A scenario: Jack and Jill Accountants, LLP has a website and email addresses set up at their domain name. As the firm’s Principals and employees leave work on a Friday afternoon everything is up and running perfectly. Monday morning, however, the website is down and email isn’t working – a disastrous start to the new week. Frantic calls to the ISP and web host finally uncover the cause of the problem – an expired credit card number. 

What happened in this fictional situation? A chain of events snowballed to the point where registration for the jackandjillaccountants.com domain name was inadvertently allowed to lapse, leading to an interruption of Internet services (web site hosting and email) associated with the domain name.

Don’t let this happen to you
Domain names are simple, inexpensive yet very powerful branding tools that are fundamental to maintaining a presence on the web. This article discusses some of the ins and outs associated with registering and maintaining a domain name while avoiding some common pitfalls and complications, such as the fictional — but all too real — scenario described above.

If you’re just getting started, register your own domain (mycompanyname.com)
A domain name is an asset of your business — it belongs to you: There are some simple steps you can take when signing up for service (registering) a domain to ensure the record reflects this. Registering is a simple process and, when done correctly, will ensure that you maintain control of your address even in the event that you change website providers. Domain registration is handled by specialized firms called registrars including companies like GoDaddy, Network Solutions, Register.com, etc.

If you already have a domain make sure you actually own it!
Don’t assume anything. Go online and check using any publicly accessible WhoIs database. These records tend to be incomplete, but you can pretty much always find out who the “domain name registrar” is. The “registrar” is the company that the domain name was registered through. Once you determine this go to the registrar’s website. Each registrar will keep its own whois database. There’s usually a link to it right on the welcome page. Search it again and look at the results. Are you listed as the domain owner?

The next thing to check is the administrative contact email address. This is the single most important piece of information on your registration. Registrars will use this email address as a security measure. In order to prove that you are who you say you are you need to be able to reply to their emails. If your email address isn’t shown here then you may own the domain, but you have no real administrative control over it.

If your email address is listed, but is out of date, don’t panic. Registrars have procedures for this. You’ll just need to fax identification to prove you are who you say you are and they will reset it for you. If the email shown is someone else entirely you may have a problem.

What to do if someone else owns your domain
If you are not listed on domain name, don’t despair, it may be that a web host or other third part registered the domain in their name. Contact the company or person that set up your domain and ask them to change your records. Tell them you want to be listed as the registrant and the administrator, and you want your email address listed as the administrative contact email address. If this does not resolve the problem, you may have to consult with a lawyer with experience in such issues.

Some tips for domain name owners
Don’t mark emails from your registrar as spam. You may miss important notices about your domain name, particularly in regards to expiration and billing. Non-payment of domain fees can result in your web site and email service disappearing with no advance notice, as described above. When you change your email address always make sure you log into your domain name registrars site and make sure they have the new email. Small steps like this may save you a huge headache when the time comes to renew your name or if you should forget your password.

Auto-renewal is a great service, but remember… your domain will only auto-renew if the credit card the registrar has on file is up to date! Beware of domain name scammers. Your registrar’s competitors can access WhoIs records and they will often try to entice you into switching registrars or registering unnecessary domain names.

About The Author

Brian O’Connell builds CPA Websites for accounting firms throughout the United States. Please take a look at our growing list of CPA Website Designs to get design and content ideas for your own website.

(c) Copyright – CPASiteSolutions. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Author: Brian L. O’Connell
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Once you have decide you would like to register a domain name, you need to decide if it is the name you really want. Many websites tell you that the first step of creating a website is to purchase the name. Does it make sense to put the cart before the horse? If you register a domain name before researching the area, this is what you would be doing. If hold off for even a few days, you may find a hosting company that you can receive it free or maybe even find a better fitting name for your website.

As you plan your website, using a few of the keywords in it does make it a little easier trying to figure out a good domain name. What would happen if you registered a domain for your website you had just started planning and even though it was still a few weeks away from being live and then a week (or even a day) after you went through all the domain name registration you realized that the name is not really directed at your targeted audience and you change your whole site theme. Well now you will have to buy another one.

While you are looking for a name to register are you also looking for at different web hosting packages? I have seen countless hosting companies that you will receive a free domain for as long as you keep your hosting with them. Sometimes this is a good way, especially if you are just starting out. Give the host company time (and yourself to learn) how their system works and you may find you will stay with them.

