Students Of Success

Quite often freebies of different kinds are offered on the Internet. In fact, though, very few of them are really free. Those making the offer will more often than not expect something in return.

Under normal circumstances, you have to pay some amount of money to get your domain name registered. Recently however some companies are offering free domain names. In return, they may require customers to add banner ads to their websites or to participate in other marketing schemes. The provider of the free domain is in most cases likely to remain the owner of the domain. Among the defunct companies that offered free domain names were NameZero and Freeservers (a subsidiary of NetZero at present).

Belgium is one European country that offers free domains in the .be TLD. Perhaps part of a temporary promotion, there could well be a renewal fee eventually for the registrants to maintain their domains.

But compared to other offers, there are relatively few that offer you free domains when you sign up for an offer. It may be because the costs of these services or products are too low to deserve much interest. There indeed are a few free domain offers on the net, but they expect you either to buy hosting or to sign up and post at forums. But remember, most web hosting companies will register the ‘free’ domain in their own name. If you are annoyed due to some reason or the other and want to change the web host, you lose the domain name. That means all the hard work you put in to develop the brand image goes up in smoke. However, it is not exactly an intelligent move to refuse a free domain name if there is no catch involved. You can find about free domain names from various databases through various Web sites.

Domain Name Search provides detailed information on Domain Name Search, Australian Domain Name Searches, Free Domain Name Searches, Domain Name Owner Search and more. Domain Name Search is affiliated with Cheap Domain Names For Sale.

The first thing you need to do when setting up a web site is to register a domain name. A domain is the familiar “something.com” (the www is not part of the domain name).

Your domain name is a pointer to the actual IP address of your website. They’re used because they’re a lot easier for people to remember than a bunch of numbers would be.

Every website has an IP address, which is a number like 123.456.78.9. The domain name system (aka DNS) translates between those numbered addresses and the corresponding domain names.

Each domain on the internet is registered with a central registry handled by a group called InterNIC which is a subsidiary of ICANN - the organization that certifies all domain name registrars.

Domains names gets filtered through DNS servers, which link the address with the correct domain name. Most websites have a primary and a secondary DNS server - essentially a backup system that increases reliability.

Getting Your Website Set Up

The first step in registering your domain name is to decide what you want it to be. The domain can be almost anything you want it to be, but it will be more effective if it relates to the subject of your website.

If you’re selling shoes, for example, it helps to have a domain name that’s related to shoes - all-shoes.com for instance.

There are a few simple rules for registering domain names. The only characters you can use in your domain are letters, numbers and the hyphen. Domain names can’t be longer than 70 characters, but it’s best to keep them as short as possible.

They can be either upper or lower case - the case of the domain name is ignored by DNS. It sometimes helps to use a combination to make them easier to read. For example, which is easier to read mywebsite.com or MyWebSite.com? Both are the same as far as DNS servers are concerned.

There are a number of extensions available to use with your domain. The most common by far is .com. It has become synonymous with the internet (eg. “The dot com crash”).

Other common extensions include .net and .org. Some of the newer ones are .info, .biz and .name - these aren’t as common however, and they won’t be as effective as .com, .net or .org, which people are more familiar with.

There are also specialized extensions such as .museum, .aero and .coop which are only available for members of certain organizations.

What About Country-Specific Domains?

You can also register domains with specific country extensions such as .us (United States) or .de (Germany). The rules for registering country-specific domains vary from country to country, so you need to check with the registrars for a given country to see if you are able to register them.

All domain registrars must be certified by ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). There are many registrars with varying prices. You can get a full list of all certified registrars at the InterNIC website (www.internic.net/regist.html).

Even though registrars are regulated, they’re allowed to offer their registration service through third parties, so most web hosts offer domain registration even if they aren’t registrars themselves.

Domains are registered for at least one year and you can buy as many as ten years when registering. A longer registration contract usually nets you a lower price, so if you know you’ll be using that domain for some time to come it can pay to pay for a longer period.

Buying domain names is a very common activity on the internet and a necessity for establishing an identity on the web. However, many people still don’t understand what a domain is, how it is used and how to properly maintain it. This article is dedicated to answering common questions about domain names and providing you with important information that you need to know to make sure your domain remains a useful asset.

