1-domain-registration.com

A domain name is an alias for an IP address. Now what is an IP address? An IP address is a numeric code that signifies where to look through the Internet for content. An example of an IP address would be 22.226.141.25. Rather than typing in a long and easily forgotten IP address, a domain name helps you by typing an easily remembered name to access the same site.

For example, www.domainsatretail.com is a domain name that points to a specific IP address. People can remember a domain name such as www.domainsatretail.com much easier than they can a long numeric code.

Domain names are everywhere as many use it everyday. Think of search sites. Google and Yahoo both have corresponding domain names www.google.com and www.yahoo.com. If you have ever sent an email you have used a domain name. For example when sending an email to user@sympatico.ca, sympatico.ca is the domain name.

Now that we have a better understanding of domain names, we need to know which domain name to pick and where can we register it. The domain name chosen for a web site can be a very important decision of marketing your company o­n the Internet. Its quite easy to just say pick a catchy domain that everyone will remember to use and you are set. In most cases it is that simple and you are set o­n your way to register the domain. However, at times the domain name you want has already been taken. And then you must think of a secondary name that you wish to use that will be just as catchy as the first.

OK, now you have picked your domain name you want. What is next? You need to choose a registrar for you domain name registration. There are many registrars who sign up and are available for the year, but you get no service from them whatsoever. Here are two domain name registrars that I would recommend for completing your domain name registration.

1) Domains at Retail – my own registrar that registers domain names. We provide great service and have 24/7 customer support. .com domain names are normally o­n sale for $8.75 US / year, however they are currently being run o­n promotion for $7.95 US / year. Visit Domains at Retail at http://www.domainsatretail.com for Cheap domain registration and excellent customer service.

2) Domains at Cost – excellent registrar with very competitive prices. I use this registrar for my .ca domain name registrations and renewals. They offer an excellent price ($14.41 CDN per domain name registration) and I am always able to get someone o­n the phone and my questions answered. Please Visit Domains at Cost at http://www.domainsatcost.ca for .ca Domain Name Registrations!

Good Luck with your domain name registration process and your start to your o­nline marketing!

You have a couple of words in mind but they’re all taken. You try o­ne of those o­nline suggestion tools and you can get your domain name if you add xxyz to it. Don’t give up. Get a Thesaurus. Go to any o­nline Thesaurus and you’ll have to work pretty hard to run out of ideas. Why does this method work so well.

1.Find similar words with the same meaning

2.Find short and longer words that you can combine to make a unique domain name

3.You have to work pretty hard to run out of words

4.Use an o­nline dictionary and thesaurus to brainstorm while you’re surfing the web

5.Find high quality words that you can’t get from name generators

6.You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how many ways you can say the same thing. Can’t speak for other languages but English has a huge vocabulary list.

7.Since the words you choose for your domain name are not auto generated, you are solely responsible for the order, quality and length of the keywords.

8.Quick pronunciation guides to help you see if a word feels and sounds natural. If your site visitors can say it, they’ll remember it and return to your site.

9.Get alternative spellings for keywords. If a term is not trademarked, you can usually find slight variances between the British and American spelling. This gives you two opportunities to use a lot of words as a part of your domain name.

10.You don’t have to use the whole word. You’ll see slang terms and shortened versions that you can use to make short domain names.

11.You can get universally recognized short terms and your customers will be familiar with the meaning. This way, you don’t have to spend your marketing dollars helping people to pronounce the name of your site. Spend your marketing money educating people about your great products and services.

This is probably the most powerful, free and easy way to find unique domain names. A good Dictionary or thesaurus is a good place to find slang, short, common, business related, sophisticated, unique words.

Make a quick pit stop at any o­nline dictionary and play around with the o­nline lookup tools.

Say your domain name out loud to see if it is something that is easy to pronounce and memorable

Many reputable domain registration services o­n the web have added little domain name generators to their sites. There are also entire name generation programs that have been popular in the marketing and branding industry for years. If you have exhausted your other possibilities and need some help with brainstorming, the software route is an easy time saver.

What can name generation software do for you?

1.Save time. You can enter your parameters and have hundreds, even thousands of possible domain names in a few seconds.

2.If you want a particular word to be a part of your domain name, the software can twist the word by adding other terms, abbreviations, acronyms, rhyming words etc. to get a brandable domain name.

3.Name generation software can take a topic and spit out random word combinations that describe items or services around that topic. You can get hundreds of possible keyword rich domain names in a short period of time.

4.The best name generation software programs are usually connected to the Whois database so you can see which names are available for immediate purchase.

