You own a single site, but several domains - perhaps you wanted to make sure that even if your customers misspelled your domain name they'd get to your site, or perhaps you'd like to have a specific domain name direct to a page deep within your site - whatever the case, there are some important considerations surrounding multiple domain names routing to a single site and search engine submission.
Search engines like Google and Yahoo won't always wait around for you to submit a site - Googlebot and Yahoo Slurp (which you may recognize from your server logs if your site has been up for a few weeks) are constantly running across new domain names to index. It's a good thing - unless your domain names are being forwarded incorrectly.
What constitutes an incorrect forward?
Many major domain name registrars offer a "Domain Name Forwarding" feature which, while it may be the easiest way to forward your domain, can cause some real problems when search engine spiders like Googlebot or Yahoo Slurp visit your site.
Here's what happens:
- The search engine spider pulls your domain name (usually from http://www.whois.sc/)
- The spider visits your website, using the domain name forwarded through your domain registrar
- Your domain registrar is using a Temporary Redirect (most likely because it's assumed that you'll point the domain name to a new hosting account sooner or later), frames, or other incorrect forwarding method
- The spider indexes your site
But what went wrong? Your domain name registrar did its job, and sent the spider to your actual site when it visited the domain name you registered. The spider did its job and read the content of the page or pages it found, and then incorporated them into the search engine index. Everything is copacetic, right?
When the search engine spider read the page, it associated it with your alternate domain name, the one that was supposed to be forwarding to your primary domain name. This means that the search engine has effectively tracked down what it will quickly identify as duplicate content - and, after years of dealing with sites trying to sell Viagra on the sly by duplicating their content across hundreds of pages, today's search engines will respond to duplicate content with a drop in your ranking.
Given enough time, you may find your site has been banned from the search engine index.
What's the solution?
Your domain names need to be routed from the domain name registrar to a hosting account - from the hosting account (and this varies - consult your technical support provider for the account) you'll need to set a Permanent Redirect to your main site.
A Permanent Redirect is logged as a code '301' (thence, it is often referred to as a '301 Permanent Redirect') - if you have multiple domain names which you wish to direct to a single site, it may be especially useful for you to consider a website hosting account which offers multiple add-on domains and subdomains to accommodate all the domain names you'll need to forward.
While having your main keyword in your domain name may help your site getting ranked for that particular keyword, it is not the only or most important factor to search engine optimization. High quality SEO involves several other techniques besides just optimizing your domain name. Besides you most likely want to rank for dozens of different main keyword phrases, so if your domain is your only strategy you will be greatly disappointed.
Don't get me wrong here, I'm not saying that having a specific keyword in the name of your domain won't help, I'm just saying that if this is going to be your main strategy to getting high search engine rankings then you need to rethink your SEO strategy. When I first started focusing on optimization techniques or my websites about 7 years ago, I use to think that the domain name was the most heavily weighted factor in the search algorithm of the major SE's.
Having a main keyword in your domain did actually use to be more important, but as time has progressed this factor has become less important. Think about it, some of the most popular and authoritative websites online rank number one for keywords and phrases that are not in their domain name. Amazon.com and Ebay.com just to name a couple, rank #1 for hundreds or actually even thousands of different keywords and key-phrases that are not in their name! How can this be?
Well, this is because having an important keyword in your domain name is not the most important factor to getting top position! Link popularity and longevity of a domain are two of the most important things in determining rankings. Of course the content or information on your website is a key factor also. It is the combination of many different things that help the search engines decide how your site will appear in their results.
So remember, there is more to getting #1 rankings other than a keyword rich domain name. With all this being said, having a keyword that you want to rank for in your domain will still help, but if this is your main SEO strategy, then you probably will not be successful in getting the results that you desire. Achieving the first page of Google, Yahoo, or Bing requires a lot of time and effort. Just make sure that you take that into consideration when starting your website.
Why do you need to register your domain? Well the answer to this question is pretty simple. If you are an online marketer you need to have a website. Without a domain name registration you cannot have a website. Now having a website is completely different from a blog. You cannot run a blog for promoting your products or services but you cannot conduct business through it. You can also create your website using Google ad sense. It is a feature that allows you to use free domain with Google. You will not be charged anything for this type of domain. But the Google places advertisement on your website including your home page. This is how it earns money through your website. They place advertisements and flashing graphics on your free websites. There is no harm in using a free ad sense domain but popularizing other brands on your website is something unprofessional. Imagine your website advertising for your rivals. This will divert your potential traffic towards your contender's website.
