Your domain identifies your business in the eyes of the people searching for the product or products you are selling on your website and in the eyes of the search engines. So, is choosing a domain important? The answer is yes. I hope to enlighten you to some important elements to creating and owning a domain name.

What Is A Domain Name

What is a Domain Name? Your website has a unique address called an IP address. The domain name–in essence, is the IP address with a naming convention. It is far easier for people to remember a name instead of a bunch of numbers.

Creating A Domain Name

Many people new to the Internet and to the Internet Business, do not realize the importance of a Domain Name, they just think they can put up any creative name and people will come. If you’re lucky, that may be true, but in truth, your creativity should incorporate the following tips:

When creating a domain name, you should keep in mind the following tips:

1. If it is possible, go with a “.com” extension. This is the most common, and easier for people to remember. In my case, no .com was available, so I opted for the .biz. Since I’m in a business of affiliate marketing — I felt it perfect for my needs.

2. The name itself — Do not use dashes or numbers in your domain name–it is hard for people to remember, unless it is central to the theme of your site.

3. Keep your name as compact as possible — the fewer words in the naming/description of your website will makes it easier for

Protecting Your Domain Name

Once you have your domain name, and your website is flourishing — you must protect your domain.

So how do you protect your domain? At the end of the year, the registrar will send you a notice that your domain name is about to expire. Inadvertantly, you may be thinking, that they just want your money, and they can darn well wait til the date it is due to get your money! Well, I wouldn’t do that. There is a very legitimate process called “drop catching”– that can easily destroy all your hard work in one instance.

Drop Catching

Drop catching is a legal process by which people can quickly grab domain names that have expired and use the link to create a website consisting of advertisements — or worse yet, resell them to make a profit off of your hard earned traffic. So, it is wise that you do not wait til the last minute to pay your registration. You do not want to log-in to your site, to find an error, or find out that suddenly you are no longer in business.

The rules of the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), gives domain registrars 45 days after the expiration date to notify the website owner that their domain name is going to be dropped from the registry. After the 45 days, you have a 30 day grace period, then your domain is up for grabs. However ..

Some domain services have created an auction process for expired names, such as GoDaddy.com, that begins the auctioning of domain names in as little of 30 days after the expiration date, to prospective buyers. However, GoDaddy.com does state to the prospective buyer in the auction process, that the original owners still have the option of reclaiming their name.

What’s in a name? If it’s a domain name, it can be your future online. So choose wisely, and protect what you worked, or have been working for — a business online.

V Scanlon

Author Bio

Vickie J Scanlon — Visit her site at: My Affiliate Place for a repository of tools, articles, ebooks, affiliate opportunities and information, software, webhost providers and computers for the Affiliate/Internet Marketing person online.

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Expired Domain name Companies

In this discussion I will be mainly concentrating on the .com TLD as this is the biggest and by far the most valuable extension available. As we speak the total number of registered .com?s has crossed the 70m mark and so you can imagine, finding a good quality generic domain name can be a slow and painful process.

All 3 and 4 letter combinations (that includes numbers) have gone and the majority of English dictionary words to. This is why you should consider the world of drop catching expired domain names.

I still believe that there is hope and if you are armed with the right knowledge and time you can still pick up expired domain names that in my opinion are grossly undervalued.

The allocation of .com domains are controlled by a body called ICCAN, (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) formed in 1998 as a not-for-profit organisation with contributing members from all over the world. The duty of organising the release of the domain names was handed to Verisign, a company that has become very rich on the back of it?s contract with ICANN.

The process of domain name registration changed dramatically with the introduction of drop catching companies that help you acquire expired domain names but more about that later.

Let?s look at the basic process involved with registering a domain name.

Registering a domain name

A person as the right to register a domain name for a time period ranging from 1 -10 years. If the domain name is not renewed by the required date it then ent

If the domain name is not re-registered in the allotted time it is made available to the general public and becomes one of the many expired domain names in a process now known as the drop.

Drop Companies

It is very unlikely that even if you knew when a expired domain was about to drop that you would get it by simply trying to register it. There are several companies that specialize in this field and can afford to implement sophistication drop catching software to help in the process, they even have contracts with registrars such as Network Solutions to allow first choice of all available expired domain names.

The most popular companies in the field are: Pool, Snapnames and eNom and I would advise you to set up an account with all three of them to ensure you have a better chance of getting the domain you desire. All the above companies allow you to backorder any and as many of the currently registered domain names and this service is totally free.

You will find that they can supply you with a list of pre-release and pending delete names and this can run into the thousands.

This is where the money is, consider this expired domain names list like a gold mine, all you have to do is dig out the nuggets and hope nobody else has spotted them. Of course you will find that you are not the only one to have spotted these little gems and so the domain is often placed into a closed auction and sold to the highest bidder.

