Domaining News & Information from Who-Iz.com

Domains: Buying an Existing Domain Name Vs a New Domain Name
By Chris Le Roy

No one can deny that the Internet is here to stay and that businesses who do not embrace the internet are going to struggle in the coming years. With the Internet and Search Engines reaching a new level of maturity, I have noticed in their rankings that they are beginning to put more and more weight on the age of the domain in their index and because of this we have now reached a crossroad for many businesses to evaluate whether they are better off buying an existing domain versus registering a brand new domain. But Buyer Beware!

I have met many many people who have benefited and also been burnt by buying existing domain names. The major disadvantage of buying an existing domain name is that it may have been banned from the search engines for in appropriate search engine tactics, better known as black hat techniques. My own personal experience with the search engines and trying to talk to a human being in the past to plead my case over an issue with one of our own domains has made me come to the realization that none of them have a clue of what customer service is and they do not care what they do to you and this is where the problem lies when buying existing domains.

If you purchase a domain that has been banned for either Search Engine Black Hat techniques or for click fraud then you can pretty much write off that domain ever getting into the indexes ever again. Which means that if you are relying principally on traffic from the search engines, then you are going to invest a lot of money and get absolutely no outcome? In fact one of our own clients was caught where the domain they had purchased was banned in just about every index and by many of the pay-per-click engines as well. Literally the money they outlaid for this domain were totally wasted.

Look, there are many reasons why domains can be banned and in some cases they are banned by indexes for the owners simply not understanding the rules that the various search engines place on the websites that they index. Whilst that is no excuse in the scheme of things, as a buyer it is something you need to be aware of.

The key advantage of buying an existing domain that has been indexed is that it is often easier to optimize that site for certain keywords than it is for using one that is a brand new domain. If you believe the stories of Google’s sandbox rule, then all new domains will take 6 to 12 months to rank well which means for a business that is purely internet based that could send you bankrupt and I can assure you I have seen that happen. Whether or not you believe or do not believe that the Google sandbox rule exists, in most search engines, the age of the domain in the index does play a role in your ranking. I have seen webpages in the index that have been there for 10 years and have less than 20 back links on extremely competitive terms and rank in the top 5 of those competitive keywords.

The bottom line is this, where possible and if you can afford it, buying an existing domain name that is already in the index is a valuable commodity. Even more so if there is an associated website to go with it. Just look at the money Google paid to You Tube for their site.

Over the last few years my team and I have helped many clients broker existing domain names, usually associated with their companies name, that have been in the index by people creating adsense accounts for Google or Yahoo and once they get control of the domains they have seen vast improvements in their traffic flow and search engine positions because the domains they had bought had been in the index for some period. In fact every one of them that has done this now has top 2 rankings in all the major search engines.

When we are evaluating domains that have been owned for some period there are a range of elements that my team and I look for. The general elements we review include -

1. Is the website currently working?
2. Does the domain exist in any of the major search engines?
3. Can you verify ownership of the domain or is the domain details blocked?
4. Where is the domain currently residing?
5. Is the domain in an area on the Internet that is used by black hat people or organizations that use questionable techniques?
6. What is the IP Number of the server the domain resides on?
7. Can we find any indications of references to issues with this domain name on professional search engine forums or bloggs?
8. Does the domain reside on any black lists for spam or for activities related to advertising? We also look to see if the domain is on any number of white lists as well (this is a positive issue)?
9. Does the domain have a history in traffic tools such as Alexa? Have there been any comments or statements placed in the Alexa Register or similar registers?
10. Is the domain registered with a reputable domain registration company?

My team and I will also look at whether or not this domain has been owned by a range of different companies or individuals and in particular if it has been deleted or pre-owned before today and resold.

I should note that there are many other issues we look at but the ten above are the key issues everyone should look at when deciding to buy an existing domain. There are many reasons why domains may not have positive findings for each of the issues above, but just like you were trying to buy a business you need to see if there are any issues and if there are can they be dealt with and are they likely to cost you money. Nobody likes to lose money on a deal, especially me, and when buying domains you need to make sure that you have done your homework and that the domain is worth the money you are investing.

Sometimes, you are better off simply paying a few dollars and putting in a lot of hard work with a new domain then buying a domain for a few thousand dollars to find that you can never rank well in the search engines because it has been banned.

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Introduction to .uk Domain Disputes
By Hagit Ben-Artzi

The .uk registry is the world’s fourth largest (after the .com, .org and .de registries). It is administered by Nominet, a not-for-profit company based in Oxford, England. Nominet acts not just as the .uk registry, but also as the .uk dispute resolution service provider.

