Domain Despatch

Webmasters all over the globe are anxiously anticipating the latest in domain registration. In fact, the registration of .eu domain names—European domains is expected to go quickly and anyone interested in such domain names needs to stay on top of the game in order to secure their place in the every changing Internet world. Let’s take a look at what European domains are and why they are so promising:



The new European domain registry (Eurid) opened for business on December 7, 2005 and made first offerings to Government agencies. Further, the outpouring of Government agencies scooping up .eu domains was truely phenomenal! In fact, within the first few hours of .eu domain offerings, some 80,000 applications were placed from all around Europe. Countries like Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden were submitting applications as fast as possible!



With .eu domain names already proving to be popular, remember some 80,000 application within first few hours of first day is a testament to the popularity of these new domain names, the remaining domain names are likely to disappear just as quick in phase II and III of the .eu domain registration process. On February 7, 2006, domain registrars like are expected to offer .eu to trademark businesses. Later, in April, phase III commences and offers .eu domain registration to everyone. Clearly, the most popular .eu domain names will be all but gone by April of the following year! Well almost.



All the best domains have gone from the .com and .co.uk registry, yet the .eu domain registration process gives webmasters an opportunity to, once again, get in on the best domain names available. Webmasters can get short, professional looking domain names with .eu domain registration, but only if they are quick about signing up and they don’t waste time waiting for the right moment. The moment is now—decided on a .eu domain name and visit a .eu domain registrar now, before all of the popular .eu domain names are gone.



The .eu domain names will go quickly for a number of reasons. First, the .eu is likely to be popular on the continent and amongst the newer member of the EU such as Poland. European webmasters will be racing for .eu domain names and you will miss out if you don’t sign up as soon as possible. Second, because .eu domain names afford webmasters the opportunity to get easy to remember domain names, many webmasters will be looking to get in on the opportunity to improve their web traffic and business will be looking to improve their profit margin.



During the Landrush phase on 7th April 2006 when everyone has a shot at getting a .eu domain name, it is likely that there will be tens of thousands of applications. The only way you can ensure that you will get the .eu domain name of your choosing is if you beat all of the other webmasters in your request for that domain name. It is time to start thinking about the possibilities afforded to you with a .eu domain name now and to choose your .eu domain name wisely.



There is a lot of interest in UK market. The Internet has got businesses thinking about the global market and the massive improvements such a market can give to a company’s bottom line. Thus, the rush for .eu domain names will most assuredly be a maddening process, one in which businesses from all over the globe are vying for the attentions of an international market.



Most of the main registries and resellers will be offering it and this is good news for webmasters. By visiting accredited registars you will find that their pricing for .eu domain names is highly competitive and everyone knows that when the market competes the consumer benefits. Now is the time to get that .eu domain name, while the prices for such domain names are competitive and low.



Pricing is likely to be competitive and to ensure that you get a decent price for your .eu domain registration, you need to get in on the market with a reputable domain registrar. Discountdomainsuk.com offer you the opportunity to get in on this incredible venture and reap the benefits from having a .eu domain name of your choosing at a price that you can easily afford.



Many services offering a backorder system – but there are likely to lead to disappointment. A backorder system cannot guarantee you that you will get the .eu domain name you want—in fact, if another Webmaster applies for a .eu domain registration name before you do, you are out of luck. The sooner you sign up for your .eu domain name the better—there’s no time to waste and www.discountdomainsuk.com can help you get your .eu domain name with ease.



It is important to note that there are residency criteria – so it’s only open to citizens or business established in a EU Country. Nevertheless, the domain registration will allow companies in this area to reach out to other countries and gain new audiences for their businesses.



If you want to see your EU business succeed and become as profitable as possible and by helping you find and obtain an attractive and attention grabbing .eu domain name, one that is keyword potent.

Finally, .eu domain names are technically the same as other domain names types. The big difference is their newness—because they are so new, many unique and profitable domain names are waiting to be taken. Don’t be caught at the end of the waiting list on this one—get your .eu domain name today.

By: Mark Lawson

Author

Buying an expired domain could be a risky proposition and a tough exercise, if you do not the art and skill of how to excel in expired domain search. Expired domain search is also a tedious exercise that involves sifting and searching through a big database of domain provided by your registrar. Almost all registrars maintain and make available a huge inventory of expired domains through their web site. To buy your favorite expired domain name, you will need to be very smart and agile in grabbing the name at the last minute.

However, many expired domain traders make a big blunder of choosing and buying wrong domains, which eventually leads a big monetary loss and inventory of unsold domains. Many a time, purchased expired domains may be of inferior quality and it may be very tough to dispose it off to a third party. Expired domain search is a complicated thing and involves a series of steps and actions that ensures a steady supply of great sounding domain names.