These are closed auctions so you must do your homework and get your bid in before the drop or you will not get the chance to bid in the auction for that domain.

You should find that the price you pay in these auctions is significantly cheaper than dedicated auction sites such as Sedo and Afternic. The art of course is knowing the worth of expiring domain names before the auction starts and stick to your target. Many people get carried away in this situation and let the process become personal, this is a big mistake and only leads to over inflated prices. Set your budget and stick to it.

So remember, if you have your heart set on a particular domain name or want to get into the domain name acquisition business you must involve the big expired domain names drop catchers in your plan or you could be watching your dream name disappear for another 1-10 years. Trying to manually capture good quality domain names is near on impossible these days so be warned.

Also if you are interested in a particular expiring domain name it might pay to check which registrar the domain is with as they may have their own agreements with different companies in terms of expired domain names, drop catching, for instance, Network Solutions has an agreement with Snapnames for all its domains and Godaddy has setup its own drop service.

So make sure you check the registrar just in case it is not covered by the big three.

Good luck and happy hunting.

BeeLtd

Author Bio

For more information on SEO news and web design go to http://www.bee.eu

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Are you looking for ways to set up web sites more easily? Are you tired of slaving over a hot PC? Here are a few tips on how to set up a niche web site in a day:

1. Register A Domain Name.

Pick one that’s got the main keyword of the niche you’re trying to promote in it. This is great for getting search engine ‘love’.

Look for a reputable registrar, not just a cheap one.

2. Use A Popular, Inexpensive Web Host.

Here are a few filtering criteria:

a. Google PageRank of at least 5;

b. Send them an email or two. See how long it takes to get a reply;

c. They should have a forum (another indication of popularity and customer support);

d. Lots of features offered (MySQL databases, Cpanel, Fantastico);

e. Recent positive mentions in webmaster forums;

f. Offers Linux servers (Windows costs more, and offers less).

Cost per month can be as low as $10, and still have all the features above.

3. Install A Blogging Software.

WordPress can be installed in minutes from the Fantastico section of Cpanel. It allows an amateur to put their thoughts on the internet easily. You should get a search engine optimised theme for it; this will make Google index it properly. Such softwares are often free; you needn’t pay for them.

4. Put Keywords In The Text And Page Titles.

This is a simple way to get hits from search engines. Your pages should be obviously about the product you’re trying to promote. Avoid overdoing this; it should look and rea

5. Put At Least 500 words Of Paragraphed Text In.

If your web pages have the same header, footer, left side-bar, right side-bar, and only a small bit of text in the middle, you may suffer a duplicate content penalty.

You can get a freelance to write 500 mediocre words for $10, or 500 words of selling copy for a good deal more.

6. Selling Something Direct? Use A Simple Means Of Purchase.

An intermediary service like PayPal is perfectly good to start with. If you have just a few products, their HTML buttons are a good way to test the waters. When you make over $1000 a month, get your own merchant account.

7. Want To Be An Affiliate? Research First.

There are services which act as intermediaries between you and the companies whose products you’ll be promoting. Research them in webmaster forums and try them out. If they fiddle your payments, drop them immediately.

Long term, deal direct with companies. If you can offer them good leads rather than worthless clicks, they’ll be interested.

8. Get Some Backlinks.

Popular forums, directories and blogs are good places to drop links. Search engine bots will find them easily, and thus index your site quickly.

9. Niche site done. Now make another one!

T. O Donnell

Author Bio

T. O’ Donnell is a credit broker offering free WordPress themes and real estate software in London, UK.

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WHAT, exactly, is a domain name?

The Domain Name System was originally developed to help us navigate through the internet. Every computer connected to the internet has it’s own IP address, a string of numbers that identify it to other computers. Domain names are a way of pointing to a specific IP address to make things easier to remember – so now you shop at Amazon.com, instead of at 207.171.166.102!

The domain name is made of two parts, the name and the extension. The name is whatever you choose, it can be your personal name, your business name, a term or a saying. When choosing a domain, be careful to select something that is easy to remember and is representative of you or your business. There are numerous resources to help in choosing a great name, search Google.com for the term “choosing a domain name”.

The extension is the part that comes after the name, the most familiar extension is ‘.com’. There are many extensions, some available only to educational institutions (.edu) or to citizens of specific countries. The most common domain extensions registered now are .com, .net, .org, .info, and .biz. It is often recommended that when you choose a domain name, you register as many of the popular extensions as you can, to protect your brand.

WHY would I want a domain name?

