WARNING...
This information affects your future on the Internet.
There is a secret war going on over the rights to your Domain Name. Your Domain Name rights are currently being ripped off by the major Domain Name registration giants. This rip-off is affecting your Domain rights NOW!
Your Domain Name can become a casualty of the Domain Name Registrars Renewal War. Reading this article and understanding your Domain Name rights can prevent you from losing your Domain Name altogether, and can at least save you about 50% on your Domain Name renewal.
This is real and it is scary. As to not mislead you, I am Tag Powell, CEO of DomainNameVault.com, and I have been drafted into this battle against my will. DomainNameVault.com and our service Renew-Your-Domain-Name.com is on one side of this war. We do have a vested interest in this battles outcome.
First, let me give you the short background story to get you up to speed.
Until a couple of years ago ALL Domain Names had been registered and managed by one company, Network Solutions. Network Solutions made billions of dollars on this market for years. All .COM, .ORG, .NET Domains were held in one master database exclusively under their control. They, as a monopoly, could charge anything they desired. Originally they charged $50.00 per year (two year minimum). Then after registering millions of Domains and fielding massive complaints of over-charging, they graciously reduced the fee to $35.00 per year (two year minimum).
For the first few years, Network Solutions did a good job, but as the Internet mushroomed the database problems grew. Hackers entered the database and caused problems. Domain ownerships were illegally changed. Other Domain Names were rerouted to open to other companies. Domain Name security became a joke. Trying to get through to Network Solutions was a nightmare, getting email answered took weeks and they were often ignored completely, and getting through by phone took days. We speak from experience as we have been assisting Domain registrations since 1995. We helped Network Solutions register many hundreds of thousands Domain Names.
By the way, it still could take hours today to get a phone answer from Network Solutions.
A couple of years ago the government, after many public complaints, broke up the monopoly to exclusively register and renew Domain Names in to the master database. This gave the public, for the first time, the right to chose who would manage their Domain Name.
New rules allowed applications from other companies to manage new Domain Name registration and renewals into the master database. After a serious background check and a lot of money some of these companies (over a hundred to date) are allowed to become registrars, and are able to add and subtract Domain information to the master database.
This new ruling allowed our company to put Domain info in and take information out of that master database for our clients, and we are also allowed to set our own prices for this service.
(Instead of the Network Solutions charge of $35.00 (per year) for .COM, .ORG, .NET Domains and $55.00 for .BIZ and .INFO Domains, our fee is only $19.95 per year for all extensions.)
Shortly after the breakup Network Solutions was sold to VeriSign Corp., a giant multi-conglomerate. At this point their policies seem to have degraded to several quasi legal processes. I can only suppose that suddenly VeriSign must have become aware that millions of their clients (the same clients they had paid big bucks to collect the yearly fees from) were transferring (renewing) through other registrars. This will cost them millions.
VeriSign filed a complaint with ICANN, the official ruling body over Domain Names, that the competition (they named Register.com and our partner Tucows) was "slamming" and stealing Domain Name management against the will of the public. "Slamming" as you may know is an expression of the illegal process of switching telephone companies without the permission of the customer.
Please note, although I am sure that "slamming" is probably taking place in this industry, I know of NO case where this is true. Certainly "slamming" is NOT being done by our partner Tucows and probably not by Register.com. Network Solutions case (complaint) was based on a survey they did of clients requesting Domain Name transfers for renewal.
They sent an email message informing the Domain Name owners (you) that your Domain Name was being (stolen) transferred away; they could lose their rights to their Domain; and did they request a transfer to an unknown party? Most of the public had no idea who was Network Solutions or who held management of their Domain Name. Out of fear and misunderstanding of the message, most said they did not know that their Domain Name was being transferred to another party.
To prevent this mass exodus Network Solutions seems to have develop several quasi legal techniques: put off the renewal process until the name is close to expiration, they can then legally lock up the Domain and prevent you from transferring away from their control.
They do this, by at least two ways we know. When Network Solutions receives the notice of transfer, they...
1. Sent a notice that someone is trying to transfer your name.
You will get the feeling that someone is trying to steal your Domain. This frightens most people who respond to not approve of the transfer (or do they nothing). Network Solutions then sends an email telling the renewing registration company that the Domain owner refused to reply (timed out) and the transfer was canceled.
2. Somehow dont send the required notices. They say they did not receive an answer and lock up the name. The Domain Name owner must now quickly renew with them or the Domain Name goes up for resale.
This is borderline honest but... YES, the plot thickens.