A streamlined and organized expired domain search should involve the following aspects and issues:

a) An extended search to check for the overall viability of the domain, whether its URL is top level or not. Top level domain is often very difficult to find; however, people are registering specialized domains based on their country of origin or type of business. Country level top domains seem to be the current flavor and you may wish to look for one that has few letters in its URL address.

b) Performing an expired domain search based on the perceived future commercial viability in terms of profits and rate of return over the investment. Industry estimates suggest that the average rate of return on an expired domain is in the range of about 30% to 40%; however, you may need to find a domain that has the ability to provide better yields than the normal ROI.

c) Looking through an extended inventory of expired domains could take countless number of hours, as at any given point of time, you can find more than a million domains ready for sale and purchase. Thus, to conduct a refined expired domain search as an expired domain trader, you will need to use a highly sophisticated method of surfing through the list and short listing the best among the lot.

Well organized expired domain search involves two important issues such as:

i) To identify and seek those domains that has plenty of traffic and inbound links

ii) To find and search for those domains those are easy to recall and remember.

To check the total number of back links attached to an expired domains name, you can follow this simple procedure:

On a search engine input field, use the phrase “link” before the fill domain URL and start searching for possible entries. Now, the search result will return the complete list of links attached to particular domains. For example, link: www.example.com will return a list of back links for that web site. More numbers of back links means more numbers of visitors for that web site.

Expired domain names offer a great opportunity and an exciting option for anyone who wishes to make money online. With today’s modern technology, highly sophisticated tools and innovative developments, any one can conduct an efficient expired domain search to find the best possible domain name.



By: John Khu

Author

Recently, domain registries VeriSign, Afilias, and Public Interest Registry (PIR) notified all ICANN-accredited registrars that they will be raising their wholesale prices. As a consequence, consumer domain prices will increase about 50 cents at most public domain registries such as Enom and Godaddy.com. Who has the lowest domain prices? We checked 10 different ICANN approved registrars in the US and got the following results -

Registrar, .com Price/yr, .net Price/yr:

BestBulkRegister, $7.60, $6.49

1&1, $6.99, $6.99

Estdomains, $7.19, $5.89(promo)

Domain Name Superstore, $7.85, $9.45

Hostway, $7.95, $7.95

aPlus, $8.40, $7.95

NameCheap, $9.29, $9.29

Yahoo! Domains, $9.95, $9.95

Active Domain, $9.95, $9.95

Go Daddy, $9.99, $10.99

Depending on what services you want, what extension you are looking for (.com, .net, .org, country extensions, etc.), and what domain name you wish to register, the prices will vary among registrars. The prices listed are for registering one .com and .net domain name for one year. Some registrars provide different services which means a variation in prices. For example, buying more than one domain name at a certain site can give you a special deal on prices. Some sites, such as Go Daddy, offer domain names for as low as $1.99 if you purchase a non-domain product or service from them (i.e. web hosting, SSL Certificate). Certain extensions will cost more than others, with .tm and .travel on the pricey side as you can see in the chart below. Registrars also often have sales and promotions on domains. Search around and see what services and sites best fit your needs.

The table below shows average prices for various TLDs

Extension, Average Price:

.WS, $14.11

.SH/AC/IO, $61.64

.TM, $157.53

.US, $16.24

.HK, $24.66

.INFO, $7.67

.NAME, $8.63

.WS, $14.11

.TW, $30.14

.TV, $40.55

.CC, $35.34

.MOBI, $15.48

.TRAVEL, $177.53

.ASIA, $18.95

Some sites cater specifically to those looking to buy in bulk, such as eNom and BestBulkRegister. At BestBulkRegister.com (http://www.bestbulkregister.com), you will find the lowest non-promotional price for a .net domain at $6.49 each. eNom offers different packages for those looking to resell domain names. eNom’s setup fees range from $195 to as much as $1,595 depending on the level of reselling. The sites listed above also have different prices for buying in bulk, but may not offer reselling tools and services.

Claiming and registering domain names can be inexpensive, and as the availability of domain names becomes more limited, the price of domain names on the resale market can be huge. JupiterRealEstate.com, a relatively ordinary domain name, recently sold for $17,500. Investors have taken note of the potential ROI on reselling domain names as some companies now offer financing for domain name purchases. Domain Capital, for example, claims to be “the first and only financial services company to offer financing to businesses based on the inherent and recognized value of premium domain names.” Financing is extremely helpful for those without the resources to buy high-priced domain names or a large number of domain names in bulk to resell. Scott Fish writes a good blog about reselling different types of domain names (http://www.scottfish.com/domain-prices-are-going-up-and-down/). In his article he explains his take on the market for Generic Domain Names, International Domain Names, Typo Domain Names, and other factors such as financing and the dissemination of knowledge.