Nominet does not use the UDRP for dispute resolution, but has instead created a distinctive system inspired by the UDRP. The substantive rules governing .uk disputes are set out in Nominet’s dispute resolution policy document (referred to below simply as the “Policy”) and its dispute resolution procedure document.

Procedural rules

The Nominet dispute resolution procedure is a close relative of the UDRP procedure. However, there are some important differences.

There is a free mediation service built in to the Nominet procedure. The mediation process involves a neutral third party who tries to bring the complainant and respondent to agreement through “shuttle diplomacy”. If the parties can resolve their dispute before the mediation period comes to a close, Nominet waives its fee.

Another distinctive feature of the Nominet procedure is the possibility of appealing an expert’s decision (in Nominet proceedings, panellists are called “experts”). By contrast there is no appeal – other than to a court of law – from a decision under the UDRP or the EURid rules.

A single expert always decides “first instance cases”. Should either party appeal the first instance decision, a three member panel will be appointed to decide the appeal. At the time of writing, there have only ever been six appeals.

The Nominet fee is always paid by the complainant. At present, that fee stands at £750 plus VAT. There is also a fee of £3000 plus VAT payable by a person invoking the appeal procedure.

The remedies available are cancellation or transfer. Unlike in UK litigation, there are no provisions for the unsuccessful party to pay the successful party’s costs.

Substantive rules

Basic rule is that: “A Respondent must submit to proceedings under the Dispute Resolution Service if a Complainant asserts to us, according to the Procedure, that: (i) The Complainant has Rights in respect of a name or mark which is identical or similar to the Domain Name; and (ii) The Domain Name, in the hands of the Respondent, is an Abusive Registration.” (Paragraph 2(a) of the Policy.)

“Rights” are treated in a similar way to rights under the UDRP: the test is not a difficult one to meet.

The idea of an “Abusive Registration” maps imperfectly on to the concepts of legitimate interest and bad faith under the UDRP.

Rights in a name or mark…

Paragraph 1 of the Nominet Policy provides that: “‘Rights’ includes, but is not limited to, rights enforceable under English law. However, a Complainant will be unable to rely on rights in a name or term which is wholly descriptive of the Complainant’s business.”

In practice these rights are often rights arising out of registered UK or Community trade marks.

However, the rights can also be rights in the tort of passing off. This is a complex subject, but most experts will be prepare to accept that a complainant has unregistered trade mark rights which could give rise to an action in passing off where the complainant can show substantial use of a mark or name as a trade mark in the UK. It is probably fair to say that the standard of proof required by Nominet experts of these unregistered rights is significantly lower than that required by the English courts in a passing off action - although in passing off cases the evidence is usually being used to prove a different point.

Rights can also mean contractual rights – e.g. where one person has contracted with another to transfer the domain, but then refuses to do so.

…which is identical or similar to the domain name

Because most Nominet experts have at least some expertise of trade mark law, the concepts of identity and similarity are heavily conditioned by the comparable concepts in trade mark law.

As regards identity, the domain name extensions are ignored, so that the trade mark MERCEDES is identical to the domain name mercedes.co.uk. Similar formal differences (e.g. the use of hyphens in a domain name in place of spaces) should not upset a finding of identity.

Similarity is more difficult. In European trade mark law there is a concept which may be called “confusing similarity”, and it is this concept which experts are accustomed to apply when comparing one mark to another. The question is: would the public be confused by the use of the marks or names, or associate one with the other. Judging by the detail of experts’ decisions, a similar question is often asked in .uk domain name dispute arbitrations.

Abusive registration

“‘Abusive Registration’ means a Domain Name which either: (i) was registered or otherwise acquired in a manner which, at the time when the registration or acquisition took place, took unfair advantage of or was unfairly detrimental to the Complainant’s Rights; OR (ii) has been used in a manner which took unfair advantage of or was unfairly detrimental to the Complainant’s Rights.” (Paragraph 1 of the Nominet Policy)

Note that the abuse can take place either at the time of registration/acquisition or subsequently. In either case, the key ideas are those of taking “unfair advantage of” or being “unfairly detrimental to” the complainant’s rights.

