Domain Names

Chinese Good Cop, Bad Cop Domain Name Game

2007-11-20T11:43:00.000-08:00

Chinese Domain Registration companies are playing the Good Cop, Bad Cop Game.

Read the story about some of the Chinese Domain Name Registrars trying to force corporations into paying for protection scams. Just like the mafia has set up their little footholds into the various inner city districts, where they send out their thugs to place pressure on businesses, and then demand payment for protect from the same thugs, this is exactly what some of the Chinese are trying to do with businesses trademarks and international corporations.

Read the entire story of the attempt to Shanghai domain names from America, Australia, and others. Chinese Domain Name Scams

Top Level Domain Names List

2007-11-10T10:55:00.000-08:00

The following is a composite list of the various top level domain names. A generic top level domain name is .COM, .NET, .ORG, .INFO, .BIZ, and others. Countries have two character top level domain name codes. Domains can be registered with your company b2borb2cname.com or with a specific country code after the name. There are various rules from the different countries about who can qualify for a domain name with the particular country codes.

Top Level Domains List Domain Name Country Codes
.ac - Ascension Island .ad - Andorra .ae - United Arab Emirates .af - Afghanistan .ag - Antigua and Barbuda .ai - Anguilla .al - Albania .am - Armenia .an - Netherlands Antilles .ao - Angola .aq - Antarctica .ar - Argentina .as - American Samoa .at - Austria .au - Australia .aw - Aruba .ax - Aland Islands .az - Azerbaijan .ba - Bosnia and Herzegovina .bb - Barbados .bd - Bangladesh .be - Belgium .bf - Burkina Faso .bg - Bulgaria .bh - Bahrain .bi - Burundi .bj - Benin .bl - Saint Barthelemy .bm - Bermuda .bn - Brunei Darussalam .bo - Bolivia .br - Brazil .bs - Bahamas .bt - Bhutan .bv - Bouvet Island .bw - Botswana .by - Belarus .bz - Belize .ca - Canada .cc - Cocos (Keeling) Islands .cd - Congo, The Democratic Republic of the .cf - Central African Republic .cg - Congo, Republic of .ch - Switzerland .ci - Cote d'Ivoire .ck - Cook Islands .cl - Chile .cm - Cameroon .cn - China .co - Colombia .cr - Costa Rica .cu - Cuba .cv - Cape Verde .cx - Christmas Island .cy - Cyprus .cz - Czech Republic .de - Germany .dj - Djibouti .dk - Denmark .dm - Dominica .do - Dominican Republic .dz - Algeria .ec - Ecuador .ee - Estonia .eg - Egypt .eh - Western Sahara .er - Eritrea .es - Spain .et - Ethiopia .eu - European Union .fi - Finland .fj - Fiji .fk - Falkland Islands (Malvinas) .fm - Micronesia, Federated States of .fo - Faroe Islands .fr - France .ga - Gabon .gb - United Kingdom .gd - Grenada .ge - Georgia .gf - French Guiana .gg - Guernsey .gh - Ghana .gi - Gibraltar .gl - Greenland .gm - Gambia .gn - Guinea .gp - Guadeloupe .gq - Equatorial Guinea .gr - Greece .gs - South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands .gt - Guatemala .gu - Guam .gw - Guinea=Bissau .gy - Guyana .hk - Hong Kong .hm - Heard and McDonald Islands .hn - Honduras .hr - Croatia/Hrvatska .ht - Haiti .hu - Hungary .id - Indonesia .ie - Ireland .il - Israel .im - Isle of Man .in - India .io - British Indian Ocean Territory .iq - Iraq .ir - Iran, Islamic Republic of .is - Iceland .it - Italy .je - Jersey .jm - Jamaica .jo - Jordan .jp - Japan .ke - Kenya .kg - Kyrgyzstan .kh - Cambodia .ki - Kiribati .km - Comoros .kn - Saint Kitts and Nevis .kp - Korea, Democratic People's Republic .kr - Korea, Republic of .kw - Kuwait .ky - Cayman Islands .kz - Kazakhstan	.la - Lao People's Democratic Republic .lb - Lebanon .lc - Saint Lucia .li - Liechtenstein .lk - Sri Lanka .lr - Liberia .ls - Lesotho .lt - Lithuania .lu - Luxembourg .lv - Latvia .ly - Libyan Arab Jamahiriya .ma - Morocco .mc - Monaco .md - Moldova, Republic of .me - Montenegro .mf - Saint Martin (French part) .mg - Madagascar .mh - Marshall Islands .mk - Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of .ml - Mali .mm - Myanmar .mn - Mongolia .mo - Macao .mp - Northern Mariana Islands .mq - Martinique .mr - Mauritania .ms - Montserrat .mt - Malta .mu - Mauritius .mv - Maldives .mw - Malawi .mx - Mexico .my - Malaysia .mz - Mozambique .na - Namibia .nc - New Caledonia .ne - Niger .nf - Norfolk Island .ng - Nigeria .ni - Nicaragua .nl - Netherlands .no - Norway .np - Nepal .nr - Nauru .nu - Niue .nz - New Zealand .om - Oman .pa - Panama .pe - Peru .pf - French Polynesia .pg - Papua New Guinea .ph - Philippines .pk - Pakistan .pl - Poland .pm - Saint Pierre and Miquelon .pn - Pitcairn Island .pr - Puerto Rico .ps - Palestinian Territory, Occupied .pt - Portugal .pw - Palau .py - Paraguay .qa - Qatar .re - Reunion Island .ro - Romania .rs - Serbia .ru - Russian Federation .rw - Rwanda .sa - Saudi Arabia .sb - Solomon Islands .sc - Seychelles .sd - Sudan .se - Sweden .sg - Singapore .sh - Saint Helena .si - Slovenia .sj - Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands .sk - Slovak Republic .sl - Sierra Leone .sm - San Marino .sn - Senegal .so - Somalia .sr - Suriname .st - Sao Tome and Principe .su - Soviet Union (being phased out) .sv - El Salvador .sy - Syrian Arab Republic .sz - Swaziland .tc - Turks and Caicos Islands .td - Chad .tf - French Southern Territories .tg - Togo .th - Thailand .tj - Tajikistan .tk - Tokelau .tl - Timor=Leste .tm - Turkmenistan .tn - Tunisia .to - Tonga .tp - East Timor .tr - Turkey .tt - Trinidad and Tobago .tv - Tuvalu .tw - Taiwan .tz - Tanzania .ua - Ukraine .ug - Uganda .uk - United Kingdom .um - United States Minor Outlying Islands .us - United States .uy - Uruguay .uz - Uzbekistan .va - Holy See (Vatican City State) .vc - Saint Vincent and the Grenadines .ve - Venezuela .vg - Virgin Islands, British .vi - Virgin Islands, U.S. .vn - Vietnam .vu - Vanuatu .wf - Wallis and Futuna Islands .ws - Samoa .ye - Yemen .yt - Mayotte .yu - Yugoslavia (being phased out) .za - South Africa .zm - Zambia .zw - Zimbabwe
General Top Domain Name List
The Following Domain Names Are Open To Everyone .COM, .NET, .ORG, .INFO, .BIZ, .TV, and .WS By-the-way, .TV and .WS are small country top level domain codes, but are open to registration for anyone. Many have used the .TV and associated it with Television or online video. Additionally, many of the other country codes can be registered by outside entities. Check with any reputable registrar for specific country domain name rules and regulations for registrations. The Following Domain Names Are Industry Specific AERO (for the air-transport industry) CAT (for Catalan language and culture) COOP (for cooperatives) EDU (for educational institutions) GOV (for US Government use) INT (for international organizations) JOBS (for job recruitment) MIL (for the US Department of Defense) MOBI (for sites designed for mobile devices) MUSEUM (for museums) NAME (for individual registrations) PRO (for Accountants, lawyers, physicians, and other professionals) TRAVEL (for travel and tourism industries) The following top level domains are here or coming. ASIA (for Businesses in the Asia-Pacific region)

Businesses Take Warning About Your Domain Names From and In China!

Grabbing Your Business Domain Name

2006-12-31T15:35:00.000-08:00

Grab Your B2B or B2C Domain Name

The importance of getting your own B2B or B2C company domain name can not be overstated. Additionally, it is important to grab variations using, .net, .com, .org, .info, or others as your company gets more online exposure.

