A great way of promoting your business, new start up, or personal website is to create a blog.

So what is a blog?

For those of you who are not internet savvy, a blog is a website where you simply post your views, pictures, memoirs, thoughts, ideas – more or less anything you want.

A blog is a great way of getting internet traffic or an audience so that you can either sell to them if you run a business, or simply pass on ideas.
Having your own blog can also be therapeutic. It is a place where you can simply write down your thoughts and publish them – be careful though.

It may not be a good idea to publish when you will be going away on holiday etc. Common sense is the way to go.

Most of us are members of social media websites now like facebook etc, so a blog can be a cool way of extending your web persona.

Facebook currently also lets you link to a site of your own by creating a fan page, so you can link your facebook page to your blog and show all your friends your new blog.

So what makes a good blog name?

Generally short and memorable is the way to go here, but how about using your own name ie bertiebrooster.com or maybe bertsblog.com.
You really want to keep the name simple and to the point. Remember if you tell someone about your blog, you want them to remember it and be able to find it on the net.

Try to avoid hyphens and numbers. Imagine in our example of Bertie telling a friend about his cool new blog and the friend asks for the domain name of which is “bertie-brooster3.com” – nobody is going to remember that.
Try and buy the .com version of the name – that currently is the number one domain extension and is easily remembered.

If you can afford it, buy as many of the same name extensions as well ie bertiebrooster.net, bertiebrooster.co.uk etc. This stops other internet users from buying these names and copying your idea.
Be creative and think outside the box. Often the most memorable domain names are really unusual and humorous such as Go Daddy, Google, Yahoo etc

Check out our advice on how to make a blog with WordPress here

To get a website name, the first thing to do is come up with a name for your website.

Try and think of a word or words that describe your business, blog or other website idea.

Let’s pretend we have a business selling widgets and we are located in the UK – suitable names for our website could be widget.com, widget.co.uk, ukwidgets.com widgets.co.uk etc

So now we have some ideas for our website, we can see if the website name is available. By the way, a website name is also called a domain name.

We don’t necessarily need to select a name that describes our business. We could alternatively think of a unique, but memorable name such as Yahoo or Amazon. Remember, if you decide to opt for finding a domain name using this approach, shorter is better and avoid using hyphens or numbers in the name.

First of all we will type our first idea – “widget” into the search box at the top of the webpage and hit the search button.

Search box

 
As you can see from the image below, widgets.com is not available. However, there is an option to to go to WHOIS, which will give us an idea of who owns the website and we can then approach that person or company and make them an offer for the name.

For the purpose of this exercise, we are not going to proceed with finding out who owns the site, we are going to find a name that is available for us to buy right now.

As you can see from the image below, the second and third ringed items suggest names that are available such as “biblewidgets.com” and “playerwidgets.com”. There are also some more expensive premium names in the third ring showing “widgetsets.com” and “widgetsource.com”

These names don’t really describe are business.

For the purpose of this exercise, we are a widget shop located in the UK, so we could try a name such as widgetshopuk.com.

We type “widgetshopuk” into the search box at the top of the page and hit return.
The seach box looks like the image below.

As you can see from the image below, widgetshopuk.com is available, so we will go ahead and place the order by hitting the “Continue to Registration” button.

Tip
You may want to consider buying some of the other domains with different extensions, so that they are taken off the market.
In our case we would want to buy “widgetshopuk.co.uk”, “widgetshopuk.net” and “widgetshopuk.org”.
This will stop our competitors from taking a similar domain name and stealing our brand.

We are then presented with form similar to the one below. It is then a simple matter of following the instructions and completing the order.
We are then the proud owner of a new website name or domain name, as it is known.

Once we have our new domain name, we will need a hosting company to load our files onto for our website, so we can add one of the options from Godaddy to add some hosting, or we can shop around and find another option.