Therefore having your personal website is necessary. It will allow you to place your desired graphics and avoid all unwanted advertisements.
Domain name registration will officially provide you with a URL address that will be specifically yours and no one else is able to use it. People entering your domain name in the address bar of search engine would be directed towards your website. Once you are done with domain registration process, the next thing you need do is create your website.
The method of domain registration:
With so many internet marketers coming up with every passing day, the requirement for websites and domains to be registered has increased considerably.
The service provider market has become very competitive. Therefore, you have better chances of getting it is registered at a lower rate.
Benefits of domain registration:
When you get your domain name registered you will be able to start selling your products and services. After your domain name registration you would be able to interact with your customers on one to one basis. Also with an appropriate domain name, people would be able to find your company easily and will in turn help you make profit.
So it is also important that you pay great importance when registering your domain name because if you are selling an electronic gadget and your domain does not communicate it properly to your audience then the chances of losing your potential customers increases and probability of making your online business successful also decreases.
Therefore, you should always keep these essential points in mind. You can also approach a web development company who would help you locate a relevant domain name that would make it easier for people to locate your website. Choose short and catchy domain names so that it becomes easy for your consumers to recall it. Also do not keep it very similar to your competitor's website. This may confuse your customer and you may lose your customer to your rivals.
If you have a website then you probably have your own domain. You have registered your own domain because you want to be on your own or because you have found a nice domain name. The process of registration is simple and quick. You enter the name you want to register, contact details, pay the registration fee and the domain is yours. It will be yours until it expires or you decide to sell it.
When registering a domain you should never enter fake contact details. If you would like to have some privacy and not disclose your details then you should use domain privacy service offered at most registrars. Make sure the administrative email you have entered is valid and you can access it. You will need this email address when you would like to sell or transfer the domain. The same address will be used to remind you that your domain is about to expire.
Selling a domain can be very profitable if you are lucky to find a short and brandable name. But it can be also a painstaking process. You never know who is the person interested in your valuable asset. Anybody can use a whois service to find domain details including the registration period and your contact details. You should be extremely careful when responding to offers and payment via PayPal. You may receive the funds in advance but this does not guarantee the success of the business. For all intangible goods PayPal will return the funds to the buyer if he has raised a dispute. In such case you will loose you domain because the registrar doesn't care about what were the circumstances.
A much better way of selling it is to use a specialized transfer service where you have to pay a small fee. Here you can also list your domain and attract potential buyers. To be able to list and sell a domain you can simply enter it at one of many sell and buy services. Once the domain is listed there anybody interested in your domain can contact you and negotiate for price. The transfer of domain is simple and usually done by the company offering the service. Of course, the transfer is not free but you are assured that you will get the money for your valuable domain.
Domain names are a valuable asset. You should always have valid contact data at your registrar. Before your domain will expire you will get a reminder and you will have a lot of time to extend the registration. And when you find a opportunity to sell the domain, just go for it if the price is good. You only need to make sure that you will not transfer your valuable domain for free since there are a lot of frauds with online transactions.
Choosing a great domain name is a vital part of starting a successful web site. But sometimes it seems like all of the good ones are taken. Here are five useful tools to lead your search to a happy conclusion.
Nameboy Domain Name Generator is the industry standard of domain name suggestion. Simply give it a primary word, an optional secondary word and click Go. You'll quickly have several pages of possibilities using your desired keyword(s) in various configurations, adding common prefixes and suffixes, as well as numerous compound words you might never have thought of. Availability is shown for the top six TLDs (Top Level Domains), and when you see something you like, you can click through and grab it immediately. Highly recommended.
Domai.nr is an interesting new tool which specializes in finding and checking the availability of "domain hacks". Domain hacks are the unusual uses of sometimes exotic country code TLDs to hack together meaningful words and phrases. The best-known example is the highly successful del.icio.us, but the possibilities are many: how about chi.mp? Or cr.yp.to?
If you're really desperate, these can be combined with subdirectories to make even more words possible. For example, since my name Jason is taken in every top-level configuration, perhaps I'd consider buying ja.so and putting up ja.so/n?
OK, it's a stretch. But Domai.nr is fun to play with, and if nothing else, it may give you some ideas. The site is built with AJAX, so you receive instant, auto-complete gratification as you type.
Caveats: country codes come with varying prices, rules and in some cases residency restrictions. Also, Domainr only tells you that a domain might be available - the negative side of instant gratification is questionable accuracy. Domainr provides links through to the registrars so you can check for yourself.