So what is a domain name anyway?

A domain name is a unique name used to identify an internet site. Each domain has two or more parts separated by dots. The part at the end is the most general and is used to identify the type or origin of the site. This is called the top level domain (TLD) or domain extension, and it includes the familiar designations .com, .net, and .org, organizational designations like .gov, .mil, and .edu, and country codes like .us, .uk, and .de. In front of the TLD is the second level domain, which is the unique identifier of the internet site. Chilipepperweb, google and yahoo are all examples of second level domains. A third level, usually known as a subdomain, can also be added. This part goes before the second level domain, as in domains.chilipepperweb.net. It is worth noting that you are not required to register subdomains; they are considered part of the primary domain name.

How does a domain name work?

A domain name is not the same thing as an internet site. By registering a domain name, you are reserving the right to use that name to identify an internet site for the period of time that it remains registered to you. An active domain points to a location (IP address) on a host computer connected to the internet that contains the files for the internet site. Each domain name is assigned at least two Domain Name Servers (DNS). When someone types the domain name into their web browser, the DNS assigned to that particular domain receives the query and sends a request to the host computer to retrieve the files for viewing and interaction. Each domain name can only point to one location on one computer at a time, although one computer may host many domain names. A domain name can be pointed to a new host by changing the DNS records or assigning new DNS to the domain. Learn more about DNS

How do I pick a good domain name?

A good domain name is generally short (1 to 3 words), easy to remember and to spell, and representative of your business. The following is a great article if you need help choosing a domain name:
The Essential Guide to Selecting a Domain Name

How do I register a domain name?

So you’ve got a great idea for a domain name and you’ve found a site that sells domains for a good price. You’re all ready to whip out your credit card and reserve it right now. Here is a basic description of the process you or your representative (website designer, hosting company, etc.) will go through on most registrars to do this:

1. Type in the domain name you want to buy. The registrar will cross-reference your choice with a worldwide database (Whois) of domain names to verify that nobody else currently owns it. If someone owns it already, you will be asked to try another name or be given a computer-generated list of similar alternatives to the name you wanted. This goes on until you have found an available name.
2. Next you will be prompted to create a new account with a username and password. Some registrars will automatically create an account name and password for you and email it to you when your registration is complete, while others allow you to create your own username and password.
3. After you create an account, you have to fill in all of the required contact information for the domain. The four contacts, which will be explained in more detail below, are the Registrant, Administrative Contact, Billing Contact, and Technical Contact.
4. Now it’s time to pay for the domain. You select the number of years you want to register the domain for, which ranges from 1-10 years, enter your payment information and submit it, and you are done. At this point you are now the proud owner of a new domain name.

IMPORTANT TIP: The most important thing you can do when purchasing a domain name is to keep good records of your purchase. Write down your username and password for your domain account, print out the contact information that you entered, and print out any receipts and emails you receive from the registrar upon completion of your purchase. Keep all of this information in a file where you can find it later if you need it. You should also keep the name and contact information of the registrar you purchased the domain from just in case you ever need it. If you are an employee purchasing a domain for your employer, you should do this to make life easier for the employer if you should ever be unavailable when the information is needed.

If someone else is purchasing a domain name on your behalf, such as your website designer or web host, you should make sure that they are keeping track of this same information and are willing to provide you with copies of it upon request. This gives you an extra measure of safety in the event that a dispute arises over control of your domain name. Most of the time this occurs when an owner decides to change designers or hosting companies because of dissatisfaction or increasing requirements.

TERMINOLOGY

This section explains the major features of a domain name account and the things you need to be aware of with regard to their function and use. It is not necessary for you to understand in great technical detail everything there is to know about domain names, but the features described below are the ones you will encounter during the registration process, and the ones most likely to cause you trouble if they are not handled appropriately.

A complete glossary of domain registration terminology can be found on ICANN’s website.