Proving an allegation of abusive registration

A non-exhaustive list of factors which may be evidence that the domain name is an abusive registration is set out in paragraph 3(a) of the Nominet Policy:

“(i) Circumstances indicating that the Respondent has registered or otherwise acquired the Domain Name primarily: (A) for the purposes of selling, renting or otherwise transferring the Domain Name to the Complainant or to a competitor of the Complainant, for valuable consideration in excess of the Respondent’s documented out-of-pocket costs directly associated with acquiring or using the Domain Name; (B) as a blocking registration against a name or mark in which the Complainant has Rights; or (C) for the purpose of unfairly disrupting the business of the Complainant;

(ii) Circumstances indicating that the Respondent is using the Domain Name in a way which has confused people or businesses into believing that the Domain Name is registered to, operated or authorised by, or otherwise connected with the Complainant;

(iii) The Complainant can demonstrate that the Respondent is engaged in a pattern of registrations where the Respondent is the registrant of domain names (under .uk or otherwise) which correspond to well known names or trade marks in which the Respondent has no apparent rights, and the Domain Name is part of that pattern;

(iv) It is independently verified that the Respondent has given false contact details to us; or

(v) The domain name was registered as a result of a relationship between the Complainant and the Respondent, and the Complainant: (A) has been using the domain name registration exclusively; and (B) paid for the registration and/or renewal of the domain name registration.”

Because of paragraph 3(c)(i) of the Policy, it is unwise to offer to sell the domain to a trade mark owner where there is a dispute or the potential for a dispute. Another effect of that paragraph is that it is easier for a complainant to prove his or her case where a domain name is used commercially. For this purpose, commercial use includes serving pay-per-click advertising or carrying affiliate links.

Paragraph 3(c)(v) is designed to deal with the all-too-common situation where an employee of a company (often in the IT department) or service provider to a company (often a web developer) registers domain name reflecting the company’s trade marks, and then refuses to transfer the domain name when a dispute arises.

Disproving an allegation of abusive registration

A non-exhaustive list of factors which may be evidence that the domain name is not an abusive registration is set out in paragraph 4(a) of the Policy:

“(i) Before being aware of the Complainant’s cause for complaint (not necessarily the ‘complaint’ under the DRS), the Respondent has: (A) used or made demonstrable preparations to use the Domain Name or a Domain Name which is similar to the Domain Name in connection with a genuine offering of goods or services; (B) been commonly known by the name or legitimately connected with a mark which is identical or similar to the Domain Name; (C) made legitimate non-commercial or fair use of the Domain Name; or

(ii) The Domain Name is generic or descriptive and the Respondent is making fair use of it;

(iii) In relation to paragraph 3(a)(v) [registration as a result of a relationship between the parties]; that the Registrant’s holding of the Domain Name is consistent with an express term of a written agreement entered into by the Parties; or

(iv) In relation to paragraphs 3(a)(iii) and/or 3(c) [pattern of abusive conduct]; that the Domain Name is not part of a wider pattern or series of registrations because the Domain Name is of a significantly different type or character to the other domain names registered by the Respondent.”

Paragraph 4(a)(ii) is arguably one of the most important in the Policy. Controversially, some experts have read this rather narrowly, such that domain names which are 100% descriptive of the business in which they are being used are being transferred to complainants in circumstances where it would be extremely difficult if not impossible to put together a credible case in the High Court.

Conclusions

The Nominet procedure is inexpensive and efficient, and the quality of expert decision-making tends to be reasonable. However, the procedure is by no means perfect: it is a blunt instrument and from time to time decisions are issued which seem unfair, at least inasmuch as they represent a significant extension of trade mark owners’ rights over the position in trade mark law. Moreover, the very fact that there is a distinct set of rules governing .uk domains (and a distinct dispute resolute procedure) means that, where a dispute involves other domain name extensions as well, there is extra expense.

Hagit Ben-Artzi owns Sequitur IPS, a legal consultancy providing specialist advice and representation in domain name disputes and domain name arbitration proceedings. Please visit the Sequitur IPS domain name disputes website.

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3 Steps to Used Expired Domain Names and Deleted Domains
By Fenick Jean

Have ever searched your favorite search engine for “expired domain”, “domain names”, and / or “deleted domains names”? Well, if you have recently been scouring the internet for good used domain names, then this idea may help. By following a few simple directions you will soon be on your way to domain name reseller success.

1. Start a free general website directory in order to accept free link submissions manual or automated. You can get to free or open source website directory script at script directories such as Hotscripts.com, Needscripts.com, or ask members of Digitalpoint.com forums to help you find the best and most webmaster friendly directory script.

2. Be prepared to receive lots of junk sites new and old. The junk sites will soon be to your most advantage because the webmaster will soon give up on the site.

3. Every week or month run the validate feature that your website links directory script come along with. You’ll be surprised how many of the junk sites you accept in your directory have been expired or no longer running and will soon be an expired domain name. Remember, the domain name of that expired site is what we’re interested in. The webmaster that owned the promoted and we’re assuming that the webmaster’s site will soon gain a Google page rank of 1 or better. Therefore, one site owner’s trash will be a domain name reseller’s internet treasure.

