The Perfect Baby Gift, A Domain Name

From the reception I received when broaching this subject with my friends, most of you will think I'm foolish on reading the title of this article. Domain names as baby gifts? Whoever heard of such a crazy thing! It may sound particularly ridiculous to those of you lucky enough to be of my generation. What generation is that, you might ask? Well, an old one: I beat the first Boomers to their cribs by several months.

Later Boomers, and those of Generation X and Y don't laugh as loudly at the idea of domain names as baby gifts, but maybe they are simply respecting my advanced years. Gen Z, also known as the millennials, think it's a great idea, but as of this date the oldest millennial hasn't yet had his tenth birthday; they can't act on it.

Ok, if you're over your first guffaws, let's take another look at the idea of domain names as baby gifts. Think about it: what is silly about an inexpensive, one-of-a-kind gift for newborns that they will use throughout their lives?

Everybody gives clothing. The baby outgrows it as fast as you buy it. Besides, who is the clothing really for, the baby or the parents? How many people do you know that display their bronzed baby shoes? Give that child a domain name with the personal email that accompanies it as a baby gift, and the older they get the more valuable this gift will become. You think I'm crazy? Well, JohnSmith dot-com cost some lucky guy less than ten bucks and now it's estimated worth is $5,000! I'll bet our John Smith won't get anywhere near that much for his bronzed shoes.

But money is beside the point. We all know most domains will not appreciate 500-fold. What we can count on is their continued usefulness; since email has all but replaced snail-mail, a child's email address is probably more important than their street address.

So what, you say! The kid can get an email address for free later. You're right. How does:JohnSmith234567atgoogle dot-com sound? Who among his friends and acquaintances over the years is going to remember that? JohnSmith dot-com,however will always get his mail. Which brings us to another issue.

The easily remembered domains are disappearing fast. People buy them by the tens of millions a year. JohnSmith dot-com>, for example was purchased by someone other than John Smith hoping to sell it to John for lots more later. But that still leaves JohnSmith dot-In and JohnSmith dot-Ws. Dot-In stands for India and Dot-Ws for Samoa. Both perfectly viable, legitimate domains under the direction of IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) which is an instrumentality of ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), originally developed under the direction of the United States Congress.

If you are still laughing at the idea of domains as baby gifts, I won't take it personally. Buy all the clothes and fuzzy animals you want; a domain name is something you will be remembered for long after those clothes and cute stuffies are sold again at garage sale.

In the Social Media Age, You Still Need Your Domain Name   Why Domain Age Matters   

How To Register A Domain Name In Five Simple Steps

A well chosen domain name is the mark of a professional website. Anyone can register a domain name and it only takes a few minutes. This article aims to inform the reader of just how to register a domain name. The major steps in registering a domain name consist of choosing one, finding a domain registrar, registering the domain and finally pointing it to the appropriate name servers of a website.

The first step to registering a domain name is actually choosing one. A domain should fall into one of two major categories. It should either be keyword-centric of brand-centric. As far as the specifics of domain names go, they must start with a letter and they can be composed of numbers, letters or a combination of the two. Domain names may also have dashes.

Keyword-centric domains will be focused more on a certain keyword for search engine optimization purposes. Typically smaller websites use these types of domains. When choosing this type of domain to register, often times the exact match domain will be taken. If this happens, feel free to use dashes between words or a permutation of the previously taken keyword.

Brand-centric domain names will focus on making and selling a brand. Sometimes the keyword that the website owner wishes to focus on will be located in the domain name.

It is important to remember to avoid choosing trademarked or copyrighted phrases. The proper holders of each term can later file legal action and force the domain name to be given to them by a court if they are found to contain such a term.

The second step is to find a domain name registrar. There are several hundred companies that can offer the service of registering a domain name. Some companies are also cheaper than others.

The third step is to pick a domain extension and check to see if your chosen domain is available. If it isn't, then another domain name will have to be chosen. The only exception to this is if the current owner of an already-owned domain feels like selling the rights to another person. Generally this involves a fair amount of cash compared to what it would cost to simply register a new domain name.

If one domain name is taken, try looking for the same name with a different domain extension. The recommended choices are ".com", ".org", ".biz" and ".net" for most business websites. Just about any top -level domain is available so long as the owner will let it be used. The only major top-level domains reserved for certain websites are ".gov" and ".edu" domains. The former is reserved for government websites and the latter for places of education like universities and schools.

The one word of advice towards top-level domains for a new domain is to stay away from ".info" domains. These top-level domains may be much less costly than other domains, but that also makes them a target to be used by spammers. The last thing that a website owner would want is for their website to be grouped with spammers solely based on the top-level domain.

The fourth step is to actually register the available domain in question with the registrar. The registrar will generally have to be paid money to complete this action and should be paid for the number of years the registering party intends to keep the domain name. This also requires that the purchaser either put in valid personal information or arrange a private registration using the registrar. Either way, valid information is required in case a domain name dispute arises.