WordPress is an excellent software tool that was originally designed to help users customize blogs. Starting out as just a little bit of code with a handful of users, WordPress has expanded to support millions of users and websites. WordPress is an Open Source project, meaning hundreds of people are working on it, making it a community project. It can be used to design a site for a large corporation, or to create a home page for your favorite pet without paying a licensing fee. WordPress offers thousands of plug-ins and themes to suit any user’s needs. There is also an idea forum, where you can see what WordPress features are soon to come (you can also make suggestions). While you can create a blog on the WordPress website, but it does not have as many flexible features as the software does. WordPress can be installed on other programs, including cPanel, which only strengthens its abilities.

As you probably know, cPanel allows users to configure and manage their domains with ease. Many web hosting companies offer cPanel as a software tool, although it can be downloaded if it is not provided for you. cPanel helps website owners to upload and manage web pages, create email accounts and back up data. In also enables the owner to view statistics about visitors, protect against viruses, and locating any problems within the site. Most importantly, cPanel allows you to install other applications, including forums, shopping carts, and blogs (including WordPress software). This step-by-step guide will help you to understand how to install WordPress on an existing cPanel account. This is done using Fantastico, cPanel’s leading auto-installer, which quickly installs any cPanel add-ons. It makes the installation process a breeze, even for computer novices.

1. Ensure that your web host supports WordPress software. If they accommodate cPanel, it is probable that they do. Most web hosts will meet minimum requirements is you have to install these programs yourself. If your web host does not, you may want to consider a hosting service that can provide cPanel as a tool. Not only does it make website management easier, it is also one of the best ways to utilize WordPress software.
2. Log in to cPanel. If your web host already has a domain dame for you, the easiest way to do this is by entering www.yoursite.com/cpanel into your web browser. You can also use an IP address that cPanel should provide for you via email. Simply enter your user name and password to log in.
3. Once logged in, you should be able to find the Fantastico icon on your homepage (it’s a cute blue happy face). It is underneath the Software/Services sections, and in newer versions of cPanel may be called Fantastico De Luxe. Clicking on it will give you a list of options.
4. Under the “Blogs” section, there should be a WordPress link (it is usually at the bottom). Clicking this link will lead you to the WordPress page, with a short description of the software. There will be a section detailing the amount of space you have available, and how much space WordPress needs. Once you have verified you have enough free space, click the “New Installation” link. This will pop up a list of information for you to fill out.
5. The first step is to configure the installation location. For the drop down menu, choose your domain under the “install on domain” option. The “install on directory” section can be left blank if you want the software installed in the root of the domain (this means it will be your site front page). If not, you can specify a section (such as www.yoursite.com/blog) of the domain you want to hold the software.
6. Next, select an admin (administrator) name and password. This will be what you use to access the functions of WordPress. It’s an extra security measure so that no one else can alter your information on WordPress, even if they have access to your cPanel account.
7. The base configuration is where you will enter the name you want displayed. You can use your full name, or a nickname you would like other users to see. You can also enter either your personal email address, or create one of your own, which Fantastico will then create for you. That way, instead of your personal or business email, you can have a specific place for WordPress-related emails.
8. Click the Install WordPress button. The software should install in a matter of seconds. The installation will tell you what updates have been made. The information will include an overview of what has been installed and where. Click the Finish Installation button to complete the setup. You will then have the option to email installation details to someone (including your personal email) or return to the overview. It will also provide a link you can bookmark in order to quickly access your administrative options.
9. Check under the Current Installations section to see and visit your WordPress site (if it is listed here then the installation was successful) via a link to the right. You can now add content, change the layout, and take advantage of all the tools WordPress has to offer.