The more popular that your free general website links directory is, the more junk website submissions you’ll receive, and the better your chances at expired domain name reseller success will be. If you follow the above steps, you can’t go wrong. Domain names expire on a daily basis and at many webmasters chasing the dream of owing a profitable website will fail. Be there for the opportunities that will open up in reselling domain names. Good luck with you new domain name buying and selling business.

Is a radiologic technology student at a private South Florida University and runs a site at http://www.superhaitian.com and http://www.goombo.com He simply writes about daily news and credit related topics.

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How to Sell Domains at Sedo
By Zach Bastick

For those that sell domains through brokers, it can be very difficult. One of the best domain brokers out there to sell domains with is Sedo. Loads of domainers go for domain brokers to sell their domains, and there’s a reason why: they are reliable, secure, and have high exposure. That is, they have all the ingredients that you need to add to your domain sales mix.

How do you sell domains at Sedo? Simply login to your account (or make one if you don’t have one - you can’t sell domains without an account!) and click the Add Domains link. The next thing they ask is that you point your domain nameservers to ns1.sedoparking.com and ns2.sedoparking.com. You don’t have to do this, but it’s a good idea. Why? Because once your domain is parked, you can start making money from it. This is called domain parking (for a good guide on domain parking, I recommend that you check out the Domain Book referenced below). Note that even though you are making money off it, it will be up for sale still. Once you get an offer, you can either accept it, make a counter offer, or take it to auction.

All the legal mumbo jumbo is taken care of by Sedo when you sell domains with them, so don’t worry about that. Most domain sales go through to the end, and Sedo insures a high amount of security in order to insure the domain buyers identity is real, and that the offers are legitimate.

If you took it to auction, you will have to wait seven days to get a final price of what you will sell it for. If you managed to negotiate a fixed price, then you’ll know right away what you’re going to get for the domain name. At the end of either the auction or the sale, you begin to transfer the domain. Sedo’s transfer team will take care of you when you sell domains with them.

You’ll get the money, then you’ll give them an authorization code. Once the domain is fully transferred, Sedo will pay you your money. You could even get paid by PayPal! When you sell domains, Sedo is a fine option. You don’t have to worry about scams or any potential loss of money, and you’ll usually get the best deal possible for your domain name. With over 5 years of experience in the domain name industry, you can’t go wrong when you sell domains with Sedo.

For complete guides to sell domain names, read the Domain Ebook.

Check out The Domain Ebook: it contains all the exclusive information that you need to find the highest paying domain names that you can get your hands on! Go there NOW!

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Ideas For Promoting Affiliate Links To Generate Internet Income
By Cynthia Minnaar

Those who have joined a few affiliate programs and now have a number of affiliate links to promote often ask the questions: How do I promote the affiliate programs I have joined? How can I generate internet income from all these affiliate links? Do I need my own website on my own domain name?

The attractive and exciting idea about joining affiliate programs is that they give you everything you need to start generating internet income right away. Well that is how it seems anyway. You get your own custom affiliate website, banners and pre-written ad, a list of online advertising hot spots, etc. They say all you need to do is plug in and profit. Does it really happen that way? Not usually!

Unfortunately, the problem with joining affiliate programs is that people get lazy. They slave away 5 or 6 days a week at their job and then think they can take the standard affiliate website they are given, plug it into a couple of free advertising tools that take five minutes to setup and start generating internet income right away. People are willing to work hard at their day job every day, but they are not prepared to put in nearly the amount of work to their affiliate programs, yet still expect to make internet income.

Also if they have probably joined a few affiliate programs and therefore have a number of affiliate links to promote, confusion and frustration set in.

The key to promoting affiliate links and really getting an affiliate marketing business off the ground is to have your own website - one that you can control and one that is on your own domain name. This puts you in total control of your own business.

Having your own website establishes your credibility immediately - online and offline.

There are three potential problems with affiliate links, which can be eliminated if you have your own website on your own domain name.

Firstly, a big problem is that affiliate links can have the ID’s removed from them very easily. Personally owned domain names allow you to cloak affiliate links. You can also set up re-direct links which look more professional and ensures that nobody can remove your affiliate ID, which would cause you to lose the commission.

One of the main reasons people fail at affiliate marketing is because they never invest in getting their own domain name and website setup. For some unknown reason they think this is an unnecessary thing when the fact is, having your own domain name is one of the most necessary things of all to succeed in this business.

Never put yourself at the mercy of the company you are promoting. You want and need to be in full control of your internet affiliate business at all times. What happens if you have spent a lot of money and/or time promoting your affiliate link all over the internet and then the company you are promoting changes the structure of their affiliate links or goes out of business?

