Have you heard that all the great domains are taken? The secret is out! Thousands of great domain names expire every day.
Your domain is your website address, a.k.a. URL or universal resource locator.
What domain name you choose is an important part of your overall marketing plan. It should be relevant to your business and easy to remember. Keep in mind that your domain name is your internet identity, so choose wisely.
A domain name is much easier to remember then a bunch of numbers or letters, think of it as the text name that relates to your IP address. When your domain is typed into a browser the name server associates it with an IP address and your website is displayed by the browser.
So what domain name should you pick?
Some things to take into consideration are:
1. Is it easy to remember? Can someone type it in from memory?2. It should be easy to spell and should not contain more then 3 words.3. If possible, use keywords in your domain. Your domain name should relate to your business.4. Do not use numbers or hyphens.5. Stick with a .com extension if possible.
Keep it simple.
A well planned domain name is the first step to a successful marketing campaign. Three basic steps that you can take to make sure your domain is marketable are:
Step 1: Make a list of words that relate to your business. Then remove any words that are longer then 10 characters. You can also use phrases if they are short and easy to remember. There should be no spaces in the phrases. Once you have your list check to see if your possible domains are available.
Step 2: Go to any domain registrar and search for the domains on your list to see if they are available. GoDaddy is an excellent place to begin. A list of alternatives will appear for those domains that are not available. Go through all the names on your list and once done you will then have a list of possible domains for your business.
TIP: For business websites try and find relevant domain names with an extension of .com only. This extension is well known and is considered the default extension that people use if they do not know the correct one. Try not to overdue it and buy every known extension for your domain. When you are just beginning remember that domain fees are yearly so consider the lifelong cost of a good domain. For most of us one domain is enough.
Step 3: Once you know which names are available go to GoDaddy and register the domain names of your choosing.
TIP: Do not pay for hosting of your domains if you already have a website set up! Forward them.
Here is the cheapest ($10/year) and easiest way to set up forwarding of a domain name:
- Go to GoDaddy and register a domain name of your choosing. This is an easy step-by-step process. Just make sure you do not sign up for any extras that they offer you. The final price should be about $10.19.
- Once you have registered the domain (you will receive an email with your information), sign in to your GoDaddy account and go to "My Domain Names" under the "Domains" tab.
- Next click "Domain Forwarding" and then click on your domain name.
- Select "Enable" and then enter the URL of your existing website in the box. Click OK.
That is it! Very easy to do and now you can use your own domain for all your advertising!
Copyright 2008 Joe Rispoli
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Things To Consider When Choosing A Web Hosting Service
with your website nearing completion you may be now scouting around for a web hosting service to host your website after it has been completed. If this is so, you may have taken notice of the vast numbers of web hosting services that are available on the net for you to select from. What sets them all apart and is it just really their technical aspects that you should consider when choosing a web hosting service to host your website?
This is definitely something that you have to give consideration to and what you want to look at is the amount of bandwidth and the amount of gigabytes that they have to offer. Of course there is also the price of the various services as well that you will want to compare before you make your final selection. Are there other things that you can look for in a web hosting service though that you can use in gaging one against another?
The fact of the matter is that there is and due to the high level of competition between web hosting services some more then others will have other services and tools that they provide for their customers. You may want to consider selecting a website with an eye towards future SEO or what is also known as search engine optimization.
Search engine optimization is the process by which you construct and promote your website to enhance its placement and location in the various search engines on the Internet. The roadside of the Internet is littered with the corpses of websites that their owners thought would become successful all on their own without any form of promotion or SEO.
The fact of the matter is that the Internet is a highly competetive place to do busines in and no matter what genre your website is in, you can rest asssured that your competition is engaging in SEO and therefore, so should you if you plan to be competetive. One of the first tools that you will want to have at your disposal that a web hosting service can provide is a tool for researching your competition and planning the use of your keywords.
The importance of this tool can not be underestimated and it is of the utmost importance when engaging in SEO. One more thing that you will want to look into when shopping around for a hosting service is whether or not they currently create site maps and whether or not they automatically ping ASK, Yahoo and Google. This is an important service, because if they don't that means that you will have to do it yourself every time that you update your website or add another page to it.
One more tool that you will want your website hosting service to have is a tool for inspecting and reviewing web pages that will will also make suggestions for optimal SEO after you have submitted it. So you can see that there is a balancing game that you have to play when selecting a web hosting service and there is more then just price and technical aspects to consider.
This is definitely something that you have to give consideration to and what you want to look at is the amount of bandwidth and the amount of gigabytes that they have to offer. Of course there is also the price of the various services as well that you will want to compare before you make your final selection. Are there other things that you can look for in a web hosting service though that you can use in gaging one against another?
The fact of the matter is that there is and due to the high level of competition between web hosting services some more then others will have other services and tools that they provide for their customers. You may want to consider selecting a website with an eye towards future SEO or what is also known as search engine optimization.