The main reason that people register domain names is because they are building a website, but there are other reasons, too. The registration of domain names has become relatively inexpensive, and the variety of uses for them ha

Even if you don’t plan on having a website now, registering your domain name is a good idea – you never know what you may wish to do in the future, from starting a home business to wanting to post pictures of your grandchildren. As more domains are registered, it becomes more challenging to find the exact name you want. You can register a domain for from one to ten years, and registering now ensures it will be there for you when you’re ready!

WHO should I buy my domain name from?

Domain name registrars are plentiful on the internet, but make sure you register with an ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) Accredited Registrar, and register in your own name and email address. There are people who may act on your behalf to register a name for you (such as a webmaster), but be sure they register it in your name, not theirs. Even if you want to distance yourself from the everyday operations of your website and domain, you will still want to be the real owner of that name. Domain registration is very easy on the internet, using the registrar’s website interface to choose your name and place your order, even the least techno-savvy can get through it. Don’t be afraid!

Domain registrars offer a tool to check to see if the name you want is available, or if it is already owned by someone else. If a domain is available, you will be asked to purchase or register it. You may see the option to transfer a domain listed instead. If you register a domain name with one registrar, and later decide you’d like to move, or transfer, that domain to another registrar to receive different services, you have that option. But you must actually own that domain name in order to be able to transfer it. Many people have made the mistake of thinking that if they choose transfer, the domain will be taken away from it’s current owner and given to them – this is simply not possible, nor would you want it to happen to your own domain!

So then, Who owns the domain name I want? And how can I get it? are becoming questions that are heard more often. There is a tool called a WHOIS Lookup that can tell you who currently owns a domain name, and WHOIS tools can be found on the web – search for them on Google.com, and you’ll see. Buying a domain that is currently owned by someone else is no longer out of the question, either. Many domain owners are willing to sell their domains, and often list the domains for sale with various domain sale and auction services. There are also services that will accept a backorder for a domain. These services allow you to list your desired domain with them, and if that domain expires and becomes available, the service will try to register it for you. These systems work like a lottery – or more precisely, like a concert ticket system. When the tickets go on sale, everyone is trying to get the front row center seat, but only one can get it. Drop or backorder services do the same thing, all competing for the same domain name. If you choose to try for an expiring domain, research several of these services and register with as many as you can. Remember there is sometimes a fee above and beyond the registration price when you use one of these services.

HOW to keep your domain name in good health (or the care and feeding of a domain name).

First and foremost, now that you’ve got your domain name, be sure not to lose it! The most common way for people to lose a domain name is by not renewing it before it expires. When you register the domain name, you will be asked to provide an administrative email contact. All future correspondence relating to your domain name will be sent to that address, including expiration notices. If you change email addresses and do not update your address with your domain registrar, notices will never reach you. Likewise, you should always update any change of physical address or phone number with your domain registrar, just in case. Put your registrar on your list of places you would inform if you were to move, and you will avoid this common trap.

Another common way to run into trouble is by falling victim to a competing registrar’s advertising. Sometimes unscrupulous companies will send out email or physical letters informing you that your domain will expire soon, and asking you to renew it by transferring it into their domain system. These letters can be very persuasive, convincing domain owners that they must follow the instructions in the letter or they will lose the domain name. Often these cheaters charge a higher fee than your real registrar, and don’t offer a refund once you’ve paid them for a transfer, even if you don’t use it. The best way to avoid this scam is simply to know who your registrar is, and only respond to requests made by them. Keep a copy of your first registration letter in your files, so you can refer to it later if you have any doubts.

The Domain Name System has truly evolved since its inception, and now having a domain name has become a standard for individuals as well as businesses. Your domain name is your personality, your identity, your calling card in the internet world. Choose it wisely and take care of it, and you’ll spend many happy years together!

Debbi

Author Bio

Debbi works with web design and web hosting |domain name clients, and specializes in assisting the beginning website owner.

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You’ve paid for hosting, and after much deliberation, you’ve come up with the perfect domain name for your business, but then someone mentions expired domain names, and tells you that there’s a name similar to yours, and maybe you should grab it. But how does one register expired domain names?

A Brief Introduction to Domain Expiration

When a domain name expires, it is not immediately released. Instead, there is an initial 40-day grace period during which the owner can renew. Domain names renewed during this period do not cost the original owner any more than the original registration, but the services for the domain are discontinued. Visiting websites attached to expired domain names generally forces a redirect to the existing registrar’s homepage, but some registration services redirect traffic to a “for sale” page instead.

If the existing owner does not pay their renewal fee, the domain name is put into a “redemption period” status, which wipes the WhoIs information, but does not actually release the domain for resale. At this point, the existing owner must pay an extra fee to re-register their domain name. This fee varies from provider to provider, but is generally around $150.

In the third stage before a new registrant can buy, expired domain names are put into a “locked” status for about five days. This is the last period at which a domain can be easily restored to the original owner.