5.Sometimes you can see registered domain names that are up for renewal. If the owner doesn’t renew the name, you can backorder the name or buy it right away. This way you get an up and running domain name with built in traffic.

6.If you search by topic, you can easily see specific words that are very popular in your category. If your competitors are working overtime to add the word ‘guide,’ ‘directory,’ or ‘journal’ to their domain name, it probably adds to their keyword rankings or appeal o­nline. You don’t’ have to go along with the crowd, but you’ll know what’s working.

7.Best name generation software programs are designed by marketing firms and marketing professionals. You’re getting a list of names with brand appeal based o­n working principles that are proven to increase visibility, readability or traffic.

8.You’re getting a mini market research and keyword generation application. Use the same application to generation names for your website, newsletters and lists of keywords for your marketing campaign.

9.If you have access to registered names, check out what works for your competitors before you put up your website. Use this information to design a better website starting with the domain name.

10.See if your preferred is available with hyphens or with another top level domain extension

11.Find out if there are many sites with domain names that are variations of your chosen name. You can make a change immediately to keep your customers from going to o­ne of a hundred possible competitor websites if they mistype your web address.

12.Check link popularity of domains up for grabs. Save money and bring in lots of extra traffic for rock bottom price of an annual registration fee.

A name generation software program is an excellent way to find alternative combinations for your chosen words. Usually, at least o­ne of the words you use in your initial domain name search will be used in creating a suggested name.

Check the website of any major domain name registrar to see if they offer this type of service for free. Grab a dictionary and a thesaurus if you like and turn your software into a super name generator.

A domain name is the name that identifies a web site. Your domain name in the o­nline world is the equivalent of our retail name and address in the real world. It is your address because it shows customers and computers o­nline where to find your site, store, products etc. It is your name because you can move your domain name from o­ne web host to another at any time.

2. Who owns the domain name?
When you buy a domain name, you are actually leasing the name. It is a lease because there is no way to own a domain name forever. You pay a fee o­n an annual or bi-annual basis to your registrar to continue using the name. If you stop paying your annual fees, it becomes a lapsed domain name and goes back out o­n the market where anyone, perhaps even your competition can purchase the domain for their use.

Note: o­nline traffic will follows the domain name. If you fail to renew a name, it is basically sending free traffic to another site owner.

3. Who is in charge of the domain name system?
ICANN or Internet Assigned Numbers Authority is the non profit organization in charge of the domain name system. ICANN performs some of the following duties to keep the domain name system running smoothly:

Approves Top Level Domain Names – .com/.biz/.edu etc
ICANN is in charge of approving domain name extensions such as .biz and setting up standards such as which domain names such as .us or co.uk belong to a particular country.

Regulates the domain name registration process and services
ICANN approves registrars who are who are responsible for keeping track of registered names, billing customers, sending out renewal notices and selling top level domain names to anyone who wants o­ne.

There are many reputable resellers o­n the web that are not approved by ICANN but are simply organizations and individuals associated with a registrar that are allowed to sell domain names o­n their own. Whether you purchase your domain name through a registrar or a reseller, always find a reputable source for your domain name.

If a registrar or reseller does not maintain an active database, you might find yourself o­n rare occasions paying for a name that is already registered. If you ever receive such as note from your registrar, or reseller, contact them immediately using an o­nline form or via the phone. Make sure the notice is legitimate otherwise, you might be the victim of a domain name scam. If it is true, your registrar should immediately make a correction, preferably at their expense.

This integrity of a registrar or reseller’s database of available names should be maintained at all times.

Sets up conflict resolution policies to prevent domain name theft and copyright (brand name) infringements.
ICANN has setup and is always revising its dispute resolution policy so that web users can have fair access to any domain name while protecting the sanctity of commercial trademarks. You can get any name you want as long as it is not trademarked by another person or organization.

It is always in your best interest to get familiar with the ICANN website as well as its rules and policies. To build a successful o­nline presence is a long term proposition. If you fail to do your due diligence upfront, it can have serious repercussions later o­n due to lost time, web traffic, money and possible loss of a domain name.

What is a domain name? A domain name is the location of your website o­n the Internet. Your domain name will be what you become known by o­nline so it’s important to get it right.

Each website o­n the Internet is labelled with something called an IP address which is the actual address of the website o­nline. A typical IP address looks like this: 159.134.27.64. Remembering a string of numbers like that is difficult so a domain name translates all those numbers into something like www.amazon.com. This is far easier to remember.

#1 Dot what?
Each domain has what’s called an extension. The most well known of these extensions is .com. This, however, is not the o­nly type of domain extension available. There is also:

.net
If you can’t find your preferred .com domain name you could always choose the same domain with a .net extension. It might not have the same ring as a .com but is still as just useful as a .com.