Using Fantastico to install WordPress is one the quickest ways to install it. Both cPanel and WordPress are user-friendly, so if you run into any problems they can easily be solved. Managing a website, even a simple one, can become an overwhelming task. This is especially true for growing businesses. If you choose to manage everything on your own, cPanel and WordPress can help simplify the process. In addition to WordPress, you can install many other features to cPanel using Fantastico with ease. Not only do these features allow you to customize and manage your website, they have made the process much less confusing and difficult. Between the utilization of WordPress and cPanel, even the inexperienced website owner can create a professional, attractive, and efficient website which can meet the needs of both owner and user.

Domain Name Guide

Choosing a website name is a key step toward the early success of your business. It represents your business’s face to the online population and can make a world of difference when it comes to marketing. As such, choosing a name that is synonymous with your business or objective can be quite confusing. To avoid the bewilderment, many times people buy aged domain names. Though it can sometimes be an expensive preposition, but the advantages far outweigh the initial costs.

The Importance

The trend began when most of the commonly perceived domain names were registered and businesses in the same niche were not able to find suitable domain names. So, just like real estate, aged domain names too become a precious commodity. Here’s why it’s important:

• Well established businesses/companies have to have a domain name similar to their real world name as it is integral to proper branding strategies.
• A person is more likely to search the exact name/terms related to a niche rather than its synonyms. So, aged domains rank higher.
• Aged domains already have great quality high PR content which can serve as a platform to build a much better website.

The Advantages

The benefits attached with aged domain names are countless. Let’s discuss why you should buy one:

• Google, the most widely used search engine, ranks aged websites higher during a search query. This means you are likely to attract more eyes if you use them. Aged domains already have the natural backlink portfolio and established web traffic following.
• Aged domains are not checked with the “Google Sandbox” filter. So you start receiving real web traffic almost instantly.
• For competitive markets, it can be expensive to buy high ranking keywords. As such, an aged domain having one or two important keywords of your industry can give you an edge over the competition.
• Besides Google, other search engines like Yahoo, Altavista and Microsoft’s Bing, also give due importance to age of a domain while returning search queries.
• It can be highly beneficial if an aged domain already contains high quality SEO optimized content. This does reduces the effort and costs involved in content creation.
• Contrary to the misconception, not all aged domains are expensive. With a little research you may be able to find a domain which is suitable for your niche and is also cheaper compared to registering a new domain.

Precaution While Purchasing

• In order to get the best advantage possible, look for a website that is at least 2-3 years old. This signifies that the website has a well established track record. A 6 month old domain won’t offer much of a benefit.
• It must have a high trust value or PR. If someone registered a domain name and then waited for 2 years to sell it, then it won’t offer you any edge. Such domains are called parked domains. Just steer clear of these domains.
• Present reputation of the domain name is also an important factor. You will not only buy a domain but also inherit the good or bad reputation associated with the domain. It can take years to manage damage control and improve the reputation.
• Make sure you check the number of inbound links of the domain. A large number of quality backlinks can save you a lot of time and effort.

Weigh in all the options available to you prior to the purchase. An aged domain can quickly propel your business or objective to the heights of online world. Remember, just purchasing a domain name isn’t enough. You have to continue your SEO efforts even after that.

Domain Name Guide

Two useful tips you can implement with your own URL are domain forwarding and domain masking. “Domain forwarding”, also known as “URL redirection”, is the practice of making a website available under different names. Many people will redirect a domain for simplicity purposes, user errors, or even to promote their content under new domains. As well as there are many reasons for Domain forwarding there are also many ways to forward new users to that specific URL.

Put simply, domain forwarding is just another way of saying you will go to a different domain when you type one in. For example, if you type in “www.Gooogle.com” (notice the 3 “o’s”) into your browser, you will be forwarded to www.Google.com. Is it a different webpage? Yes. Google probably bought the domain “www.Gooogle.com” because many users will incorrectly type in the name of their website, and can easily be redirected via domain forwarding. When you forward a domain you are trying to get users who visit a certain address (like www.Gooogle.com) to go to your main website (like www.Google.com).