The last step in how to register a domain name is pointing the domain to a web host's nameservers. This is done in order to resolve a name to an IP address and further an actual website. If the registering party of a domain does not have a website host, most registrars offer that service for a nominal monthly fee.

Copyright (c) 2012 2MakeaWebsite.com

In the Social Media Age, You Still Need Your Domain Name   Why Domain Age Matters   

How To Register A Website Under 20 Minutes

Anyone can own, run and maintain a website. There is no special equipment nor training needed. Any person with the small amount of funds required to register a website and to obtain website hosting can become a website owner.

The following is a simple, step-by-step guide on how to get a website up and running so that content be published to it.

1. Brainstorm a domain name that will accurately describe the content of the website in question.

Websites need a domain name that accurately reflects the intent and information of the website that they represent. Think of them as a brand name that readers can recognize at a glance. A proper domain name will accurately describe the content on a website. When a domain name does so, it should also help out with search engine optimization that most webmasters seek out in the later stages of their website's life.

There are two categories of domain names, and each is self-explanatory.

Brand domains specify purpose that is either company-specific or product-specific. They are also good choices for building an authority website.

Keyword-centric domains are the other type of website domains. These are mostly for informative websites that need the extra boost in search engines brought about by having their main keyword in the domain name.

2. Check if the domain name is available.

The next step is to see whether or not the domain name is available. Most domain registrars will allow this to be done free of charge. Some will even allow it to be done whilst checking all top-level domains and report a list of which domains are available for purchase.

If it turns out the first domain is taken, then go return to the previous step. Sometimes it can take multiple attempts to finally find an unregistered domain name that will work.

The only other alternative that is present when it comes to taken domain names is to try and purchase the usage of the domain from its current owner. Typically this is an expensive process and very few website owners will be willing to part with their domain name unless a very hefty fee is paid.

3. Register the domain name.

Once an available domain has been found, the next step is to register it. Registering a domain is a simple process and requires only that a top-level domain be chosen. The industry recommendation for website names says that they should typically be either ".com", ".net", ".org", or ".biz". With that being said, there are other options such as catchy domains that end with country-specific top-level domains such as ".me" and ".is".

The only recommended top-level domain to stay clear of is ".info". These domain names are usually cheap, which makes it understandable why first time domain buyers who are figuring out how to register a website purchase it. The problem with these domains is that they are cheap and the requirements for registration are relatively lax. This makes them a prime candidate for spammers. This means that a newly registered website may suffer from being recognized as spam purely from its chosen top-level domain.

Once a top-level domain has been settled on, a modest fee must be paid to the registrar for them to register it. This fee is dependent upon what type of top-level domain has been chosen, how long the registration is set for, and the amount of extra services chosen like a private registration.

4. Pointing the newly registered domain to a host.

Before a domain name will properly pull up a website's pages, the domain name records must be pointed to the host's name servers. This allows the domain to resolve to the correct website and serve the correct content.

This step does require that there already be a website host in question. If there is no such thing, most domain registrars will offer website hosting for an additional nominal fee.

Copyright (c) 2012 2MakeaWebsite.com

In the Social Media Age, You Still Need Your Domain Name   Why Domain Age Matters   

Cool And Tricky Domain Names - Not As Valuable Internet Real Estate These Days

Five or ten years ago there was a domain name that I really wanted, I probably would've paid in excess of 10 to $20,000 for it, today I was e-mailed about that domain, it was for sale for the low price of $299. I had noticed that it had come due previously, but chose not to buy it because I didn't need it, it wasn't getting any traffic before, and I already had a similar name which was generating more than enough traffic, ranks well the search engines, and therefore I simply didn't need it anymore. Indeed, more and more people are discovering this. Let's go ahead and talk about it.

It used to be that people would register cool and tricky domain, realizing they were valuable Internet real estate, and knowing that they could sell them at a later date and make a huge profit. Although I had never bought domain names for that purpose, I had secured several great names back in 1995, and I had used them for various purposes. Eventually as my business endeavors changed, there were some which I no longer needed. I can remember selling one for a huge amount of money, and I thought about it later, and it almost seemed like a gift out of the blue, when someone offered to buy it.

They wanted it more than I did, and they had the money, and therefore I sold it. Indeed, I still have some very good URLs that are getting a tremendous amount of traffic, names which would be considered incredible Internet real estate. I haven't bothered to offer them for sale because the market does not seem to be interested in paying a lot of money for such things. There also seems to be an economic cycle that goes along with this.

After the dotcom crash of 2000, many of these domain names became next to worthless, and folks were not even paying to renew them because they knew there was little if any chance they could sell them. I can remember people offering me domain names for only $100, quite decent names. Long about 2004, the prices started to rebound slightly, and by 2006 and 2007 names were actually worth something again. Then the financial crash of 2008 came, and these domain names have been reduced in value ever sense.