Read How We Snatched Our Domain Name

I think you will find some good insight into the world of Domain Names.

Jim

Hijacking Domain Names

2006-02-09T13:42:00.000-08:00

Interesting story is developing about certain registrars hijacking unregistered domain names.

I just registered a new domain name and was having difficulty pointing the new NS1 and NS2 Name Servers to the newly registered domain name. Name Servers (NS1, NS2, etc.) are a type of pointer that point to where the website is hosted. Apparently it takes some time once new name servers are created, for the NS1.Names and NS2. Names to propagate on the World Wide Web. So, I will have to wait a little while for the new name servers to be found before I can select the name servers in the domain name control panel area.

Now, here is where the story gets a little interesting. I decided to type in the name of the new domain name to see what comes up. Typically when someone types in a domain name that is unregistered the browser will return site not found or something like that.

When I typed in the new website and several other site variations, the browser returned a Financial Freedom Website. This seems very very strange and I wonder if this is allowed by ICANN in which an unregistered domain name be directed toward some other website.

My registrar found this very interesting also and is further checking out what is going on.

Web Marketing

Professional Web Services provides the 24/7 x 365 B2B and B2C technical and professional business sales and strategic marketing solution.

Auctioning Domain Names

2006-01-02T23:31:00.000-08:00

I just recently heard about the secondary market for auctioning old domain names

Apparently there is such a demand for the expired domain names that registrars are now setting up a place to bid. The winner of the bid gets to have it.

Now, from a standpoint of hearing that, it sounds like a good idea. However, if someone has set out to get an expiring domain name using one of the services provided by the registrars and it is somewhat of a more visible domain name, is there financial insentive to hold off giving the expired name to the company requesting it? Could some of the unethical registrars actually buy the name themselves and then place it up for auction?

Certainly there have been large companies that buy thousands of expired domain names in order to try and gather the traffic flow from these sites. Eventually this traffic flow subsides, or if it does not subside, visitors will quickly click off the website when they see it is not what they wanted. Typically these types of websites have advertisments only with many links or copied text from others. The content value dimishes with the search engines over time. So, these companies spend their dollars continually scarfing up old website domains.

I am sure there are some ethical registrars that follow proper procedures and would not try to squeeze an individual or business. There probably is a code of ethics or ICANN maybe has some sort of procedure in place to help with Auctioning Domain Names.

Professional Web Services, Inc., Internet marketing services, online advertising strategies and website branding solutions to increase Web exposure for your business. The bottom line is more sales for your B2B or B2C business.

Your Network Solutions

2005-09-21T14:25:00.000-07:00

Dealing with domain name transfers and account changes can be very difficult with some of the Domain Name Registrars.

To transfer your domain name from one registrar to another sometimes requires jumping through a number of network hoops.

Recently I received a request for help on getting their domain name renewed and updated with the correct account information and administrator on record at the place where it was registered. This particular place wanted to charge an arm and a leg to have the registration renewed. I suggested a Domain Name Transfer to a New Registrar.

Under ICANN (Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers) policies, domains can be transferred from one ICANN-accredited registrar to another by contacting the new registrar and initiating an Initial Authorization for Registrar Transfer form. Most registrars have a menu system to initiate the process. See: FAQ for Domain-Name Holders

Once this process is initiated, an email is sent to the current administrative contact with a security code (Auth-Info Code is a unique code generated on a per-domain basis) that must be entered into the process at the new location. It is imperative to have access to the old registrar in order to perform certain items to allow the transfer to go through.

One: must unlock the domain name. When the domain name is in a locked mode the name is protected from any types of transfers.

Two: must be able to receive the transfer request as the administrative contact. If you are not the Administrative Contact then you will have to either, contact the person who is, or change the administrative contact person in the control panel. If you do not have access to either of these then see: The importance of keeping your administrative contact information close to you.

Three: make sure the whois is updated. Note: updating the administrator does not necessarily change the whois data base. Network Solutions for example, makes it so that changing or adding a new administrator does not change the whois area. It takes a lot of looking around and scanning to the bottom of one of the pages to find the whois update link.

Once these criteria are meet then initiate the transfer request. Transfer requests must be allowed unless certain other items are present. Refer to the FAQ for Domain-Name Holders.