When a Domain Name nears renewal time Network Solutions will lock up the Domain Name and not transfer it. If a transfer has been requested, using one of the above rip-off techniques, Network Solutions denies the transfer. Then they will quickly immediately after the expiration date, offer the Domain Name for resale on one of their many sites. If they can not sell the name (after an unknown time) the Domain Name will then be available to the general public.
This problem swells when somehow the Domain owner requesting a transfer does not receive notice. Without notification their name can be resold to a third party. Bam... the total rights to their Name belongs to the third party. Although this is legal, it is not fair. We have seen this happen several times. They seem to only cancel quickly if a transfer has been requested. We have seen expired Domain Names sit for as much as four months before cancellation.
There are several other nasty quasi legal tricks being performed by Network Solutions. We will get into these at another time.
Our partners, Tucows, have filed an official complaint to the governing body, ICANN, against Network Solutions for these and other borderline practices but it will take months before this is resolved.
The Bottom Line.
You have the right to chose who manages your Domain Name in the master database. You can reduce the yearly cost of your Domain Names by 50%, but you should renew at least a month before expiration date. In fact, you can renew at any time with no loss and the renewal is added to your current expiration date. You can renew a year or two years in advance with no loss of time. A month before expiration date will give you time to get by the tricks of Network Solutions. Do not wait, if your Domain expires in a week, it is too late to transfer. You can pay Network Solutions for one year only. They will try to get you to renew for two years. You can then choose a new registrar and get your Domain Name management moved.
Blatant Plug...
Of course, there are benefits with going with a smaller company. You can get a real email answer from us as to your Domain problems within 24 hours. We do not use autoresponders to reply. You can get us on the phone between 1 and 5 P.M. EST, most time on the first try. Please call us with only Domain problems we have registered or renewed.
At DomainNameVault.com our security is unique, a human firewall, all of our registrations and renewals are hand processed by a live body. This prevents hackers from getting control of your Domain through the automatic processing.
Really, it doesnt matter if you renew with us or one of our competitors, like Register.com, but it is wise to do it now and get it out of the control of Network Solutions. Who knows what they will try next.
Dr. Tag Powell
Alpha@DomainNameVault.com http://DomainNameVault.com http://Renew-Your-Domain-Name.com
"Whois" on first?Bob OsgoodbyNo this is not an Abbot and Costello comedy routine, but some
serious information you need to know if considering your own web
site. If you have ever looked into getting your own domain name,
you have no doubt done a "whois" lookup. If you havent, you can
search to see if the name you wish is available at:
http://www.networksolutions.com/
There are three types of extensions available for our use at the
current time. For example, abc.com is an example of a dot.com
site - abc.net a dot.net site and finally a dot.org site.
Dot.org sites were traditionally the domain of non-profit
organizations, but have since opened up, so anyone can have that
extension. There are other extensions such as dot.gov, but these
are not available to the average person.
Before choosing a name with an extension, you should be aware
that most browsers will allow you to simply enter the domain name
such as "abc". The browser will then search for a web site with
that name - but it isnt as simple as that.
Internet Explorer first searches for a domain name with a dot.com
extension. If it finds one, it connects to that site. If it
doesnt, it will search for a dot.net extension and finally a
dot.org extension.
If you think you have a really neat name, and the dot.com
extension is already taken, but the dot.net is available, it may
not be a good deal. People are conditioned to enter a name
followed by ".com" and if you have the dot.net or dot.org
extension, you just may be sending your clients to a competitors
site.
We recently tried to reserve a web site and checked under several
names, but all the dot.com names, that we initially thought of,
were all taken. Rather than settling for a dot.net or dot.org
extension, we continued to search until we found one with a
dot.com that was appropriate for our business.
Remember - when you do a "Whois" search, the dot.com name is on
first.
Bob Osgoodby publishes the free weekly "Your Business" Newsletter
Visit his Web Site at http://adv-marketing.com/business to
subscribe, and place a Free Ad for your business. As a
bonus, get 1239 FREE Internet Business E-Books from
Larry Dotson, when you visit http://www.ldpublishing.com
Finding that Winning Combination...Bill QuimbyA good domain name is valuable, but the combination of a domain name and a good vanity 800 number can be priceless in marketing. The right 800 number allows your advertising to reach several times as many people that are not on the internet regularly. It generates instant credibility and recognition and helps to create that all important million dollar brand name. But with the incredible scarcity of both .COMS and 800 numbers, how could you ever come up that all important combination?
All too often companies get one piece (like the domain name) without considering the other and then often run into also brick wall and have to settle for something less. The phone companies will often tell you that 877 is exactly the same thing as 800. And that is true if you consider .CC or .TO the same thing as .COM. They may be technically able to do the same thing, but in their marketing potential they are totally different. So if you arent willing to settle for .CC for your domain, then dont settle for the same thing in your phone number since just like your domain name, that is how so many of your customers will find you.