Registrar - This is the company that the domain was purchased from. Top level registrars include Network Solutions, Register.com, OpenSRS (a division of Tucows), and GoDaddy among others. Many smaller companies also function as registrars by reselling domains from the top level domain providers. The registrar is also the company you pay to renew your domain name when the registration period is up. Domain names can be transferred from one registrar to another following specific rules (this article is primarily meant to make that process easy in case you ever need it). There are a number of domain registration scams out there which appear to be renewal notices when in fact they are registrar transfer forms. The easiest way to recognize them is to know who your registrar is and only accept renewal notices from the company you bought your domain from. Learn more about Domain Fraud

Domain Account Manager - As mentioned above, whenever you buy a domain you are creating an account with your registrar. This account allows you to manage all of your domain contact information and the DNS servers for your domain. Whenever you go to the website for your registrar, you should see a link that says something along the lines of “My Account”, “Account Manager”, “Manage Domain”, or something else similar. When you click on that link, it should take you to a login screen where you enter the username and password you created (or received) when you bought your domain. Once you have successfully logged in, you will be able to change all of the information about your domain name, renew it, and possibly use other services the registrar may decide to add to the interface for the user’s convenience.

Whois Information - This is the basic information returned by a Whois query on a domain name. It contains the ownership and contact information, the registration and expiration dates, and the DNS servers for the domain. This is the information you are creating when you register your domain. You can find a Whois query form on most domain registrar sites, and there are also many independent Whois servers where you can check domain information.

Registrant or Owner Contact - This is the first contact you have to fill out, and arguably the most important, at least from a legal standpoint. The person or organization listed in this contact is considered to be the legal owner of the domain name. This can be a serious problem if a client asks their designer to purchase a domain on their behalf and the designer registers the domain with himself as the owner. It does happen, unfortunately far too often, and if a legal dispute arises over the ownership of the domain this can be very problematic. You should always make sure whenever someone else buys a domain for you that you are listed as the owner.

Administrative Contact - For operational purposes, this is THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR DOMAIN. Almost all of a registrar’s business is done with the Administrative Contact. As you might guess, this is the person or company that has administrative rights to act on behalf of the Registrant and make changes to all aspects of the domain name, including all contacts, name servers, and subdomains. If you lose your domain manager password, this is the person that the registrar will ask to deal with in order for you to get it back or change it. The contact information for the administrator should be kept as accurate as possible at all times, particularly the email address. The administrator’s email receives all renewal notices, password reminders, and other business email from the registrar. The number one mistake people make when registering a domain name is not keeping the administrative email address current. Many people change their email address before the registration period is up and drop the one they were using when the bought the domain. This results in failure to receive renewal notices and the inability to receive password reminders from the registrar if your password becomes lost. When that is the case, you usually have to go through a painful process involving a fax request form with a copy of a photo ID and several days of waiting to get the registrar to update your information for you. This is not fun, and if you are not patient it is not something you want to have to do. Keeping the Administrative Contact up to date is the best way to guarantee that your domain name will be quick and easy to manage whenever changes are needed.

You should always register a domain with an email address you plan to keep for a long time if at all possible. One mistake that companies often make is when an employee purchases the domain and uses his own contact information, then that employee later leaves the company, has his email address deleted, etc., and generally makes life difficult for everybody who has to manage the domain after he is gone. If you are using a company email address, it is best to use a general company address such as info@mycompany.com, or if that is unavailable, the address of a senior employee or manager who isn’t planning on changing jobs anytime soon.

Billing Contact - Fortunately this one is nice and obvious. This is the person to be contacted by the registrar regarding any billing matters for your domain name, including registrations and renewals. If the billing contact is different from the registrant or the administrator, those two contacts may also receive billing notices from the registrar if the billing contact can no longer be reached.

Technical or Zone Contact - This contact is usually the person or organization responsible for maintaining the DNS servers that resolve the domain to a website, as well as handling other technical problems related to the domain. In most cases this will be your web host, ISP, or the registrar you bought the domain from. You always have the option to change this contact to yourself or someone else of your choice, such as the website designer.