If you did not have your own domain name and were not promoting through re-direct links, you would be out of luck! But if you set things up correctly from the beginning and did all your promotions through your own website, all you would need to do is login to your hosting account, click a button and replace the link you were promoting that does not work anymore.

Secondly, personally owned domain names are controlled by you, affiliate links are not.

You have to be able to control your own website. Affiliate links do not let you do this. You need to be able to add your own style and personality to your site. You need to be able to add and promote other products you believe in. You need to be able to change the layout, color, the type of font, the message, etc. Ultimately, you need to be in full control of your own website.

If you are not in control of your site, someone else is and if someone else is in control of your site, their agenda will always take precedence over yours. Remember that. Take control of your website, you then have control of your business and you take control of your financial future.

Thirdly, personally owned domain names rank high in search engines, affiliate links do not.

One of the best ways to promote affiliate products online is to get good free rankings in the search engines. But you simply cannot do that with affiliate links. However, if you have your own domain name and hosting account, all you need to do is put up a site with unique content on it, get a few links from other sites and you are on your way to getting lots of natural free listings and traffic from the search engines.

Free traffic from natural listings in the search engines is some of the best traffic in the world. Your conversion rates on turning prospects into customers shoot straight through the roof once you get these natural listings. But this can only happen when you have your own domain name and hosting account.

By getting your own website on your own domain name for promoting your affiliate links, you will give yourself the best chance of generating internet income as an affiliate.

Cynthia Minnaar is the owner and webmaster of http://www.cyns-home-biz.com, the site for internet business ideas, online home business opportunities, internet income training, affiliate marketing ideas, web income ideas, ideas to start an online home business, online home business tools, ebooks and articles. Start your free internet income training today.

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How to Transfer Domain Names
By Joanne King

Transferring domain names was like a foreign language to me up until recently when I sold one of my businesses. Then I had to take a fast track in learning how to transfer a domain name quickly!

And I’m assuming I’m not the only one out there that wouldn’t be sure on how to transfer a domain name. So if you are thinking of selling off some of your domain names but weren’t sure on how to do a domain name transfer, you may find this article helpful.

My experience with domain name transfers was with godaddy, so I’ll step you through the process I took to transfer my domain name to someone else using godaddy.

Make sure you have all their details, eg. Full Name, Address, and email account, phone number…

Then you just need to follow these 5 easy steps!

First Step. Log into your godaddy account

Second Step. Go to “Domain Names” and click on “My Domain Names”

Third Step. Click on the domain name you want to transfer

Fourth Step. In “Manage Domain Names” click on “Change Accounts”

Fifth Step. Scroll down and fill in the “New Registrant Name”

That’s it! All you do now is what for the new owner to “confirm” on his or her side.

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Buying and Selling Domain Names for Profit
By Craig Rowe

Buying and selling domain names for profit is something that many people are figuring out can be done and can even be quite fun when approached in the right way. If you spend much time on the Internet you’ll see that there are many websites out there that are just collecting dust when they could be making huge profits. If you see websites like this, you can actually buy them; change them up with the help of the www.whypark.com website and make quite a bit of money on them though you don’t have to do a lot of work on them. Then, you can decide to sell this very profitable domain name to someone who is looking for a website that has good rankings and has a decent amount of traffic. When you work with this website you’ll find that you can turn a website around quickly so that you can profit from it, making it simple to sell the domain if you so choose.

You can either buy domain names from others that are not doing anything with them, or you can buy domain names from whypark.com and you can start making money instantly. Even if you don’t have the content to put on all of the domains that you buy, you can make money. The way that this works is that the WhyPark.com website won’t just put up an under construction notice on your website, instead, they will help you put content on the page. Not only will the content draw the attention of those that are looking for specific information, the page will draw the attention of the search engines, which is priceless when it comes to making money with the website. This isn’t a hit or miss program, the content that www.whyPark.com puts on each website is unique and is content rich so that both people and search engines will find the website highly interesting. This means that if you pair the content with Google AdSense programs you can make a lot of money.

The WhyPark.com program also provides website statistics about click through rates, visitors, and the like. This information can be invaluable when you are trying to increase profits, or when you want to sell the domain. Many people out there are looking for websites that are already profiting and have a following. With good statistics, your domain will be simple to sell, and you can sell it for much more than you bought it for, no doubt. WhyPark.com doesn’t just provide the content rich content, though. They also provide information on how to market your site to drive even more traffic to your site to increase traffic as well as profits.

When you work with WhyPark.com it is simple to buy and sell domains for a profit. This program doesn’t have a huge overhead or even monthly charges, there is simply a one-time fee that will allow you to host up to 100 domains! One hundred domains with keyword rich content can mean a lot of money for you, and for those that want to buy from you!

