Independent Digital

The truth about hyphenated domain names
By Allan Burns

There is a lot of confusion about the use of hyphens being used in domain names. While researching hyphenated domain names I found a lot of conflicting information so I will give you a distilled view of what is currently believed to be the facts regarding hyphens in domains.

When I started Name Search Domain I had a lot of trouble finding a domain that I could use to reflect the topic of my site. After quite a bit of research I decided on NameSearchDomain.com, without hyphens.

It used to be the case that using a hyphen to separate keywords in your domain name would give you a better ranking in the search engines. For a while this was the case but due to the over zealous use of keywords in domain names, search engines now consider this as a spamming technique. Using hyphens in your domain name still makes it easier for search engines to read but it generally will not benefit your ranking.

If you use an unhyphenated domain name like myself using keywords it is generally believed that search engines such as Google can pick out the keywords. If you use hyphens then the keywords are easier to pick out from your domain name. So if there is no search engine benefit to using hyphens and keywords in domain names why do people still use them. The answer is undoubtedly anchor link benefits and ease of readability.

If you have hyphens in your domain name it is easier for a human to read and recognise the keywords in a domain. Take a look at specialistcheeseemporium.com or visit specialist-cheese-emporium.com. It is quite obvious that the hyphenated version is going to be recognised more easily.

Recognising the domain name is one thing but entering a domain name into your browser is another. It is easier for someone to type the unhyphenated domain name and it is easier for someone to give out the domain name to a customer if it doesn't have hyphens in it. Some people may not know what a hyphen is.

There is believed to be another benefit of keywords in domain names and that is anchor links, that is keywords in back links to your site. If a webmaster links back to your site from their site they often use the domain name as the anchor text. This is obviously good for you as it helps in reinforcing those keywords with your site to the search engines. So if your site is specialistcheeseemporium.com they may type this as all one word or possibly as specialist cheese emporium. For the hyphenated version they would probably type specialist-cheese-emporium.com.

So when choosing your domain name and deciding on whether to use hyphens you need to consider how the domain name is going to be interpreted and used by other people, not machines. I chose my domain name without hyphens purely because most people will type domains without the hyphens. I do use hyphens but only in my filenames as this makes it easier for people to read and people are less likely to type in a page name as they are a domain name.

Find out more about Domain Names at Name Search Domain. Stuff you need to know if you are thinking of buying a domain name.

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What is an Expired Domain Name Drop Registrar?
By Allan Burns

Once a domain expires one of two things will happen. Firstly the domain will expire and become available to register as a domain name through the normal registration process. If the domain has any value then it is likely to be picked up by a name drop registrar.

Before we go deeper into the world of dropped names you may want to know what an expired domain name is and how you go about getting hold of an expired domain name.

You may have noticed that your registrar offers a back ordering service. A Back order service allows you to pay your domain registrar to try and acquire a specific domain name once it expires.

There are drop registrars whose sole purpose is to try and register a domain name once it has dropped. These expired domain name catchers work on behalf of individuals and other domain registrars to acquire domain names on their behalf.

Expired domains are a big business as webmasters and large corporations try to grab as many valuable domains as they drop. The reason for this virtual land grab is that many domain names can fetch high resale prices on the open market or have valuable existing traffic or type in traffic potential.

Find out more about Domains names at http://www.NameSearchDomain.com.

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By David Pook

A simple message this one, but a really crucial one, research your domain registrar, choose them with care. A bad registrar can kill your on-line business, stone cold dead!

I have recently shared a customer's nightmare with a supposedly reputable domain registrar. All they wanted was their domain pointing to a different DNS server (the server that tells the internet where your website is), a simple request, they received no response from any of their emails. I didn't like their silence and suggested we actually move the domain to my registrar instead, more emails sent, more silence, weeks of it!