DNS or Name Servers - DNS stands for Domain Name Server (also referred to as Domain Name Service or Domain Name System). A DNS translates domain names into IP addresses. If someone wants to access ChiliPepperWeb’s web site (www.chilipepperweb.net), the DNS translates the domain name into its corresponding IP address 65.59.245.101, allowing the computer to locate ChiliPepperWeb’s web server. The DNS for your domain will normally be provided by the company hosting your website, and you have to make sure that you have the correct DNS settings specified in your domain account in order for it to display your website properly. When you change hosts, you usually also change DNS servers, which is why you need to keep your domain manager login. If you can’t change your domain’s DNS settings, then you can’t change hosts unless you know how to rewrite DNS records. The domain registrar can still change this information for you if you have no way to do it yourself, but as with changing contact information it involves a tedious fax verification process that you don’t want to go through if it can be avoided.

OK, now I’ve bought my domain name. What else can I do with it?

Parking - Each domain name you buy is a unique identifier, but that doesn’t mean that it has to point to a unique website. You can point several domain names at the same internet site. This is known as “parking” one domain on another one. One domain will always be set up as the primary domain on the host computer, and the other domains can be pointed to its location by using the same DNS entries.
Note: This is not the same as a “parking page,” which is a simple temporary page set up on a host computer to indicate that a domain is registered to any viewer who might stumble across it until the owner has prepared an internet site to point the domain to.

E-Mail Hosting - It is also possible for a domain name to exist but not be connected to an actual IP address. This is often done so that a group or business can have an internet e-mail address without having to establish a real internet site. In these cases, some real host computer must handle the mail on behalf of the listed domain name.

Sell It - Who says you have to keep a domain name and use it yourself? Once you have registered a domain name, it is considered your property for the duration of the registration period, and you have the right to sell it to someone else as you do with any other property. Many people make money by purchasing domain names and reselling them to those who can put them to good use for higher prices. A well-known example is business.com, which was sold for 7 million dollars! Once you sell a domain name, you can use the Domain Manager to change the Registrant and contact information to the new owner.

Can I change my registration provider?

Yes. You do not have to keep your domain registered with the same provider you bought it from originally if you are dissatisfied with their service or prices. Each registrar is required by ICANN to have procedures available to transfer registration to another provider. Although implementation may vary with each registrar, generally the process involves a transfer request and confirmation e-mails from one or both registrars involved to the Administrative Contact of the domain to verify that the transfer request is legitimate. Transfer requests time out if not completed within seven days, and domains may be locked to prevent any transfers.

What if someone else registers a domain with my company’s name?

Domain registration for .com, .net, and .org domains is done on a first-come, first-serve basis, but there are certain limitations based on trademark law. Common words and phrases, such as tools.com or burgerandfries.com, cannot be trademarked. A business or person with the same name as yours, such as bobsautorepair.com, in a different location, state or country may register the name first in good faith and not be subject to any legal action. In this case you may make an offer to purchase the domain name from its owner if they are willing to sell it. If, however, you have a unique and/or well-known trademark and you believe the domain name matching that trademark has been registered in bad faith for malicious or unlawful purposes, then you may have legal recourse to take action against the domain owner. Follow the links below for more information about cybersquatting and domain name trademark law.

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/tac/domain/
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/property/domain/main.html
http://www.bitlaw.com/internet/domain.html
http://www.chillingeffects.org/domain/faq.cgi

© Copyright 2005 by Stacy Clifford
Stacy Clifford is the founder of ChiliPepperWeb.net and has spent four years assisting customers in understanding how their web services work.

Selling a .co.uk Domain Name via Sedo

This is a recent example of our experience selling a .co.uk domain name via Sedo. If you are new to domains or Sedo this will give you a guide on the process and the time scales involved.

Negotiations

This is the hardest part of selling a domain – how much to ask?
Ask too much and the buyer may lose interest. Ask too little and you may not get the best price possible for your domain.

You can use www.domainprices.co.uk to get an idea of recent .co.uk domain sales prices or ask to an appraisal on the www.acorndomains.co.uk appraisal forum.

Come up with a price that allows you some room to haggle but don’t get so greedy you scare off the bidder. This can be an anxious time, waiting for the domain prospect to come back with an offer.