Search engine optimization is the process by which you construct and promote your website to enhance its placement and location in the various search engines on the Internet. The roadside of the Internet is littered with the corpses of websites that their owners thought would become successful all on their own without any form of promotion or SEO.
The fact of the matter is that the Internet is a highly competetive place to do busines in and no matter what genre your website is in, you can rest asssured that your competition is engaging in SEO and therefore, so should you if you plan to be competetive. One of the first tools that you will want to have at your disposal that a web hosting service can provide is a tool for researching your competition and planning the use of your keywords.
The importance of this tool can not be underestimated and it is of the utmost importance when engaging in SEO. One more thing that you will want to look into when shopping around for a hosting service is whether or not they currently create site maps and whether or not they automatically ping ASK, Yahoo and Google. This is an important service, because if they don't that means that you will have to do it yourself every time that you update your website or add another page to it.
One more tool that you will want your website hosting service to have is a tool for inspecting and reviewing web pages that will will also make suggestions for optimal SEO after you have submitted it. So you can see that there is a balancing game that you have to play when selecting a web hosting service and there is more then just price and technical aspects to consider.
Web Hosting Needs And Considerations For The Smaller Businesses
Selecting a web host for a smaller business verses a larger business can be different in several ways, because often time a smaller businesses website is smaller and less complex then a website a larger business might have. Also, while a larger business can afford to “shoot the works” and can easily afford to pay for extra features and services that they may not even use, a smaller business owner will tend to like to keep a closer watch on the expenditures with regards to their web hosting services.
Just heading out blindly on the net looking for a web hosting service can be difficult, because there are so many of them and they all offer a wide variety of features and services as well as prices. It is for this reason that you need to study up a bit on web hosting services and come to a determination as to what you do and don't need in your web hosting service features and functions.
There are many basic plans that are in the $5 price range that you may qualify for if you are a small business owner but they have absolute minimum services and features. If you have a business website that has less than one-hundred pages and you don't plan on doing any Internet marketing then you may want to consider one of these easy to find “entry level” plans.
One of these entry level,plans would work great if your website is not going to have any streaming videos in it and is a basic and simple website. You might also want to consider what is referred to as shared hosting and these plans are in the $10 price range. Feature advantages of a shared hosting is that they have broader bandwidth and storage capacity compared to a standard plan.
If you are going to be using your website for Internet marketing then you will definitely want to give some thought to your strategy for SEO or search engine optimization. Far too many new Internet business people think that the products or service that they are going to market on the net are so in demand that they won't have to do much in the way of promoting, because they will “catch fire” and take off on their own.
This is almost virtually without exception a mistake and you will have to do some promoting of your website with SEO like it or not. You will have no problem locating a web hosting service that offers SEO services but it will cost you money. The other option is to do the SEO yourself in which case you will need certain tools made available by your web hosting service.
One thing that you will want to know is whether or not your hosting service currently creates site maps and if they automatically ping Yahoo, Google and Ask after you have upgraded or added a page to your website. There are a few other tools that you will need to have to do your own SEO but the best way to find out about them is to take the time to research SEO tools on the net and learn about them
by Andrew Scherer
Just heading out blindly on the net looking for a web hosting service can be difficult, because there are so many of them and they all offer a wide variety of features and services as well as prices. It is for this reason that you need to study up a bit on web hosting services and come to a determination as to what you do and don't need in your web hosting service features and functions.
There are many basic plans that are in the $5 price range that you may qualify for if you are a small business owner but they have absolute minimum services and features. If you have a business website that has less than one-hundred pages and you don't plan on doing any Internet marketing then you may want to consider one of these easy to find “entry level” plans.
One of these entry level,plans would work great if your website is not going to have any streaming videos in it and is a basic and simple website. You might also want to consider what is referred to as shared hosting and these plans are in the $10 price range. Feature advantages of a shared hosting is that they have broader bandwidth and storage capacity compared to a standard plan.
If you are going to be using your website for Internet marketing then you will definitely want to give some thought to your strategy for SEO or search engine optimization. Far too many new Internet business people think that the products or service that they are going to market on the net are so in demand that they won't have to do much in the way of promoting, because they will “catch fire” and take off on their own.
This is almost virtually without exception a mistake and you will have to do some promoting of your website with SEO like it or not. You will have no problem locating a web hosting service that offers SEO services but it will cost you money. The other option is to do the SEO yourself in which case you will need certain tools made available by your web hosting service.
One thing that you will want to know is whether or not your hosting service currently creates site maps and if they automatically ping Yahoo, Google and Ask after you have upgraded or added a page to your website. There are a few other tools that you will need to have to do your own SEO but the best way to find out about them is to take the time to research SEO tools on the net and learn about them
by Andrew Scherer
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)