This was a big problem for both the client and myself. The client had a product launch and wanted to use my technology. The problem being my technology requires my DNS servers, not somebody else's! Time was ticking, they had become prisoners and I was about to lose a development job! Thankfully it was wrestled from them in the nick of time, but that could have been a product without a decent website.

Worse can happen, another developer I know had some domains registered with a company that lost their records completely. Thankfully none of these were business critical but if you lose control of your domain you may not be able to prove you own it or ever regain control.

When registering a domain, here are three simple tips:

• Will you own the domain or will the registrar? This is a common way to be caught out, many of the 'register for free' sites do this, you need to check the small print. The registrar could be the ones who end up making money out of your carefully built reputation, you could end up starting again under a new name.
• Do a search, are there lots of complaints about a registrar online? I just Googled a registrar and found hundreds of pages of complaints, including news articles on high profile tech sites and 3 whole forums dedicated entirely to moaning about them - one has over 750 members.
• What do they charge for? Quite often registration is cheap, but if you wish to change something you find yourself slapped with a $50 bill. Again, check the small print; look at their terms for moving for example.
• Don't make assumptions. The registrar my customer was using is a subsidiary of one of the biggest and most respected ISPs in the UK, yet they have a track record of failing to respond to customer requests and server failures. Big does not necessarily mean good, this applies to web hosting in general as well.

I can't stress this enough, with an established online business your most precious asset is your domain name. Don't risk your business for the sake of saving a few dollars!

Good luck with your new venture!

David Pook is a web developer with a speciality in large content managed sites. He has worked on both public facing and intranet sites in the public and commercial sectors including sites with over 50,000 fully managed pages.

He has recently formed Sqoo Media where he has developed a flexible and easy to use content management system with the aim of taking his experience to smaller organisations to free them from the prison that is static content.

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By Greg Greenamyer

As I read the various forums on website development and domain names, I am amazed at the number of people who are searching for free internet domain names. There is no such thing as completely free domain names, there is always a catch involved. The internet is no different than the offline world in this regard. How many offline businesses will give you something of value for free?

If you sign up with a host that is offering free domain names, you can be sure your website pages will have advertising that you have no control over, let alone make any money from. There may be other restrictions placed on you as well, like I said, there's no such thing as free internet domains!

The next obvious drawback to using free domain names, more than likely it will be a sub-domain, not an actual domain name. For example; yourname.hostprovider.com or hostprovider.com/yourname. How can you possibly build any type of brand using a name like that? You can't!

Developing a website that generates a decent amount of targeted traffic is quite an undertaking to say the least. What if you have success with your free name and down the road you decide to register your own unique domain name. What will happen to the existing traffic you have worked so hard to generate? What will happen to your search engine indexing and ranking that you have worked hard to achieve? If you change your domain name midstream you will very likely loose everything you have worked so hard to achieve. Does it still sound free?

Now if your website is a hobby site that doesn't rely on income and you dabble with it when you feel like it, a free name will probably work for you. What amazes me though is the number of people that are developing websites for their business and want a free name!

Business and website owners must realize the internet is not a game or passing fad that can be taken lightly. The consumer shift to the internet is real and is here to stay. You need to establish your unique web presence by having your own domain name. Your domain name is what separates you from the 120 million or so websites on the internet today.

When you are doing the do diligence for your website, do not underestimate the importance of your domain name. You may spend several hundred or several thousand dollars to develop your website, don't blow it with a free domain name.

Without a domain name no one can find your website!

Greg Greenamyer is an entrepreneur with 30 years of small business
experience including 9 years of internet marketing. Greg founded http://www.DomainNamePotential.com
an informational website focusing on the importance of domain names and proper website development.

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By Andy Greider

A website by any other name, would not be so sweet....or so says the cyber-bard. Many times when we're picking a site url, we fall prey to classic mistakes - here are the most common pieces of advice people fail to heed:

1. If you buy a .net instead of a .com - you will likely send more than 15% of your potential repeat business to the .com - often a huge competitor.

