All you need to know about stuff related to domain names and web hosting

TAG | Domain Name

Jun/13

11

The Advantages of a UK Domain Name

When you have decided to start online business, or want a website where you can post your thoughts and your photos. The first thing you will be looking for is a web page where you can post content. To start the website of your own you will need to register a domain name. Choosing the right name you’re your business or personal website is the most important part of starting website online. The options to choose the domain name are unlimited. Before you start you must know that there are country specific suffixes which are almost like having your country flag as an emblem called ccTLD’s or country code Top Level domains. If you live in United Kingdom that your UK suffix would be a .co.uk or .co domain, which identifies your domain as UK.

The United Kingdom Internet Registration Authority regulates the hiring out of – and the usage of domains in United Kingdom and reserves these domain names according to a set of rules and regulations which are set out to determine if you have the necessary presence requirements to have a UK based domain name. In a nutshell this means the .co.uk or .co domains are reserved for people living in United Kingdom. This has the advantage of showing your clients or the visitors who visit your website, that you are registered in United Kingdom and thus have a trustworthy business.

You have to pay annual fees for your domain name that you have registered. Eventually, if you do not re-register your domain name, it will revert back to the registrar and will be on the market again after 90 days so it is important that your pay your registrar on time to avoid any hassle. You can set your account to auto-renewal, provided your funds allow you to do this. It will ensure that you do not lose years of painstaking work, which can happen if you lose your domain name due to such an oversight. Your registrar is your point of contact for all these matters.

Finding a registrar of domains in United Kingdom is best researched on the internet. Here you have all possibilities and choices at your fingertips and it is easy to secure your domain through one of the online companies that advertise the registering of domains in United Kingdom. If you are looking for a domain name registrar in UK try one DomainExpress.co.uk that offer quality domain name & web hosting services at very cheap price and have good repute in the market.

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Many web publishers will often try to buy domain names that target a particular keyword that they believe will prove profitable when they go to monetize the site in question. There are a number of ways to monetize a site, such as forms of paid ads, like AdSense, or other methods, such as affiliate sales, CPA offers, and the like, and for most of these models, having a highly optimized domain name is critical to the on-page search engine optimization (SEO) efforts that these models require. When the publisher decides to buy domain names, there are some things to consider. Right now the search engines still give extra weight to domain names that contain keywords for which the publisher might be trying to rank. Currently one of the strongest types of URLs that publishers consider when buying domain names for this method of SEO is known as an “Exact Match Domain”. That basically means that the domain is made up only of the keywords that make up the keyword phrase for which the publisher is optimizing. In other words, if someone was trying to optimize for “big blue widgets”, the domain name that that publisher would try for is “bigbluewidgets.com”. The problem with this method, however, is that if the keyword is popular, several people might be trying to optimize for it, and they all might be trying to get an “exact match domain” for it as well. One possible solution is to use different “generic top-level domains” other than a .com, such as a .net, .org, .info, and so on, which would yield “bigbluewidgets.net” or “bigbluewidgets.org” for instance, but even that approach is limited, and if the keyword is really popular, all the available top-level domains will get used up quickly. Also, additionally, while .com, .net, and .org are considered the best top-level domains for serious business and branding work, domains such as .info and so on are sometimes considered rather spammy, thus narrowing options even further. There are other ways of working around this limitation. For instance, a publisher might decide to add a value-added term to the end of the domain name as a suffix, such as “bigbluewidgetsGUIDE.com” or “bigbluewidgetsINFO.com” or whathaveyou (capitalized for clarity), but that might not always be practical, and there is still some debate as to whether the extra word and the end dilutes the strength and impact of the exact match domain. Well, there are two other effective solutions that a publisher can try, that can prove effective. The first is well known, that of putting hyphens between the words, so that “bigbluewidgets.com” becomes “big-blue-widgets.com”. While there is also some debate as to whether the hyphens dilute the EMD effectiveness, the method is generally considered to be viable. The other method is rather clever and innovative, and has tested to show good results. In essence, the publisher uses the EMD for the main keyword, but then will buy domain names with an extra, random letter added to the end of the name, so “bigbluewidgets.com” becomes “bigbluewidgetsV.com” or “bigbluewidgetsX.com” (capitalization for clarity). Here’s how this works. Google and the other search engines have very strong auto-correct qualities when it comes to working out keyword spellings and discerning string searches. In other words, among other things, Google is essentially one huge spellchecker (for lack of a better term). As such, it will assume that the errant letter at the end of the domain name (V and X in our examples) is a misspelling, and will correct for it in it’s search algorithm, treating it like what it perceives as the intended “bigbluewidgets”. You can test this for yourself. Enter a search string into Google with a purposefully misspelled word, and Google will either auto-correct for it, or provide a choice of search results with either the correct spelling or the misspelling. Likewise, it does the same thing internally when analyzing the keywords in a given domain name. Whether a publisher chooses to go this route, or try something less experimental is ultimately up to the person who will buy domain names for their sites, but definitely consider giving this a try. It has worked for a number of SEO experts in the past, and it might just prove to be the missing key to making your SEO efforts work.