Early in the morning of day six (or day 7, if you are counting from the origi

Getting the Drop on the “Domain Drop Period

While some people have been successful in contacting existing owners and asking to buy expired domain names, so many registrars are masking customer information, and so many registrants are lax about maintaining accurate information in their WhoIs profiles, that the best solution is to backorder a domain from a commercial registration service, or go to a “domain snatching company.

On the surface, it seems simple: place backorder requests with registrars, wait seventy-five or so days, and then register expired domain names. The problem is, there’s a period of about three hours between the time that the domain names are deleted from VeriSign’s (the company that oversees these things) database and the time they’re actually made available to those who want to buy expired domain names, and while it’s possible that your backorder is the first one placed, it is equally possible that someone else’s backorder was submitted first.

To help you have a better chance to buy expired domain names, there are three major “domain snatching” companies, all of which work aggressively during the three-hour drop period.

SnapNames.com

Snapnames uses an auction-type interface with both private (higher minimums) and public auctions. It also has an expired domain search option and has exclusive partnership with Network Solutions. Though it does require credit card information even to search a name, but charges nothing unless your bid wins.

Enom.com

Enom offers pre-release bidding, but requires login. Minimum bid for premium names is $30, and bids increase by $5 until they exceed $100. The site also offers ?reverse auctions” which start at a specific dollar amount, which is reduced over the course of three days.

Pool.com

Pool.com offers keyword alerts as well as expired domain search options and is highly rated in Europe. The site lists about-to-expire names on their front page and markets aggressively to domain name resellers and registrars, as well the general public

While their interfaces are a little different, all three of these companies offer auctions which require the client to have credit card information on file, as well as the less active backorder option that most registrars offer. With backorders, you agree to pay a flat fee, generally $19.95 or so, to wait for a name to expire. You do not pay anything, however, unless your backorder is the first in line when the domain is released.

With the auctions, there is also no fee unless you “win” the expired domain, but you are actively bidding against others, some of whom are professional resellers, for the right to buy and register expired domain names.

While it is true that resellers make a tidy profit buying and selling expired domain names, the reality is that a single transaction can cost more than $350 (which admittedly, is nothing, compared to the $150,000 that “business.com” sold for in 2005, but still hefty for an individual) if the domain name is auctioned, and you may not get to choose the company with which to register expired domain names after purchase, as the terms of service for all of the big domain name snatching companies are affiliated with one ( or more ) registrar. These affiliations, in fact, are how they access lists of domain names about to expire.

For the average business owner, then, buying expired domain names is not necessarily the wisest choice.

Mercus peter

Author Bio

ADCnet.co.uk offers search engine optimisation services in the UK

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This guide will show you the steps you should go through before, during, and after your website project. This is by no means a complete account, as I will try to be as industry-nonspecific as possible. Using these steps in your planning process will help to ensure your success online!

Step 1 – Why

Before you do anything, you’d better know why you need to be online. Are you planning a full e-commerce endeavor or just an online advertising brochure? The answer to this will determine the entire scope of your project and should be considered carefully. If you decide now and change your mind later, you’ll have to begin the whole planning process again. Be informed and know what you plan to do.

Step 2 – Outline

Now that you know why you’re going online, you should begin a general outline and begin brainstorming ideas amongst your partners and affiliates. Set down a rough estimate of the number of pages the site will have, decide the basic style you’d like to achieve, and list every idea you have for the site (outlandish or ordinary).

Step 3 – Rough Draft

Take the list you created in Step 2 and refine it. Mark each item as being “necessary”, “valuable”, or as a “perk”. If you don’t know how an item qualifies, it’s not “necessary” and therefore is one of the other two. Only items that you MUST have for the site to exist should be listed as necessary. Items such as “logo”, “brochure content,” “co

Create three new lists, one for each category: necessary, valuable and perk. On a sticky note, write your proposed budget for this endeavor and paste it to the “necessary” list. Now you have the basics and are ready to begin contacting designers.

Step 4 – Begin Shopping

If you have a small budget, your list of necessary items is fairly small, and you do not see anything on your list which appears complicated or unusual for a website, then just about any good and reputable designer will suffice. In this case, you should shop by price and service instead of portfolio and pizzazz.

If, however, you have a large budget, a complex list of items to accomplish, and you need experience over price, then you’d be better off looking for a large firm of designers who specialize in your type of site or market.

In either case, you should ask up front (on the phone or in your first meeting) if they’ll supply a rough site map and/or set of mockup designs for your proposed site. Usually a designer is more than happy to excite you with nifty pictures of your site-to-be. You need this, as this will give you an idea of where the designer wants to go with your site. If it isn’t where you want to be, then you’d better get it clear now before you’ve written a single check for the designer’s service!

