of months; after doing your research, you find another registrar you want to move the domain name to. Move the domain name. You will keep the time you have already invested in with the old registrar. Most registrars require that you sign up for at least a year.

There is *usually* no issues in transferring registrars. It would be wise to check with your registrar.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Domain Names - Exotic Extension vs Dot-Com

Domain names are a method for allowing internet users to navigate the web sites easily. They are names used to stand in for numeric IP addresses to make web surfing simpler in that the user can apply the name that their looking for rather than having to search for or memorize numbers. Also known as host names for computers.

Consider domain names as the internet's little piece of real estate. Some of the top level Domain names are dot-com, dot-net, dot-org, etc. The name directly to the left of these top domain names is considered your second-level domain names. Directly to the left of the second-level name is a third-level domain name which is commonly known to designate the host server. These levels can go on up to fourth, fifth and so on.

Domain definitions

When the World Wide Web began the intent of using dot-com, dot-org was intended to go with its specific definition. Dot-com was to stand in for commercial, dot-org was for organization and so on. The second level domain name was to identify a particular entity or business while the third level often times specified the country the host server was in. However, due to the popularity of the dot-com designation many non commercial sites would strive to get addresses under the dot-com trademark.

Abuses

Cyber squatting is a term referring to a company or entity trying to redirect traffic towards their site by using similar names to well known companies. Laws were enacted to protect these companies but then it led to what's called reverse domain hijacking by companies suing other companies for using similar generic names claiming it was their own trademark when actually other companies may have a legitimate grounds to their names.

As the internet grows bigger there has been a need to set up corporations whose primary responsibilities are to maintain and regulate the internet traffic and uses.

History

Domain names were first implemented in 1985 and originally there were only six of them. Today due to the huge demand and traffic on the World Wide Web, there are upwards of twenty different domain names all of which were intended to represent the type of organization to make it easier for people to search for particular topics. Exotic domain names

Since domain names have been around for such a long while most of the good names have been taken. More and more people have had to resort to more complicated names and as a result may lose out on some business since the simpler the name the easier it is for people to remember. Some hackers have created unique domain names by taking a name and putting dots and @ signs strategically to resemble existing third level domain names.

Obtaining domain names

Domain names are usually sold by people called domineers for a price. They can even been leased to users for a period of time. There are some companies that offer low-cost or even free domain registrations, however there is a requirement of hosting on their sites with their advertising in the user's content. This allows the provider the ability to make money off of someone else's website.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Domain Dropcatching And Backorder Service Review

A domain backorder service allows you to submit a backorder for a domain you wish to purchase. At the time of your submitting the backorder, the domain is owned by someone else. By submitting a domain backorder, you are hoping that at the time the domain expires, and is not re-registered by its owner, the domain backorder service will register it for you. The domain backorder fees vary by domain backorder service. The following domain backorder services are some of the most popular domain backorder services out there.

SnapNames.com - one of the stronger services, affiliated with about a dozen registrars. They will attempt to register the domain name for you for a fee of $60. If however more then one person is interested in the same name and has attempted to backorder it via Snapnames.com, the domain name goes into auction. The SnapNames auction last for 3 days and is awarded to the highest bidder. Auctions for dropped names have been known to go into $xx,xxx easily.

Pool.com - is a strong competitor to SnapNames.com. Pool.com might have a smaller pool of registrars ( excuse the pun ), but they sometimes manage to grab some names quicker then SnapNames.com. Pool.com has a similar auction setup and also charges a backordering fee of $60.

NameWinner.com is another domain name backorder service. They are not as strong as the top two, and might not grab as many names, but they can be successful at times. They charge $30 per backorder.

Godaddy.com provide their own backordering service. They do not publicize how many registrars they are associated with, if any. Their charge a fee of $18 for a backorder and if successful the name does not go into auction. They are not as successful for popular names as the top two.

Enom.com is a strong competitor to Pool.com and SnapNames.com. Their fee is $30 and they seem to have been quite successful in backordering some bigger names in recent times. Do make sure you check them out for comparison.

Overall, when backordering a really special name, I cover all my bases and pick 3 or 4 from the list of big backordering services. I usually go with Pool.com, SnapNames.com, Enom.com and Godaddy.com. By backordering with a few companies, you are multiplying your chances of grabbing that all important name. Since each of the services is associated with varied registrars, by covering all bases you are getting more registrars to work for you.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

How to Choose a Domain Name for Your Web Business

There are a number of crucial factors that you need to keep in mind when it comes to selecting a domain name for your home based business that you will be operating through an Internet website. Through this section of this ebook you are provided with some tips and pointers that you will want to keep in mind when it comes to the important task of selecting a domain name for the website associated with your business enterprise.

First of all, despite the flourish of different types of domain name options available to you – .com, .org, .net and so forth – the market as a whole still favors dot-coms (.com). With that in mind, as a general rule, you should strive to obtain a .com domain name for your Internet website for your business enterprise.

Second, when at all possible, you will want to keep your domain name as short and sweet as possible. Long domain names are harder to use and easier to forget.

Third, when it comes to selecting a domain name, you should strive to create an appropriate domain name that includes keywords that bear a direct relationship to the products or services that you will be marketing through your Internet website. Search engines pay attention to the words that are used in domain names. If a domain name does include key search terms, the website associated with such a domain name will rise on search engine rankings.

By keeping these tips and pointers in mind, you will be better able to craft the best domain name for the website you are establishing for your home based business enterprise website on the Net.