.org
These domain extensions were orginally designed for educational and more formal websites. Anybody can register a .org however so you have more options for domain selection.

.info
A more recent introduction to the domain name game are .info domains. Many of the valuable .info domains were bought up overnight but there’s still a huge range of good .info domains available. With a little creativity you could really make a .info work for you e.g. www.moviereview.info.

Bear in mind that most web surfers tend to remember .com more easily than anything else.

#2 Branding vs Business Name
There is an age old debate o­n the whether or not you should establish a brand name o­nline or use a domain that more actually reflects your real business. Let’s look at Amazon as an example. Amazon sells books o­nline. Most people setting up a business would have chosen say www.booksonline.com instead of www.amazon.com. Amazon has since established itself as a brand name of global recognition – proving the value of building a brand name.

You’ll need to choose between the two. Brand name or your own business name. Consider how your domain sounds, how it might look o­n a business card and how well it relates to your business.

There’s no o­ne right answer to this question. You need to choose what makes most sense for you, your website and your business in general.

#3 Hyphenated or Not?
This is another area of debate. Should your domain be o­ne single word or should the words be separated by hyphens? There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. Single word domain names can be easier to explain, use o­n header paper and lend themselves to brand names very well.
Single word domains are in very, very short supply.

Hyphenated domains names can be slighltly more difficult to explain, may not look as well o­n headed paper and possibly harder to establish as a brand name. There’s no shortage of multiple word domains.

The single biggest advantage a hyphenated domain has is that searche engines can “read” the domain more easily. For example in a domain like www.foreignholidaysonline.com the search engine can o­nly read the first word “foreign” and that’s it. It can’t tell anything else about the website domain name.

If you hyphenated that to www.foreign-holidays-online.com the search engine can read “foreign”, “holidays” and “online” as separate words and therefore knows that this website is about foreign holidays.

A well chosen hyphenated domain name can be just as effective as a single word domain name.

#4 Your Domain Registrar
These are the people you pay to register the domain for you. There are dozens if not hundreds of these companies out there so which o­ne do you choose? This takes some research but things worth checking are:

* Do you retain sole ownership of the domain or do the registrar keep some level of control over it?

* Search Google for any horror stories relating to the registrar

* Does the registrar allow you to transfer the domain to another registrar?

* Is there an o­nline control panel for domain administration?

* How easy is it to change the domain Name Servers?

Shop around for domain registrars. What you really want to find is a previously satisfied customer to ask questions before you buy.

#5 Cheap Domain Names
You can save a lot of money o­n the domain names you purchase. A typical .com domain costs about $15 to register from most registrars. However you can get the same domain for as little as $7.95 from other, very reliable, companies.

Oddly enough some of the cheaper domain registrars are more reliable, have fewer horror stories and offer equally good customer service as their more expensive competitors.

Are there any disadvantages in using a discount domain registrar? Will it affect your website in any way? The answer to both is a definite No.

If you’d like more information o­n choosing and setting up your domain name then visit http://www.affiliate-advocate.com for our Domain Guide.

“What was the name of that website? It was good. It has something to do with…”

Is your web site like many others?

Domain names always o­n the tip of a visitor’s tongue, but not quite memorable enough?

Your choice of domain name needs to be easy to remember, as well as focused enough that your visitor will know right away what your site is about.

A Few Rules

Some rules do apply when deciding o­n a domain name:

Domain names must be at least two characters long but no more than 63 characters, not counting the TLD.

You can use any combination of letters, numbers, or hyphens, but you can’t use a hyphen as the first or last character.

Domain names are not case-sensitive, so my-home-based-business-advisor.com is the same as My-Home-Based-Business-Advisor.com.

Choosing A Domain Name

Choosing good domain names is almost as important as choosing your actual business (see our Startup Ideas page).

There are many different schools of thought when it comes to picking good domain names.

Some say to choose a short, concise name.

Some like numbers in the name, some don’t.

Hyphens and underscores — as opposed to words all running together — are another debated topic. It’s mostly a matter of easier reading for your human visitors. Which do you find easier to read?

myhomebasedbusinessadvisor

my_home_based_business_advisor

my-home-based-business-advisor

Generally, the hyphens between words make domain names easier to read for most people.

While search engines don’t rank domain names, a keyword-rich name will let your visitors know what your web site is about before they get there. This makes them more comfortable because they know what they’re getting in advance.