Transaction Fees

Do not forget to allow for Sedo transaction fees and Nominet transfer fees during the negotiation stage.

We asked for the buyer to pay Sedo’s fees (10% of sale price) and the Nominet fees on top of the sale price, which they agreed to.

Agreement Reached

We started negotiations on our domain on the 21st June and reached agreement on the sale price and fees on the 1st July.

Sedo Transfer Process

Having agreed the sale price, Sedo sent the buyer an Invoice on the 1st July.

The invoice is in your name and is placed in the buyer’s user account.

Once the buyer has made payment (into Sedo’s Escrow account), Sedo ask the buyer to make a transfer request at thier registrar or if the buyer has an account at the domain’s current registrar, they ask you to move it to his account.

NB: Make sure the administrative email address for your domain is active and that you can receive emails from it or you will have trouble with the transfer process.

Once the transfer has been completed and the WHOIS information shows the buyer’s name, Sedo send you the money.

Tip: Add your bank details to your Sedo account if you want to avoid Paypal fees for receiving the money.

Nominet Transfer Forms

Sedo didn’t ask us apply to Nominet for the domain transfer forms. Their emails are worded towards .COM domain name transfers.

We knew we would need these so as soon as we agreed a price we emailed Nominet to request them and they arrived 2 days later.

This will save you time.

Sedo receive Payment

We chase Sedo on the 5th July as we had heard nothing. This prompted them to chase the buyer for payment. Sedo advised that the buyer said they were making a bank transfer of the funds that day.

We chased again on the 7th July with a response from Sedo that it would take a few more days. So much for electronic funds transfers!

Sedo confirmed receipt of the money on the 11th July

Finalising the Transfer

Sedo sent us the Buyer’s details for us contact them about sending the Nominet forms.

We already had the forms in hand so signed and sent them on the 12th July.

On the 18th July we chased Sedo for any news, they contacted the buyer to see if they had received the forms.

22nd July we noticed the Nominet WHOIS showing the buyers details.

(This is a little unsettling, your domain has been transferred but you have no funds).

Money Money Money

26th July we received an email from Sedo saying they had sent the money to our account. They also stated this can take up to 7 business days.

We received the money on the 29th July.

Start to finish, 38 days.

Helen Sherritt is owner and administrator of http://www.acorndomains.co.uk, the UK’s leading domain name forum and resource centre.

http://www.DomainPrices.co.uk shows recent .co.uk domain name sales prices.

Choosing a domain name is a very critical part of your
website marketing strategy.

By choosing a domain name that targets the specific keywords for
your website you’ll flood your website with laser targeted
traffic by enhancing click through response.

Pick a domain name that gives your prospects what they most
desperately desire. By including the keywords in your domain
name that are your customers desires, including them in your
marketing messages and your website content you can’t help but
flood traffic to your website!

Wondering what your customer’s desires are? If so, you’ll need
to determine what your really selling. Let’s look at an example
product here: home security alarm system.

Keep in mind few people know, nor do they care what the heck the
product looks like or the features of the product such as size,
color, weight, speed, or availability. The only thing they have
an interest in is the “results” your product will achieve
for them. It all boils down to what’s-in-it-for-me?

Why would a prospect purchase a home alarm system?
What’s-in-it-for-them? If you think for just a moment you’ll
come up with the right answer.

Yes, it’s to protect their jewelry or valuables while they are
at work or when the house is empty.

You must stop thinking of yourself or the features of your
product to determine what your customer’s deepest desires are.
By turning your product or service features into “benefits” or
“results” you’ll be able to hit their hot buttons and flood
traffic to your website in the process.

The easiest way to turn features into benefits is to list all
the features of your product or service on a piece of paper
first. (a feature is a characteristic of a thing: size, color,
weight, speed, availability) Then one by one turn each feature
into a benefit for your customer. What’s-in-it-for-me– save
money? youthfulness? friends? security? money? power? luxury?
prestige? thinner body? obedient pet?