Further, many new startup companies are picking obscure names or nonexistent names when it comes time to pick a brand and a name for their new company. Cyber squatters for domain names can't possibly come up with endless "created words" to register and hope someone will buy them. And all the cool, tricky, and common names don't seem to be worth much anymore. Please consider all this and think on it.

In the Social Media Age, You Still Need Your Domain Name   Why Domain Age Matters   

Reasons To Purchase Domain Names And How To Do It

Being easily identifiable is important, whether it's for business or personal reasons. Over the internet, business entities are recognized and known by their domain names. Domain names are identification strings that represent administrative authority or control online and are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System or DNS.

The purpose of a domain name is mainly to be used for naming and addressing specific applications or used in various networking contexts. Generally, however, a domain name represents an internet protocol resource like a personal computer used to access the internet or a server hosting a website for example. They are organized in subordinate levels, with the first level being the top-level domains or TLDs like .com, .info, .net and.org.

Next in line would be the second and third-level domains that are reserved for those who want to connect to local area networks, create publicly accessible internet resources or run websites on their own. So now that we know what domain names are, why does one need to purchase them and how can we benefit from it? For one, domain names make it easier for browsers to find, access and view websites by simply typing the URL into the search bar. Without a domain name, you may have to type in the websites IP address instead, which is a series of numbers that can be difficult to remember.

Another good reason to purchase a domain name is to improve visibility, as well as help with your marketing efforts. In line with this, you will need to choose a domain name is short, sweet and easy to remember so that customers and search engines can easily find you online. The perfect domain name also gives you credibility and authority online and makes you come off as legitimate and professional and therefore one company customers will want to do business with.

The third reason to purchase domain names is to protect your identity and to establish brand protection. It also prevents your competitors from registering your identity and using it for less than ideal purposes. Before actually purchasing your domain name, run it by a reputable domain name checker online to make sure the domain name you want is available and register it with an accredited domain name registrar to make your purchase official.

It is also recommended that you shop around for your best options since this isn't exactly something that comes cheap. Domain name registration can cost anywhere from $8.00 to $35.00. Once you've decided on the domain names you want to purchase, make sure that you are able to locate and communicate with the owners to save time. You also need to check if the contact details are listed on the site and if they aren't, you can use the "who is" directory to look them up.

Once you have contacted the owner, ask if the domain name is for sale but don't make an offer. If you are a first time entrepreneur, you can contact the owner directly but if you've gained some semblance of success, it is advisable not to contact them directly since the price will be based on your status. If you can afford it, you can hire a small law or PR firm to negotiate in your behalf.

Remember, a good domain name can bring in more traffic and make it easier for the search engines to find and rank you. Domain names are a solid investment so make it work and invest in the best location you can afford.

In the Social Media Age, You Still Need Your Domain Name   Why Domain Age Matters   

How To Pick The Perfect Domain Name For Your Business

Picking the perfect domain name for your site or business is the first step towards having a successful website. This can be a tough challenge because two major things your domain should have is that it must be easy to access and also easy to remember. In this article you will find some tips to help you pick the best domain name possible for your site. Consider what the purpose of your site is, whether is for business or personal pick a name close to your company or targeted niche. Keep in mind all the uses your domain will have before you make the purchase.

Some people purchase domain names only for the purpose to be advertise to a single group or very specific niche. While others prefer to make it easy for the visitor to remember the website's name, which is also important. What ever your purpose is it is always recommended to try to find a domain name that does both jobs. If you can serve both purposes you will be one step closer to a successful site. Having this types of domains are great because they can be promoted with any form of online advertising.

If you are thinking Search Engine Optimization or SEO then pay attention because is a little different. First create a list of keywords that are associated with your domain name and fits your site accordingly. Then see if the domain chosen is suitable for this sort of task on the search engines like Google, Yahoo & Bing. If you can make your domain name short and to the point you will have better results. Especially because it will be easy to remember and higher ranked, these days keyword targeted domains names are not as effective for SEO as they used to be.

Keep in mind that your domain name will also be part of the body of the email address you will use. Therefore it is important for the domain name to not be too long. Once you choose the domain name or website, try to purchase the other extensions in case you might need them later. Not only. COM but also the other versions like. NET or. ORG or.WS for more uses. Just make sure to have several uses with the same domain, but with different extensions.

Following all these simple tips will help you decide what the best domain name for your website or business could be. Not only that but it will also determined what visitors you will be targeting on the internet. Always remember your goal or the service your site will provide before you purchased the domain name. If you are trying to build an e-commerce site and build a brand your domain will play a major role in the success of your business.

In the Social Media Age, You Still Need Your Domain Name   Why Domain Age Matters