Most .com domain names that have potential for high value, however, have already been registered. But there are other potential markets for investment, such as the new .asia TLD. Experts predict that the Asia-Pacific region will soon be the largest Internet market in the world, and the .asia TLD gives access and exposure to that market. As opposed to country code domains, the .asia is a TLD that gives exposure to the general region as a whole and separates country and political associations, thus making the domain generally more appealing for businesses. Prices are relatively cheap for .asia domains. BestBulkRegister (http://www.GoBBR.com), mentioned earlier, sells the .asia extension for $18.95 or less depending on volume. As such, .asia has the promise that .com’s previously had, but more knowledgeable investors and the option of financing blows the game wide open.



By: Brian

Author

Domain registration is generally very easy. In fact you can simply contact your local domain registrar and give your details like name, address, contact info and of course the name of the domain you want registered and your domain gets registered. Alternatively you can simply go online to your domain registrar’s website and if the facility is provided just fill out a simply online registration form with your name and other details and submit to register your domain. It’s as simple as that.

The problem arrives generally for most of us after the domain has been registered. We keep hearing all these words like name servers, domain pointing and forwarding, domain locking and other things which make it all a nightmare. But it is not as bad as you think. Domain management, once you understand the various aspects to it, is actually a very simply task. We look at some of the aspects in domain registration and management which you might have to go through while setting up your website.

Name Servers

Name servers are probably the most common words used after you have registered a domain. Your hosting company will tell you to change your domain name servers to their address in order for your web hosting service to function properly. So what are name servers?

To put it in simple language, name servers are the name of your server. It basically tells a domain where your website files are located so every time someone types your domain name in their browsers, the domain exactly knows where to go to show your website files – your homepage etc.

Name Servers generally look like this:

Assuming you are hosting with xyz hosting company then your name servers should generally be:

NS1.XYZ.COM

NS2.XYZ.COM

Note the NS could be followed by 3 or 4 depending on your hosting company. Your hosting company will generally provide their name servers to you when you register with them.

Domain Forwarding / Domain Redirect

Domain forwarding or also know as Domain redirect means if you have multiple domains registered and you want one of your domains to quite simply point to another domain that you have as an active website.

This technique allows you to have a single website be available under multiple domains. For example you can register your domain in both .com and .net format and then make the .net domain address forward to your .com website. That way you don’t have to spend on having two different websites hosted for each of your domain extensions.

Domain Locking

This is quite new to the world of domains but is a very important one and you should always be aware of your domain’s status – i.e. whether it is locked or unlocked.

Now, how does domain locking make a difference to you? Firstly if your domain is not locked, then malicious software or hackers have the ability to shift the domain in to their name or shift the domain’s name servers on to their web site which could cause lot of embarrassment to you. Not just that in some cases, hackers can pull the domain from your domain registrar to theirs, giving them full control of your domain.

In general you should always make sure your domain is in locked status. Of course when you need to change the domain’s name servers etc for your own use then you can unlock a domain. But always make sure moment your work is done and the name servers or any other information you are trying to change has been completed, immediately lock your domain. If you can’t lock or unlock your domain, please contact your domain registrar regarding this.



By: Lorenzo Modesto

Author

It may surprise you to know that one of the most popular questions I get asked by newcomers to internet marketing is related to buying a domain name.

Now I know if you’ve been around a little while you’re probably thinking “Buying a domain name! How hard is that? Just choose your name, click and buy!” But actually, on reflection, it can be a bit of a minefield out there…

From the minute you arrive at your preferred domain seller you’re bombarded with choices, processes and options that are designed to get you spend a deal more than, say, the $4.99 you Originally thought your shiny new domain name was going to cost you.

I decided to pop along to my local domain shop (read click on a bookmark and login) and take a look at exactly what’s on offer and whether all these add-ons and extras are totally essential.

1) OK, so the first thing I see before I even type in the domain name I want to buy is that there’s a “Sale” on certain suffixes like .com .net .org

2) I type in my domain name – domain-name-confusion.com – and click the ‘next’ button and ‘fantastic’, it’s available, but hang on… I can also buy domain-name-confusion.US .NAME .BIZ etc and many more. I can also choose from MYdomain-name-confusion, EASYdomain-name-confusion, domain-name-confusionONLINE, domain-name-confusionSTORE and myriad other combinations

3) I decide that no, I’m just going to stick to my original choice of domain-name-confusion.com and so I don’t check any of the other boxes. I proceed on to what I think is the checkout but OH NO… again I’m being asked to STOP!

