Posts Tagged ‘Domain’
If you want to be taken seriously as an online presence, domain name registration is a necessity. You can choose a domain name and register it through many different domain name registrars, but from there it can get tricky. The original registrar will create a record on its domain name servers to tell other computers where to find your website address. Once you choose a web hosting company, you’ll have to get the DNS record switched over to your new host, which can be confusing if you’ve never done it before.
The easier way is to choose a web hosting company and register for a web hosting account that includes a free domain name registration as part of the account package. Registering a new domain name – especially registering your first domain name – that way streamlines the process so that you don’t have to worry about switching name servers and adjusting the records – the web hosting company does it all for you. You just tell them your desired domain name and the tech folks at the company will do the rest.
Before you take the plunge, though, be sure to ask the web host whether they register a domain name under your name or theirs. Some companies register all domains under their own name, which can become a problem if you’re dissatisfied with your hosting experience and decide to move your website to another host. When the domain name is registered in your name, you control where the site is hosted. If the web hosting company registers it under their own name, they hold the control. If you want to move your site to another host, you may have to pay for them to release it. If you’ve spent time building up your web site visibility, or have invested in advertising materials that feature your website address, it can feel like your domain name is being held hostage. Avoid the issue altogether by asking up front what their policy is when a customer wants to move a domain registered through them to another hosting company.
In addition to control of your own domain name, you should look for a number of other features in a web hosting company. Find a host that offers a full package, including storage, email servers, databases and easy installation of blogs, photo albums, content management systems and other popular website features – all for one low, monthly price. Avoid a la carte packages, which may seem lower at first glance but charge you extra for basics like email servers, blog setup, databases and access to applications like blogs, content management systems, photo albums and email forwarders.
While you’re at it, choose a web hosting company that allows you to host multiple domains under one hosting account. Once you understand how easy it is to set up your own website, you may decide that you need more than one. While most hosts only include one free domain name with a web hosting account, many will allow you to add additional domain and host other websites on your account. In most cases, you can register a domain name through any registrar and host it on your current account at no additional cost.
I’d be a zillionaire if I earned a dollar each time someone complains that all the great domain names are already taken. It’s just not true, however. Even in a highly competitive industry, you can think up original, appealing domain names for businesses by using naming tactics that few people use, such as these:
1. Focus on results. What is the outcome or end result that people want to have from buying a certain product or service? How do they feel when they have finished the transaction?
2. Look for puns. Make a list of relevant keywords, say each out loud and play around with the sounds. Puns are much less likely than other kinds of names to have been registered because their component parts are not actual words. For instance, the name Sitesfaction, for a web design company, was a finalist in our first naming contest – and an available domain at that time despite tens of thousands of web design firms in the English-speaking world.
3. Think slang. Let your imagination and memory fly around for pleasing-to-the-ear expressions. As of today, the domain WhatABoyToys.com for an online toy store is unregistered, as is a domain for its sister store WhatAGirlToys.com.
4. Go symbolic. Suppose you’re an expert on the horror genre and want to start a paid online community for horror fans. Fearrific.com, feargate.com and Fearrnet.com are all taken, but as of today, the less obvious and more vivid AllTheHorror.com is not.
5. Vary real words. “Google’s name is a play on the word googol, which refers to the number 1 followed by one hundred zeroes,” says the Press Center of the world’s most successful search engine. “The word was coined by the nine-year-old nephew of mathematician Edward Kasner,” it continues – providing another hint for creative naming: consult a kid.
6. Use a Domain Name Suggestion Tool, such as the one available at Gossimer.com. This tool will help you find and register good domain names. Enter the word / phrase / domain name that you are looking for in the below search box and click on the “Suggest” Button to generate a list of suggested domain names. To specify multiple words or phrases use a space between words.
Happy Naming!
Creating a website is not just about creating your pages, designing them and including all the important information. It is also about creating a domain name
* That relates to your products and services
* That is easy to remember and spell for your customers.
A domain name that is easy to remember will have more return customers and more word of mouth advertising than domain names which are hard to spell, remember, or both. When it comes to searching for a domain name, all you have to do is go online and search for ones that you are interested in to see if they have been taken or not. There are a lot of sites that will let you search domain names.
First of all, prepare a list of domains you would like to register. Try to get several combinations, don’t register the first one you can think of. You need at least 10-20 versions.
If your site doesn’t necessarily need to be international, then you also consider buying a domain for your own country instead of .com – .de for Germany (Deutschland), or a co.uk for the UK, for example.
Stick with a .com, don’t opt for .tv, .biz, or any other suffix if at all possible especially if that exact domain name is taken as a com. You will end up losing business to that site.
Now submit a list of domains to some site to search for the available domain names.
If you are lucky, some domains are available. Register them and don’t wait until them get someone else.
Don’t set your mind on one particular domain name. Also remember that there are niches where every two dictionary words names are already taken. You may need a patience to find the available and good one.
Try to find synonyms for keywords you use, or try to remove some letters. For example, madconomist.com instead of madeconomist.
There is a way to simplify domain name selection – use software! Powerful software, such as Available Domains Pro can generate thousand of valuable domain names in a few minutes. It can be easily customized to fit your needs. Try this one and you won’t regret.
