Against Closed Eyes In Marketing

You should think about registering a domain name before you actually do it. Many people come up with a catchy name, or feel the need to lock in their name, and rush out to buy a domain name. But there are several things to consider in your domain name. After all, your domain name is an extension of your business and your imagedon’t you want to project the right one?

These ten tips will help you to pick just the right domain name for you and/or your business.

1. The extension you select makes a statement to user about where you are and who you are aiming to attract. For example, .co.uk tells people you are operating out of the United Kingdom, and .ca tells them you are operating out of Canada. If that is important to you, then register accordingly. If you would rather give them impression of being a global company, or based in the US, then pick a .com name.

2. Use a reputable registration service. Unfortunately, some domain registration services are little more than a scam. They are only middlemen. You tell them the domain name you want, and they register it, for a fee higher than you would pay! In the worst case, they actually register the domain name using their information, so it becomes very difficult for you to do anything with your domain name.
Do some background research into the company before you register a domain with them.

3. Use keywords in your domain name. These will sometimes help search engines in ranking your website. For example, if you sell gourmet dog treats online and from your own store, but your business name is “Laura’s Homemade Snacks,” you might consider two domain names: one for your business name, and one for keywords. In this case you might select “gourmetdogtreats.com” as your domain name to represent to the search engines and searchers what you are about.

4. Short names are easier to spell correctly. What’s easier to remember and type in: gourmetdogtreats.com, or laurashomemadeandgourmetdogsnacks.com?

5. Avoid trademarks from other companies. Companies have been known to sue website owners for copyright and trademark infringement, so be very careful if you try to play off an existing business. Make sure that you register a domain name in good faith, and think about the possibilities and connections that might exist between you and another business.

6. Avoid hyphens. Sometimes you must use hyphens because the straightforward name is gone. In that case, a better idea is to come up with a completely different name. The problem with hyphens is that users may end up visiting the wrong site. If you try to register gourmetdogtreats.com but it is already taken, you might choose to register gourmet-dog-treats.com instead. But you run the risk of someone trying to find you typing in the first address. This means you lose business. Better to try and register a name like homemadedogtreats.com instead.

7. Consider buying several different extensions so no one else can infringe on your success by registering a similar name. For example, if you register homemadedogtreats.com, you might also take .net and .org (with the same name), since these are the most popular extensions after .com. That way, no one can register homemadedogtreats.net and try to piggyback of your success.

8. Look for companies that offer telephone support. If you have trouble with your domain name, you need to be able to contact the company and talk to someone. If there is no phone contact, that may be a sign that you are not dealing with a reputable company.

9. Look for accreditations (i.e., ICANN). Reputable companies will seek out accreditations because they know it boosts their business image to be part of a group that enforces good business ethics and practices. Failure to have an accreditation does not necessarily mean the company is bad, but it could mean that. If the company you are looking at does not have an accreditation, make sure you check for other things like phone support, payment procedures, etc.

10. After you find a company you like, do a search on Google for “domain registration.” Does your company of choice appear in the first couple of pages of results, or just via Adwords? If the latter, they may not have been around for a long time and may not be reputable. A legitimate company with a solid track record will be ranked in Google’s search engine, especially within the first couple of pages. Beware of registration companies that you can only find in Adwords.

These ten tips will help you as you seek to register your domain name.

Adrian Lawrence is the webmaster for Discount Domains, one of the UK’s leading Domain Name Registration Companies.

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You’ve seen them before and wondered what the heck they were thinking: small businesses with domain names like eallylonganduniquebusinessname.biz. Half-out-loud you say: what, was reallylonganduniquebusinessname.com taken? A new advertising technique of “illegal” casino websites helps prove that your snickering is absolutely justified.

Cheapskates and Johnny-dot-Com-Lately’s

If you’ve consulted for small business websites as long as I have, you have probably encountered more than a few whose owners decided to save three dollars at Godaddy by buying a dot-biz domain name. Or a dot-net, dot-info, or dot-whatever was on sale that week.
Whatever it is, forget trying to tell them that they may have lost out in thousands of dollars of business from type-ins. That is, from all the people who will type in the dot-com version and get an error message–or a parked domain advertising naughty-naughty pictures. Nor should you tell them that everyone who knows a dot-biz from a dot-com knows that the former is usually offered on sale and is the beast-mark of the most extreme kind of penny-wise-pound-foolish cheapskate. The obviousness of the truth of the observation will only make them hate you more.

Then there are the netrepreneurs who wanted that keyword-perfect domain name so badly that they took a dot-biz, dot-org, dot-cc, or dot-what-the-heck-does-that-stand-for? when the dot-com version was already taken. You know what I’m talking about: a one-man-band bookstore that buys the “book” domain with the Vatican’s top-level domain extension because Barnes & Noble has book.com, and every other possible variant was also already
taken.

Again, don’t bother telling these people they’re just sending type-in traffic to Barnes & Noble. You are arguing against a cottage industry. Pitcairn Island, population under 100, has its own top-level domain name extension. No doubt they can cut back on their rare coin and postage stamp production thanks to the hundred bucks (US, not Pitcairnian) per domain paid by wishful Johnny-come-lately’s. And GoDaddy is no doubt raking in the credit card digits from .us domain names that are worth their weight in gold pixels. This is the web version of small business owners paying thousands to put their kids in their TV commercials. If you’re a business consultant, you correct their error at your peril.

Why Casino Sites Know Web Businesses Need Dot-Coms

In case you have some justification for a dot-whatever lurking in some self-destructive corner of your brain, let me write this as clearly as possible. For a US or international business, the only suitable domain name extension is dot-com. Nonprofits can get by with dot-org, schools with dot-edu. Non-US country-specific businesses can use their own national domain name extensions. No, my fellow Americans, there is no justification for dot-us, even if your shipping area does exclude Canada and Puerto Rico and military addresses to boot.