Reasons people might want to forward a domain range from the obvious typo-fix, to maybe a broader strategy. Some websites, like Wikipedia, forward different extensions for simplicity purposes. If you visit “www.Wikipedia.com” you will be forwarded to “www.Wikipedia.org” (the correct site). The reason the Wiki foundation does this is probably for simplicity purposes, so users can still visit Wikipedia no matter what extension they put at the end. The same would go for a website that has a complicated URL such as “www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=blah” and simplify it with a new domain like “www.example3.com”. Other sites like to promote their content under different names; perhaps a website moved to a new location, like www.example1.com has moved to www.example2.com. Example1.com will probably forward all of its traffic to example2.com so that old visitors don’t get confused about the new domain!

Ways to forward a domain are also vast. The simplest way to forward a domain would be to type “Please follow this link!” on your old URL to redirect all traffic to the new domain. A second method, that is probably easier for the average Internet user, is to do it through your domain name registrar. Go Daddy, for example, has a built in feature that can forward your domain name to a new URL. This can be very convenient for those who desire to do a domain forward, but simply don’t want to get caught up in the coding.

Domain masking is a much simpler term to explain. Imagine if you did have a complicated URL and wanted to hide that from the user, well you would use domain masking in this case. Masking is just that: it hides the domain name and presents it as another. To mask, simply go to your domain name registrar (like Go Daddy, Register.com, etc.) and select “mask URL” under your tools section. Hopefully, you will be able to choose whatever you desire as your new title instead.

Domain Name Guide

Whois: How to Find Out Who (Really) Owns a Web Site

Have you ever wanted to find out who owns a website? If you search around on their site, they might provide some contact details. However, some web sites prefer to remain more anonymous. They might not provide any contact details, or you might encounter one of those forms which sends emails without you knowing who receives it. That can be a little frustrating.

WHOIS is the Solution

There is another way to find out more information about who owns or runs any particular web site. It’s called Whois, and it is an old internet standard. Old doesn’t mean useless though. Because this particular protocol has been in place so long, it is very well established. You can do a Whois search much like doing a normal search on Google. That means it’s very easy, and you can get more than just email contacts. You can get phone numbers and mailing addresses as well.

How to use WHOIS

There are many web sites you can visit which perform Whois searches. Simply do a web search on the word “Whois.” You will find some of the top web sites that offer this look up service. GoDaddy is very popular. Once you choose one of these sites that perform Whois, you will be presented with another search box. Type the name of the web site you want to look up. Then, click on the search button. The results can sometimes come back looking a bit disorganized or jumbled. Don’t worry about that. Simply scroll down a bit further, and the contact information will usually be well organized.

Understanding the Results

Many times, you will be given a generic email address. Let’s take a look at Yahoo! for example. Here are the results.

Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale CA 94089
domainadmin@yahoo-inc.com
+1.4083493300 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +1.4083493300 end_of_the_skype_highlighting Fax: +1.4083493301

You will notice the email address is not at yahoo.com. It is at yahoo-inc.com. In fact, you will not find any web site if you try to visit yahoo-inc.com. Now, if you wanted to send them an email, you might get a reply from this email address. Normally, they would probably put you in contact with the right department because Yahoo! is such a big company. The same would probably be true of the phone number. The physical address is the real location of the company headquarters. If you needed to send any type of document to them, then this would be the place to send it.

Special Circumstances

There are some special circumstances when it comes to a Whois search. There are companies out there who will register on behalf of someone else to keep their identity private. This works much the same way as lawyers who register companies on behalf of silent partners. If you run across one of these, you will know it. Here is an example of the most commonly used company.

Domains by Proxy, Inc.
15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States
(480) 624-2599 Fax — (480) 624-2598

These are the results from doing a search on an a web site which looked like it wanted to remain anonymous. If you get this result, it’s a special circumstance. However, you will know for sure that the real person behind the website has a reason to remain anonymous.