Analyzing eBay completed listing of domain sales for last two weeks in -00 price range.
The main difficulty is to determine if the actual sales are real, especially at the high end of the range. In fact, the very first reported sale 9 for “Google Nexus One Premier Domain Pack” (the title itself scares me away, suggesting the bad names with trademark violation) is not valid, as this “super domain pack” gets relisted with 0 price tag. However, the next “official” sale, make you realize that “Google Pack” is not that bad… How about biloud123456789.com selling for 9? You do not need to be an eBay or domainer expert to say: “ain’t real “, without wasting the time by checking out whois history data. There are many amusing sales in ebay “domain names” category. Sometimes I think that if you’re starting as a domainer, you just need to check out eBay’s completed at the high range 0+, to learn what domain names should not be bought.
Back to Earth: let’s categorize what domains names are selling, or pretending to be sold on eBay
Celebrity names: see my previous blog entry on ebay’s domain name sales
Trademark names: a lot of iPad.com sales for last two weeks on Apple news
3-4 letter names: many of not all sales records in this category can be trusted
One dictionary word names: for example RABID.net this week for 0, very rare on Ebay
Two-three dictionary word names: BillPaymentCenter.com 4
IDN Names: names containing localized non-English characters ( see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalized_domain_name for better explanation ), very rare
Really bad names, no one is going to look at, not only type in the address bar of a web browser. You can take biloud123456789.com as an example. Unfortunately, the volume of the names in this category is much higher than all other categories combined
A small comment for Trademark name lovers who are hoping to make a quick buck of well-known names: do you know what happened to forbes.ru and some Apple related domains about a month ago? No need to click on the link, just read the titles: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/forbes-gets-300000-from-cybersquatter/397561.html Forbes Gets 0,000 From Cybersquatter, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/07/AR2010010704421.html Apple Seizes 16 Domain Names From A Guy In One Fell Swoop
Do you think spending -0 on a domain name containing iPad\iPod is a good investment? Use your own judgment, but I personally would stick to generic names.
In general terms, eBay market place for domains today is a bit twisted reflection of large specific domain name markets. Yes, I believe, you can make a sale on eBay faster; more patience and additional investments (buying feature listings, appraisals, etc ) are needed when working on a sale with Sedo, AftreNic and GoDaddy auctions. The common side effect of a quick sale is that the price which you get for your domain might be much lower than you expected. If you’re ready to accept this, work with good names, do your research: keyword tools, domain history, past sales for similar names, existing in-links, Google ranking, etc. and you will do just fine with the domain sales on any market place.
Expired domains since my last posting, hope these are still available:
Establishedwebsite.com
macaroni.com
analystlabs.com
artworkdomain.com
temporaryarea.com
dealsexpert.com
sketchmaps.com
sportsecret.com
This is the one which makes me smile at first, though the name may not be as bad as it seems at the first sight: toiletdesigner.com
Irish domain names – Ireland’s domain name
General overview – IEDR
The country code top level domain (ccTLD) for Ireland is .ie. This ccTLD is managed by a not for profit organization in Dublin, Ireland know as the “Irish Domain Registry” or IEDR. The IEDR is not a regulatory body and provides the service to the public and internet community. The registry is responsible for the provision of IE names and the rules relating to their registration. The IEDR implements a dispute resolution policy for domains through the WIPO and unlike other registries operates Monday to Friday during business hours.
Requirements to register
The IE domain itself is a restricted domain in that only applicants who meet certain criteria may register this name. The two main requirements are: Being based in Ireland or having a strong link to Ireland (both northern and southern Ireland). Where the applicant is not based in Ireland information showing this connection must be provided. Secondly the entity registering the domain must have a connection to the name and where this connection is not obvious, must provide evidence of this connection.
Resellers and registration process
Domains are registered through approved domain resellers and are passed to the domain registry directly for approval. The approval process is carried out by a team of people known as IEDR Hostmasters. It is their responsibility to ensure the registration requirements are adhered to. Communication is passed to the approved reseller in the case where more information is required. This thorough process of vetting has led to both positive and negative effects on the domain name’s reputation.
Positive and negative aspects to the domain
On the positive side the domain was recently voted the second safest domain in the world after the Finnish ccTLD. Generally speaking IE domains are held in high regard by Irish based internet surfers. It is seen as a mark of quality or authenticity when doing business online and as a result .ie based websites are trusted over their .com cousins. Very rarely are large spam attacks initiated through an IE domain and the rate of hacks and other internet attacks from IE hostnames is quite low.
The price of .ie domain names are higher than the average TLD or ccTLD, but this price has been significantly reduced over the past 2 years, from an average of around €65 to as low as €19 today. This is due to the traditionally large human input required to approve and manage a domain portfolio. Recently the domain registry themselves have implemented an API mechanism to fast track registration, billing and modifications of domain names. This was carried out by liaising with the reseller community to assess their needs on a day to day basis. Because of the successful implementation of this API amongst the community the price of registering IE domains has fallen with some suppliers leading the way in the price reduction.
Future of the domain
The future of the .ie is bright. New technical advancements in the API as well as the continued reduction in the Irish domain price mean the number of registrations is increasing constantly. Increased promotion of the domain brand by the domain registry and reseller community alike has also led to increased registrations.