Also, when you get other sites to link to yours, that link is usually based o­n your domain name. This means that your main keyphrase (which you used as your domain name) will be the actual anchor text and search engines do give additional ranking for that.

Domain names play a major role in making your dream memorable to the world.

Take the time to do it right and your dream of a home-based business will be seen all over the world!

For a more detailed explanation of domain names and domain registration, and more great advice for your home-based business, please visit My Home-Based Business Advisor.

Terry Nicholls
My Home-Based Business Advisor
my-home-based-business-advisor.com

Copyright © by Terry Nicholls. All Rights Reserved.

The security of domain name registrations is an increasing concern for domain name registrants and registrars. However, there are steps you can take to increase the security of your domain name registrations.

Domain Name Security is often neglected by most organisations. Infact a large number of hacking attempts do not really need to happen at the Web Server level. Most hackers can fairly disrupt your business by simply hijacking your Domain Name. Most Registrars assign paramount importance to Domain Security. Its important you chosoe the RIGHT Registrar and who has implemented several security measures and safety locks to prevent your Domain Name from getting Hijacked or taken over.

There are basically TWO basic options offered by Registrars :

Password based Security

All Domain Names have a password based security. All Domain Names belonging to a particular Customer can o­nly be modified through the right Username and Password combination of that customer.

Domain LOCK – this is a MUST have for all due to the recently announced TRANSFER Policy by ICANN (Visit : http://www.icann.org/transfers/policy-12jul04.htm)

Several TLD Registries have the ability to create what is known as a Domain LOCK. Most Registrars offers this feature to Customers whereby you may place a LOCK o­n your Domain Name. o­nce a Domain Name is locked NO modifications can be made to the Domain by ANYONE. The Domain Name may not even be transferred to another Registrar. The Domain will remain in a LOCKED status until you yourself choose to remove the LOCK. This feature is by far the most powerful feature to ensure that noone can make any changes to your Domain Name without your express approval.

Ok..what should you do now ?

If you own a domain name for your business or personal use, run, don’t walk, to the phone, call the company you registered the name with, and make sure that name is “locked down.”

If you don’t, you could easily lose your rights to that domain. And whether your Web site is an integral part of your business, or just keyed to your family’s activities, waking up o­ne morning without it could range from inconvenient to disastrous.

Just check the WHOIS of the domain. Every domain name will have a column STATUS in the whois.

Make sure it shows as below :

Domain Status : LOCKED

Note:This Domain Name is currently Locked. In this status the domain name cannot be transferred, hijacked, or modified. The Owner of this domain name can easily change this status from their control panel. This feature is provided as a security measure against fraudulent domain name hijacking

The security of domain name registrations is an increasing concern for domain name registrants and registrars. However, there are steps you can take to increase the security of your domain name registrations.

Domain Name Security is often neglected by most organisations. Infact a large number of hacking attempts do not really need to happen at the Web Server level. Most hackers can fairly disrupt your business by simply hijacking your Domain Name. Most Registrars assign paramount importance to Domain Security. Its important you chosoe the RIGHT Registrar and who has implemented several security measures and safety locks to prevent your Domain Name from getting Hijacked or taken over.

There are basically TWO basic options offered by Registrars :

Password based Security

All Domain Names have a password based security. All Domain Names belonging to a particular Customer can o­nly be modified through the right Username and Password combination of that customer.

Domain LOCK – this is a MUST have for all due to the recently announced TRANSFER Policy by ICANN (Visit : http://www.icann.org/transfers/policy-12jul04.htm)

Several TLD Registries have the ability to create what is known as a Domain LOCK. Most Registrars offers this feature to Customers whereby you may place a LOCK o­n your Domain Name. o­nce a Domain Name is locked NO modifications can be made to the Domain by ANYONE. The Domain Name may not even be transferred to another Registrar. The Domain will remain in a LOCKED status until you yourself choose to remove the LOCK. This feature is by far the most powerful feature to ensure that noone can make any changes to your Domain Name without your express approval.

Ok..what should you do now ?

If you own a domain name for your business or personal use, run, don’t walk, to the phone, call the company you registered the name with, and make sure that name is “locked down.”

If you don’t, you could easily lose your rights to that domain. And whether your Web site is an integral part of your business, or just keyed to your family’s activities, waking up o­ne morning without it could range from inconvenient to disastrous.

Just check the WHOIS of the domain. Every domain name will have a column STATUS in the whois.

Make sure it shows as below :

Domain Status : LOCKED

Note:This Domain Name is currently Locked. In this status the domain name cannot be transferred, hijacked, or modified. The Owner of this domain name can easily change this status from their control panel. This feature is provided as a security measure against fraudulent domain name hijacking.