Why don’t I protect my brand and increase my traffic by buying the .org .net and .info – and I’m even offered a really amazing “special price” to buy the job lot! And what’s more there’s a special box with a list of compelling reasons why I really should do this

4) No thanks, I still want to stick to my original domain-name-confusion.com so I click on the checkout button, AGAIN!

Great! We’re onto the summary page where I’m told what I’m ordering.

But WAIT! Do I want my domain name certified for an extra $2.99? Do I want email adding to my domain for an extra $1.99? Is that Complete or Deluxe, Madam? How about Hosting, Sitebuilder, a blog or even some traffic driving software? Is that Standard, Deluxe or Protected, Madam?

5) No, honestly, you’re too kind, but I simply want to buy the domain name! Click on the checkout button, AGAIN!

Phew, the checkout at last! But wait, do I want to add protection to my domain name and make it ‘private’? Do I want to add another domain name? Am I sure I don’t want the .NET OR .INFO?

Quite a marathon, huh? And, of course, when you are all wrapped up in the dream of having your own website and wanting to make it perfect from the outset, you are vulnerable to emotional suggestions. PROTECT, INCREASE, EXPAND, ATTRACT…

So let’s take a look to see if you need all these unfamiliar, but reasonable-sounding options?

Do You Need Extra Domain Suffixes?

You can register a .com domain name with several very reputable registrars for, say, $6.99/yr to $9.99/yr. Fees for registering the other possibilities, .info, .co.uk, .net, .org, .biz, .tv can range from $0.99 per year to whatever the registering company wants to charge.

But is it going to be worth it? And where do you stop with the combinations? .com, .co.uk, .info and then there’s the ‘do I add a dash ( – ) just-to-be-on-the-safe-side.com, .org, .biz’ ? I would say, probably not. The .com brand is so widely known that most people will automatically type in a .com extension on any website they are trying to find.

Private Registration

This option will keep your private details, name, physical address and email address unavailable to anyone checking the ownership of your domain on “Whois”. Internet law requires that all information about domain registration be publicly available and “Whois” maintains the databases that hold this information.

If you buy a private registration, your details will not be available to just anyone who wants to check your domain for specific ownership. There are many domain owners who don’t think this is necessary but, on the other hand, private registration can help you avoid spam, crank emails and unwanted phone calls.

It is worth bearing in mind that any emails you send from the US that are commercial in nature, like:

i) Promoting a product or affiliation

ii) Suggesting that the reader visit your sales page

iii) Offering a discount for purchasing some product

are required, by the US Can-Spam Act, to have your correct, physical mailing address visible to your email recipients and the correct email address you sent the advertisement from, so this kind of defeats the object of private registration in some ways.

Protected Registration

This form of domain registration protects you from inadvertent expiration of your domain registration, including credit card expiration, failed billing or outdated contact information. It also makes it more difficult to accomplish most malicious domain transfers by Internet predators. Effectively, your domain would be held for you until you renewed the registration.

It can cost more than $25 a year for this service, depending on who you are using for this protection. If you are a small marketing venture, selling a piece of software, an affiliate product or an ebook on a niche product, you may not need this upsell. However, if later your domain starts making lots of money, and you decide that you do need it, you can easily add it.

Business Registration

This level of domain registration keeps need-to-know information about your business in the Whois database. That information can include a map to your store, website photo, business description, phone number and links to vital pages of your website.

The vital information your customers might need to facilitate business deals with your business is visible to millions of searchers in the Whois domain name database.

Do you need it? That would depend on the nature and size of your business and your budget. This would be more of a marketing/budget decision. A small, start-up website selling one ebook would probably not need this additional service.

How Many Years Do You Need?

Every time you register a domain name, regardless of the service you choose to use for the registration, you will be offered a multi-year registration at a discount. It is up to you whether you consider this offer to be a good deal, but you might want to consider something before you do it.

Are you positive that you will still want to own the domain name after the first year? Will you still be in business in a year? Will you have graduated to a bigger, much different online business or another business entirely?

If you take a multi-year package, the registrar will get all the money up front and you will not get a refund if you change your business or drop out entirely.

Hosting On The Domain Registry Site

This is a likely time-saving upsell you will be offered when you register your domain name. It seems like it would be an easy, time-saving option to buy. Your domain and website would be in the same place.

Most Internet Marketers, if asked, would advise against doing this. Putting all your eggs in one basket means your entire business disappears if the domain registrar quits doing registrations or generally just goes out of business.

A better choice would be to find another hosting company that provides the options you need to make your website what you want it to be.

Finally…

The multitude of domain registrars on the internet will guarantee that there will be more offers to upgrade or to buy packages with various multiple options that sound fantastic on the surface. Since it’s your money at stake, it might be wise to carefully consider what you actually need right now…not a year down the line. By then your needs could be far different than anticipated originally.