Completing the transfer can take up to five days under the ICANN rules. If difficulties arise contact your new registrar.

Bottom line

If your company has many domain names locked away for potential future use and your current registrar is charging thirty dollars or more per name, that can add up to large dollars annually. Most domains can be registered for less than eight dollars a year or additional savings if done for extended years.

My recommendation is Godaddy.com for all your domain name registration needs.

If you need assistance services in this area contact Professional Web Services for help. We offer full Internet marketing, Online advertising, and SEO services and Online solutions for the B2B and B2C industries.

Domain Name Clone

2005-06-25T23:09:00.000-07:00

Interesting story last month about Wal-Mart having a domain name URL stripped away from an individual.

In this story Wal-Mart went to the WIPO Arbitration Center.

Wal-Mart's Domain Name Battles by ZDNet's Phil Windley -- A recent decision by the WIPO Arbitration Center took the domain name walmartfacts.biz away from Jeff Milchen, a self-described Wal-Mart critic. The panel found that Milchen had "registered the name in bad faith," a term that has specific meaning under ICANN's Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). According to Evan Brown:In taking this "totality of [...]

There were four points that the arbitration panel had found that were in violation by the individual. In essence what this individual was doing was in direct conflict with ICANN policies.

Is this a watershed case? What about all the cloned url websites? How will this affect free speech? Where does free speech stop and protecting legitimate trade marks begin? Will we see more cases brought to arbitration?

PROFESSIONAL WEB SERVICES Good marketing ethics

Relevant Domain Names

2005-06-23T17:18:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a business needs to have a Second Domain Name or more names

As a business continues to expand sometimes it makes more sense to register another relevant domain name instead of placing everything under one URL. Some of the larger companies may actually have dozens of names for intellectual property, special applications and features.

Why do this?

From a practical standpoint it is much easier to compartmentalize operations as well as custom designing layouts and applications specifically tailored to each area of operation.

Additionally, as businesses grow there are probably many people with-in the organization that need to have access to various parts of websites. By providing different websites this prevents things from getting crossed up between personnel.

Even for small business, using other domain names can be beneficial for handling items such as Email marketing, online lead capture, or newsletter mailings where there are a number of hosting services that provide templates and other programs for Email marketing purposes. Other areas for consideration are blogging, Wikis, or content management for the company or customers. Instead of re-inventing the wheel it is much easier to take the software that is already available online and provided by numerous hosting companies, to establish another account with a domain name related to what you wish to do. Sure, a business could do it with a subdomain (subdomains are in front of the domain) but having a registered domain can make it easier for a client or customers to remember.

Additional insight from a marketing, advertising, and branding perspective.

It is much easier to establish a product brand by using the name in the domain. Many times a product will have great brand recognition in the media and by taking advantage of this brand recognition online can really help promote the product or service even more.

For help with Internet marketing, online advertising, and branding strategies for your business contact Professional Web Services.

Name Your Domain Name

2005-06-19T10:47:00.000-07:00

What to build a family website? Need a DBA with your sir name?

No problem.

Get Your Own Name Domain Name

Domain names are not just for businesses. It is amazing how easy it is to establish a website for personal use today. Millions of people are signing up for their very own domain name. The cost can be under ten dollars per year along with some providers even offering free hosting services.

If you do not want to pay for a registered domain name you can still establish a personal site using a free blogging service incorporating the sir name into the blog.

Personal domains are not just for personal use. Other applications for this are if you have a service related job or a salesman, and are marketing and advertising yourself, or have a DBA by your name consider having people finding you on the Internet by simply typing in your last name.

This has been an excellent way for Realtors® to be found online in their local market place from clients that know them.

Where to start?

If you are new at this start with a blog. Sign up for a free blog and try a test site. If it does not turn out the way you like simply delete the blog and start again.

When I first started, I blogged about something that was being talked about online at the time. I even did it anonymously to begin with because of concerns of online privacy issues. I kept it private up until recently. Since that first blog my concerns have somewhat subsided because in today's world simply being alive will get you in the record book somewhere. If you don't believe me, check out the birth certificates.

This was my first blog.

Another example of technical experimenting for layout, design, sales, marketing, and technology concepts can be viewed at our test blog.