The first step is definitely the most important and often the one that gets skipped over way to quickly. Creativity is definitely the key to finding either a domain name or a phone number. The good news is that it doesnt cost any more money to be more creative. It just takes some brain power and a little effort. Ill outline the process of getting the number briefly but youre really not ready until you have 50-100 or more possible names. So be prepared to really spend time in this part.
The first step of brainstorming is to look for any type of keywords. Just put down everything possible you can come up with related to your company, your message, your product or service, your benefits or your customers and what they are looking for. Take a look at the keywords from your website or those of your competitors. Carry the list with you for several days, and involve as many people as you can. If there are other people in your organization consider having a contest to see who can come up with the most possible names/words. Short words are good because they allow you to combine them with a number of other prefixes or suffixes.
Next use some of these mechanical brainstorming exercises and sites which will help you come up with possibilities you may not have thought of. Start with an excellent online thesaurus tool at Plumb Design (http://www.PlumbDesign.com). Next, after youve added any possible synonyms, take a look at what other people have done to get ideas at Whois.net (http://www.whois.net). Look at the registered and perhaps better, the recently unregistered domain names there. Finally use an interesting java search term suggestion tool available (click on option number one) at GoTo.com
(http://www.goto.com/d/about/advertisers/othertools.jhtml) Try these tools with each of the words that you come up with and you will literally get dozens of additional possible names. You can also try a neat tool for creating new words at a site for inventing new words called, NetSubstance (http://www.netsubstance.com) Then finally, you should combine as many of these names together with my list of possible prefixes and suffixes at http://www.TollFreeNumbers.com/finding.htm to stretch your list even further.
These tools together with your creativity and thoroughness are extremely important, because you really cant expect to make a critical decision in your business without knowing what all of the possibilities are.
Next after you have built a really creative and thorough list, check out the possibilities for one of those phone numbers. Unfortunately, there is no short cut or easier way to do this than simply to pick up the phone and call them all! Keep track of all the information you get, and look for ones that dont go through to an end customer or that go to recorded phone company messages. If it goes to an end customer then the phone company cant get it for you, so only give them the list of ones that dont have any apparent customer. That doesnt mean that they will be available, they probably wont but they are at least worth a try.
All phone companies work off basically the same database so the best place to start is usually where you already have an account. Then while they are checking on the phone numbers, look into the same possibilities on the domain names. Remember, with more and more new ventures springing up every minute, space on the net is getting tight and only going to get tighter but a good combination can literally transform your organization and even your industry! So remember the two most important ingredients in coming up with the right name are CREATIVITY and PERSISTENCE!
If this doesnt work, visit http://www.TollFreeNumbers.com or just call 1-800 MARKETER.
We specialize in getting 800 numbers when the phone company says theyre not available.
Bill Quimby
billq@tollfreenumbers.com
1-800 MARKETER
"Whats The Big Fuss About Long Domain Names?"Alan YapThe word is out. You can now register domain names of up to 67 characters. This is going to shoot your ranking way up on the search engines. Because if you stuff all your keywords into your domain name, search engines are simply going to love your site. Or so they say...
But is that really the truth?
No point speculating. Lets do a little test...
Go to your favorite search engine, say AltaVista. Key in your search term, say "website promotion." Look at the top 10 rankings, closely.
How many of these top rankings actually have the full term "website promotion" in their domains?
No hype, just facts.
Call me a natural sceptic if you want. When the news hit the town, with all the "Special Announcements" flying everywhere, urging people to "go grab a new all-you-can- stuff keyword rich domain name and emerge tops in search engine ranking," I was not at all moved. I believe this is too simplistic an approach to getting high search engine placements:
1. Besides keywords in domain names, search engines look at a few other factors for relevancy. In fact, this is what Don Dodge, AltaVistas Director of Engineering said: "Keywords in the domain name do not help much in ranking. We look at half a dozen factors in ranking. The words on the page, their frequency and position on the page, are still among the most important factors."
2. Search engines are constantly evolving. Once they find out that such keyword-stuffed domain names are content-poor sites with low relevance, they are going to come up with new rules to preclude such sites from getting the top spots.
Dont get me wrong. Im not against registering for long domain names. I just feel that we should see things in perspective. If youre getting a long domain name in the hope of securing a high search engine placement, err... based on the facts, please dont expect miracles.
So what should we look for when choosing a domain name? I use a simple "3 Es" guide:
1. Easy To Remember