Effective Advertising and Info Management

Message to ICANN: Let those who want to create a tld, simply register it with ICANN.

If the tld is not already taken, if they have the technical capability to mange the tld, and they have the desire to market domain names on that tld, then let them do so.

It should be similar to the registering of a domain name, except on a higher level, with the added technical requirements. ICANN should be sort of an uber-registry for tlds.

It would be ludicrous for a domain name restrar like go daddy or enom to ask you for a business plan, or a non-refundable application fee, before allowing you to register a domain name. It would be ridiculous for a registrar to have “rounds” of domain name releases of names “they chose” in advance.

Okay, this month, go daddy will be allocating cheaperwebhosting.com, doggrommingmadeeasy.net, and virtualinternetwebnetwork.net. We will be taking applications and public comment during the month of february. We will then spend another month reviewing the applicants business plans to decide who we will allocate the domain name to. If you are not approved to manage the domain name you apply for, your application fee will be held by go daddy until further notice.

Some people will say that is not a good analogy, but it is a perfect analogy. Here is why. If info.com was still available and I registered it. I could then start selling subdomains like car.info.com, computer.info.com, icann.info.com or any other subdomain someone wished to purchase from me. The subdomain is one dot removed from the domain name the same as the domain name is one dot removed from the tld.

There is no longer any reason to believe ICANN is doing anything other than restricting free enterprise and free trade by not opening up the market for tlds. It is no longer acceptable that ICANN should be the one to decide which tlds will or will not be created nor is it acceptable that ICANN gets to choose who can or cannot run a tld.

Do you present a businesss plan to the city you live in before they allow you a business license? No.

Does the city ask you to prove you are financially stable before issuing you a business license? No, as long as you pay the registration fee.

If you apply for a business license to open a clothing store, does the city ask how you will run your clothing store or if you have the necessary expertise to run a clothing store? No.

Does the city think you will hurt them economically if your clothing store goes out of business? No, it’s none of their business.

Is the city concerned that there may not enough demand for yet another clothing store? No, again none of their business.

ICANN not allowing me, or anyone else in the world, to create a tld of our choice in any language we choose, is a blatant violation of our rights. In many countries, America among them, the right to free enterprise still exists. ICANN is denying me that right as an American citizen and doing so when even their own organization exists under American law.

There are no needs for auctions or rounds or anything else. If you want to run a tld, then you register it and start selling domain names. If you fail, you fail, just as in any other business venture you take on.

Artificially restricting namespace to make a few business IP interests happy has to stop.

Chris McElroy has been an advocate for the rights of domain name owners and individuals who use the Internet since 1995 and is currently advocating that ICANN open up the TLD market. His website at www.newsandmediablog.com has more information about politics, ICANN, domain names, and consumer rights.

What is a Domain Name?

Imagine that everybody in the world used their telephone number instead of their name… If names didn’t exist, you’d be forced to invent them, or you’d never be able to identify your closest friends, let alone casual acquaintances you’d met only a couple of times!

Domain names were invented to fill a similar need on the Internet. Most computers connected to the Internet are identified by a unique number called an IP address (for instance, 234.208.12.129). IP addresses are neither intuitive (they don’t correspond to a geographical location) nor easy to remember.

If you type the IP address into the URL bar of your browser you will be taken to the web site it relates to. As well as being hard to remember, however, IP addresses are also FIXED (i.e. if you change web hosting companies you’ll need to get a new IP address for your site).

Domain names offer a more intuitive way to name and find a website. Each domain name replaces a string of meaningless numbers (an IP address) with a simple word or expression. That’s the theory - in practice, domain names can be pretty obscure too.
A domain name is the label used to identify the Web site, for example “http://www.qualitylinkbuilding.com” It usually describes some aspect of the site and is easier for the visitors to remember than the Web address, also known as the IP address.

.com is the top domain under which the other domain name is registered. There are heaps of different top domains out there, from commercial (.com) through to non-profit (.org) and even country-specific top domains such as France (.fr) and Italy (.it). Every domain name is registered under a top domain of some kind. The top domain is often known as the domain extension.
History of domain

When top-level domains were first implemented, in January 1985, there were six:

.com
.edu
.gov
.net
.org
.mil

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) currently classifies top-level domains into three types:

country code top-level domains (ccTLD): Used by a country or a dependent territory. It is two letters long, for example jp for Japan.

generic top-level domain (gTLD): Used (at least in theory) by a particular class of organizations (for example, com for commercial organizations). It is three or more letters long. Most gTLDs are available for use worldwide, but for historical reasons gov and mil are restricted to the government and military, respectively, of the USA.

infrastructure top-level domain: The top-level domain arpa is the only one.