By: Paula Brett

Author

Changing your domain name once your site is well-established can turn out to be a very costly venture, so the solution is to select the correct domain name right from the get-go.

DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION

Not too long ago I used to preach and practice that you should “Never register your domain name through your web hosting company however attractive the deal might appear” Why? Because in the past it was not uncommon for web hosts to react somewhat angrily to the idea of you transferring those ooooh so delicious annual registration fees to a competitor.

But times have changed, the web has matured, web hosting services have matured. Most recognize the fact that the big bucks come with providing quality service.

And what’s more some very reputable web hosting companies provide some very attractive domain registration packages coupled with hosting.

So go ahead and take advantage of those cheap domain registration/web hosting packages just as long as the hosting company is well known and reputable.

If you ever do find yourself in a domain transfer battle you can contact the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

Another thing to consider when registering your domain name is not to rely solely on your domain name register to ensure that the domain name you have in mind is available and does not infringe on someone else’s trademark rights (unless you enjoy being sued). To be doubly sure your domain name has no trademark infringement issues, after conducting a search for its availability on your domain name register’s website, you can also check at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) http://www.uspto.gov.

When registering your domain name it’s a good idea to register it for more than one year. The reason being that, other than the usual discounts you get for multi-year registrations from most domain name registers, Google (and perhaps the other search engines) consider multi-year registered domains as less likely to be spam sites. Consequently, right off the bat your site will have a search engine advantage (at least with Google), such as a shorter evaluation period in the Google Sandbox.

A final note about domain name registration; there are plenty of domain name registration companies out there, all eager and equally willing to register your new name. Domain name registration prices range from as little as $10 a year up to $35 per year and beyond. Generally there is little point in opting for the more expensive registers because you more or less get the same service. In fact some of the cheaper domain name registration companies provide better quality service.

However whatever service you use, make sure that your domain name is registered in your name. Some less scrupulous domain registration services have been known to register new domains with their own information. You can verify that your domain is registered with your particulars at: http://www.internic.net/whois.html.

THE DOMAIN NAME GAME

So what kind of domain name do you want? Do you want to pick a domain name incorporated with a targeted keyword, or do you want to take the memorable-brand route that the likes of Google, Yahoo and Amazon (to name but a few) have done with astounding success. Well, if your website is going to be business related or involved in some form of commerce it makes sense to have a well-searched-for-keyword incorporated within the domain name. The majority of online businesses are still found through search engine queries. By and large though, a good rule of thumb is to incorporate the most searched for term (for your market) in your domain name.

The shorter your domain name the more memorable it’s going to be. However you’ll discover that most one-word/two-word domain names have been snatched up already. One alternative you’ve got is to hyphenate your targeted keyword with another word. The jury is still out about hyphens though, but most seo experts concur that hyphenating a string of words makes a long domain name more search engine friendly. The downside is that when it comes to word-of-mouth dissemination most folks won’t bother including those pesky hyphens, with the resulting consequence that intended referrals to your domain could end up on your competitor’s doorstep. So as you can see, the whole process of naming your domain is a fine balancing act.

CUTESY ARTSY DOMAIN NAMES

There’s a budding artist in all of us waiting for just the right moment and place to show the world we are the new Leonardo da Vinci. Be that as it may, but naming your domain is not the place to express that inner artist. Avoid cutesy names interspersed with numbers in place of words (e.g., 4 instead of for), they’ll only confuse potential customers and torment you with heaps of regret somewhere down the road. In fact the best rule of thumb is to avoid numbers in your domain name altogether. However, if on the other hand your domain functions merely as a cyber-platform to let an uncaring world know you exist, then by all means let loose!

Bottom line, your domain name is your online identity, so try to choose something that is memorable, fares well with the search engines, and also inspires confidence and respect.

TO DOT.COM OR NOT TO DOT.COM

These days there’re more and more choices for domain name extensions. This is great news because it is getting increasingly difficult to find a good domain name ending in .com that runs under twenty letters (okay that might be a wee bit of an exaggeration but you get the point). However the drawback with using anything other than a .com extension is human nature. You see people are creatures of conditioning and habit, and given a choice of precisely similar domain names, (other than the extension) you can bet most of us will instinctively beeline for the domain name with the .com extension—Without question the .com extension is the most recognizable.

Also think twice before settling for a top level country code domain such as co.uk. Unless you are located in that region and ship primarily within the area, such a domain name could have a negative impact on your business. Think about it…a potential customer based in the U.S. or another part of the world is not going to relish the prospect of forking out a mini fortune for shipping and handling fees when they can easily find a more local competitor. In the same vein try not to regionalize your domain name (unless your business caters to a market found only within that region) because you’ll probably lose potential customers who reside elsewhere.