2. Not buying the .net, .org, .info, etc of your own name - to protect it on down the line. Serious online businesses should own all, and all should point to the .com. This is simple and the cost upfront is minuscule compared to the cost of lost sales on down the line. In addition, buying only the singular or plural of bikes.com or bike.com - try for both and again stop sending your clients to the competition.

3. Using a number in your domain name, such as FreeAdvice4Life.com, but not purchasing the freeadviceforlife.com address. Be sure to buy as many variations as you can afford, at least of the .com.

3. Keep it short and sweet - urls of less than 7 letters or digits work well. Others are very forgettable. Phone numbers are 7 digits for a reason - and the world isn't getting any better at paying attention to details or retention. So keep it short, keep it simple.

4. Companies often choose a name and begin to branch out to other countries with a name that doesn't translate well. Nothing worse than being an url that gains traction here and then becoming a whole new entity in another country - or finding your name insults someone's mother in another language. It is, after all, the world wide web.

5. Do not use two different names - one for your company - one for the web address. A big mistake many folks make is doing something like: Consultants R Us as the name, then CRUS.com as the web address...or worse yet - with hyphens consultants-r-us.com.

6. Be sure you aren't getting too close to the bone on a new name - or too closely emulating a trademarked name with cache value - and a large legal department. Doing so can crush a young company. Just when you gain momentum, they notice you - and you go away.

7. Coming up with a word without a current meaning and then expecting people to recall it without spending millions on new ads or finding you as clever as you did upon naming the company.

8. Forgetting that a name online has to "paint a picture" - Sam's Bikes On Main doesn't work online. Trying for something that is online oriented works much better than simply transferring a brick-n-mortar name to the internet.

9. Working on a new company name without first checking for the url availability. There is nothing worse than hitting paydirt on a great name to find out the url isn't available. Check all of them before presenting.

10. Not buying potential misspellings - especially if your web address is something easily misspelled. Most people count on the average web surfer to be a deft typist, and it simply isn't the case.

So, there are some tips on choosing an online name. For more info, please feel free to connect with me via phone at 404 516 4204 or via email at andygreider@comcast.net with "naming my website" in the subject line.

Thanks!

Andy Greider
Google Me! - and follow the link to http://www.qaliassignup.com
Entrepreneur, Marketing and Business Consultant (http://www.carrollwhite.com)
Radio Show Host, Author (http://www.uniquenessispower.com)

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By Jordi Shoman

Often times those seeking to create their own webpage with a unique domain name encounter a little difficulty when identifying a web hosting provider suitable for them. Many providers charge a hefty price for domain names and the services they provide, which are frequently inadequate. However there are numerous web hosting service providers who offer a great variety of benefits at affordable rates. One such provider that presents superior cheap rates is GoDaddy. Simply visiting GoDaddy.com just once will enable you to view the many services and advantages of hosting with GoDaddy and also browse through an abundance of available packages and domain names.

Being one of the world's largest and most popular hosts, one would expect GoDaddy to present quite an extensive array of services and options as is the case. With every single package offered by GoDaddy you get the promise of continuous monitoring, maintenance and security that has essentially made GoDaddy such a reputable and sought after provider. The world-class data center allows this provider to constantly watch over your webpage and the constant presence of a top-notch firewall serves to make your website extraordinarily secure. Along with the benefit of cheap rates and the aforementioned advantages of hosting with GoDaddy, users can also receive custom support, thus you can truly receive a remarkably accommodating service with GoDaddy.

There are a fair number of providers offering very quick setup free of charge but none like GoDaddy. Their free rapid account setup is virtually unmatched. Browsing the website one will also notice the ease with which one can find a suitable package for them and also contact GoDaddy if necessary. Finding information about building your website and web hosting in general is also quite easy on the GoDaddy webpage. What's more sections of the website actually explain how to go about performing specific tasks that you may need to carry out when building your site.

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