Tuesday, September 29, 2009

How to Choose Your TLD Format For Your Web Address

Choosing the right domain name is one of the most important step when setting up your web page. If your domain name very much represent your website, be it a blog about yourself or your company, you would have very much taken a huge step in marketing your website. One important aspect to consider when choosing your domain name is deciding on your Top Level Domain (TLD).
What is a TLD? A TLD represents the format you want your domain name to end with: .com, .net, .org, .biz, .asia, .sg and etc. A survey done recently showed that 80% of the Internet users pay more attention to a site when it ends with .com, .net and .org. The survey showed that most people believed that when a web address ends with .com, .net or .org, it is deemed to be more professional or trustworthy. However, as many names have already been taken up under these TLD, we have new TLDs like .mobi and .biz.
TLD are also expressed as geographical locations such as: .jp, .us, .sg, .tw and .cn. If your product offerings are geographically targeted, you can choose to use these type of TLD to better appeal to your customers.
If you are targeting at mobile Internet users, you might try TLD such as .mobi. Put in some effort into choosing your domain name, especially your TLD. You will want to inject the feeling you want your customers or readers to feel into the domain names. Once you do that, half of the marketing battle would already have been won.

Mr. Zeng Han Jun is the Chief Marketing Officer of SG Domain Market, a subsidiary of Chan & Partners Consulting Group. SG Domain Market is a Singapore based internet hosting company that provides services in the following areas: 1) Domain Registration 2) Internet Hosting. Our servers are based in United States and United Kingdom. Our in-house built hosting Control Panel has been especially optimized to operate in total synchronicity with the rest of the software installed on the servers. Our engineers are monitoring the services 24 hours a day to ensure maximum security and accessibility.

To find out how to optimize your business's internet marketing plan, please visit our website at http://www.sgdomainmarket.com We guarantee 99% uptime for your business website!

Your Desired .com Name is Gone!

The Top Level Domain (TLD) is one of the most important factors to consider, when embarking on an online marketing strategy for your company. There are several types of TLDs, with the traditional ones being: 1) .com 2) .net 3) .org. These 3 TLDs have been in existence for a long time, which explains the level of credibility accredited to them by internet users.

All is good if you are able to get your domain name ending the traditional TLDs. However, as more names are being taken up around the world everyday, it becomes a near impossibility for us to get the desired domain names. Does that mean that we cannot do anything about it? Wrong. There are other alternatives that we can consider and as an corporate marketing specialist, it is the time to churn your creative brain juice!

Perhaps your domain name includes words like "to", why not change it to "2"? How about changing a "you" to a "u"? There are many internet lingos that can replace English words, so you can never run out of ideas for the alteration of your domain names.

Such changes might not be a good idea, if your customers are mainly from the corporate level. Instead of changing the domain name, why not considering other types of TLDs? The new generation of TLDs includes: 1) .biz 2) .jp 3) .mobi. If you are targeting at users or customers from certain geographical locations, why not use the TLDs that represents countries? Such as .jp (Japan), .kr (Korea), .us (United States) and many others.

There are endless possibilities and combination to the TLDs and the names that you can have. All you have to do is to consider carefully and when the right name is chosen, half of your marketing battle has already been won.

Mr. Zeng Han Jun is the Chief Marketing Officer of SG Domain Market, a subsidiary of Chan & Partners Consulting Group. SG Domain Market is a Singapore based internet hosting company that provides services in the following areas: 1) Domain Registration 2) Internet Hosting. Our servers are based in United States and United Kingdom. Our in-house built hosting Control Panel has been especially optimized to operate in total synchronicity with the rest of the software installed on the servers. Our engineers are monitoring the services 24 hours a day to ensure maximum security and accessibility.

To find out how to optimize your business's internet marketing plan, please visit our website at http://www.sgdomainmarket.com We guarantee 99% uptime for your business website!

The Hardest Thing is Picking a Domain Name - Isn't It?

The hardest part about building a Website is finding a domain name that has not been taken, or one that will be beneficial to your new website when the search crawlers start creeping around.

I used Go Daddy to find my website as I found it to be an easy to use site...not to mention I remember the ads from the Superbowl (ah, a lesson in marketing). On Go Daddy, you can use the "bulk register" feature and put in a whole bunch of possible domain names that you want to use. Don't get discouraged when you find out that many of the ".com" domains are taken for single words that may mean something. Just keep looking!!