A full list of currently existing TLDs can be found at the list of Internet top-level domains.

Domain Name System

When the Internet was being collaboratively developed by a substantially technical community around a growing but still manageable Internet Engineering Task Force, the Domain Name System (DNS) evolved as a hierarchical solution to the problem of keeping track of which computers had which Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.

The Internet however, is based on IP addresses. Domain Name System (or Service or Server), an Internet service that translates domain names into IP addresses. Because domain names are alphabetic, they’re easier to remember.

How does the Domain Name system work?

Every time you use a domain name, therefore, a DNS service must translate the name into the corresponding IP address. For example, the domain name http://www.qualitylinkbuilding.com, http://www.seo-professional-india.com , http://www.selldomaindomain.com might translate to 198.105.232.4

The DNS system is, in fact, its own network. If one DNS server doesn’t know how to translate a particular domain name, it asks another one, and so on, until the correct IP address is returned.

Without DNS, we’d all have to memorize long numbers instead of URLs or E-mail addresses. What a mess that would be!
Guidelines for the registering a domain names

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Ihe ICANN coordinates the assignment of Internet Domain Names, IP address numbers, protocol parameter and port numbers and identifiers that must be globally unique for the Internet to function. Domain name guidelines:

1. The main part of the name (’yahoo’) can only contain the letters a-z, the digits 0-9, and a dash (-).

2. The dash can’t be at the beginning or end of a name.

3. Underscore (_) and other special characters are not allowed.

4. The name may not exceed 63 characters, excluding the characters used to identify the Top Level Domain (such as, .com, .biz, .info, .net, .org).

5. Upper and lower-case characters are equivalent: YAHOO.COM is the same as yahoo.com.

6. The end of the name (e.g. ‘.com’) is called the TLD (Top Level Domain). Conventions for TLD’s are discussed below.

What does it mean to “register” a domain name?

When you register a domain name, you are inserting an entry into a directory of all the domain names and their corresponding computers on the Internet.

Domain Name Registrar?

Registrars are companies that compete with each other and enter new or renew domains into a TLD Registry(s).
1. Domain Name Registrars can set their own registration and renewal fees.

2. All Registrars are required to collect the same information.

3. The differences between Registrars are basically: price and service.

Some answers for Frequently Asked Questions

How do I register a domain name?

Domain names ending with .aero, .biz, .com, .coop, .info, .museum, .name, .net, .org, or .pro can be registered through many different companies (known as “registrars”) that compete with one another.

The registrar you choose will ask you to provide various contact and technical information that makes up the registration. The registrar will then keep records of the contact information and submit the technical information to a central directory known as the “registry.” This registry provides other computers on the Internet the information necessary to send you e-mail or to find your web site. You will also be required to enter a registration contract with the registrar, which sets forth the terms under which your registration is accepted and will be maintained.
Domain Names aren’t free. But, if you are a serious about your business, a Domain Name is the best investment you can make. To register your Domain Name:

1. Determine what Top Level Domain (TLD) you are qualified to use: gTLD, rTLD or ccTLD.

2. Click on the TLDs Registry and select a Certified Registrar.

3. Conduct a WHOIS Search and determine if your domain name is availabe.

Fill out their form.

Double check your domain name spelling and extension.
Click process link.

Will my name and contact information be publicly available?
Information about who is responsible for domain names is publicly available to allow rapid resolution of technical problems and to permit enforcement of consumer protection, trademark, and other laws. The registrar will make this information available to the public on a “Whois” site. It is however possible to register a domain in the name of a third party, as long as they agree to accept responsibility — ask your registrar for further details.

How long does a registration last? Can it be renewed?
Each registrar has the flexibility to offer initial and renewal registrations in one-year increments, with a total registration period limit of ten years.

How much does a domain-name registration name cost?

Each registrar sets the price it charges for registering names, and prices vary significantly among different registrars. In addition, some registrars offer discounted or free registration services in connection with other offerings, such as web hosting.