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You’re probably wondering: “What does Twitter have to do with my domain name or your website content?” The simple answer is this: separate elements of your online presence should not just relate back to your business, but should relate to each other.

Each of these three things plays a different role in the success of your website and your web hosting experience.

  • Domain name is an important initial draw to the website: it sums up what the site is about.
  • Website content fleshes out what you have to offer: it fills in the details and provides useful information.
  • Twitter (and other social networking) builds the relationship: it’s a way to reach out to customers, and to let them reach out to you.

When you buy domain names (or receive free domain names from a UK hosting company, which some do offer), take a step back to make sure all of the elements of your company’s online presence will be aligned. For example, you should buy a domain name that clearly and succinctly relates to the content the website will contain. Your Twitter handle should be a close match to your domain name. And the things you Tweet about should be related to the things your website content addresses.

This may sound obvious, but you’d be surprising how many companies’ web presence are “all over the place” – be smart by thinking ahead and presenting a cohesive brand in everything you do, both online and off.

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There are two major concerns every website owner and web hosting UK customer should have about the possibility of stolen domains. First of all, you want to ensure your domain name is not stolen out from under you. Secondly, you want to make sure you do not accidentally buy a stolen domain name that actually belongs to someone else.

How can you do this? Well, let’s first look at keeping your own domain safe. Ensure that the business web hosting service you hire to buy your domain for you has your most current information associated with the domain. If you sign up with the registrar using an email you end up later cancelling or abandoning, it’s easy for someone to break into your email, request the domain password, and steal your domain name from you. Also, keep up to date with domain renewal ahead of time.

For domain names you buy, check with your business web hosting service for help on verifying the domain’s authenticity. Only buy domains from someone you know and trust (such as a reputable company). If someone appears to be less than trustworthy, they very well may be trying to sell a domain they have stolen. Be smart and thorough, though, and you should have no problem.

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Jul/10

8

All about Authority Domains

When it comes to having a successful website, the power of your domain name is an important factor. This is especially true with regards to search engines, so even if you’ve already been looking at a domain name check, don’t register a domain until you have all the facts.

Search engines factor in lots of different information when determining which sites to prioritize for a user’s query. The text you choose to register (the part that comes between “www” and “.com” or another extension) is important, but so is the extension itself. Some of these extensions have been around longer, or are simply associated with websites that have greater integrity.

When you do a domain name check in preparation to register a domain, you’ll see that you have the choice of many different domain extensions. These may come at different prices or have different domain availabilities. Here’s an overview of the most popular, and which each is appropriate for:

  • .com is popular for worldwide businesses with a global audience. This is the most common domain extension of all
  • .org is primarily used for nonprofit organisations and other charities
  • .gov cannot be purchased by the public: it is specifically for government use
  • .org.uk is for UK nonprofits, specifically and otherwise works like .org sites
  • .co.uk is the “.com” of the UK, and is the most popular domain extension for UK-based websites and businesses

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Jul/10

2

Holding On to Your Dream Domain

When you choose a domain name, it’s safe to assume that you plan to keep your website at that domain for the foreseeable future. In some cases, short term domain names may make sense, such as a website created for a one-time event or promotion. But for the most part, when you go through the domain name process, you’re hoping to keep, and to grow, that website for a good amount of time.

So the last thing you want is to lose that domain name because of an error. This can happen if you buy domain name registration for an amount of time but don’t renew when that time is up. There are a few ways to prevent losing a domain name:

  • Register for several years up front. It tends to be cheaper per year this way, and your renewal comes up less often, so there are less chances to forget to renew.
  • Sign up for automatic renewal. Some companies will offer this and will automatically charge your credit card when renewal comes up.
  • Get a web hosting provider who will worry about it for you. If you do domain name registration through your web host, it may be cheaper, and they can handle registration renewal on your behalf.

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Marking for an online business is not exactly the same as traditional marketing for a business in your community. But while the mediums are different, many of the same principles apply. In fact, the internet provides an opportunity to have an even closer marketing relationship with actual individuals than print marketing allows. Used together, they can be particularly effective.

Principals of good marketing:

  • Present a cohesive message. You want your company’s image to be clear and easy to understand. Remember, you’re not just selling a product or service; you’re selling your company.
  • Keep it fresh. This means billboards that aren’t out-of-date, and social media marketing that keeps up with the times. Stay present and active to show you have a business that is active as well.

For online marketing, everything you do is a part of your branding endeavor, even the very first step: choosing to buy a domain name. Yes, even the domain name registration matters, as your domain name will tell both site visitors and search engines what kind of website you’re running. Keep this attention to detail up within every choice you make, and you’ll be well on your way to successful online marketing of your website in no time.