If you purchase your name before your website is completed or close to being completed, you will have to park it. Then when you do find a web host you want to work with, you must get it transferred. This all takes time. It will not happen overnight, maybe even more than a few weeks. I am sure once you get your website completed you want to upload onto the Internet quickly. Who doesn’t? Buying it and then having to wait for it to be transferred can wear on your patience.

There are many places on the Internet that you can check to see if the domain name is available. In some of the forums and blogs I have read, some people have returned a few days later to actually register the domain and find out that someone else has already taken it. Does this happen? Sure it does, but of all the names I have checked, I have yet to have one taken from me. That is why you should have 3 or 4 names that you would like to use. If one of them is gone, the other ones could still possibly available.

Yes, buying and registering is a very easy process on the Internet. If you really have your heart set on a certain name, go ahead, register your perfect domain name. If you don’t use if for this project there may be one down the road in which you can use it, but if you are running on a tight budget you may just want to get planning, research keywords, market research and check on hosting (then receive a free one) taken care of before you open your wallet.

Julia Ponikvar is the author of http://www.createawebsitetutorial.com – helping beginners learn all the steps in website creation.

Author: Julia Ponikvar
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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One of the first things you will see when you choose a domain registrar is mention of the words Internic and ICANN. Do not let this confuse you because they are very simple to understand.

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is the system that searches through every registered domain name to make sure they have not been bought by anyone else. Another service they perform is the allocation of IP addresses for the domains. They work with web hosting services to ensure that all domains have a unique IP address.

Web hosting companies buy their IP addresses and use them to assign to customers. If the server they are using is shared, many domain names may have an IP address that is the same. The domain names must go to the IP address assigned to them and this is another aspect of ICANN. In addition, the domain registrar can be accredited. This simply means they agree to meet or exceed the standards set by ICANN.

Customers will be assured of receiving the quality and assistance they need when choosing a domain registrar that has been accredited by ICANN. Internic and ICANN are owned by the same corporation. Internic maintains a list of domain registrars that are accredited so that you may choose the one best suited for your needs. This will give customers the assurance that regulations set down by ICANN are being followed by the domain registrar.

When Internic provides domain name information to the public, the following happens. The search for a domain name is initiated, WHOIS, the server for Internic finds the name and displays the information. The domain names that are registered using an ICANN domain registrar is arranged by Internic to show the latest information WHOIS has on the name.

Should you find a domain registrar that is not performing as to the standards set down by ICANN there is a form that may be filled out for submission. Along with this there is also a form for reporting a domain name that is not correct but listed in the Internic directory.

Who is ICANN?

ICANN has headquarters in Marina del Rey, California. The corporation was originally created in 1998 to oversee jobs that were originally taken care of by IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority). This was work performed for the U.S. government. Organized under the California Non-profit Public Benefit Corporation Law, ICANN is a non-profit corporation used for “charitable and public purposes”.

There are six representatives who make up the Board of Directors. There are eight who represent the interest of the public and the President and CEO. Introducing generic top-level domains (TLDs) is one of the things ICANN has been concentrating on. Another is the preservation of the operational balance of the Internet.

What is Internic?

Internic was the first to provide information to the public about domain registrar services. This was until 1998 when ICANN took over. The website for Internic was internic.net and was run by AT&T and Network Solutions, Inc. Internic is licensed to ICANN and is a ‘registered service mark of the U.S. Department of Commerce.’

Created in 1993, the National Science Foundation created the Internet Network Information Center (Internic). The creation was to manage the assignments of addresses. The contract was awarded to three organizations. Directory and Database services were awarded to AT&T, Registration to Network Solutions and Information was awarded to General Atomics.

When it comes to web hosting services the IP addresses must match without a problem so taking care of this aspect is relegated and this is one of the tasks for which ICANN is directly responsible. If you decide to choose a domain registrar which is not an ICANN approved registrar you will probably end up paying too much for your registration. These are usually resellers and they will end up using an ICANN registrar but you are getting it resold to you so the cost will be more.

One thing you should be aware of is an authorized domain registrar is the only one allowed to access the master database supported by Internic. They are also the only ones who may make changes to the database. The web hosting service that you choose should be one that supports ICANN and Internic. In order to ensure that you receive the best service possible and the registration of the domain name you choose, using these services to ensure the name is going to be all yours is essential.