The sticky note with your budget figure is your guide to not going overboard. Know what you can afford and what you really need. It’s easy to go crazy with all of the nifty options and cool widgets, but ask yourself if they’re necessary. If they are a good addition or perk, make a note of it. You may use it later during the website’s long-term development.

Step 5 – Domain Names

Choosing a domain name is a very important step in getting yourself online. A domain name to your online presence is as important as a name for your business was when you first began. Careful consideration and a lot of thought should be given to your choice of domain. www.yourbusiness.com is a good start. Go to http://www.register.com or any other domain registration site that offers “whois” service (most of them do) and put in your desired domain name. Don’t register it yet if it’s available, just check. Many of these services also include a list of “suggested alternatives.” Look through them; sometimes something you hadn’t considered will pop up!

Start a list of domain names you think would be appropriate. Once you have six or eight of them, show them to your spouse, your friends, or anyone else who can give you a fresh perspective. Narrow the list down to two or three names. Mark them 1 (most wanted), 2 (next) and 3 (last). Go online and find a good registrar. You should not pay more than $15 per year for the registration of a com, net or org name. If a service charges more than this, go somewhere else. I recommend www.IsThisDomainTaken.com, but you can use whom you’d like.

Register your domain. I suggest a year to get started. If you’re still around this time next year, then go for a longer period. No use spending more than you have to right away!

Step 6 – Initial Designs

Unless your site is very simple and you were extremely prepared in the beginning (probably having done this before), you will have to have your site built in stages. Each stage should be thoroughly considered for every aspect of the site thus far. Check the navigability, the color scheme, the general look and feel, will it sell product or get customers interested, etc. Be sure to spend a lot of time with your designer to discuss these attributes and what you like and dislike. Print the pages of the site out (at least the main page for each section, if it’s large) and write and sketch on them to show changes to graphics, text, and whatever else. Write up a detailed list of changes you’d like to see made and present that to your designer. Your designer will not be resentful of this– don’t worry about stepping on toes. This only makes his or her job easier!

No matter how small, every site has at least three design stages: mockup, rough draft, and the final version. Each stage allows changes to be made (even the final one)! Don’t let a designer fool you into thinking that you only get to change a site so many times. Until you’re happy, the site isn’t done no matter what they say. On the flip side of the coin, however, don’t be nit-picky or wishy-washy. Know what you want and point it out the first time. Don’t change your mind halfway through and force the designer to scrap the whole thing. Likely, if the designer is smart, he or she will refund your deposit (minus a fee for time spent) and bid you farewell. Designers know that a wishy-washy client will never be happy and will do nothing but lose them money. As a professional, a designer has better things to do with his or her time than waste it on a never-happy client.

During this process, you should be considering the customer’s point of view while visiting your soon-to-be-launched website. Will your customer want to come back? Will they be disappointed? What will they be expecting when they first type in that URL or click on that link? Your site needs a “draw” or a reason for being. Interesting content, prizes or coupons, and other items are good “draws.” Content is best (a tutorial perhaps, or a continually changing tour of your factory?something) as it gives users a reason to show their friends, stay interested, and come back to double-check information they saw.

Step 7 – Begin Marketing

The marketing of your site should begin as soon as you have an idea when it will be complete. When a finish date is set in concrete, then your marketing should begin in earnest. Change all of your printed materials, business cards, letterhead, phone listings, etc. to include your new domain name (URL). Your company’s new presence (www.yourcompany.com) should be as important as having your phone number listed. Consider giveaways or other interest-grabbers (freebies are always popular) and use them as a tool to launch your site (see Step 6 above). Promise a lottery, prize, coupons, or anything else that can only be had by visiting the website and entering the contest/printing the coupon. Whatever this “getter” is, make sure it’s good enough that people will be interested. Once they’re on the site, they should have a reason to stay (see initial designs, Step 6).

Step 8 – Hosting

Now that your site is nearly complete, you’d better find a place to put it! Your choice in a web host is very important to the long-term success of your site. You need to make sure of several things before you hand out any money for this service: 1) is the host reliable? 2) will this host be around next year?the year after? 3) how much are they charging? 4) what are the limitations of their service (bandwidth, email accounts, etc.)? 5) will this host be flexible enough to keep up with the increasing demand of your site as it grows? 6) does the host offer several plans that can be easily upgraded to facilitate growth? 7) how quickly do they respond for customer service via email or the telephone?

