Internet Domain Names

We will finish our discussion today by looking at internet domain names and the five qualities of a good name. Some may think that choosing any domain name for their sites can do.

The truth thought is that choosing a good internet domain names should have the same careful thought just in the same way we are careful when it comes to deciding the names we assign to other products or services in our line of business.

Remember once you register your domain, you will have to stick with it until the bitter end or else risk the unknown. The risk of starting all over again. Relax, there is an easier way!

Below is a list of 5 qualities to consider when choosing any internet domain names.

1.) It’s easy to pronounce and understand. Your potential visitors should easily be able to spell, understand and remember your domain name.

Consider your target market niche because these are the visitors who are going to drive your traffic. Be careful with the Top level domains you choose. To most people, they indicate the area of interest or activity of your website.

For example, .edu is for websites related to education and .gov for government agencies, .com for businesses,.net for news media and so on.

When choosing your domain name, you will typically want to register a dot com because it is the easiest to remember. It is also a good idea to register the other extensions to protect your web site.

2.) It should be search engine friendly. Consider your niche keywords and see if you can register your domain name by using the best key word that defines your niche. Search engines tend to locate and rank websites more easily when the domain name is keyword related.

Hey don’t give up if you can’t register your domain name using your niche keywords. There are thousands of successful website on the net with domain names that are not related to their business niche at all.

Think about it: What does Monster.com have to do with looking for a job online? What does Google or eBay have to do with online search and online auctions?

In summary, Just keep it simple and short and be creative but also keeping in mind your potential customers and search engines in mind.

3.) It’s unique. Your domain name should be descriptive and reflective of what your site or your ecommerce business is about.

Learn how to check if your internet domain names are available here

It’s highly recommended you use .com if you are starting an ecommerce website. The simple fact is that when people think of sites, they always type in .com. Yes, like it or not, the majority of us still think the internet as a .com world.

4.) Its meaningful and not vague. Choose a name that can elicit a positive image from your target traffic and can also identifies with the service or product you are dealing with.

If your name is totally meaningless you will end up spending a considerable amount of time and resources trying to market and gain public exposure.

5.) It’s easy to live and grow with. When choosing your internet domain names, don’t limit your usability and applicability of the name to the short term, choose a name that will give you room to expand and still work several years to come.

For example domain name like “best 2008 Birthday Party” can only work for the year 2008 and not beyond, don’t be surprised if nobody visits your site in the year 2008 and beyond.

Domain Name Guidelines « Previous   |  Next » Domain Names Guide

Domain Name Guidelines

Like most stuff we do, domain name guidelines have been put to place to help harmonize, regulate and provide a smooth process for domain name registration.

Investing in a quality generic domain name is one of the most effective, smart and long term marketing strategy your can start to implement from the onset of your internet business.

Unless Of course you want your website to be relegated to the bottomless pit of the web by the search engine databases and directories. Unfortunately if that happens you might be forced to (end up) spending a few hundred to thousands of dollars trying to get out.

Now we don’t want that to happen, do we?

The primary purpose of building a website is to be able to grab the attention of your targeted visitors, solve their need and convert them to repeat visitors… right?

The good news is that you have all the powers and capability at your hand to choose a good domain name. A name that can work well for you and your business. From the start. Picking a good name may seem like a pretty basic thing.

But wait until you get started. It becomes another work.

Naturally, if you own a business – it seems quite logical that you should use your business name as your domain. Well that would be a terrible mistake to do unless of course your business name happens to be an house hold name.

Before choosing your domain name, you should familiarize your self with some of the guidelines that have been put in place to harmonize the whole process.

Domain name Guidelines

1. Domain names must be at least two characters long but no more than 63 characters(not counting the top level domain)
2. You can use any combination of letters, numbers, or hyphens, but you are not allowed to use a hyphen as the first or last character
3. Domains are not case-sensitive; there is no differentiation between upper and lower cases letters
4. A domain registrar has the flexibility to offer initial and renewal registrations in one-year increments, with a total registration period limit of ten years
5. You can retain ownership of a domain if you already have an offline business registered in that name by being awarded a trademark holder over others through arbitration or litigation

Besides the above domain name guideline, Let us now look at the traits of a good name.

Top Level Domain Names « Previous   |  Next » Internet Domain Names

Top Level Domain Names

We will now look at top level domain names and the type of domain names extensions.