Pace Work Technologies is a web hosting company and a domain registration company offering free domain name, website builder, dedicated server, virtual private server, semi-dedicated server, website builder, php scripts, 30 days money back guarantee and 24/7 customer and technical support.

Author: Marcus Lim
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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To start a small business, you need a simple web site and also own your domain name with the cheap price for web hosting. Here I will share some tips how to choose the effective domain name that will help you to increase your online business:

1) Choose domain name with good suffix.
Currently, suffix “.com” still be the best choice for selecting domain name. For example, if you find something website and remember just only name for website stated, normally most of the internet users will type “xxxxx.com” rather than “xxxx.net”, “xxxx.biz” or “xxxx.info”.
So, the first step, the most important thing, try to obtain the name of your domain that will be ended with “.com” as far as possible to your website. But, if after you tired strive and still not successful in obtaining appropriate name to website you finished with “.com”, domain name that ended with “.net” also can be considered.

2) Choose domain name with using a short name
Domain name with the short name are more disposed to remember, and it altogether reduce possibilities error to type it. So, try to obtain the domain name as short as we can. Can please less than 13 letter (excluding suffix .com). This is because, willing the study psychology, somebody more difficult / lazy or often wrong when want to spell word that exceed 13 letters.

3) Domain name must be clear and bring purpose
Good domain name is the well-define name and can respond purpose and accurate picture of something website only by uttering / mention the domain name stated. Therefore, visitor would be simple to decide whether want to proceed or not visit your website when they see your website’s name any of the lists who was found in search engine.
For your information, the right domain name also obvious easy to remembered as a brand to market.

4) Friendly Search Engine Keyword
Whose name containing all little keyword can help you to get the better position in search engine and it will have brighter opportunity to be listed between 10 top without any effort to optimize it.
Undeniably, domain name rich with keyword also taken has the property domain name as well-defined and bring purpose. Domain name as http://webhosting.com will sure it better than use your named business with the name [http://mr-john.com] if your business actually offer service for web hosting.

5) Avoid using any number in your domain name
Please avoid using any number in choosing your domain name. This is because, domain name that having number can be misleading if it attempted to be spread to the public through the mouth to the mouth or voice(radio). This is because web sites such as http://www.web2u.com may be will be mentioned as “web to you” or “web two you” or “web too you”. In this case, please don’t make your customers hardly to remember your business.

About the Author :

By J. M. John is a freelance writer and he’s specialist in IT and doing business from home. For get other interesting articles for FREE, please visit [http://best-cheap-webhosting.blogspot.com] NOW!

Author: J. M. John
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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They always say that when choosing a domain name use keywords in it but I had to figure it out on my own because no one actually will tell you how to do it. After reading the tip about using keywords I came up with the domain tipsonhowtosavemoney.com vet the truth be told I had created a new keyword because unless somebody actually entered tipsonhowtosavemoney as one word in the search box they would not pull up my domain. I at first thought that the search engines would be able to see the words tips, save and money in my url but that isn’t the case. You have to separate the keywords with hyphens.

When my wife and I started web hosting we registered the domains coastal-georgia-hosting ,com and .net. This way anybody who searches on the words coastal or Georgia or hosting will have a good chance of pulling up our domain. In order to get higher rankings the search engines like to see the domain and the title of your site to be the same so the title on our hosting site is Coastal Georgia Hosting. People, companies, who register their company name as a domain are basically reinventing the wheel for instance Bob’s Sloppy Joes as bobssloppyjoes.com. They just invented a new keyword.

I figured that people doing a search for hosting providers have a good chance of pulling up our site. The same goes for anybody search on the word Georgia or coastal. When they do a search for both Georgia and hosting at the same time the chances that our site will show up in the results are even greater.

Some experts say not to chose too long of a domain name but I don’t buy this. If you choose a domain name that has 15 keywords in it then you have increased your chances that your domain will show up in the results of somebody doing a search on one or two of those keywords. Now if you also use your domain name in the title of your site then your chance are even great that your site will come up more often.

Jeffrey Solochek is the Purple Cow of todays writers always adding his own unique wit and humor to everything. http://www.nosugarcoating.info

Author: Jeffrey Solochek
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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