All of these questions are very important. In the past, before I began hosting my own sites and customers, I would find a lot of competition and narrow it down to one provider using only questions 5-7. Finding a flexible host who also offers great customer service is difficult to find. Generally, if you send an email to your final prospects (after having narrowed the list using questions 1-4), the one who answers first is most likely your best bet. The one who takes longer than 24 hours to respond (including weekends!) should be removed from your list. At this point, you should have no more than one or two prospects. If you have more than one, the final question to ask is “who has the best facility, best hardware, and offers the best technical support?” Check their website or ask them via email what type of facility they are in, how many connections their server has to the outside world, and where the hosting company is located. If you are in the US and your prospective host is offshore, consider whether you want to take this risk. Remember: other countries have different laws and you may not be protected from data theft or other potential problems. As a rule, two outside connections for a server or rack is the bare minimum. The more the merrier here! What kind of machine would they be hosting you on? Check the library or another source of up-to-date magazines and find out what the newest technologies are. Chances are you can take the names of the hardware (RAQ 4 for instance) and guess that a RAQ 3 was the last generation of that machine. The newer the better! The technical support should be equivalent to the server and the facility: more is better!

Step 9 – Site Launch!

Now that your website is complete and you have a host and domain name, you’re ready to launch! If all of this happens earlier than your expected or announced date (which it should if all is well), then DO NOT launch your site before the announced time. If you do it too early, you might give the impression that you’re over-eager and desperate. Worse, people may believe that you pad all of your estimated dates too heavily and will have less trust in you. Keep in mind, though, that one day early is a far cry from a month early. A day will not hurt, a month could kill. Stick to your plan and don’t jump ahead of yourself. Use the extra time to keep hyping your new release. Use screenshots or video captures of the now-finished site to enhance the anticipation. When the time comes, fire away!

Step 10 – Maintenance

Once your site is open to the world, you will begin to deal with the day-to-day items of owning a website. Keeping your site up-to-date and well maintained requires time and effort. Eventually it will become a regular routine and only the details will be different each time. It may sound mundane, but if done right, you will never lose interest in your website. You may need to contract a professional (generally the developer who created your site to begin with) to do your technical updates for you. Or you may wish to keep these updates yourself and learn a little about how a website is built from the inside out. Most likely, you’ll hire a professional: and be smart to. Contracts can vary in scope and price. Find the one that fits your needs best and use it. Always take full advantage of what you’re being given in a contract. If it’s a by-the-hour list (say four hours per month), then utilize all of that time the developer is giving you. Have your marketing department (or whoever fills this role) create new and interesting things to update the site with. Include changing information, tutorials, new features, and other enhancements. Keep the site’s focus at the forefront of your ideas, but continue to update and change things. If you create a site and leave it the way it is, changing it yearly or less, your visitor count will begin to drop, as people get wise to your lack of attendance. You change your other marketing regularly to keep them fresh, right? Do that with your website too! The advantage here is that a website is generally cheaper than another form of mass-media advertising, so changes can take place a lot more often.

Step 11 – New Looks

In general, a website should be completely re-vamped to receive an entirely new look or design at least once a year. This helps to keep the content fresh and forces your users to take notice once more. Making an anniversary of it can be an added bonus with plenty of hype and circumstance to build it up feverishly. When a company moves into a new building, they usually make a big deal of the event. Why not with your website too? Several months before you wish to change, consult with your original designer or maintenance provider. Get a tentative quote on the time frame and cost of these changes.

Step 12 – Success!

By the time you’re ready for Step 11, you should have an idea of how successful your site has become and projections of how successful it will be if it keeps to its current path. Like most businesses, a website should start out small and become larger and larger as time passes. It should also become more and more popular. After the first year, begin to make more long-term goals and at minimum a yearly prospectus for your site. Goals reaching out as far as three years are not outlandish, but make sure they’re flexible enough (and are reviewed for relevancy enough) that they can be altered to meet new challenges or changing viewpoint. Your yearly prospectus should match your first year’s goals in scope. If your goal is to have a certain number of visitors per week six months from now, then your prospectus should show how this is going to happen (and whether, realistically, it really can happen). Above all, keep your focus! Know where you want to be, why you want to be there, and how it’s going to happen. Your website and your business should share common threads throughout–including their goals. Keep on track and you’ll have nothing but success!

david lechner

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How to Start a Website: The Basic Guide
Professional Web Hosting Reviews

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Copyright 2008 by Willie Crawford

While we all dream of building that website that will be a home run, and make us rich, here’s an easier way to establish a dependable income stream.

It’s a lot easier to set up a simple website that generates just $10 – $20 profit per day. Imagine if you had 100 of these. That would be $1000 – $2000 per day. That would be $365,000 – $730,000 per year. Now that $10 to $20 per site, per day, doesn’t sound so small does it.

This is sort-of like own a vending machine route. The route owner realizes that no one of his machines is likely to make him wealthy. However, week after week, the cumulative sales from a route of… say 100 machines… provides a very nice living for him and his family. I do know people who own vending machine routes, and they do earn above average incomes.