On a final note, if you anticipate a lot of your traffic is going to come via word-of-mouth referral, you might consider registering similar domain names and redirecting to your main url (e.g. www.africasafarizone.com and www.africansafarizone.com) before cyber-squatters (people who register domain names in hopes of selling them for a profit) get wind of your growing success and beat you to it.



By: Mugambo

Author

Expired domain market is a busy place where everyone would jostle and rush out to find their own expire domains with sense of deep conviction. In reality, buying an expired domain is not as easy as you feel it will be! There are several reasons and causes that motivate people like you and me to buy expired domain. One of the best reasons for indulging in expire domain business is its ability to provide you very lucrative profits for the money invested into the business. Here are some established tips and suggestions that will teach you how you can buy expired domain in an ever-busy market place.

Generally, all soon to get expired domains go through three phases of life:

* Expired status, when the owner of the domain in question will have 40 days of grace period, when he or she can renew the domain again by paying a standard fee

* Redemption period, when the domain enters its decisive period of shut-down and the owner of the domain may need to cough up renewal fee, along with additional penalty.

* Locked period, when the domain name in question enters the deletion phase, which is usually 5 days long. And, on the last day, the name will be officially dropped from the database between 11AM and 2PM Pacific time. Soon after this time, anyone can register for the expired domain.

With these phases of expiration cycle, how does one buy expired domain? In fact, a simple search and buy method may not work in the real sense. There are smart entrepreneurs, who use better and quicker methods to grab the domains, before you actually do. It means that you may need to use methods similar to those used by these entrepreneurs.

Experienced people who are well versed in snatching expired domains always use smart methods. One such method is the “Drop Method” that promises you good expired domains. The Drop is that unpredictable three hour time period, in which the domain gets deleted from the registrar’s database and released back into the pool. If you feel that you can buy expired domain during the dropping process is very easy, you are sadly mistaken and confused. There are no fewer than three or four major services that specialize in snatching away all the good names that become available for sale.

To buy expired domain from a large pool of domains, you may wish to enlist the services on three major domain trading firms, so that you can hope that they will grab a domain name on your behalf. Three main expired domain name trading firms are:

* Snapnames.com,

* Enom.com, and

* Pool.com

All these three forms act and operate in a similar manner. They always use a network of registrars to aim at the ICAAN servers at frequent intervals and grab as many names as possible. As a normal rule, if you do not get your desired name, you will not pay a cent to them. All the three forms operate in slightly different ways and manner.

Another common way to buy expired domain is to approach the soon-to-expire domain owner and ask, if they can transfer the domain name to your name. Yet, another way is to participate in a regular domain auction and buy an expired domain at a very high price. Whatever the way you chose, your main goal should be picking a good and decent domain at an affordable price; to buy expired domain name from the open market, you will also need to know how domain trading business works and operates in the real sense.



By: John Khu

Author

Every day hundreds of domain names become expired and become owner-less due to some reasons. An expired domain that is useless for someone may become usable and beneficial for others! An expired domain can offer several unique advantages and benefits for the person who uses it. Right now, increasing numbers of people are flocking together to own expired domains just to create a huge wealth and unlimited profits out of them. Intelligent and smart entrepreneurs are also using an expired domain as a tool to expand their online business operations and functions.

What exactly is an expired domain? There are several explanations that define what an expired domain really is. However, in simple terms an expired domain is a domain, already used by its previous owner, but abandoned and left orphaned due to some unknown reasons. Similarly, an expired domain name is not used currently by anyone. It could also be termed as a domain that is quickly approaching its renewal date. In other words, it could also be termed as “soon to be expired” domain name, while a domain that is past its fixed renewal date without the renewal subscription fees paid out is termed “an expired domain”.

In real terms, an expired domain could be anything in its nature like:

- It could have been a well-developed web site in its previous avatar.

- It could have been a web site that was well promoted and advertised by the previous owner.

- It could have been a well placed web site in the most popular search engines.

- It could have also been actively linked to different web sites and directories.

- It could have also been associated with a number of business deals and partnerships.

- It could have also been the big compendium of plenty of reciprocal links attached to it.

- It could have also been a web site that changed several ownerships in the previous months.

A domain can become expired due to several reasons and factors like:

- Lack of cash resources to run and manage the web site

- Lack of required funds to renew the domain name

- Wrong and invalid email addresses that can result in bounced mails.

- The owner loosing interest in the web site itself.

- A domain can also expire as a result of business closures and shutdowns.

- Sheer lack of knowledge and ignorance about the real value of domains

- Unknowingly forgetting to renew the domain name.