If all of this sounds like it is way over your head, our team can help you with your Internet marketing and online advertising needs. Contact us today for a free Internet marketing evaluation. Above all, we will tell it like it is, and do it with style!

Internet Marketing Online Advertising Services
©

New Hosting Services

2005-04-30T22:22:00.000-07:00

It is amazing at how technology is creating a domino affect for domain hosting.

With the decrease in the price of hardware and the increase in the size of capacity of hard drives, some domain name hosting companies have some excellent deals.

An example of this is a client was able to obtain 10 gigabytes of storage and 100 gigabytes of bandwidth for less than fifteen dollars per month or less than $10.00/mth. paid annually. The plan included 10 unique domain names, an excellent control panel, and a host of other free add on features like blogging software, wiki applications, image galleries, mailing lists, content & project management apps., polls & surveys, FAQ scripts, E-commerce, unlimited email, unlimited databases, guest books, discussion boards, and a host of other features.

A reminder for anyone out there that is thinking about switching services. Do not get hooked into a situation where a provider holds you hostage to your domain name having to be registered with them. If a problem develops with a provider it can be extremely difficult to switch to another or have excessive down time of the website. In some cases old companies are not updating their equipment or technical problems can occur beyond their control.

If you are wondering which hosting company this is, before giving out a recommendation I like to get some history behind it.

For additional information related to domain names or hosting view other postings from this blog. For Internet marketing services, online advertising concepts, and a ton of excellent web resources visit us at Professional Web Services, Inc.

Help - Mail Server Problems

2005-04-01T15:40:00.000-08:00

IT stuff is a time killer

I am still pulling out my hair on trying to get my SMTP Server and IMAP/POP3 mail server functioning properly. It seems as though it functions intermittently. I have gone through tier one level support and now am on to tier two support.

Here is the scoop so far.

Two days ago, I could not turn on the function on the OSDL Linux remote server. Trouble ticket was sent. Next day it was turned on. Can now toggle.
Started adding Email boxes and verifying operation of Emails one at a time. Verified using various mail clients. Everything looked OK.
Today, mail intermittently will receive but most of the time can not send.
Verified system POP3 and SMTP mail server settings. Toggled with authorization then without. No change.
Spoke with several people at the service center. All were helpful but still no solid answers.
Sent off an email to the next level and referenced the original trouble ticket which I believe still may be a factor on the problem.
Tried rebooting the server. No change.
Tried long and short e mail login names i.e. help@domain-registration.xyz or just help. No change.
Verified DNS values. Everything looked OK there.

So now I wait.

After spending eight hours on this I am ready for a Java break. Man, what a time killer this IT stuff!

Hosting Day After Update

2005-03-31T11:03:00.000-08:00

IMAP/POP3 Server is now working!

Appears as though there was an internal issue with IMAP/POP3 Server. Could not turn on the mail services applications server. Not sure why this was occurring. Service is now running and all is green to go. Hopefully all will be stable. Time to configure mail boxes.

Host The Day After

2005-03-31T02:51:00.000-08:00

What do you do when a catastrophic failure occurs?

So, you have chosen a hosting company and have been satisfied with the service up to this point. Then, you get this little Email note that mentions there will be some service being done on the server, and there may be a small amount of down time. SMALL AMOUNT

That was the starting point. Six days latter, two dozen phone calls, dozens of emails, dealing with three different web hosting service providers, my wife asking me what the heck is going on countless times, frustration upon frustration, and finally a website back online. Not completely.

Apparently, most hosting companies do not own their own data centers. When a data center is sold with out any notice, the hosting providers that are paying rent space are then at the mercy of the new owner. If a new owner decides to move an entire data center, by truck and does not take the leased equipment with them then you are SOL. Compounding the problem was the RAID drives were not compatible at the new location servers and a large number of websites were completely down and still are.

So, I had to go back to my selection process for a new hosting company. Well, after striking out with my first selection, I went another route. Virtual dedicated. Not everything I wanted but it has huge bandwidth and lots of storage capacity.

Most everything is up, except my POP3 Email server. Problem on the server end.

Check back at this blog for an update.

Professional Web Services, Inc. net marketing, Internet advertising, and advertising copywriting.