After registering the domain, I did some research and found out that I needed to "host" the domain in order to put up a website. There are many hosting sites that can accomplish this (I put some links below). They range in price and range in what they offer, but looking into everything, I realized they are all pretty much the same. As with everything, price and customer service trump all!!

Next was finding a way to build a website. The great thing is, and I didn't know this until I dug deep into it, most of the website builders are very user friendly and a lot are FREE!! I used NVU, see link below. It is an open source, freeware program that is extremely easy to use.

Next I had to figure out what my business model would be. I looked at a bunch of programs that offered "Easy Money" or "Guaranteed Millions", but I knew most of them were hogwash. After reading many reviews, I narrowed my search to 2 online communities that I thought would offer some great advice. Boy was I right!!

Wealthy Affiliate was the first I looked into. I was sold on the fact that it was not just a program, but it was a community of people who could bounce things off each other. There were people who were just starting out and people who had been working online for years. The experts of the group definitely had great ideas to share for building a profitable online business.

The Rich Jerkwas one that drew me in because of the humor. I figured I could part with the $9.95 that he was charging just to get a glimpse of this guy. (A movie costs more than that now-a-days). Click the link below and you will see what I mean. Never-the-less, I found the program to be very informative and the forum to be awesome. There are a bunch of good people in there that can help a new guy or gal get started.

After reading up what to do and enlisting the help of some friendly people, I finally got my website started up. Now, I can say that I have built a business, now I need to put my skills into good use and grow the business!!

I recommend that you try putting a website together to see how easy it is for yourself!

Learn a more about how to set up your own online business at http://www.squidoo.com/passivelyretired

5 Tips to Help You Find a Legitimate Web Site Domain Name

One of the most important decisions you will make with a home business prior to even getting started is selecting a domain name. This name is going to act as your internet identity making it vital you take the time to find one that is suitable for your business. Here are five tips to help you find a legitimate web site domain name.

1. Dot com

There are a plethora of different suffixes you can find on the internet today. Some of the more common suffixes include .com, .net and .org. If at all possible, find a domain name with .com as this is one of the oldest extensions and is typically what people type in first. It will show that you have been around for a while and have an established business even if you really haven't.

2. Shorter the better

No one wants to type in some web site domain name that is 50 to 100 characters long. Not only is it a pain to type in, but it can also be fairly difficult to remember. Your goal should be to keep the name as short as possible while still allowing customers and prospects to associate it with your business. If at all possible, keep the name below 10 characters without including the suffix.

3. Ask for advice

If you find a few different web site domain names and are not sure which would be best for your business, ask for advice. Talk to friends and family members to see what they think is most suitable for your web site and business. You want the name to instantly click so people can quickly find your site.

4. Buy now

The number one mistake you can make is sitting on a name trying to determine if it is the right one or not. People are buying domain names left and right as more and more web sites emerge every day. The longer you sit on the name the more likely someone else is to snatch it from underneath you. If you have any inclination of purchasing the name, JUST DO IT!

5. Pay a reasonable price

The days of companies getting away with asking for hundreds of dollars for a domain name are over. There are a plethora of companies competing and selling domain names all over the internet today which has drastically lowered prices. Therefore, if you see a web site domain name you like, buy it. There is nothing wrong with having multiple domain names for your business.

About the author: Judson Solomon is the owner and webmaster of Work From Home Ideas and reviews popular home business ideas and opportunities. Visit his web site to find out how to earn money at home.

The First Step

Domain Name Selection

The first step in getting your online business ready to market begins begins with choosing an effective domain name.

Before you rush out and buy the first name you think of, take a moment and think about how people will search for you.

Do you have an easily recognizable, strong brand name behind you? If not,then you will want to consider high traffic keywords and phrases with a 'built in' number of searches.

Choose a domain name based on keywords that 'don't make people think' about what you do.

Your domain name should 'tell' people the theme of your website, or what you do.

When you see a domain like cars.com or beer.com, you don't have to think twice about what you will find there. You know instantly.

What is the main theme of your business?

Use online keyword tools like Free Wordtracker to find information on keyword values, how many searches are done on that certain word or phrase per day or per month depending on the tool you use.

Google has a set of excellent keyword and analytic tools you can use for free as well.

These tools are invaluable in finding the value of the words or phrase in your selected domain, or you can use them to identify potential high traffic niches with less competition, yet greater opportunities for more traffic and greater sales and more profit.