The overall control or ownership or dominance of a particular web domain is granted only for a limited period of time of one to two years. However, the ownership also comes with certain critical riders like:

- The owner will follow the right and prescribed registration procedures

- The owner will pay the prescribed renewal fees on time and within the fixed deadline.

By chance, if the owner of the domain either declines or forgets to pay the prescribed renewal fees within the deadline, the said domain will soon expire and become an expired domain. Once a domain becomes expired, it will soon go back to the pool of unregistered domain names; eventually, such a domain will be announced for open sale or auction to the general public. Though, subscribers register their domain names for one or two years, it is also possible to retain the ownership of the domain name for a period of two years or more. For such a lengthy period of registration, one can avail a generous amount of discounts and rebates for the domain name of choice.

An expired domain could be your goldmine of excellent business opportunities and chances. One of the biggest benefits of owning or buying an expired domain name is its capacity to set up a source of constant income. If you are looking for a viable business opportunity or if you have been searching for increased web traffic or when you want to sell your domain for a sustained profit, then an expired domain could the timely answer!



By: John Khu

Author

Choosing your own domain name is very important and can be critical to your success as a network marketer. Take your time and choose the right one.

Why is it important for you to choose a domain name you are happy with? You need to realize that once you start your business and/or have a lot of customers you will not be able to change your domain name. If you do you will lose all of the advertising exposure for the previous domain name and you will look unprofessional to all your customers.

To set up a domain name you need to find a domain hosting company. There are plenty of hosting companies you can find on the internet and buying your own domain name is not very expensive. You can usually buy domains for $5-$10 a piece, per year.

“Mike’s domain registration rules:” Rule #1: keep it simple. You want to find a domain name that is easy to say, easy to spell, and easy to remember. This is not optional. If you can’t find an address that fits all three of these qualifications, keep looking.

If you are giving your website address to someone over the phone or to a group on a conference call, there can be no room for misinterpretation or spelling errors which means you need to follow the next piece of advice.

Rule #2: Register plural and hyphenated versions. You want to register all plural and hyphened versions of your domain name of choice in order to capture anyone who might misspell the name, and to protect yourself from competition who will intentionally register any domains similar to yours.

Now this is not going to matter much if you are just a tiny fish in the big internet pond and you are aren’t promoting yourself in a massive way. But if you ever start to brand yourself and that domain name, then you need to follow these suggestions.

I recently started a project on creating lead generating capture pages, so the very first thing I did was register several possible domain names for it. (The hyphened and plural versions of each name).

Do not leave a door wide open for a competitor to leech visitors and customers through a similar domain name. You can bet that if I had not registered a hyphenated version of my domain name right after registering my real domain name a cyber squatter would have bought it and would have then owned a very valuable piece of internet real estate. (And he’d probably have a law-suit on his hands).

Always remember that entrepreneurs are opportunistic people by nature. Just do it right the first time and you won’t have to worry about any of these issues.

Rule #3: Use the top “key words” In the domain itself. (But not every time. I will explain why in Rule #5). Search engines give high relevance to sites with top key words in the domain name itself, and a higher relevance for .com names over any of the other extensions like .net .biz . org or .info.

So how do you find the right key words to use? Head to a search engine and go to the resources page for current advertisers, and click on the link for key word selector tool. (Most, but not all, search engines have a tool like this).

Type in a common search term for your category or product or service. Example: If I type “capture pages,” it brings back the following results: The top result is “lead capture pages,” so I would want to try and register something with the words “lead” and “capture,” right in the domain name itself.

NOTE: If the .com version of your preferred domain is unavailable, choose another. You want to have the .com address, because that is what your visitors will automatically type in when going by memory. And if they do not, many will type it in just out of curiosity, and if it is owned by a competitor, you are in trouble.

Rule #4: pay attention to phonics when purchasing a domain name. Try not to use numbers unless you can purchase both the numerical and alphabetical names. If you can find a domain name with both listings available, then go for it.

Rule #5: Register a “generic” domain name that can be used to promote anything now and in the future. Choosing a generic domain name can be very important when generating leads if you are a network marketer. 99% of the time, you do not want to have the name of your company or product in the domain name because your capture page is not going to be promoting your company, it will be promoting you or your business team.

Why? Because I want to keep control of what my prospects see and when. I want to keep control of the presentation of my business and the timeline in which it takes place. My prospect does not know what company I am with until I tell them. They cannot look at my network marketing opportunity website until I give it to them.

Most network marketers will register a domain name with their company name in it, but what if you change companies? What if you decide to leave your vitamin company and decided to sell products for another natural health company? What are you going to do with an email address (that everyone now knows, with your company name in it) when you change companies?

That is why you always register a generic domain name to use for your email correspondence that you can keep forever, no matter what kind of business you decide to build.