Selecting a Hosting Service Provider

2005-03-28T13:59:00.000-08:00

How Do You Choose a Host Service Provider?
by: James A. Warholic

Once you have gone through the domain name registration process the next stage is choosing a host company. With hundreds if not thousands of hosting service providers online, it can be a frustrating task of selecting a service provider to host your domain name.

I am always the cynic when it comes to referrals online. It is so easy to make a company look great with good recommendations for different hosting providers that it is hard to filter out the good with the bad at times. Even after careful analysis and checking out forums I have come to the realization that things are not always perfect unless you are willing to pay for high redundancy.

Some key points to consider in choosing a host provider

What is their customer service response time? Can you talk to a live person? Do they provide a contact phone number? Can you get a hold of them?
How long have they been in business?
Pick a provider that does not allow obscene material.
How easy is it to navigate the control panel?
If more than one website is going to be run then consider having a reseller type account.
Check out the forums online for recommendations.
Do searches for the providers name to see what types of comments are mentioned from other websites.
Keep options open for streaming video and audio. Not all companies have this option.
Provide enough hard drive storage and bandwidth to cover your needs.
Consider the type of operating systems. Linux or Windows based. Linux based systems are generally less expensive.
Email considerations. How many email boxes will you be having? IMOP that unlimited boxes are the way to go.
Autoresponders
Email Forwarding
Are there SPAM filters and spyware blocking built in?
Online access to email or Web eMail.
Mailing Lists
Consider shopping cart software for selling items from your website.
Provide for Databases such as MYSQL Database.
Provide SSL (secure socket layer) for secure transmission of data.
Web apps for more advanced site development such as PHP and MOD_PERL.
Expansion into other forms of content delivery such as Podcasting.
Does it have the capablities for setting up blogs?
Option for dedicated IP address.
Subdomain provisions
Setting up Forums.
Bulletin Boards.
Frontpage Extensions for those that use MS Frontpage
Access to log files and web site statistics.
Consider the cost.

I place the cost aspect last. Costs range all the way from less than five dollars a month all the way to fifty dollars or more for shared hosting. Shared hosting means more than one website is place on a server. If a dedicated server is required then the starting costs are somewhere around sixty to several hundred dollars per month. A dedicated server is only used for your account. Bandwidth requirements and storage capacity is what determines the price points.

Important Notes

If a service provider loads their computers up with hundreds of clients then this will ultimately slow down the down load speed at which someone could get access to your B2B or B2C website. New domain hosting service providers are showing up continually. Do not get locked into a long term contract with any one Domain host. If a problem occurs it is much easier to switch to another service. If you are having problems right now you can always switch to the new Host before you cancel with the old. This provides for a seamless integration with no down-time for the website.

For help with your website, Internet Marketing, Advertising Online, multimedia streaming videos, and technology and professional branding services contact us: Professional Web Services.

Hold Your Domain Name Dearly

2005-03-04T15:30:00.000-08:00

The importance of keeping your administrative contact information close to you.

When a domain name is registered one of the most important details not to overlook is who the administrative contact is for the website domain name registration.

I found out first hand how difficult it is to gain control at a registrar.

This past week I had to do some detective investigation for an owner of a business that has yet to place his website online. He has owned his domain name and has paid for hosting for nearly a year without actually having the site live. Through a series of misfortunate events the employee that was asked to register the domain name was no longer working for this business.

At the time of registration the employee used an email contact to another domain that is now defunct. The employee was the only one that had access to the control panel for the domain. Now, it is close to a year later and the renewal is coming up and if something is not done soon the business is going to loose their name.

I did a whois search and tracked down the registrar. I proceeded to call the registrar and informed them of the whole story. The supervisor directed me to an important document that needed to be downloaded and filled out by the business with supporting documentation attached. Once this document is completed and returned by postal mail (not Email or FAX) it will support the legal requirements for disputes. Additional information in regard to this can be found in the UNIFORM DOMAIN NAME DISPUTE RESOLUTION POLICY at ICANN.ORG/UDRP/UDRP.HTM.

I passed this information on to the business owner and directed them through the form.

I know there are a lot of businesses that take their domain names too lightly. Maybe there is only one employee at your company that has access to all the information. What if something happened to that employee. Even trusted employees can have an untimely death. If the employee used a personal email location for the adminstrative contact that could not be accessed by others to retrive a password for a domain then you would be in the same boat as the business above.