All domain names have a suffix that indicates to us the type of domain name extension in that is in use on that particular domain: One misconception that most people have is the tendency to associate any given domain name to a dot com.

As you will see shortly,

There exists other type of domain name extension. Those extensions are free to be put to use by any one who chooses to do so. We will also see that the extension tends to convey an underlying meaning.

Top Level Domain names.

There are three categories of top level domains:

  1.) Generic top level domain extension [gTLDs]

In theory Generic top level domain extension were meant to be used by a particular group or class of organization. However with passage of time no one really control over who uses which extensions and for what purpose.

• .com for commercial business
• .org for Organizations or nonprofit
• .mil for Military
• .edu for Educational institutions
• .gov for Government agencies
• .net for Media services

Bear in mind that the list above is not an all exclusive list of all the domain names extensions. There are way many more others.

  2.) Country top level domain extensions [ccTLDs].

A Country code extensions is a two-letter extension that is standardized by the International Standards Organization as ISO 3166.

Below are examples of Some country code extension:

• ca: Canada
• de: Germany
• jp: Japan
• in: India
• uk: United Kingdom

Other counties also have their own extensions. Note also that, rules for registering ccTLDs differ from one country to another.

Some countries only allow their residents and organizations based within their territories to register such names while other countries are open to all nationalities across the board and also regardless of residence.

  3. ) [iTLDs] Infrastructure top level domain.

These are special type of top level domain extension that has limited use. You can read more about the type of domain name extensions and top level domain names here

What are Domain Names « Previous   |  Next » Domain Name Guideline

What are Domain Names?

Let us now look at the next question, what are domain names?

On the previous page, we started tackling the question by discussing how computers identify and communicate with each other using IP addresses that are numerical in nature.

Today, let’s us tackle the question from a human point of view.

Instead of using IP addresses, most internet users use domain names to easily find and communicate with web sites and other server-based services.

In other words, domain names are more friendly to most of us because they are not only easier to say but are also easier to memorize as compared to numbers.

The reason we register a domain name to use instead of IP addresses is that they are closer to our language and therefore easier to identify and remember.

• Simple activity.

Which is easier to speak out or memorize?

1. Go to 64.233.167.99
2. Or Go to www.google.com

Okay go ahead speak it out…

Now, look at it again and then try to give the above IP address or the domain name to your friend. Which of the above two did you prefer over the other? 64.233.167.99 or www.google.com?

What are Domain Names?

Before we go further, let us briefly look at an URL.

URL is an abbreviation that stands for uniform resource locator and it is the same throughout the world. Here is a simple example.

URL= http:www.nikenya.com/Nikenya-Site-Map.html

The above URL consist of:

• http: Which is the Protocol
• www: Which is the host computer name
• Nikenya: Is the domain name
• .com: Is the domain type
• / Is the path
• Nikenya-Site-Map.html: Is the file name

It is also important to note here that the url is actually a set of four numbers that are separated by periods.

Finally, let us bring it all together:

Computers communicate to each other using an IP address that is numeric in nature.

To make it easier for ourselves, human beings use domain names that are more descriptive and easy to remember when referring to a given IP address.

The DNS — Internet Domain Name System then translates the alphanumerical (domain names) address to numeric(IP address)

You can read more about what are domain names here

Next. Let us now look at the type of domain names.

What is a Domain Name « Previous   |  Next » Top Level Domain Names

What is a Domain Name?

Let us start this guide by looking at the simple question; what is a domain name?
The question may seem quite simple and obvious to the web savvy.

But to the majority of us,

Well…that might be another Greek term.

A domain name is an IP address on the internet which helps people to find websites. I just mentioned an IP address, right!…so then the next logical question should be; what is an IP address?

An IP address is an abbreviation that stands for internet protocol. In other words it is a unique string of numbers usually shown in groups separated by periods.

Here is an example of an IP address – 64.233.167.99.

Computers connected on the internet communicate with each other using an IP address. Whenever a given computer wants to send data to another computer, it uses the IP address to locate and find the other computer.

• Simple activity to help us answer the questions – What is a Domain Name?

For a moment just imagine you are a computer. Now imagine you need to communicate with another computer with an IP address 64.233.167.99

Go ahead copy and paste or type the following number into your browser:

64.233.167.99

What page came up? Were you surprised?