I chose a very generic domain name for my first website for this reason: Once you have a generic domain, you can always register another one for your specific opportunity that you can give to your prospects when the time is right. I have purchased over 100 domains in the last year alone. It is like owning cyber real estate.

This is probably going to be a very frustrating process for you if this is your first time

registering a domain name. Why? Because you will soon find out that 19 out of 20 domain names you think of will already be taken. Coming up with something generic is pretty easy though.

Here are a few ideas: Use your name in combination with an extension, like “LLC” or “Inc.” Think of a company name, or “Doing Business As”, name. Once again, keep these three rules in mind; easy to say, easy to spell, and easy to remember. If your last name happens to be Leibowitz, then pick something else!

Rule #6: You want to buy the .com, net, and .biz versions of each domain you choose. When coming out with a new product I might end up buying a total of 15 a domain names: each with a different “.” ending.

You get the idea. Purchasing this many domain names for one project is not necessary, just recommended. So go ahead and make your purchase, but do not buy any of the other services your registration company will want to sell you like traffic generation, search engine submission, etc. You do not need those.

All you need are the domain names, and a basic hosting account which you can set up with any of the many hosting companies.

Start with the domain search box. You will get to know this one well as you search for a name that is actually available. Continue to search until you find a name that meets all of the criteria we have discussed today.

Once you find a name that works, choose to register the .com, .biz, and .info names. Go ahead and start the check out process. Skip all of the extra services they will try and sell you. You do not need them.

I only register my domains for one year at a time to keep costs down. They will automatically renew each year as long as your credit card on file is current. If it is not, your hosting company will notify you.

Congrats! You now own your very first domain name!



By: Mike Dillard

Author

Domain trading professionals, who are in possession of a series of domains names, make it a habit to dispose them off by using a number of techniques and strategies. Expired domain auctioning is probably the most lucrative, attractive, profitable and simple method of selling domain names. Auctioning is an interesting option for people who wish to double or even treble the asking price and earn a hefty amount of profit as a result. Expired domain auctioning is a process of offering good domain names to the highest bidder in a fiercely contested auctioning process.

Expired domain auctioning is an internationally accepted form of selling good expired domains, where a domain trader will offer appealing expired domains to interested bidders. If you have good domains in your possession, you can try out this method to make some extra money. Several factors and parameters affect expired domain auctioning and you may consider auctioning under the following conditions:

1)How good and appealing your expired domains are? Do you feel that they can help the person who buys them at an inflated price?

2)Do you have an appraisal study carried out on the domains auctioned by you? Appraisal studies will help add a real value to your expired domains because a typical appraisal study provides sensitive information on the real worthiness of domain, its history, previous activities, and traffic, if any.

3)Do you feel that you are offering a domain that can help the buyer to flip it into a viable web site?

Expired domain auctioning is an intelligent game, where you will be promoting your domain to thousands of domain buyers, who always make it a point to buy only the best among the lot. Before putting your domains under auction, you may also wish to conduct a detailed research on the feasibility of selling the expired domain apart from studying the market place, how buyers act and behave, and understand different extraneous forces that influence the general mood of the market.

Many web portals help both the seller and buyers of expired domain names to transact in a very safe and secure ambience. Some of the well-known expired domain web portals are:

a) Pool

b) Snapnames

c) Enom

d) Namewinner

One of the best-known expired domain auctioning sites for your expired domain names is eBay Inc. This is a busy online auctioning place where thousands of people jostle for a breathing space and a firm foothold. E Bay is a great web portal that offers a special and innovative process that permits people to sell domains in a highly competitive and rigorously active auction process. The entire auctioning process is highly efficient and completely automated to provide a trouble free auctioning experience to both the buyer and seller. The highest bidder for the domain will have to honor the agreement by paying the bid money.

However, you may have to follow and obey a number of clauses and regulations before auctioning the domain for sale. The expired domain that you wish to sell should be top class and must carry a high value with them. Three or four lettered domain names could fetch you very good bid value, because they are the current hot favorite items in the market. Interested parties may also ask you to provide an appraisal report on the domain on sale.

Several enterprising expired domain auctioning web portals allow you to sell your domains through an elaborate auctioning process. Sites like Afternic or Sedo or GreatDomains provide a highly accomplished auctioning process using which you can dispose of your extra stock of domains in exchange for a small commission payable to the web portals. It is quite possible to sell your domain names to large business enterprises and corporations, who keep looking for very good domains. However, ensure that you are violating some other’s copyrights and trademarks. Expired domain auctioning is a very lucrative process of getting rid of your excessive domain stock, and with luck you can reap a rich harvest provided you have the right set of domains.



By: John Khu

Author