Put your unused domain names to work by building traffic and revenue at http://www.whypark.com.

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Your Domain Name is More Important Than You Think
By Mike Dillard

Owning your own domain name is the fastest, easiest, and cheapest way to increase the professionalism of you and your business, virtually over-night. Understand that in network marketing, or any business for that matter, you are selling yourself.

In actuality, people are much more concerned with YOU, than they are about your network marketing business opportunity. I do not care if you have the greatest business in the world.

If you don’t successfully position yourself as a leader in the eyes of your prospects, you will go no where.

With this in mind, understand that you are constantly being judged, sized up, measured, and compared to other potential up-line partners. People want to work with winners. They are attracted to leaders.

It is a survival instinct that is a part of our very DNA, and you cannot escape it. But you can also use this to your advantage! So what does all of this have to do with registering a little domain name?

Well it is simple. It’s all about professionalism. If you do not even know how to register a simple domain name, how can you possibly expect other people follow you to financial freedom?

But there is much more to it than that. Having your own domain name is crucial for self-branding, tracking your advertising results, and ensuring that your prospects successfully make it to your site instead of someone else’s, but after writing this guide, I realized there is much to this process than meets the eye.

Personally, I will spend hours and even days selecting the perfect domain name that meets all 5 of my exclusive criteria which allows me to find a domain that protects my brand from competition, pulls in maximum traffic from advertising, and gets listed in the top search engine results. (Just to name a few of the considerations I put into play).

Ok, enough of my soap-box chit-chat. I am glad you are here because we are going to completely change the image of your business in about 30 minutes, so let us get started!

95% of network marketers who actually register a domain name put very little thought into the actual domain selection process. Not me.

I will spend hours or even days selecting the right domain name because I am always thinking five steps ahead of the average business owner, and that is what I am going to teach you how to do as well.

Three reasons you need to own at least one domain name: First is the increased professionalism it gives to you. Having your own domain names does not necessarily put points in your professionalism column because it is an expected practice today.

But not having one, will definitely hurt your image.

Again, because having one is an expected practice today. Let’s say that you were one of my cold market prospects and you did not know anything about me at all. I have your contact information, so I decide to send you a quick introductory email from my address which is: bigboymike429787@aol. (Not a real email address).

What would your first impression be? Do I sound like a professional business owner? A successful CEO? A leader?

Or do you picture some big college dropout making $8.00 delivering pizzas? The truth is irrelevant. I am being judged by that email address the instant it arrives in someone’s inbox.

On the other hand, how would your perception change if my email address had my company name in it?

Now you are left with two options. The impression you get is going to be either positive due to the professional nature of the name, or neutral because the actual domain names themselves are neutral in meaning.

You can avoid negative stigmatisms because they are generic domains. The second advantage to having your own domain name is that you can now have a personal email address that is not dependant upon a 3rd part provider like AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail, Excite, or GMail.

If you have your own domain name, you can choose any address you would like, and the e-mail address will include your domain name.

Finally, the third advantage to owning a domain name is that you can use what is called a “redirect.” In network marketing, we often use replicated website addresses or affiliate links in our businesses.

These are usually fairly long web addresses that are difficult to give out over the phone, or place in advertising pieces.

Most of the time your domain name will include numbers, phrases, and often your name. The bottom line is that it does not look professional. You are losing business just because of the web link itself.

Let me count the ways this will cost you. 1: Anytime you give someone your domain name or link with additional information in it like your name or ID number, people will automatically erase the extra part and go straight to the primary domain name just out of curiosity. It happens all of the time.

The bottom line is that you stand to lose out on that business. 2: You cannot put a website address like that in an advertisement of any kind. It means DEATH to your results.

Why? People are not going to remember the number at the end of your web address. Not only will people do exactly what I stated in #1 and leave your ID number
off so they can go to the primary site, but anyone who actually spends money on an advertisement, and does not even bother to set up a real domain name with a redirect obviously does not have a clue as to what they are doing.

Which means you will only attract leads who are even less savvy and less professional than the person who placed it. When I see an ad with a full link like that only one word comes to mind: “amateur.” Which means I would not even bother responding to that ad for that reason alone.

3: You are just asking for trouble if you try and give out a long link like these to a prospect over the phone. Chances are they are going to spell it wrong or leave a piece out.

Try giving out a link like this on a conference call and you are going to lose professionalism along with all of the listeners who could not write it down correctly no matter how many times you were asked to repeat it.

URL Redirect. So like I said, the third advantage to owning your own domain name is that you can use what is called a “URL redirect”, or “domain forwarding.”