That is just some of the benefits of optimizing your domain to improve your organic search engine placements.

Think about incorporating regions or local areas into your domain name. Adding specific regions will localize your business. It is a way to expose your online business to local consumers and possible create a niche for yourself.

More people are turning to the internet rather than the 'Yellow Pages'. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and bing have noticed the trend and are putting more weight on providing regional search results.

Now people in your region will be presented with more local/regional choices depending on their search preferences.

Here is one example of make adding a region to a domain name work for you; www.windowtintpa.com. Not only does the domain name tell you what kind of product of service you will find, but it also tells you where they conduct business.

Those folks accomplished their goal - No thinking required!

Domain Registration

Now that you have selected the name you want to use for your online business, you will want to select a company to register your domain.

In most cases the only difference in the cost to register your domain name is the different service that each domain registrar may offer. Some offer package deals that include your domain registration if you also purchase one of their additional packages.

Other domain resellers offer cheap domains or free add-ons as lost leaders it gets you in the door, then try to up-sell you into more expensive packages.

A domain can cost you anywhere from FREE to about $30, so it pays to shop around and compare prices/services.

Domain Hosting

Personally, I like to buy my domains from one domain reseller and host them at a different hosting company for this reason. Not every hosting company offers the same level of domain hosting. Some companies offer only shared server types of hosting, which may fit your needs or budget and others offer more professional levels of hosting and support for the more serious online business person.

I have used both Hostgator.com and Knownhost.com. Hostgator offers basic, economical hosting and provides 24/7 online chat support and Knownhost provides several different hosting packages with 24/7 support ticket support.

Once you have your domain name selected, registered and hosted you are ready to move forward to create an outstanding Internet experience for your readers.

RH Sterling provides optimized web content, professional website promotion and Internet marketing services to small regional business in northeastern Pennsylvania. Please visit my website http://www.rhsterlingorganicseo.com for a FREE analysis of your website.

Five Essential Things That You Must Take Note of When Naming Your Site

Having a website enables you to market your products and services to the rest of the world. With the popularity of the internet as a marketing tool, a whole new science of marketing devoted to the internet has emerged. To survive in the online business, it is imperative that you should know the right steps in order to reach out to your targeted audience. Failing to do so will cause detrimental effect to your business.

Here are five things that you should take note of when choosing your domain name:

1) Easy to remember names

Try to get names that can really tell the customers the kind of service or products you are promoting. Naming your domain name pencils.com when you sell pencils is really good at attracting the type in customers. These customers normally type what they want in the search engine. The search engine will then capture your domain name and displays it to them since it has such high relavance to pencils. Do not try to get yourself some extra fancy name that is totally related to your products and services. Your customer may not even remember your domain name in the first place.

2) Avoid imitating other's names

Some people try to imitate their competitors' names, hoping that the customers gets mixed up and goes into their site. The problem here is, what if your customers mistakes your competitors' website for yours! Always try to differentiate your domain name from the rest so that your customers know where are they going.

3) The age of your domain name

Domain names, like wine, gets better as it ages. When your domain name has been around for quite some time, it registers a higher rank with the search engines. This helps you to get higher placements within the search ranks. Having a domain name that has been around for some time also create the feeling of credibility with your customers.

4) Underscores

Cannot get the domain name that you want because it has been taken up? Adding that underscore to your domain name can help you register the next best alternative but do take note that an underscore actually causes you to have lower points with the search engines. A big NO NO. Try to avoid it if you can.

5) Unknown suffixes

All the names that you have tried mixing with the .com has been taken up? No worries. There are so many different types of TLDs for you to choose from at the present moment! Doing business online? Try a .biz. Creating a blog? How about a .name?

These are the essential things that every businessmen must know before they undertake the mission to bring their business online and market it to the rest of the world. Keep these in mind and you should be on your way to selling more!

Mr. Zeng Han Jun is the Chief Marketing Officer of SG Domain Market, a subsidiary of Chan & Partners Consulting Group. SG Domain Market is a Singapore based internet hosting company that provides services in the following areas: 1) Domain Registration 2) Internet Hosting. Our servers are based in United States and United Kingdom. Our in-house built hosting Control Panel has been especially optimized to operate in total synchronicity with the rest of the software installed on the servers. Our engineers are monitoring the services 24 hours a day to ensure maximum security and accessibility.

To find out how to optimize your business's internet marketing plan, please visit our website at http://www.sgdomainmarket.com We guarantee 99% uptime for your business website!