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If you have written content to share, e-publishing can be a budget-friendly and environmentally-friendly way of sharing that content with the world. There are several ways to go about publishing content digitally. You can set up your own website to distribute the content yourself (by enlisting UK web hosting and domain name registration services, which are readily available). Or you can use a distribution service for e-readers and other digital content to distribute the work for you (you will be charged fees and/or commission).

The benefits of e-publishing are many:

  1. Environmental benefit. Publishing content digitally saves resources on several fronts. Most obviously, digital publishing does not require the use of paper and cardboard for the pages, cover, and binding. It also saves fuel costs that are required for shopping traditional print-copy books and magazines.
  2. Budgetary benefit. Because the internet is a pretty affordable place to set up shop, it doesn’t cost much to create a website for your e-book. In fact, many people will find web hosting that includes free domain name registration. And marketing through social media such as Twitter and Facebook is an affordable way to generate buzz without spending any money.
  3. Global audience. Because you’re not relying on access to bookstores and magazine stands, e-publishing allows you to reach out to anyone with an internet connection. Your conversion rate doesn’t even need to be that high to make a profit, thanks to digital marketing and e-publishing.

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When you set out to establish a brand new UK website for yourself, one of the first steps you’ll need to pursue is acquiring a domain name. After all, what’s the point of building a website if you don’t know what domain name it will be associated with? You want the two to correspond, so selecting a domain first is always a good idea.

When you start pursuing domain name search, you’ll have a variety of different factors to choose from. Both .com and .co.uk names will be available to you (as well as many others, including .org, .net, .mobi, .biz, and the list goes on and on). You’ll be able to choose from all sorts of different names and titles that are yet unclaimed.

But one choice you may not even be aware of when you’re doing standard domain name search is actually a choice that has a great impact on how search engine-friendly your website ends up being: the age of your domain name.

You might think that domain names don’t really ‘age’—after all, this isn’t a fine wine or cheese. It’s a combination of letters that people use to locate your website. But in reality, domain names don’t really exist until someone registers them for the first time. You could come up with a very unique name that has never been registered before, so when you register it, it then is created.

Or, you could look into buying the rights to domain name registration for an existing domain name. This means that someone already brought it into being, possibly months or (even better) years ago.

What’s The Advantage of Registering Old Domain Names?

Domain name age brings with it one key advantage: search engine weight. Search engines, and Google in particular, calculate many different factors when evaluating the strength and relevance of various UK websites and deciding which are most appropriate to provide to searchers.

Factors for search engine relevance include the content on the site, links directed to the site from external locations, the relevance of the domain name, and the age and reputation of the website itself.

When purchasing domain names, ask your web hosting UK provider to help you find some older domain names to consider. Your webmaster may even own some domain names that will be useful to you, or may have contacts with other webmasters with old domain names they are willing to sell.

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Jun/10

15

Minimize Downtime By Choosing A Reliable Web Host

Downtime is the enemy of a successful website. In this day and age, people aren’t as patient with slow-loading web pages as they were in the internet’s younger years. Now, if it takes a page any more time than a second or two to load, they know it’s not the fault of their internet provider: it’s the webpage itself.

Even worse than someone visiting a slow webpage is following a link to your site, or entering your domain name into their browser, and finding that the page is down. What does this communicate to your site visitors? In the best-case scenario, they understand about dealing with unreliable web hosting and understand that the site is probably just undergoing some routine downtime. (That’s the best case, but it’s still not good: they won’t interact with your content, make an appointment, or place any orders if they can’t access that information.)

The worst-case scenario is that they think your website has gone out of business, or that “the plug has been pulled”(as the saying goes) because you haven’t paid your bills. This is a very, very bad impression to present to potential site visitors, whether you run a business site or even just a blog to highlight your expertise.

But neither of these is a desirable scenario. The best thing is to avoid this altogether by choosing reliable web hosting in the UK before you even send your website live for the first time.

Choose a web host that meets the following criteria:

  • Up-front disclosure on uptime and downtime commitment.
  • Server space: option to upgrade as-needed, with unlimited server space available
  • Bandwidth available: unlimited is best.
  • Support: A web host or domain name company that offers round-the-clock support (both technical support and customer service) is a much better use of your money.
  • Reputation: does the host come recommended by someone you know or do business with? Are they part of a professional network or organization? Have they won awards? Are there positive reviews of their services online?

These elements all give a good indication as to how reliable your web hosting company will be. The more reliable, the better your experience will be as a customer, and the higher performing your website will be. Consider these criteria when assessing whether a web host is a good fit for you and your business. Because after all, spending some time to do your homework before you pay money is the best way to make sure that money is well spent and you don’t have to change web hosts later.

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