This simply means that you can instruct the company that is hosting your domain name to “redirect” all traffic coming to your domain (A), to site (B). This is like telling the post office to forward all of your mail to a new address because you just moved to a new home.

Instead of advertising your long link with your name, numbers and codes etc., you would instruct your hosting company to take all traffic coming to your catchy domain name (that you came up with) and have them sent to your long affiliate domain. That way you can market your catchy domain name.

Your “redirect” domain name that you come up with should have something to do with what it is you are selling. It should be easy to spell, say, write down, and remember.

If you don’t have your own “redirect” domain name for your on-line business, you losing a lot of good customers and prospects to smarter competition.

From waiting tables to millionaire at 29, Mike Dillard, is a professional marketer who has taught over 100,000 entrepreneurs from around the world how to tap into the power of his attraction marketing techniques. Sign up for his free on-line boot camp at: BuildYourOwnMLM.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Dillard
http://EzineArticles.com/?Your-Domain-Name-is-More-Important-Than-You-Think&id=658232

The Frustration of Broken Links

Time for me to vent a little.

Is there anything more frustrating than exploring a website and coming across repetitive broken links?  I know it will happen from time to time and I guess that’s alright but its those times where you’re really getting into the subject at hand, you’re seeking more information, and –blam—end of story.

I guess the really annoying thing is that it is not that hard to have links that work, especially if the links that are broken are internal links to other areas of your website.  Broken external links are a different ballgame, the webmaster may not have 100% control of the link and hasn’t found that it is broke yet.  That’s another reason to explore your own site sometime and see if anything looks wrong.

Well, thanks for letting me bend your ear a bit.

Domain Name Trademarks
By Richard Chapo

As your Internet business grows, the value of your domain name
increases. The issue of a domain name trademark should move to
the top of your list. You need to guard against unscrupulous
competitors that may try to incorporate your domain name in
their meta tags to obtain search engine rankings under your
name. If you have a domain name trademark, you can go after
these individuals and compel the search engines to remove
their listings.

What Is A Trademark?

A trademark is a distinctive item that is used to identify a
logo, product, device, package or service. The trademark
identifies the item as being provided by a particular firm. To
protect these items you can obtain a mark from the patent and
trademark office that prohibits others from trying to gain
economic advantage from your mark.

Domain Name

The patent and trademark office views domain names in a unique
way. The office views the “http://www” element as a part of
the file transfer process, not your domain name. The “.com”,
“.net”, etc., designations are considered top-level domain
identifiers and are also disregarded for the purpose of a
domain name trademark. For example, our domain name is
http://www.sandiegobusinesslawfirm.com. If we submitted the
domain name for registration, only the
“sandiegobusinesslawfirm” portion would be considered for a
mark.

Locators Cannot Be Registered

A domain name is a locator for file pages. When you type in
your domain name, a server locates and displays files. If a
domain is used solely for this purpose, it will not be granted
a mark. Instead, the domain name must be incorporated into the
site. For instance, Amazon is recognized as an online
bookstore and the site actually has the word “Amazon” on every
page. Since “Amazon.com” is more than a locator, Amazon can
apply for and receive a trademark. If Amazon used the domain
name, bookstore.com, the company would be able to register
“Amazon”, but not “bookstore.”

Generic and Descriptive Terms

Domain names that are generic or descriptive in nature cannot
be registered because they fail to designate a distinctive
product or service. For example, “sandiegobusinesslawfirm” is
comprised of generic terms and describes who and where we are,
to wit, a San Diego business law firm. This domain name cannot
be trademarked. The same result would occur with bank.com,
book.com, advice.com, etc.

You may be thinking, “What about ‘Coke?’ “Coke” is a
trademarked term because it is a distinctive term for a soft
drink product. It just so happens that a brilliant marketing
plan has convinced most people to refer to soft drinks as
“cokes”, even if they actually prefer another brand!

Trademarks are an important factor in protecting your Internet
business. Armed with a trademark, you can keep competitors
from pulling traffic off the search engines when people search
for your site.

Richard Chapo is with http://www.sandiegobusinesslawfirm.com -
a law firm providing legal advice to California businesses.
This article is for general education purposes and does not
address every facet of the subject matter. Nothing in this
article creates an attorney-client relationship.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Richard_Chapo
http://EzineArticles.com/?Domain-Name-Trademarks&id=19286

Ways To Make Domain Name Investing Pay Off
By Jeff Alderson

The practice of domain name investing is becoming a popular choice for those who want to make money on the Internet. This investment practice is fairly easy to get involved with and can pay off very well for a small investment. It is important to understand how it works to be able to open the door for big returns.