Can I change registrars after registering a domain name?
Yes, you may change the registrar sponsoring your domain name (60 days after intial registration.) For details on the transfer process, contact the registrar you would like to assume sponsorship of the registration.

Regards,

Mirza Mohd Ali Baig
Seo Professional India
http://www.qualitylinkbuilding.com
http://www.selldomaindomain.com
Email: contactseo@gmail.com
Phone: 00919391136471

I have a Masters in Engineering and Changed my profession as an IT Professional. I have More than 3 years of Experience as a SEO Professional. If you are interested then ask for Quote for Seo Campaigns. My Website http://www.qualitylinkbuilding.com

Many people believe that selecting their domain name for their web site is a routine tasks and not very important. This is a big mistake as there are a number of very costly things that can and will go wrong if you are not aware of the important factors you need to take into account.

Answers to these important questions need to be found and fully understood before you can proceed with registering your domain name in confidence.

This important activity is often seen as routine technical / administrative tasks and insufficient attention is given to it. This is particularly the so with newbies who have little experience of the wider issues of internet marketing and the more technical side of the internet.

Register Your Site’s Name

The site (domain) name you choose should meet as many of the following criteria as you can manage:

* Short as possible

* Avoid hyphens

* Contain keywords that describe your niche

* Preferably choose the dot com extension

Don’t do this — www.worlds-best-deals-on-ladies-golf-clubs.biz

A much better choice is would be — www.affordableladiesgolfclubs.com

Not only is the second example easier to remember, the major search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN will generally give higher rankings to these sites. This means that your site has a greater chance of been found when someone is doing a search for one of your keywords.

There are many companies that specialize in registering domain names. I recommend that you use one of the well known services such as GoDaddy to register your domain name. The annual fee for this is usually less than $10. Before you can register your domain name you need check that the name is still available. Most sites provide easy search facilities to do this for you.

You need to be aware that your registration is for a fixed period (usually a year) and needs to be renewed before it expires. Failure to do this will enable someone else to register your name.

Tip #1:

I suggest that you register your domains for periods of at least two years, as this indicates to the search engines that you are committed long-term and not just out to make a quick buck.

Tip #2:

Also, if you have a number of domains, arrange for them to all expire at the same time. This makes them easy to manage and less likely to expire by mistake.

The first thing you need to do is get some help in the form of step by step instructions and coaching videos designed specifically for newbies.

You have been thinking of starting your own website. You have done some preliminary research and you are ready to go, all you need to do now is pick your domain name. Pretty simple, right? Well, it is not as simple as most people think, including myself. I thought it would be the easiest part of starting my website but you really need to put some thought into it.

You need a website name that is memorable. You can do all the work on the website you want but if people don’t remember your name it will be hard to get them to come back. You also need a name that is somewhat relevant to the content of your site. Here is where you begin to run into some roadblocks however. With the amount of websites being created (it is estimated there will be 500 million sites created by the end of the decade) the availability of the real popular names is limited. Now you need to consider multiple word names and this is where it becomes even more tricky.

To make things a bit easier to understand I will use my own domain name as an example, because I learned the hard way. With any website you need to concern yourself with SEO (search engine optimization). This is basically a formula of what the search engines use to look up websites when someone punches in a keyword. The sites that play this game right will find themselves on the first couple of pages for their given keyword. When I first chose my domain name I went with www.bestinternetbargains.com. Not a bad name, so I thought. Pretty straightforward on what I would be focusing my site on, right? When I picked the name I knew nothing of SEO. I thought you created a site and BAM, it appeared on Google in the number one spot.

A major part of SEO is links to other sites. The actual wording you use in the link that appears on other sites is called the “anchor text”. This is one of the major things searches engines use in ranking the pages. In most cases you get to determine what your anchor text will be. But, if you write articles like this one, and you put your website in the signature and people post your articles that counts as a link with anchor text. So, in my case I have had many people publish my articles, which is great, but the anchor text appeared as bestinternetbargains. Not many people are doing searches in Google or any of the search engines for that word. This was hurting my SEO. I was the only site found for that search word so that was great, but I was the only one doing that search. Recently I changed my name to www.best-internet-bargains.com. Same name but the dashes make all the difference. It separates all the words. Now if someone publishes one of my articles my anchor text would be those three different words. With the combination of articles being published and any links I exchange with other sites I can now make my anchor text internet bargains and increase my chances of appearing high in the rankings for those search words.