The traffic driving potential of keyword targeted domain names
is awesome, provided that you research your target market and
satisfy their “true” needs, desires and benefits. Once
you have established this system for marketing, you’ll be able
to use your domain name to construct specific ad campaigns
targeted to specific markets even if your website offers
multiple products and services.

To take it a step further, you could formulate a domain name
that works like a headline for a classified ad. When you break a
headline down it should have several different parts. It should
fan the flames of desire with a hint of information about
solving a specific problem, satisfying a need, providing a
benefit, or invoking curiosity with a call to action. Your
domain name should contain as many of these “headline
characteristics” as possible. Try and phrase the keywords into
something relatively short, catchy and easy to remember.

Keep in mind “what’s-in-it-for-me?” as to “what your
really selling”. The job of your domain name is to act like
a headline to drive targeted traffic to your website by
“scratching the itch of your customers.” If you’ve found the
right words to scratch that itch, then ONLY YOU can put it to
use in your domain name. You’ll find that not only will you do
better on your search engine rankings you’ll also attract a lot
more attention with your pay per click ads or any type of
advertising you use.

Domain names are the first step in implementing your Internet
marketing business plan. Domain name represents your brand. Many
people know very well the importance of brand in the “offline”
but even those can make mistakes in their Internet brand
management. Domain name is the first step in successful Internet
brand management.

Choosing a domain name

It is not easy to register a good domain name (especially dot
com), these days. According to domain name statistics on the
most popular web site for whois searches Whois Source there are
more than 57 million active generic top level domains registered
as of September, 2005. Majority of these domain names are .com
names. You can view this statistics if you visit
http://www.whois.sc/internet-statistics/

It is sure that you can’t register a classy one-word domain name
but with a little knowledge and appropriate services you can
find a decent one, especially if you are not interested only in
.com names. Useful site for finding decent domains is above
mentioned Whois Source - http://www.whois.sc There you will find
a free service that will give you 20 domain suggestions based on
your keyword. Also, on the Internet you can find software that
focus on domain names. Using free software Domain Name Analyzer
you can make a list of domain names and this software will check
availability of all included domains so you won’t have to check
one-by-one which is time-consuming. Also this program will give
you useful suggestions.

Another useful thing in find decent domain names is using
expired domain name or back-ordering services. Using the first
service you will get the list of expired domain names where you
can find some really nice names with a little luck. However, it
is not easy because many people use those services and some
companies have special infrastructure that check availability of
certain domain names every second and register them. You will
have better chance to get your desired domain using
back-ordering services. These services will monitor for domains
you want to register and once they expire they will make
register them on your behalf. Popular services are SnapNames.com
and Pool.com.

It is recommended that your domain name be short, catchy,
brandable and most important - easy to remember! You can
register a domain name that has no obvious connections with your
business but that is cool. Then you will have to invest more
money in branding. With good domain name you will save thousand
and thousand dollars in advertising, especially in TV
advertising. If you are an email marketer domains are also very
important because getting email subscribers without well
designed web site is not recommended. It is recommended that the
name of your domain be the same like your email newsletter name.
You can make “teaser” articles in your email newsletter so that
your readers will have to visit your web site in order to read
complete articles and vice-versa. You can put “teaser” articles
on your web site and require that people subscribe to your email
newsletter to read complete articles.

Also, in order to find out popularity of certain keyword
combinations you can use keyword suggestion services. We can
recommend you these services:

Google AdWords Keyword Tool

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordSandbox

Keyword Suggestion Tool

http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/

You can use Google, enter your keyword combination and see how
much results you will get.

If you are in process of registering a domain name we can
suggest you these two great companies:

Go Daddy - http://www.godaddy.com

Namecheap - http://www.namecheap.com

Internet brand management

We will take our company Infacta, Ltd. as an example. Infacta is
Ireland-based company so it is logical that we registered
www.infacta.ie. However, although we are Ireland-based company
we focus globally. This can prove the fact that we have clients
in more than 130 countries world-wide. So, it is also logical
that we have a domain name in .com extension, too. Dot com
domain name is considered as a global domain name for companies.
Many people think that it is enough to have 2 domain names, but
not people at Infacta. For successful Internet brand management
it is not enough. Beside, .ie and .com domains, Infacta owns
domains in all major generic top level domain extensions (gtld)
like .net, .org and .info. This is to prevent people or
companies to use other Infacta name in other extensions that can
confuse our customers and make harm to our brand. Beside that,
we registered domain names for our award-winning products
GroupMail and GroupMetrics in different domain extensions and
for upcoming Messaging Times website, as well. Other famous
companies have literally hundred and even thousand domains in
their portfolio for each country where they have a presence and
for their services. That is called a professional brand
management.