Well that is IP address assigned to them. That is exactly how computer identify and communicate with each other. (We will talk about the DNS–Domain name system) later.

Finally,

Just imagine trying to remember an IP address like “Go to 64.233.167.99 or 216.109.112.135 to search the internet” If you are like most of us, then remembering such numerical numbers soon becomes a difficult task to do.

It also sound really weird or creepy to tell your friend to go to 64.233.167.99 to check out a particular great story or deal. Mmm….just don’t sound right. What do you think – go check out 64.233.167.99!

So far we have seen that computers use an IP address to identify other computers as a distinct alphabetical address. Well that is how creepy computers work. How about us?

• What do humans do?

That brings us to part two of our question above; what is a domain name.

Click on the link after next, to continue.

Domain Names Guide « Previous   |  Next » What is a domain name

Introduction to Domain Names Guide

Here is my promise to you.

By the time you finish reading through the five parts – of our domain names guide, we are confident that most – if not all of your basic domain names questions, will be put to rest.

Let no one lie to you!

Choosing your domain name, is one of the initial and most important decisions you will be faced to make as soon as you are about to get started with your internet business.

The domain name you choose is even more important especially if yours is a small business with limited marketing resources. Yet millions of online entrepreneurs rush to either register or buy an existing name without much consideration.

Only to realize the extent of their mistake months or years later. Unfortunately by then, it is way too late and the options presented at such a time are not that pleasant.

To help you avoid such mistakes, I have assembled this simple domain names guide. This particular domain names guide will attempt to shed more lights to such topics as:

1. What are domain names?
2. How to choose a good name
3. Characteristics of a good domain
4. Registrar Company to register and buy your name from
5. How to avoid the same mistakes that millions more keep committing
6. How to avoid being trapped by unscrupulous domain registrar companies
7. Excellent domain name tools you can use to buy and sell domains

Caution
Please take your time and read through this simple guide. Do not rush to register your name as most people do. We all seem to be falling victim to the same old mistake as most people do.

You see, I so badly wanted to get started and succeed with my online e-commerce hosting business that I paid little attention to the nature and wording of my web site name.

• Why would you care to read this domain names guide?

My first domain name, www.your-inforcom.com is one of the early mistakes among many – that I committed when starting out with my online business. Along the way, just like any other small business.

There comes that moment when you have to market your business.

That is the time when the disappointments, happy moments, excitements or challenges set in, regarding the name you choose months earlier. By then as I pointed earlier, it is too late.

This domain names guide is here to specially help you familiarize your self with the aspect of choosing a good name so that when it comes to marketing you online business.

You are less likely to face less challenge with your marketing endeavors or Less headaches with your search engines optimization because of the nature of your name. It’s your introduction to the big picture.

Introduction to Domain Names Guide

1. What is a domain name?
2. What are domain names?
3. Top level domain names
4. Domain names guidelines
5. Traits of a good domain name

Next » What is a domain name?

Passive Income From Parking Domain Names

If you have been registering and then parking domain names that you have no immediate use for, then I have news for you my friend. Read on.

There is a simple and easy way you can utilize and let your parked domains to earn you some extra passive income without having to do any major work.

Right now,

Several online companies are willing to pay you to redirect your visitor (who arrive on your parked domain) to other landing pages. Here is the reason:

They will place highly relevant pay per click links on your home page that have been optimized based on the keywords found on your domain name.

Every time any of those visitors that arrive on your home page click on those links:

You earn money.

Wonderful! How much will you earn? That depends. It depend on:

• How much traffic you are getting on your domain
• Coupled with how many of those visitors actually click through the displayed links

How to earn money parking domain names

First of all the million dollar question is,

How do you actually get traffic to visit your homepage that is displaying links. Links that you want people to click on in order to earn money?

It’s obvious, ranking with the search engines is out of question.

There is no way you are going to apply any search engine optimization technique on a domain name with a mere landing page filled with a bunch of links and nothing else, without possibly being penalized by the search engines.

Your traffic will definitely come from somewhere else. Here is how:

1. You have parked an Expired Domains that had an established Traffic before
2. You have parked a Typo Domain for a given name
3. You are getting a “type in traffic.” That is, the parked domain contains a keyword that can generate a Type in Traffic…people actually type in that name

Hey, as a caution,

Don’t expect to make millions by parking domain names.

