Domain names are relatively straightforward! Or at least that’s the theory!!

The domain name is also, but technically not quiet correct, known as the website address.

Using an ISP’s domain name can look amateurish in an e-mail addresses, it is much more so with websites, giving the impression of hanging on another’s coat tails. The only exception being when a firm wants to re-inforce a local or professional affiliation by appearing as part of an existing site dedicated to a region or association. Even in such cases autonomy and continuity are better assured by having one’s own domain and merely using a page on the third party’s site to point users toward it.

Domains are classified according to their endings or “suffixes”. As a commercial organisation a company will almost certainly want a domain ending in .com or .co.uk. Other endings such as .biz and .ltd.uk are at least to date, insufficiently familiar to users, meaning the name can be too readily misremembered. Of the two desirable suffixes, .com is preferable for business with international activities, and arguably gives the impression of a bigger organisation, whilst .co.uk helps reassure users on the largely American-dominated web that they are indeed dealing with a UK firm.

The part of the domain name before the suffix will usually by the firms trading name, provided of course that the domain name has not already been registered, (which is increasingly likely these days). If the name is very long an abbreviation may be considered. Domain names are not case sensitive.

The actual registration of a domain name is a straightforward process that can be done online, either through your ISP or better still through a dedicated registration service company such as Discount Domains Ltd (http://www.discountdomainsuk.com). Renewal fees must be paid, typically every two years.

Checking if a domain name is freely available is very straightforward as most domain registration services provide a WHOIS service, as the name suggest, this checks the ownership details of a domain, note however that such services normally run 48 hours behind actual registrations.

Moving ISP’s can save money, however it may take time and incur extra charges. Pricing in the domain name registration industry have fallen considerably over recent years and a domain name typically now costs from $15 for two years registration.

Once your domain name is registered, you can either leave the domain name “parked” awaiting future use, or point it at a website, this is usually achieved by changing the Domain Name Server, or DNS settings on the domain to point at hosting company where your website is located. Almost all registration services offer a free user control panel to change these settings.

Web hosting is the provision of space on a web server to publish a web site. There are numerous hosting companies in the market, and most domain registration services also offer a hosting solution. Prices vary but $100 per annum should be sufficient for most business needs.

(C) Clare Lawrence 11th May 2004

About The Author

Clare Lawrence is CEO of Discount Domains Ltd - A leading UK provider of Domain name registration and Web Hosting services. Please feel free to re-publish this article provided this reference box remains together with a hyperlink to http://www.discountdomainsuk.com Clare can also be contacted on clare@discountdomainsuk.com.

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“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” - Lao Tzu

When starting an online presence, the first and most important step you will have to take is to register your own domain name. In the online world, your domain name serves two purposes - name and address. Your domain name can serve as your site name. It will also direct your visitors to the contents of your site or someone else’s. Hence, it is very important that you choose one properly.

If you are planning to launch a personal web site or one for your business, choosing a domain name like yourname.com or yourbusiness.com would be the logical step. However, there will be instances when the domain of your choice isn’t available and you will have to pick another one. In doing so, please take note of the simple guidelines below.

If you already have a theme for your site, it would help if the domain name contains words that are related to the site’s content. This makes it easier for you to market your site. Potential visitors will know what they’re getting into when clicking a link to your site.

You may also choose domain names that are short and easy to remember. A domain that is short and can be told in a few syllables will be easy to remember. It also helps if the name has a twist or if it sounds rather funny. Good examples of short domain names include one-word internet giants like Google, Amazon and Ebay.

You may also choose simple, ordinary words like business, computers or laptops. Although a number of these domains have already been registered, be on the lookout as they could easily bring in instant traffic for any site. This will be very useful if you are going to use any of those PPC programs for parked pages or even selling the domain name in the future. As an example, business.com was sold a few years ago for millions of dollars!

Remember that these days getting your own domain name no longer costs an arm and a leg. Gone are the days when companies would charge you 30 dollars or more. You now have a choice of sites that can register your domain names for less than ten dollars and still provide you with lots of free stuff. Some companies are even offering domain names at peanut prices if coupled by other purchases like web hosting. Of course, this is great news for anyone considering building a web site or purchasing a domain name as an investment.

Darwin Catalan is an entrepreneur and the founder of BlueRegistrar. Learn more about domain names, web hosting and other site management tools.

http://www.blueregistrar.com

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For those of you with Web sites, you probably know what a “host” is. It’s a company that provides a location, or address, on the Internet where your Web site resides.

In other words, just like a physical business needs an address, so does a Web site. You can’t have a Web site and just “stick it up” on the Web. Unless you want to set up your own server, you have to go through a hosting company who gives you that address, including server space and bandwidth, that enables the search engines and visitors to find your site.

Let’s look at some common problems we often have with hosting companies:

• You can never find an actual person to talk to! They may have a 24-hour customer service line open, but you can never get through to a real person.

• Hosting companies often think that the “lowest price” will always get the sale, but they fail to realize that what people really want is excellent customer service, servers that are up almost 100% of the time, and a variety of services that come with the hosting package.

• Many hosting companies don’t provide any other functionality other than Web site hosting. They don’t provide a “control panel” full of goodies such as PGP secure e-mail, shopping carts, log analysis, database creation, etc.

• Guess what? Technical support people often don’t make the best “customer support” people. They may be technical gurus, but their main interest lies in their high tech servers and other functionality, rather than solving the simple problems of their customers.

In other words, weak customer service is a major problem with the majority of hosting companies these days. Solution:

I recently had the pleasure of being introduced to Combustion Hosting Company, and to say I was impressed is a vast understatement.

Here are some things that struck me as unbelievable. When the phone rings, whoever answers the phone is required to stand up to answer it and talk. After all, the sheer act of standing up requires that they’re alert and are listening to your problems and concerns. And, you actually speak to a “real” person!

With Combustion, if you have a problem, they don’t just “tell” you how to solve it, they solve it for you! Also, their services certainly aren’t limited to “hosting.” They can set you up with an account to where you can access the Internet through local access numbers no matter where you travel.

Their prices are extremely reasonable — much better than I had been paying previously. Plus, the “extras” I’ve received by going with Combustion are amazing.

But the one thing that makes Combustion shine over most Web hosting companies is their devotion to providing good customer service, and this is an area in which they truly excel.

So, if you’re in the market for a new Web site, or if you aren’t pleased with your current host, consider Combustion Hosting. It will be one of the smartest moves you could ever make for your Web site. http://www.combustionhosting.com/moreinfo

If you want further proof as to the benefits of using Combustion, read: this article.

About The Author

Robin Nobles is the Co-Director of Training of Search Engine Workshops with John Alexander. They teach 2-day beginner, 3-day advanced, and 5-day all-inclusive “hands on” search engine marketing workshops in locations across the globe. She also teaches online search engine marketing courses through http://www.onlinewebtraining.com, and she’s a member of Wordtracker’s official question support team. With partner John Alexander, she’s co-authored a series of e-books called, “The Totally Non-Technical Guides to Having a Successful Web Site.” And, they opened a networking community for search engine marketers called The World Resource Center for Search Engine Marketers.

robin@searchengineworkshops.com

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