Domain Name Guide

Simply put, domain parking occurs when an internet website address, or domain, has been purchased, but doesn’t have its own website. It may be monetized, set up to make money, or not. Monetized parked domains generally show visitors advertisements or surveys. Non-monetized domain parking occurs when a registrant simply hasn’t built a site yet or plans to flip the domain. In some situations, users may not even know that they’re visiting a parked domain, especially when relevant advertisements or a placeholder page links them to helpful information. There can be several reasons that a registrant may choose to park a domain.

They plan to build a website and want to be sure the domain is ready when the site is finished.

They’re one of a growing number of domain flippers; marketers who buy a domain and then turn around and resell it at a higher price.

They’re capitalizing on the mis-spelling of a popular website. Amazom.com did this in 2001, and was so successful that the real amazon.com ended up buying them out.

They own several domains all centered around one niche and plan to use them in the future

They own a similar domain and want to protect their website from lookalike domain names

They own a similar domain name and want to redirect visitors to their real website

They’re monetizing a parked landing page.

Some hosting companies, affiliate sales programs and other ad servers have a domain parking program that provides readers with targeted ads, sometimes based upon the words in the domain name and sometimes based on a user’s browsing history. when a user arrives on the page, they’re shown several ads that appear to be a real website. The registrant generally gets paid when users click on the ads.

If you’re planning to start your own website, consider the pros and cons of domain parking as you register. Many registrants offer discounts for multiple domain name purchases. Owning several variations of your domain name is one way you can prevent cybersquatters from making money by profiting on your idea. In addition, it can help your visitors by allowing them to access your website even when they’ve spelled the domain name wrong. Domain parking is a procedure that’s not well known, but advocates of the practice say that it’s profitable and effective.

Domain Name Guide

The “IP” in “IP Address” stands for Internet Protocol.

A domain IP address is a unique numerical tag allocated to each computer which is connected to a network and follows the Internet Protocol. The Internet Protocol is used to route data packets between networks. It is unique in nature and is usually in XXX.XX.XXX.X format. An organization named Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) allocates the global IP address allocations, which co-ordinates with many Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) to assign IP address blocks to Local Internet Registries (Internet service providers) and other entities like broadband service providers. Take any computer which is connected to a network, it will be assigned with a number which is different from the rest of the computers on that network or anywhere else.

Basically, an IP address is an “internet address. This address can be for both domains AND computers, and it basically ‘parks’ the domain on the world wide web at that particular address.

One can check a domain’s IP address by going to the websites which will show the IP address details now a days which is an easy method of knowing the IP address. One can determine the IP address by following a command like nslookup for windows or dig in the DOS environment. By the IP address one can know the Geological location, Network provider of the hosting service.

Since IP addresses are like address, when it pertains to computer IP addresses, most police departments locate criminals using the IP address when they participate in a serious social crimes i.e. terrorism, hacking etc. The IP address is some thing which nobody can change. They are various kinds of assigning an IP addresses in practice. Two important kinds of addressing of IP address are Static addressing and Dynamic addressing.

Static addressing: It is a type of assignment of IP address by a network administrator manually in which a device is having unique IP address. If a device is configured to use the same IP address every time it starts up, it is called the Static addressing.

Dynamic addressing: It means having the same IP address for many computers which are under a particular LAN or a broadband connection. Usually broadband service providers use this kind of assignment to minimize the task of assigning millions of IP addresses when they give connections.

When devices are under Dynamic addressing, they all share the same address space.

Sticky dynamic IP address: Another concept of Dynamic assigning of an IP address by broadband network providers in which the IP address cannot be changed when the device connects. It follows the Dynamic Host Control Protocol DHCP which is a computer networking protocol used by hosts.

Now having documented the IP address for a computer, let us go back to IP address for a domain. Each domain CAN be accessed by the IP address in addition to their domain name. Domains can have their IP addresses changed, only if they move to a different web host provider. This effectively changes their “address”.