There is also one more thing that can show how serious one
company is regarding their domain names and Internet presence,
in general. That is domain expiration date. Domain names expire.
After that (preferably before that) date domain owners have to
renew them. When you make whois inquiry about certain domain
name, for example at www.whois.sc , beside registrant info you
will see an expiration date. Imagine that you want to see an
expiration date of your email marketing software company and you
see that the expiration date is the next year or even this year.
This doesn’t sound promising if you want a reliable business
partner that will be in the business in the next 10 years, too,
that you can count on. It is not only important because of whois
searches and credibility, it is important because of search
engines. Google gives better placement for companies that have
domains registered for longer period. It is a sure indicator
that it is a stable business and that they won’t go anywhere.
Infacta domain name www.infacta.com expires in 2011.

There are some services that can help you in Internet brand
management, to monitor that someone else is not using your
trademarked names. One of those companies that offer brand
monitoring services is NameProtect, Inc. at
http://www.nameprotect.com Also, it is highly recommended that
before you register your domain name to visit
http://www.uspto.gov to check if your name that you want to
register has been trademarked to avoid possible problem and law
suits later. USPTO is official web site of the United States
Government for patents and trademarks. Here you can also
register your patent, trademark or service mark.

If your company’s name has a good, generic name and you want to
register a domain, it is most likely that the .com domain will
be taken. Sometimes, it is good choice to buy it from the actual
owner. Also, you can buy domain names that are highly connected
with your products and services and that will help you in
Internet marketing.

The most popular web sites for buying/selling domain names are:

Sedo - http://www.sedo.com

Great Domains - http://www.greatdomains.com

Afternic - http://www.afternic.com

Your choice of domain names is as wide and as fresh as your imagination or as near as your dog, your street, or your own name!

Here are some of the types of names being registered:

- Full names

- Family names

- Pet names

- Team or club names

- Names of books, poetry, music, movies, literature or art that people have created or plan to create

- Names that will be used for marketing a business in order to track advertising results. For example, a farmer named Joe can register an everyday domain name such as joefarmer.com. He can also register a special domain name, such as www.myfarmweb.com. When Joe buys print advertising, he can use “myfarmweb” as the contact web address in the ad and point this URL at his regular farm website. He can then track the number of “hits” to his website generated by that particular ad.

- Toll-free phone numbers (this is very popular in Asian countries, because Asian characters cannot be registered in the global data base)

- Names that protect a brand. People are registering the .com, .net, .org and .ca domain names for their companies, in order to stop cybersquatters from taking advantage of their success.

DON’T FORGET! DOMAIN NAMES ARE GOING FAST!

Register now before your preferred names are taken.

Shaun Cronrath is the President & CEO of DomainPurpose.com, a domain name registration company offering all the major domain extensions –.com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .name, .ca, .us, .cn, .eu, .de, .pro and more.

It is annoying to find that you have a great idea for a site but when you start searching for a domain name to match you find every possible combination has been registered. Don’t worry all is not lost there are still the expired domains to check.

Not everybody reregisters their domain names. For whatever reason, financial or otherwise good domain names come back onto the market. These are expired domains and you can get your hands on them.

The first stage of an expired domain goes through is the registrar hold. This is a period of up to 45 days where the registrar may pay the renewal fee for the domain in the hope that the expired domains owner registers the domain name again. The registrar may wait the full 45 days or decide to let the registry know sooner that the domain fee has not been paid. This means the name goes into the redemption period.