Beginners Guide - What is a Domain Name and How Do I Get One?

What is a Domain Name and how do i get one?

This may be such an easy question for people that have used the Internet before, but still I find people who just don't know.

Well my starting point to find out what a domain name is would to be use a website called wikipedia. Its basically a free encyclopedia online.

After a search for the term domain name it says the following:

A domain name is an identification label that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet, based on the Domain Name System (DNS). Quoted from wikepedia.

Well if I had read that when i first started I wouldn't of had a clue what it was going on about. So in simple terms:

Its an Internet website address. Its what you type in in your browser address bar to visit the website that you require: Example: www. google . com

Domain names were invented to avoid having to remember a string of numbers when we want to go to a web site. . Computers that are connected to the Internet are identified by a set of numbers (an IP address) The string of numbers can be typed into your browsers address bar to visit any website but its easier to remember names rather than numbers.

Choosing the correct domain name is very important.The reason for this is you need something that relates to your website, something that's easy for your visitors to remember so they are likely to visit again. Something that will be unique to you and something that stands out.

As well as the above reasons you also need to choose carefully because of search engine optimization. I will go into SEO later but if your website domain name contains what your site relates to in its content this helps gain standing in the search engines eyes.

Everything about your domain is important:

- length - You don't want it too long that people forget it, or mistype it

- dash or no dashes - Dashes can be good to separate words but can make domains longer or mistyped.

- brand ability - Can you brand your site easily? Does it fit in with the content?

- search engine keywords - Always good to use keywords in your domain name, but its tough these days with so many Domain names already taken,

Only one person or company can own a domain name at any one time. Therefore, if you wanted the domain name www.webdesignwhim.com , its not available as I own it, you will need to either find another name that is available, or offer to buy the domain (no I'm not for sale its just an example . You could also wait for it to expire and hope they don't re-register it... but its not likely to happen or you could be waiting a long time.

You dont actually buy your chosen domain name. You register it, so its a bit like renting it Once a domain name is registered, its normally registered for one or two years but can be up to 10 years, and if locked no one else can take that particular domain name. Its your responsibility to re-register the domain name each time before it expires. If a domain name does expire it will go back onto the open market for someone else to register this. Always make sure you keep your domain name safe.

There are so many companies out there to register your chosen domain name. You can just google the following term: register a domain name

At the time of this article there are many companies offering free domain name registration when you sign up for there webhosting (which is another service you will need when getting your domain name online.

Ill go into web hosting in my next article.

* This article is written by Marie Barnes AKA Pixie of http://www.webdesignwhim.com Please do not copy our material and portray it as your own work. Feel free to post our articles but only without removing this notice and stating where you got this article from. Thank you *

What is a Domain Name Anyway?

Talk to any Internet marketer, and he (or she) will tell you: Naming your new online presence is just as important as learning how to build a website. But that begs the question: What is a domain name anyway? To many Internet users the answer is simple: "It's what you type in the address bar." Yes, but what is it?

Here is a good working definition of domain name: It's a label that serves as a marker for Internet content. Think of it as the Internet's equivalent of a telephone number. When someone dials your phone number, they get you; when someone types in your domain name, they get your web content.

Strictly speaking, the definition of domain name isn't quite that simple. The domain name system will support all of the letter and number characters you can type in, and a one punctuation mark (the hyphen, or dash - ).

The URL is usually (but not always) preceded in the address bar by http:// and three Ws, as in www, and will end in a period followed by a suffix (such as .com, .net, or .org), or a country code (.ru, .nz, and so on).

In terms of application, there's no such thing as "close" with domain names. For example, [www.fastcars.com] is not the same as [www.fastcars.org], which is not the same as [www.fast-cars.com] or [www.fastcars.ru]. For this reason, it is important when selecting a choice to make it as unique to humans as possible; otherwise, people trying to remember your domain name will remember someone else's domain name by mistake.

Domain names are registered, and the registry servers maintained, by domain name registrars. These are businesses that make money registering the domain name you choose (assuming it isn't already taken) and making sure that it points to your content.

Finally, no definition of domain name would be complete without touching on the subject of the IP address. IP means "Internet Protocol," and an IP address is a series of four three-digit numbers separated by periods (or dots).

The IP address is a unique identifier for every computer on the internet, and so in this manner it functions much like a domain name does.

However, it is much easier to remember [www.IamaDomainName.com] than it is to remember [201.175.003.051].