In such a case, the domain name (website.com) will remain the same, but the internet protocol address will now be different. This will now remain as the new IP address unless it is changed by the web host or it is moved once again to another web service provider.

Domain Name Guide

Individuals who own domain names may or may not have considered the fact that when they purchased those names, they only received them for a certain limited period of time. Most users simply pay for a single year or two when they reserve a name, not considering that the time will soon come when they need to renew the domain name registration. Domain names can in fact be reserved for up to ten years at once. There are a variety of reasons behind why an individual would, and probably should, choose to go with a longer domain expiration period than simply the minimum amount of time. This article discusses the ins and outs of domain expiration and renewal issues.

Domains expire all the time. Keeping track of these expiration dates is in fact now possible. A one of a kind domain expiration tracking service, known as Domain Expiration Tracker, exists which keeps on top of domains that are registered and then notifies interested parties through email once the domain name is set to expire. This proves to be a very helpful application for any user who is interested in securing domain names that are presently registered, but which are nearing their relevant expiration date. Such a service includes an administration panel to manage domains, as well as an online installer.

When a domain registration approaches and then finally reaches its date of expiration, the domain name registries will not delegate the DNS servers to it any longer, and all of the domain name owner’s hosting services will stop working. The good news is that this happening does not truly signify that the user’s domain name has been erased and released. A number of domain name registries permit a grace period following the deactivation, in advance of the domain record in question being erased and released.

Still, thirty-three days following a domain name expiration, the user’s domain name will automatically be released to auction for any interested groups or individuals. After the domain has at last been erased and released, it will naturally be available for any other person or group to register it. Because of this, domain name owners have to make certain to renew their domains in a responsible time frame.

There is a big motivating factor to purchasing a longer time frame domain name expiration. Google has claimed that domain legitimacy can be effectively determined based on for how long the domain registration is good. They are well aware that domain names may be renewed and secured for as long as ten years going forward. Important and legitimate domain names would typically be paid and registered for a number of years in advance, and similarly, unimportant and illegitimate domain names are seldom utilized for a greater period than a single year. So Google has claimed that the expiration date for a given domain can be utilized as an element in considering the value and legitimacy of a domain itself, and any information and documents relevant to it as well. Since Google engineers have admitted that in excess of two hundred different and stand alone criteria are employed in the determination of what sites should be ranked where, it does not seem much of a stretch of imagination to reach the conclusion that Google does in fact attach some importance and value to length of domain name expiration in the ranking of websites.

Domain Name Guide

If you believe that you have come up with the perfect domain name for your website, but unfortunately it has already been taken – use this tip to track down the person who owns the domain.

Thankfully, you may still be able to look up who owns the domain and when their rights to the name expire. The below guide will help you figure out how that can be done.

The first thing you need to do is choose the domain name that you would like to look up; this can be of anything at all. Remember, however, that the domain name must be taken in order for this process to work or have any point to it. Once you have done so, go to a website that allows you to purchase domain names. The site godaddy.com is a popular destination for people who want to know this information, so this should be checked first. Type in the name, and then make certain to select the correct ending you need, such as .com, .biz. or .org. Then, when you are ready, click the orange “go” button.

After completing the above steps, you should then be taken to a page that tells you that the domain name is already taken. You already knew this was so, but it’s still an important step to make in order to get the information that you want. Next to the message that tells you that your domain is already owned, and above the message “View alternative results below or search again,” there should be link to click on to get more information. If you don’t see it, look for a large red circle with an x inside of it; it should be located closely next to that.

The very next page that you see should list the information that have you been seeking. The list consists of the name of the company who bought the domain, along with their address and phone number. In most cases, it will also tell you when their ownership for the domain expires. Keep in mind, however, that just because the domain is set to expire, that does not mean you will be able to take it. The owner will still have the option of renewing it before it goes back out on the market.

Another tip for finding the owner of a domain is to use WHOIS

Domain Name Guide