This is a mere passive revenue that can be earned by actually doing nothing.

As a last note

Parking domains is worth trying if you already own a large inventory of domain names. There is nothing to lose apart from the zero revenue being generated by you parked domain names, that may actually be gathering dust as they wait for you to do something.

On the other hand, please don’t get too excited and start buying and parking domain names all over the internet, you might end up being disappointed.

Domain Name Parking « Previous   |  Next » Why Park Review – Parking Domain Names

What is Domain Name Parking?

Domain name parking is a technical term used to refer to the actual transitional period that takes place from:

• The time one completes registering or buying a given domain name
• To the time the owner actually get to do something with that particular domain name

According to Wikipedia

Domain parking refers to the registration of an internet domain name without that domain being associated with any services such as e-mail or a website.

This may have been done with a view to reserving the domain name for future development, and to protect against the possibility of cybersquatting.

Since the domain name registrar will have set name servers for the domain, the registrar or reseller potentially has use of the domain rather than the final registrant.

In order to park a domain name, you will need to utilize the service of a domains name parking company to minimize costs associated with domain parking.

Following is a list of three places that I believe you are most likely to receive domain parking service at a cheap price:

1. Your domain name registrar if you already own a domain name
2. Your web host if you already have or own a web site
3. Professional domain parking services like Sedo, why park.com and more

So why would you want to park a domain name?

Basically there are three reason:

• Because you want to reserve that name until you are ready to make use of it
• For speculative purposes whereby you buy, hold the name and sell it later
• You want to earn a passive income out of your parked domain name

Passive Domain Name Parking Business

Most internet marketers own a whole list of domain names.

But there is something different they do. Instead of letting them sit idle, they put those domain names to work for them, passively generating some sought of income.

If you happen to own a few domain names. There is something smart you can do.

On the next page, I will let you know a good place that can help you start earning a passive income from your parked domain.

Domain Parking « Previous   |  Next » Domain Name Parking – Passive Income

Want to know where to park your domain names and earn extra cash?
Read my comprehensive why park .com review here

Introduction to Domain Parking For Dummies

Have you ever heard of the term “domain parking?”

Well if you have been in this business for long, then obviously – you have.

But for those of us who are new to internet business and the whole concept of registering and owning domain names – then that term might not ring any bells.

The first time I heard that term and the fact that I had to pay a fee to one of the domain parking companies for the service, I have to admit that the whole idea sounded crazy.

As a matter of fact, I thought this was a pure waste of time and money. Without further thoughts, the idea was quickly shelved aside. You have to save money, not waste it!

• Introduction to Domain Parking

I had spent a quarter of my life trying my best to avoid parking my car on one of those parking lots in town that charged a fee. Why would I consider something like parking my domain names especially if it was going to cost me more money?

Life must go on, right?

It was not until a couple of months later that while I was surfing the internet, I again stumbled on this particular page that was all about how you can put your parked domains to passively work for you.

This time round,

That particular article caught my attention and aroused my curiosity level to excitement levels. You see the title of the article was “how to make money with your parked domain name”

Now I must admit that – this is the kind of stuff that will keep my eyes glued to my computer screen for ages. And that is exactly what it did.

Allow me to share with you in brief what I learned.

Hopefully that same information coupled with your own research here and there will enable you to put your dormant domain names to work.

Here is what you are about to learn about domain parking

• What is Domain Name Parking
• How to earn a passive income from parked domains
• Why park .com review – Domain parking service company

Next » What is Domain Parking

9 Causes Why You Can Not Transfer a Domain Name

Below are 9 cause why you can not be able to transfer a domain name.

Although there may be other factors that could lead your domain name registrar to refuse the transfer, for the purpose of this article I am only going to list the following nine common causes.

1. If there is a proof of fraud
2. Order by court
3. Disputes over the identity of the registrant
4. Disputes over the identity of the administrator
5. If there was no payments of previous period
6. A domain that has expired
7. Express written objection of the transfer
8. A domain that is locked
9. A domain that is not 60 days old from the date of its registration

Be aware also of the following two reasons that may cause delays in your domain name transfer request:

• Email contact address of the current administrator is not valid
• Dealing with a run down registrar with obsolete system or customer service

And that my dear friend,

Brings us to the end of this section on how to transfer a domain name.

How to Transfer Domain Names « Previous   |  Next » Transfer Your Domains Now

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