As you can see, something as simple as some dashes in the name can make a huge difference. If you are lucky enough to find a one word domain to be available that is related to your site content then you do not need to worry about the dashes obviously. As I mentioned before, this is unlikely to happen. If you have read my other articles about starting your own website you will see that I have mentioned SEOelite (http://hop.clickbank.net/?sbianchi/bryxen1). This is the tool I used to help me with the anchor text breakdown. It does many important things in addition to breaking down your anchor text such as, allowing you to examine your competition’s website so you know what you need to beat to take the top ranking for your keyword search.

For example, let’s say I am the number one site for the keywords internet bargains. If my anchor text uses these words 90% of the time then you will know you need to be at 91# to take the top spot for those keywords. It will allow you to breakdown the sites your competition is linked to, which is important in the SEO formula as well. This tool was the best $167 I have spent on my website. I highly recommend it if you want your site to be ranked highly.

Building a website is probably the easiest part of having a site. You need to pick the right domain name, created the right content (which SEOelite will also teach you how to do), write effective meta tags, and find quality linking partners. Now that you have read this, and hopefully found it useful, get to picking that domain name. I hope to see your site on the internet soon.

Scott Bianchi operates http://www.best-internet-bargains.com He writes on a variety of topics. If you would like to be added to his distribution list for his new articles when they are published just send an email to articles@bestinternetbargains.com.

There are numerous free tools online that help you research and find good keyword domain names to register for your online business. Or simply to buy and resell domain names for profits. I am certain you already use a few of these from time to time.

Here then is my Top Ten list of the best free domain tools in no particular order.

1. http://www.whois-search.com Gives you a list of the best domain names pending delete. Also shows you which drop catchers are successfully catching which names daily.

2 http://www.whois.sc Helps you find active, inactive, and available domain names. A personal favorite of mine.

3. http://www.wehavethem.com Find lists of expiring names ordered by popularity, ranks, etc.

4. http://www.Startname.com A huge directory of domain-related tools, services, resources and guides. Bookmark this.

5. http://www.cheaphostingdirectory.com/expireddomainswithtraffic.ht ml Gives a list of expiring names with traffic, popularity links and Alexa rankings.

6. http://www.networksolutions.com/en_US/whois/index.jhtml You can make a whois search on any domain on the web. Also gives a list of similiar names that are still available to be registered.

7. http://www.register-domainnames.com/expired_domain_names.html Enter a keyword to find relevant valuable domain names and which ones are taken, when they expire and also which ones are available.

8. http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/ Gives you the number of searches made for a given keyword based on Overture and WordTracker.

9. http://www.webmasterbrain.com/domain-name-misspelling-typo-genera tor–tool2.htm Domain name misspelling and typo generator.

10. http://www.domainsurfer.com A domain search engine that shows you all the registered domains with your keywords.

Hope you like the list and find it useful. All these tools are worth bookmarking.

What about YOUR domain name? Is it VALUABLE or crap?

If you’d like me to evaluate your domain name for free, just send me a note. I will take a look and I will give you my honest appraisal. Nothing to pay. Absolutely no obligation.

I recently spent a year endeavouring to earn some extra cash by dealing in domain names. This is an idea that was touted as a good business to be in.
The heyday of the sale of domain name was in fact before the burst of the dotcom bubble in 2000. The “dotcom” has always been the domain to hold for prestige and worth. The most valuable to be sold pre-bubble was business.com exchanging hands for a mere $7.5 million!

As the market has been picking up again recently, perhaps it was time to jump in. However, i found it quite difficult to trade, being a novice in the business with no practical experience.

There are quite a few things to learn about, such as how to acquire tradeable domain names. Also the rights,legalities and registering, which must be for one year minimum. Although you don’t actually own the name, you do feel just a little important to see your name in the “whois” register! This gives all current information for all domain names.

A good source of information, support, and even a possible sale, can be found at domain name forums such as dnforum.com.

Here you can make yourself known and advertise. The drawback is that others will be seeking bargain deals, so they can trade on. A more reliable approach is to “park” your names with a company such as Sedo. Here, without a fee, each name is given its own webpage together with adverts, from which you earn a little money. The most lucrative, but not at all easy is to sell the name directly to a suitable business. This could be a new-start or one requiring a web presence and so a good name.

If you do not know the person to whom you are selling a name, it is wise to use an escrow service. It will hold the money involved until the transaction has been completed.