Getting into domaining, as it is called, requires nothing more than buying domain names and parking them via parking services. The other option is selling these domains to other investors. The practice does take a little effort to master, but it can be well worth the effort. Financial returns from domaining come in one of two ways - resale value or ad revenue.

Starting out in domaining involves buying website names and having them registered and parked or reselling them to other investors. How much of a return an investor will make will depend on the traffic a particular domain name pulls in or how sought after the name tends to be by others.

There are a few methods to use for figuring out what types of domain names to register and buy. The most common are “type-ins” or “typos.” Typos are names that are similar to existing websites or brand name products. Typo sites receive traffic due to accidental “typos” people make in trying to reach other sites. This type of buying can get a little tricky, especially when trademarked names are being used though. Some domainers don’t feel the typo route is the best way to go for legality issues. Another route to take is to buy actual “type-ins.” These are domain names that are commonly used in web searches. For example, “organicdogfood” or other actual words that might be used in searches. This is considered by many to be more legitimate. Another option is buying formerly used domain names that have traffic or backlinks and simply parking them or reselling them.

The options for buying and selling domain names are many. Some investors choose to get their names in bulk from sites like Moniker.com and then research them at a later time to determine their money-making potential. Other buyers go to domaining forums like DNForum.com or DomainState.com These forums are designed for the buying and selling of domain names. On these sites, domains are traded and sold in much the same manner as real estate is in the “real world.” These sites do present some challenges though; it is up to buyers to figure out if a sale is legitimate. Not all deals work out. Some of these forums, however, do offer a ranking system for buyers and sellers to help with checking the integrity of a sale. Some buyers and sellers simply opt to use escrowing services to handle their deals to ensure they go through smoothly.

Arriving at the real value of a domain name can be the hardest part of this venture. The price and value tends to hinge on what a buyer believes a name is worth. Buyers can, however, request revenue and traffic reports in some cases to help them figure a fair price.

After domains have been secured, there are ways to really make them pay off financially with little effort involves. Parking service sites are the most common way to make this happen. Services like these let owners “park” their pages with little content on them. This means the pages will appear in web searches, but they won’t contain a lot of content. Although content doesn’t go with this deal, these pages can have text ads on them. This means the owner of the domain name will reap the advertising revenue if the sites are viewed and used. The other common option for making money is to sell the domains to those who want to develop or park them.

Parking services like Sedo and Parked.com have their own rules domainers must follow. Although these services do allow text ads on parked pages, they tend to frown on backlink generation. They expect that traffic that comes in will be of natural, organic means. Simply put, they want accidental hits, normal Internet searches or existing backlinks to drive traffic. If site owners do too much to generate traffic, their pages can be taken down.

Getting into domaining can be one of the easiest ways to make money via the Internet. It requires very little effort. Using this practice to its full potential will take a little time. Although some forms are not considered as legitimate as other, the overall business is one that works quite well for many people.

Jeff Alderson is a software developer and Internet marketer. He is an expert on PPC and SEO tactics. To boost profits, Jeff suggests using a keyword tool when doing any keyword research

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jeff_Alderson
http://EzineArticles.com/?Ways-To-Make-Domain-Name-Investing-Pay-Off&id=633335

Domaining & Domain Names
By Rich Allebo

The conventional wisdom has typically been that single word domain names are the most valuable domain names to own. Most people take this as a basic truth. As a result, in the domain aftermarket, single word domain names are more valuable.

However, web searches have changed and by a majority, most people search with multiple words. Everything being equal, a search for “prefab steel building” is more likely to bring up http://steelbuildingprefab.com than a more generic single word site.

I suggest that 3, maybe even 4 word combinations are more valuable. For instance, http://bathingsuitsale.com should be more valuable for someone who actually sells bathing suits. The combination http://onlineacademicdegrees.com or http://graduateclassesonline.com are so specific to the subject matter that it should be uniquely valuable for someone in that business. In the same vein, one can see how any one of the following can be considered uniquely valuable. The theme should be clarity and specificity. In effect, the domain name that you select should be consistent with the keywords for you will be using so that your SEO efforts extend to the domain name.

In fact, I would argue even 4 word combinations might offer more value. Consider the following http://acidrefluxandheartburn.com, http://newandusedautosales.com - are all very specific to potential content for the underlying site. Someone who searches with the multiple search terms or related will most likely get these examples in the result than otherwise. It is clear that appraisers have to rethink how they valuate domains in light of how search has evolved.

R. Allebo is a long time domainer who shares his thoughts about the changing trends in the business.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rich_Allebo
http://EzineArticles.com/?Domaining-and-Domain-Names&id=544995