Domain Registrars Pt 2 Choosing a domain name & Taking the plunge!

What Every Web Site Owner Should Know Choosing A Domain Name & Taking The Plunge! Now, if you are ready to take the plunge, it is time to visit a Domain Registrar and pick out a domain name. There is no time like the present and your domain isn’t going to register itself. The sooner you get started the better. The competition for domain names is a lot like the land rush in the early days of this country. There are still many good domain names to choose from, but every day that goes by, hundreds of thousands of new domain names are registered. The sooner you start the better chance you will have of getting a domain name you are happy with. Not to mention; the longer a Website has been in existence (and the length of time it is registered for) is a factor that determines how high Google will rank your pages. Just visit www.EverMoreTech.com/DomainName (URL Coming Soon) for a list of registrars, user’s experiences & ratings of their services, prices and links. Of course, I encourage you to leave your own opinions. You will also find a tool on my site that will allow you to see if your desired domain name is available or not (most registrars will have similar tools). One last thing before you go rushing off to buy your first domain name; take a few moments to think about it. Chances are, if you are in a popular field, there may not be much to choose from, but if you are clever, you should be able to come up with something that you are happy with. When you are choosing a domain name here are a few things to keep in mind; Keep it short. The longer the domain name is, the greater the chance that your potential visitors will make typos, misspellings, or simply be too lazy to type ThisIsMyReallyCoolDomainName.com. Avoid tricky spellings, homonyms, puns, or other gimmicky names. Unless this is really a prominent part of your business branding, I caution against using alternative spellings and or substituting characters (i.e. using the number 3 as a substitute for the letter E, this is known as "Leet") unless your target audience is a young cyber-literate group such as gamers. Using alternative spellings can cause confusion and be difficult to tell someone over the phone. While it may be unavoidable, try to keep that sound alike letters such as S & F, B & V, or D & T etc … to a minimum. When you are trying to give your Website address (particularly over the phone), or someone needs to jot down your e-mail address, it can be a challenge to make sure they get it. Use a .com TLD if you can. I try to use .com where ever possible. The .com top level domain is the most recognizable and will generally be the default when someone types in your domain name without it into a search engine. Keep it simple Allow for growth —if you choose BooksBooksBooks.com you are limited to books, whereas if you go with something more general such as; BooksAndMore.com you have room for growth if your site takes on a new direction previously unforeseen. If your site is specific to an industry and will not change, you may want to disregard this, but that is up to you. When possible, get something that is easy to remember. This is important. How many times have you sat down to the computer and could not think or a particular website’s name? Write down 30 good names. Then, cross out ten. Number the remaining 20 and visit a registrar to see if any of your favorites. If at first you don’t find one that you are thrilled about, or none of your favorites are available, then relax, and try again. If you can’t decide between a few different domain names, you can get them all and simply point, or forward all of them to your Website. Most registrars (not all) will allow you to forward a domain name for free. Of course, realistically, there are countless sites and about a bijillion names have been registered. You may be in a very competitive industry and there may only be slim pickin's so get what you can. You have to feel it... Once you have the domain name that is right for you; GRAB IT! More than once I have waited to buy a domain name only to find it was taken by the time I made up my mind. With that said; be careful checking out.Some Registrars attempt to sell you everything from so-called traffic boosters to the kitchen sink on your way to the credit processing page. JUST GET THE DOMAIN NAME! I do not recommend purchasing the add-ons particularly the $1.99 hosting package … I will talk more about Web hosting in upcoming posts.

$ $ $ $ $ DOMAIN REGISTRAR SCAM ALERT! $ $ $ $ $

What Every Web Site Owner Should Know $ $ $ $ $ SCAM ALERT! $ $ $ $ $ Many unscrupulous domain registrars exist. It is a common practice of these registrars to send official looking letters in the mail informing you that your domain is about to expire. They will include a form to send along with a check to “renew” your domain name. Though it may not say outright in the letter, they will typically have the appearance of being from either your current registrar (they assume you don’t know who that actually is), or even from the Government or some other official office. Actually, they have nothing to do with neither the government, nor your registrar. They are simply looking for people that don’t know how this all works If the form and check are sent in, then the unscrupulous registrar will transfer your domain name from your current registrar to their company. Sometimes this will have little or no impact on your services, while other occasions, the “new” registrar may have inferior equipment, or be located in part of the world that has poor infrastructure. If this is the case, then your Website may load slowly, erratically, or not at all. Depending upon the company, it may be very hard to transfer control away from them and back to a more reputable registrar. Remember, some registrars charge big bucks for registrations. They (even some reputable companies) are not in a hurry to lose your revenue.

Domain Registrars Part One

What Every Web Site Owner Should Know DOMAIN REGISTRARS Domain Names are the first step to launching a Website. Once you have made the decision to launch a Website, the obvious first step is to pick out and secure a good domain name. This is done by visiting a Domain Registrar. Most registrars have a tool on their Website that lets you check to see if a domain name is available or not. If you find one that you like, then it is a relatively easy process to purchase it. A Registrar will provide Name Servers that will enable your Website to be available online. I am not referring to being “found” by a person using a search engine, which is a subject we will get into later. I am referring to having your domain physically available online. Name Servers and what they do seem to cause a lot of confusion amongst many Website Owners, particularly when changing Web hosts, Registrars or Webmasters. Frequently, the owner does not know the password/user combination, or even worse, the name of the actual registrar. This can cause quite a bit of extra work and delay your project. Therefore, make certain to keep this information safe. In most cases your Web host will send you an email containing all the information that you will need. Be sure to print out a copy and keep in your records. If your Webmaster sets up your hosting account, be sure to have him forward you a copy of the login information I mentioned above. *A decent Webmaster should be able to find the name of the registrar easily, but if you have changed email addresses then it can be unpleasant. Even though in most cases you will be able to access it once you prove that you are the actual owner, it is a hassle that is easily avoided. Congratulations! Once you have set up a domain name, you are officially a Website Owner (see, that wasn’t so hard, was it?). However, at this point, that may not mean much; due to the fact that your Website probably just points to a “parking page”. This page is automatically put in place by your domain registrar. It may have a few ads on it, or perhaps nothing at all. Regardless, it is your Website and nobody else can use that domain name while you own it. Each domain name is completely unique. There can only be one. However, keep in mind the fact that there are several different Top Level Domains or TLDs (.com, .org, .biz, etc ...). Each TLD is independent of the other any domain name may be registered by separate companies or individuals, regardless of the desires of the other Website owner’s wishes. This means that if you own widgets.com, someone else can come along and register widgets.org and still another person or company can be the owner of widgets.net and so on. There have been many unfortunate cases where a Website owner has registered a domain name and subsequent registration of the same domain name with a different TLD has been purchased by a competitor or worse. If an “opposing domain name is either fraudulent, or a competitors domain, your marketing efforts may be sending your clients to their Website. How would it reflect on you or your business if the .net, .biz, .org etc... version of your domain name belonged to a competitor that did poor work, or just had a poorly built Website up ... What if it was a rip-off scheme, or porn? For this reason, it may be important for you to register all of the major TLDs for your domain name. This depends on whether you believe that there may be competition for your domain name. If your competition buys the .org and the .net version of your domain name places a competing Website there, it could be problematic for you.