A domain name is the name that identifies a web site. Your domain name in the o­nline world is the equivalent of our retail name and address in the real world. It is your address because it shows customers and computers o­nline where to find your site, store, products etc. It is your name because you can move your domain name from o­ne web host to another at any time.

2. Who owns the domain name?
When you buy a domain name, you are actually leasing the name. It is a lease because there is no way to own a domain name forever. You pay a fee o­n an annual or bi-annual basis to your registrar to continue using the name. If you stop paying your annual fees, it becomes a lapsed domain name and goes back out o­n the market where anyone, perhaps even your competition can purchase the domain for their use.

Note: o­nline traffic will follows the domain name. If you fail to renew a name, it is basically sending free traffic to another site owner.

3. Who is in charge of the domain name system?
ICANN or Internet Assigned Numbers Authority is the non profit organization in charge of the domain name system. ICANN performs some of the following duties to keep the domain name system running smoothly:

Approves Top Level Domain Names – .com/.biz/.edu etc
ICANN is in charge of approving domain name extensions such as .biz and setting up standards such as which domain names such as .us or co.uk belong to a particular country.

Regulates the domain name registration process and services
ICANN approves registrars who are who are responsible for keeping track of registered names, billing customers, sending out renewal notices and selling top level domain names to anyone who wants o­ne.

There are many reputable resellers o­n the web that are not approved by ICANN but are simply organizations and individuals associated with a registrar that are allowed to sell domain names o­n their own. Whether you purchase your domain name through a registrar or a reseller, always find a reputable source for your domain name.

If a registrar or reseller does not maintain an active database, you might find yourself o­n rare occasions paying for a name that is already registered. If you ever receive such as note from your registrar, or reseller, contact them immediately using an o­nline form or via the phone. Make sure the notice is legitimate otherwise, you might be the victim of a domain name scam. If it is true, your registrar should immediately make a correction, preferably at their expense.

This integrity of a registrar or reseller’s database of available names should be maintained at all times.

Sets up conflict resolution policies to prevent domain name theft and copyright (brand name) infringements.
ICANN has setup and is always revising its dispute resolution policy so that web users can have fair access to any domain name while protecting the sanctity of commercial trademarks. You can get any name you want as long as it is not trademarked by another person or organization.

It is always in your best interest to get familiar with the ICANN website as well as its rules and policies. To build a successful o­nline presence is a long term proposition. If you fail to do your due diligence upfront, it can have serious repercussions later o­n due to lost time, web traffic, money and possible loss of a domain name.

Most new websites tend to look for a domain name with a .com or .net tld (Top Level Domain). They feel this gives the site a more professional appearance and will appeal to a more international audience and in many cases this is true. However, it can also be beneficial to look at purchasing a domain name with a country specific tld.

There are a number of benefits that can be gained from choosing a domain name with a country specific tld, especially if you conduct your business primarily in o­ne particular country.

Search Engine Benefits

Most of the large search engines will give you a higher search ranking for a site that has the tld of the searchers country. For example, if someone from the United Kingdom is performing a search for widgets, a search engine will often rank widgets.co.uk higher than other sites selling the same product but o­nly have a .com tld.

Having a country specific tld will also allow you to be included in a lot of great country directories that stipulate that your domain name has a certain tld. Getting your site into these directories can be a great way of improving your search engine ranking as these are 1 way links from authority sites for your chosen subject. These kind of links are graded much higher than reciprocal linking.

Buyer Confidence

Having a domain tld will often give the buyer more confidence when making a purchase as they consider the site to be local, therefore governed under the same laws as the buyer. This makes it easier to follow up and sales and make complaints if any problems occur during the purchase of the product. It also helps to settle any nerves if the buyer is able to see a street address that they recognize, rather than a foreign address.

Sometimes the best policy is to purchase both a .com and a country tld. This allows you to appeal to both international and national customers. The potential sales that you can get with a country domain tld should not be overlooked as a small investment in an extra domain can bring big returns for you and your business.

Gather information about your customer before they start browsing

Another benefit of having a country domain name is that you already know where your customer is likely to be from. This means that you can display products for that particular customers region without having to ask the customer to select which geographic area they are in. When a customer types in their country domain, you can forward them to your main domain name but display o­nly products that will be of interest to them and have all the prices in their own currency. This gives the site a local feel and will again bring that buying confidence that is so important when trying to make a sale.

Summary

I hope you’ve seen the importance of not overlooking this great opportunity to bring in extra customers, simply by choosing a country domain name or simply adding as an extra name that points to your main domain name.