There are a number of ways to guard against this and detailed thoughts have to be considered.

Consider having more than one person have access to all of the accounts. Of course this goes with out saying, they should be trusted employees. As a company owner myself I place this responsablity upon myself. If using employees to handle this important work then there should be set up a checks and balances system. The owner or owners of the company should be able to go in at anytime and verify what is what.

If you need help with any of this feel free to contact us at Professional Web Services.

Domain Name Registration

2004-10-17T22:24:00.000-07:00

By: James A. Warholic

What is in a domain name and how do you go about registering one for your B2B or B2C business?

It is as simple as 123 & does not take an IT services department to do it.

It may seem like a daunting task at first with all the registrars and hosting companies that can blackmail and hold you hostage into staying with them with unethical behavior. Careful considerations must also be given to B2B and B2C security when choosing a company to host a web site. Confidential info will be going through the mail servers and it is wise to consider the implications of using an ethical service provider.

First off, take a look at the suffixes and what they mean, along with some history of domain names.

For example the main ones issued are: .com, .net, .org = organization with others being .info = information, .gov = government, .edu = education, .mil = military. There are even .biz = business, .ws = website, .pro = professional (attorneys, accounts, physicians), .name = individuals, .museum = museums, and others.

Additionally there is a whole slew of country domains suffixes.
Examples:
.us = United States
.uk = United Kingdom
.au = Australia

Most of the domain names can be registered by individuals (except for some country, military, and government names). There are some guidelines for registration.

The best way to go about registration is to do it yourself. If you have an employee of your company do it make sure you understand and have access to the adminstrative area. Registration can easily be accomplished by going to a registrar and selecting the domain of your choice with the preferred suffix. I have found this to be a very simple process and at a very economical rate (less than $10.00/year). Select a registrar that gives you control to a control panel which allows you to point the domain name server (DNS) to the hosting company of your choice. In essence the DNS is a place which points to where the URL is being hosted.

There are all types of suggestions for picking the actual name, from selecting the company name or initials or picking one related to your industry. An example of this might be if one is looking to find law information or related legal professional advice on the web then it would be good to consider using legal professional in the URL. One point to consider is the URL will be tied to an email address. If is long, then the email address will also be long. This can make it very difficult for customers to contact you if you are giving them your e-mail address or the website URL over the phone.

A number of the companies for registration even have a suggestion area for other domains to the ones that are already taken. In addition, there are whois look ups where one can view the information about various domains along with additional suggested variations. If additional names are to be considered for your company, I would suggest registering the names and keep them parked. Reasons for registering other domains are to keep them from competitors or unscrupulous companies that can try to scarf off your name with similar sounding names.

Once the domain is selected and purchased it is said to be parked. That is, it is in a type of holding pattern until an actual website hosting company is selected. Once a hosting company is selected then you can go to the control panel of the registrar and point it to the hosting network. It can take 48 to 72 hours for the URL to actually be found and propagated to the hosted network. It takes time for the servers to all match up on the world wide web.

Some registrars provide a hosting service, but do not get locked into a service that says you can only host that domain name with them. A number of these types of services charge you 30 dollars or more per year, just for the domain registration and then on top of this they charge you an arm and a leg for monthly hosting. If you try to go to another hosting company they try to keep you locked into their domain registration and it makes if very difficult to extract your name to another service. If they hold you hostage, it can keep your web site off-line for a significant period of time. This would not be good for any B2B or B2C business. By keeping the registration and the hosting separate it is very easy to switch in the event of having difficulty with the host service. If this occurs, start up a new account at an ethical host and point the URL to the new service from the control panel. Once the URL has propagated then the former account can be closed. Note: Some hosting companies will offer free setups with the first month as a free enticement.

It is getting much easier to put a website together but it still takes significant time and effort to focus on the information being presented. If it is your desire to put a site together consider getting started with a web blog or weblog. Blogs are coming into the mainstream as it relates to business websites. Even CEO’s of very large companies are using blogs to share company information with the world. By using a blog, one does not have to go and register names, if you use one of the blogging services such as this one.

For help with your Internet marketing strategies contact Professional Web Services.