Every
professional business should be keeping
up with the demands and needs of its customers,
if it is to survive. One of the essential
tools of any business these days is to
have a professional web site. This begins
with choosing and registering a domain
name that will clearly identify and brand
your business online for many years to
come, so you need to choose wisely.
How
to choose a domain name
1. If you want your web site to have an
added advantage in the search engines,
think of a domain name that includes keywords
visitors would search for in the main
search engines. 2.
Make a list of all the possible names
that would suit your business (i.e. isitebuild.com
contains resources for building your own
web site or getting one built). Use www.nameboy.com
for researching domain names. NameBoy
will generate domain names based on the
keywords you enter. If the dotcom name
you want is not available, create a longer
name that describes your business or use
names that include hyphens (i.e. ihost-websites.com)
3.
If possible, keep your domain name short
so it is easy to spell and easy to remember.
Take into account someone may remember
the name but forget there is a hyphen
in it – you then miss out on those
potential customers. 4.
If the dotcom name is not available, try
the other new abbreviations such as .BIZ
.US,.INFO, .TV. These are not as popular
as .COM, however you may get closer to
the name you want.
How
to register a domain name
1. Any company that sells domain names
must be registered and accredited with
iCann - The Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers (http://www.icann.org).
You can get a domain name for under $10
from Godaddy.com. Read carefully what’s
on their site as you go through the registration
process. It’s easy to inadvertently
sign up for other services you don’t
need. For
a current list of companies that are accredited
as registrars by iCann, visit Internic
(www.internic.com). Subscribe FREE to
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Name
Email
How
to Choose a Hosting Company
How
Much Hosting Space Do You Need?
Hosting
from $30/year 2.
Register your domain name in your own
name, not someone else’s. Sometimes
your host may do this for you. This could
cause you problems in the future, should
you decide to transfer your domain to
another hosting company. 3.
Renewal - you have had your site on the
Web for a year, sales are pouring in when
suddenly, your site disappears –
it won’t show up anymore! What happened?
Well, you forgot to renew your domain
name. Hopefully this will never happen
to you! When
you sign up for a new domain name, make
sure your domain name registrar will send
a reminder when your domain name is
about to expire. 4.
When asked about DNS server (domain name
system) or Name Server information, insert
your Primary Name Server and Secondary
Name Server information – ask your
future Web Hosting service for this information,
if you don’t have it handy.
What
is the DNS system?
It is the computer action of changing
domain names into numeric Internet protocol
(IP) numbers which enables computers to
locate web sites and e-mail.
If
you haven’t chosen a Web Host, then
park your domain name with your domain
name registrar (this is a temporary location
to store your domain until you are ready
to have it hosted). How
to transfer a domain name.
There may be several reasons why you would
want to transfer:
-Renewing
Domain Names
There is a good chance that you could
save money on domain name renewals by
transferring them to a different registrar.
Check out the prices from different registrars
at NewRegistrars.com. Before
renewing a domain name, make sure you
know which registrar the domain name is
actually registered with. WhoIsQuery.com
is the only WhoIs known that handles the
CORE registrars as well as the ICANN ones.
-You
parked your domain name and have now found
a Web Host to upload your site to.
-You
are not happy with the service or are
paying too much for your current web host
and want to switch to another.
1.
If you are transferring your domain name
to another web host, download (copy) all
files to your computer from your old host.
Sometimes files may be stored on your
host but not on your computer, so doing
this will ensure you downloaded the whole
site.Keep
a copy of your files on the old host,
while you transfer to another host, so
you won't experience any downtime of your
web site. 2.
Open a new hosting account.
3.
Change the DNS (domain name system) or
Name Server information on the current
domain name to the new hosting company
name servers. You can find this information
by going to the domain name registrar
(the place where you registered your domain
name).Your
domain will take some time (24-72 hours)
to propagate over the Internet, before
it appears on the new hosting company
servers. 4.
Upload all files to the new host.
5.
Amend and test your web site. Check that
all files have been uploaded from your
computer and that your web site appears
exactly as it did before. 6.
Cancel the previous hosting account when
you are satisfied with the transfer of
your domain name to the new host.
A
Great Tip for registering several domain
names. Since domain names are so cheap
these days (they used to cost $35/year),
you can afford to own several domains.
Each domain can have its own web site.
Most small sites use less than 5MB of
hosting space, so you could host several
sites for a small price. What
are the benefits of doing this?
Linking each of these web sites together
and submitting them to the search engines
will increase your sites search engine
rankings.
It will also broaden the places visitors
can access your business.
Generating
a continuous traffic flow leads to more
sales.
You have now implemented and solved one
of your crucial
marketing strategies.
==================================================
Herman Drost is a Certified Internet Webmaster
(CIW)
owner and author of iSiteBuild.com
Low Cost Hosting and Site Design
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