The expired domain is now in the redemption period which lasts for 30 days. The domain is now back in the hands of the registrar as the original owner has not paid the renewal fee. For the original owner of the expired domain to get their domain name back they are likely going to have to pay a hefty fee to the registrar.

The domain is now in pending delete which is the final status. This means that expired domain is back on the market. On the 6th day on pending delete the domain name is now available to everyone.

The expired domain is back on the market. Now is your chance to grab the domain you are after. I will talk about the best way to increase your chances of this in my next article at Name search domain.

Allan is the webmaster at NameSearchDomain.com where you canfind out all about Domain names.

Do you want to have a domain name? Or, do you wish to register for your domain name? Well, that is not too hard though. With the presence of the domain name registrars, your desire for domain names will be made possible. But what really are domain registrars?

In a most concrete identification, the domain name registrars are actually companies that register domain names for those who love to own a domain name. And for everybody to comprehend the real nature of domain name registrars and the nature of their work and their role in domain name registration, one must then learn about the ICANN or the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.

So speaking of the ICANN that plays a major part in the domain name registrars, it is necessary to know that it has two main responsibilities. One of those is to oversee the Domain Name System or DNS for the purpose of validating the division of the IP Addresses and domain names, verifying that each one is distinct. Such group then coordinates the distribution and mapping with each of the registry. Secondly, the ICANN is responsible of accrediting the domain name registrars.

Generally, the ICANN has particular criteria for the domain name registrars’ accreditation. It is commonly noted that once the domain name registrars are accredited, it is then a duty of the domain name registrars to sign a contract and agree to bear by the ICANN’s guidelines and procedures.

The next role of the domain name registrars that is involved in the process is the Registries. The domain name registrars then purchase domains from the Registries as the consumer requests them. It is interesting to know that the consumers may not register a domain name directly from the Registry, they must do so by the domain name registrars. The Registries just charge the domain name registrars for registration. And along with such responsibility, the domain name registrars as well update the domain name at the corresponding Registry whenever a contact or DNS change is created.

In case if there are requests for domain names, such groups then communicate with the respective Registry to make certain whether the requested domain name is available for purchase or already owned by another party. So it is understandable that if the requested domain name is available, the consumer is able to register the domain.

Such is the nature and the role of the domain name registrars in the world of domain names. So if you wish to own a domain name, then you know now where to request for it and where to find it.

The 12 Month Millionaire Will Show You Everything you did and didn’t want to know about making One Million Dollars by this time next year… revealed LIVE! Active hyperlink must remain w/article.

Every web site has a name, of course, like for instance, www.google.it and so on.
Its files are on a server that is a computer in some part of the world.
So when we write a domain name (www.google.it) in the address line of our browser, ( the URL line ) we can see the web site we were looking for.

But computers do not work with real names but with numbers only. So there must be a way to let them understand what we are writing in our browser.

DNS - Domain Name Service - is a system which translates a domain name into numbers.

The web site www.google.it is translated into 216.239.39.104. In fact if we write this numbers in the address line of our browser, we are redirected the web site google.it

This numbers are the IP - Internet Protocol - address.

Any computer connected to the Internet has a unique IP address, in the form of XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX, where XXX is an integer between 1 and 255. This number identifies the computer and the network to which it is connected.

There are a lot of computers all around the world acting as DNS servers, ( root name server )which have large databases of IP addresses corresponding to domain names.
The whole Internet is divided in zones with a DNS server.

This is how it works:

We want to go to www.symantec.com

1)Our computer asks our ISP ( Internet Service Provider - that is the company which provides us the Internet connection ) DNS server what is the number (IP) of this web site. If this server knows it, our computer will be connected with the computer where this site is.

2)If our ISP DNS server has not that information,it will ask other DNS servers until it finds the IP number which it is looking for. After that, our computer will be connected with the computer where this site is.

3)If it is not possible to find that address - wrong number or the web site does not exist - our browser will not be able to show us that web site.

DNS propagation: it is the process which inserts a website IP number into the DNS server around the world. It may take up to 72 hours. This is why a new website is not visible on the Internet before that period of time.

Renato Piccini - Florence - Italy
Computers Networks technician - http://www.softgrafic.com