Getting back to setting up these website “vending machines.” It doesn’t have to be very complicated. In fact most of us make things so complicated in our minds that we never even get started.

Let me give you a plan for setting up one site a day over the next month. We need to get you to commit to yourself that you won’t make excuses. We need to get you to commit to yourself that you won’t look for reasons why it “might not work.” Instead, you need to decided that it can work, and then just do it.

Here is your fast and easy plan for the next 30 days:

1) Identify 30 profitable niches, or topics, that you can build a simpl

2) Locate 30 products that you can market from these websites. Ideally, these will be digital products that you earn a very high commission on. To make that even easier, let me GIVE you 30 products that you can (with just a little reworking) market as your own new and unique products.

Go here, and grab at least 30 private label rights products, with totally unrestricted private label rights: http://TheRealSecrets.com/Free-Private-Label-Rights.html

You’ll be able to sell these products as is, just by putting your name on them, but I recommend spending an hour or two: – Renaming each one – Creating, or having created a new graphic for each one – Doing minor edits to each one

3) Register 30 keyword-rich domain names at your favorite registrar. You can register all 30 at one time, or do one at a time.

4) Get a very inexpensive hosting account with lots of disk space and lots of bandwidth. HostGator at: http://TheRealSecrets.com/CheapestHosting/

will give you unlimited domains on one account for only $7.95 per month. If you put 30 domains on the account that first month, that’s only 26 cents per site in hosting fees. As you add more accounts later, the per-site fees drop to practically nothing

5) Set up your homepage on each domain and use that to promote your product. My personal technique is to make the homepage a WordPress blog where I periodically post articles, reviews or comments pertaining to the topic. You also want to post a review of your product. In the menu bar you want to post a prominent link for ordering your product.

If you do make your homepage a blog, you also want to set up another direct sales pages, on the same domain, whose only purpose is to sell the product.

Each time that you post to your WordPress blog it will “ping” the search engines, notifying them that you’ve updated your site, and the search engine spiders will come and re-index your entire site.

On a semi-regular schedule you want to post to your blog. Those posts can just be a new article, or really… anything pertaining to your topic.

6) To “plug in” additional traffic you want to write short (400 – 1000 word) articles on your topic, or product reviews, and submit those to article directories. In the resource boxes of those articles, link back to your homepage. People reading those articles will click through to your site, and the search engine will also follow those links back to your site.

This is a very simple formula that DOES work. I use it regularly. Please don’t over-complicate things.

You basically need a product that solves a pressing problem, and you need to make it easy for those who want it to find and purchase it. I’ve just told you how to do that, and I’ve told you how to do it for practically nothing.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is simply to decide to make today the day that you start taking responsibility for your own success. It’s to DECIDE that today is the day that you drop all excuses.

The easiest starting point really is to grab the free PLR products that are in step-2. That will point you in the direction of some proven profitable niches. Get those now: http://TheRealSecrets.com/Free-Private-Label-Rights.html

To me this plan is simple and do-able. However, I also realize that you may want to go at it more slowly. If that’s the case, it’s ok to put out just a few vending machines this week… but do get started. It’s far too easy to put it off, and then drift back into that world of excuses and talking negative to yourself.

You’re not going to allow that to happen – are you?

Get started now.

In case you’re wondering how the $10 – $20 per day comes into the equation, that’s an average figure per site, which actually means that most of your sites will not even need to average a sale every day. You’ll only need to average a sale ever 3 – 4 days with many of your sites. That’s even easier, isn’t it?

Willie Crawford is an internationally-acclaimed speaker, author, seminar and radio show host, and leading Internet marketing expert. When not out fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, Willie can be found sharing his 11 1/2 years of online marketing experience with members of The Internet Marketing Inner Circle. Join them at: http://TheInternetMarketingInnerCircle.com

Willie Crawford

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In a bid to bring in efficiencies of information technology in the property registration process, the Delhi government introduced e-stamping for the registration of immovable properties in Delhi. It means that you no longer have to run from pillar to post to buy stamp papers from a notary. Certainly…a bad news if at all someone like Abdul Kareem Telgi still operates in the market.

The system will allow Delhi real estate owners to register their properties electronically. The payments towards property registration will be done by the owner and a unique identity number will be issued against the payment. Once this identity number is generated electronically the title holder has to produce this ID number before the local sub-registrar. This way the process becomes paper less and would be helpful in preventing fraudulent property registrations. The Delhi government has set up 21 counters all across the city. Those who aspire to register their property can simply drop in and get the identity number without any hassles.