Domainsbot is almost a combination of Nameboy and Domai.nr, in that it provides instant feedback via AJAX and gives suggestions like NameBoy. It provides a higher quantity (though generally lesser quality) of choices, and is a good back-up source when the others don't come through. It isn't reliable for domain availability information, so always verify this yourself with another registrar. Also, if it doesn't recognize a word, it will sometimes think you're asking for Italian or German, which grows old very quickly.
Bustaname is another combination of these concepts; it uses quick (though unreliable) AJAX availability checking, but adds another interesting twist. Instead of a list of standard English prefixes and suffixes, you provide your own list. It takes a little more brain power and a lot more time, but you can come up with some solid names - in fact, this is where I came up with the name of this site.
Caveats: Bustaname is easily overwhelmed when your search returns too many choices, and frequently chokes on its own features. Start with fewer options checked, and slowly add them. The domain availability checker is so inaccurate as to be useless. Also, they try to shoehorn you into using their preferred registrars - don't do it. If you find a good idea here, take it over to Nameboy or your favorite registrar and grab it there.
Here is how you can get traffic from an expired domain name.
Everyday hundreds of domain names expire. This could be for any of these reasons: their owners forgot to renew them in time. They lost interest in them. Or they got other domain names for their new sites. And of course, this can happen also when the owner passed away and there was nobody to carry on his or her online business.
But all expired domains are not equal. For a domain name to be useful for getting traffic and ultimately making you money, it must already have been used for a site which was getting a lots of traffic. It could have a good number of backlinks, be listed in popular search engines and directories.
The more popular the website, the more valuable would be its domain name. Because even when there is no site going with such a domain name, it is found in search engines and gets hits. So if you get such a domain name and use it to re-direct it to your site or use it for your new site, you would be getting lots of valuable hits without doing anything. And with so much traffic you can make money by affiliate sales, adsense clicks or sales of your own products. The possibilities of making money with highly optimized domain names are endless.
But there is another side to expired domain names also. For one, such a domain may be worthless if it was getting no traffic to begin with. Then it would require you to develop it as you would do a new domain. But a domain name may be dangerous for your business also. If the domain name was used for a site that was tagged as a spam site by search engines it would do more harm than good to you. If you use it the search engines wouldn't list it in their search results. Your AdSense account may also be affected by using it with such a spammy domain.
So you have to find a popular as well as clean domain name if you would like to make money from it.
Here it would be in order to know something about how you can register for a domain name that has expired.
When a domain name expires it doesn't become available for re-registration on its expiry date. There is a wait period of 40 days during which the owner can renew it. And even after this time, there is a period of about 30 days in which the domain can be renewed by the original owner at some enhanced fee. It is only after this time has passed that a domain name would become available for new registration.
Savvy webmasters who are on the lookout for valuable expired domain names backorder them before the expiry time. So it is not certain that you would get a domain name just because it has expired even if you have backordered it but your order is not the first in the queue.
To put this strategy to work you need to find sites which let you make searches for expired or about to expire domain names. You may find some such sites which are free to use but for an in-depth analysis of domain names you may have to join a site which would charge a membership fee. But a single good domain name could pay back what you invest for finding it.
For blogs, the domain name is the brand of the blog. It is therefore important to come up with a good domain name. Simply follow these 6 tips to pick your own domain name today.
1. A domain name should reflect your business - Believe it or not, there are many bloggers that use their own name as their domain name. Unless you are a celebrity, this is not recommended. First of all, it does not clear the air on what the blog is all about, and secondly, it does not help you in search engines. Although a good domain name does not necessarily have to be related to the nature of the blog, it is always recommended to do so.
2. Keep it sweet - The more memorable the name, the easier it is for people to remember. You can have the best site in the world, but if people can't remember your domain name it will cut down on your return visitors. It is hard enough to get traffic on the web without "losing" visitors that want to come back but cant find you.
3. Choose a.com - If you are debating between several different domain names, go with the.com. It's what most people think of when they are typing in a domain name. It is true the best names are gone, but you can still find a good.com if you look. Thousands of .coms expire and are released back in the market each month so there is always a steady supply of new domains coming into the market.
4. The shorter, the better - Short names are easy to type and easy to remember. They also better fit on business cards and other offline media.
5. Hyphens and numbers are bad - Although domain names can only use letters, numbers, and dashes, you should avoid it since it is hard to give your domain name verbally and falls down on being easy to remember or type.