The government has assured that the process is full proof and there are no chances of goof-ups. In fact, the system will speed up the property registration process in Delhi. “Apart from the speed and convenience, e-stamping also eliminates dependency on property lawyers and notaries who take their pie in property transactions,” says Arunima Chakraborty, a senior citizen staying in Ramesh Nagar.

Commendably, the Delhi government is also considering to pass ‘Property Titling Law’ to prevent fraudulent property registra

For more details on Delhi Real Estate, log on to magicbricks.com

George Gonigal

Author Bio

George Gonigal provides you the best and latest information on Delhi Builders, If you want to Delhi Real Estate Agents, he suggests you log on to magicbricks.com

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These days, when you open a business, you need a website — even if all your customers live next door. So does this mean you have to hire a web designer and start cranking out a handful of pages?

Maybe. But these days you can put together an Internet presence in just a few hours…maybe just a few minutes. Why would you want a fast and cheap solution? Here are some common reasons:

– You’re testing a market. You want to be sure someone will bite on your hook.

– You’ve got a big presentation and your site isn’t ready…and you’re smart enough to know an “under construction” site will cost you some credibility.

– You need a place to begin signing up subscribers before you create your product or invite clients to use your services.

The secret: You can get profile pages on Facebook, LinkedIn, and/or the “ezinearticles” site. You can also check out squidoo and ning opportunities. Your page will include your photo or logo, info about your business and a directory of all your ezine articles. You need three ingredients to make this option work effectively as a client attraction base.

First: You won’t want to send visitors to a site named after your profile’s sponsor. Instead, you choose a domain name that represents you. Your domain registrar (where you buy your domain name) should allow you to forward your “good” domain name to your profile page. If your registrar does not offer a quick and easy way to forward your domain n

If you choose your domain name wisely you can keep this page even if you decide to go ahead with a full-blown website later. Some marketers refer folks they meet at live networking events to their profile pages. It seems more personal.

Just one caution: You don’t pay for these sites, so you are Subject to their policies. These sites can decide you’re one of the bad guys. It hasn’t happened to me, but some very responsible, respectable members have been restricted or suspended based on a glitch in the system or a false report.

Second: You need a freebie for visitors so they will be motivated to sign up for an ezine or e-course. So you will need a system to create a database of prospects and send them information via autoresponders.

Third: You need strong copy to send a clear message to your visitors. Explain briefly what you offer and why you are the best resource to solve specific problems.

Cathy Goodwin

Author Bio

And now I invite you to find out more by visiting
http://www.makewebsiteprofits.com . Download my free report,
7 secrets of websites that really attract clients. From Cathy Goodwin, Your Website Marketing Coach.
http://www.copy-cat-copywriting.com

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By: helen
As the Internet grows and expands there always seems to be new ventures and ideas cropping up; this is especially true when it comes to aspects that revolve around the purchasing of domains and the building of new websites. So what does the world of domains and the Internet have to offer us now?

With the growth and expansion of the Internet domain reselling has came to the forefront and has been helped by many website design companies who offer the service of domain reselling. It is thanks to these website design companies that domain reselling has expanded and many of these domain reseller companies are now stand alone Internet businesses, but just what is this domain reseller business all about?

The companies who become the domain resellers provide registration of available domain names for their clients and often also engage in the process of acquiring expired domains from a drop registrar for later resale; so selling domain names as a reseller for an established registrar is a great solution for webmasters registering many domains, and a great money making opportunity for anyone on the Web.

Becoming a domain reseller holds great business potential. Whether youâ??re a web designer, developer or search marketing service, or youâ??re looking to establish your own domain management service, you could benefit from the help of an established provider. Many domain name registrars will offer reseller programs to any individual or business who wishes to sign up. If accepted, they can then register domains at lower prices through their parent ICANN accredited registrar and can then resell them to customers.

Whether you are hoping to become a domain reseller business or you are an individual or business who are wishing to make the most from using a domain reseller you will be giving yourself the added advantage of being able to use a range of tools which are available thanks to domain reseller programmes such as unlimited domain hosting and includes a range of added services such as search engine optimisation, load balancing and exchange email.

The basic idea of a domain reseller is to drum up more business for a registrar as the initial registrar will still take care of all the services such as registration and customer support; however the buyer pays the reseller and may even access the domain name control panel at the reseller’s site, the domain name is actually registered with the reseller’s parent registrar.

If you are looking to do business with a domain reseller company then you need to ensure that the domain reseller is trusted and the best way of ensuring this is finding out if the domain reseller is ICANN accredited. You should also do your research into your chosen domain reseller by finding out about their prices to see if they are competitive, provide exceptional customer service and have a state-of-the art IT infrastructure.

So for the latest when it comes to gaining a domain find out more about domain reselling and what it can do for you.

Helen is the web master of Discount Domains, who can provide you with all of your Domain Reseller needs.


helen

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