Why? Here’s solid evidence the dot-whatevers are so bad.

1) Type-in traffic.

Yes, many people really will type in the dot-com version of a non-dot-com business website. I discovered powerful proof of this once after I saw a television commercial for a website with educational information about gambling. Curious how they were making money on this deal, I typed in the domain–and found a website with actual gambling right on the homepage, which would be flagrantly (though perhaps technically) illegal for me to use. Only later did I realize that the TV commercial had advertised the dot-net version of the domain, and I had typed in the dot-com version. The dot-net
version has the educational material.

How would a no-membership-fee content website–with little to no advertising–recoup the expense of television advertising? Only if a vast number of the visitors to go to the money-generating dot-com version.

2) Prestige

You may think I’m completely off-base and a business’s domain name choice is none of my dot-biz-ness But the fact is those opinions are my opinions, they’re not going anywhere, and if you want to impress me, a dot-whatever domain name won’t do it. And I’m certainly not the only one who feels that
way. Maybe you can just devote your dot-whatever website’s homepage to refuting the snickerers like myself?

3) SEO

True snobs, search engine algorithms are suckers for anything that smells of respectability–and dot-whatever does not smell like that. How often do you see a high-ranking dot-whatever business site? The irony is that many dot-whatever domain name owners hope that having the keyword in their unique domain name will help them in search engines.

In the end, I have to admit there’s one good thing about the snobbery against the dot-whatever domain names. They provide a way for web business consultants to sort out the serious inquiries from the slush, just by looking at the “from” address.

Joel Walsh is a freelance business writer and web business owner. The following site provided information for this article: Internet Casino: http://www.casinotimes.co.uk

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I started using the internet in 1990, and the web in 1994. I remember when Yahoo! was only 1 page, and it was believed that there were only 100 web pages in the world. Companies were hiring html developers (with 5 - 7 years experience of course), and domain names were free.

I’ve owned my domain name for almost 9 years now. At one time, there was no such thing as “cybersquating”, “typo domains”, etc. Now its and issue that many of us have to deal with at any time or another.

I’ve discovered that people will resort to great lengths to protect their identity once they’ve squatted on a domain, but there are many tools to track down the truth about who they are.

How Squattors Hide - Fake Registration Info

One tactic I found used is that squattors will use fake registration information to hide the true owner of a domain name. I found one “company” that owned hundreds of domain names, many of large corporations, but registered each one using a different mailing address and a different name. Many of the names were silly like “Arthur Arthurson”, but the company erred by listing all of its domains on link farms, exposing their tactic.

Front Companies

Another method the same company used would be to provide a contact phone number for a fictitious sounding company. For example, if they owned the domain “exxon.com”, they would make a front company and call it “Exxon Secretarial Services”. They then tried to create a realistic looking corporate web site. This method was exposed because they used the same phone number for all of their front companies. Searching Google for the phone number turned up a large number of fake businesses.

Changing Company Names

I am aware of another squattor who besides being heavily involved in the porn business owns a few domains that it really shouldn’t have. Over the years, they have changed their company name but kept the same physical address, a sign that someone is after them and they keep on running. Their names tend to follow the same theme, so the company might be called “Diamond Web Services” this year, but maybe “Sapphire Web Services” last year. Keeping the same contact address exposes that they are in fact the same company. Using whois history tools, you can see how they change their company name ever year.

Denying Ownership

Most smart squattors will claim that they don’t own the domain name, but they are just holding it for someone else. This creates a layer of anonymity that is hard to crack. The truth of the matter is that the registrant has control of the domain name, and anyone who is simply the administrator should be listed as the Administrative Contact. If someone is listed as the Registrant than they are by all means the owner of the domain name.

Foreign Registrations

One company I cam across used a foreign registration in a distant country to hide its true identity. One might think it is hard or impossible to negotiate with a foreign entity, if you can even speak the same language. But in the case, the foreign registration was just a cover for another domestic company that was trying to hide the fact that it was a competitor. The mistake was that the registrant was squatting on 2 domains, and on one he left as an email contact the address of the domestic company, which led to the true identity.

Escrow Services

Escrow services allow anyone to sell domain names without anyone knowing who is the true owner or who is receiving the proceeds from any sale. I contacted some escrow services regarding cyber squatting and was told that since true domain ownership is a complicated issue, they do not get involved. One cybersquattor was exposed because the NIC required a signed letter from the existing registrant, which exposed his true identity. This led to identifying other domains that he was squatting on.

Tools to Uncover Squattors

Whois history allows domain owners to see the whois records for many popular domain names. Not all domains will be listed, but surprisingly many are. I was able to use this to track previous owners for the past 6 years. Find this tool at http://www.domaintools.com/

HTML codes tend to be used repeatedly by squattors. Many squattors will use paid parking sites to earn revenue off of domains. However, in some, affiliate codes will be used by the individual, allowing multiple sites to be tracked to the same individual.

Google and USENET can be useful. Not only did I uncover the name of a squattor, but I found someone else who was looking for him. A great way to track these people down is to combine forces and work together. Post keywords identifying the squattor in domain forums along with your contact information.

Using domain name sales records, I was able to determine when certain domains transferred hands. I could also tell how much the owner paid for the domain name.

Find out which domains are hosted on an IP address at http://www.webhosting.info/. Some IP’s might have a small number of domains hosted, while others might have hundreds of thousands. This tool is useful to find what other domains a squattor might own, some of which might be yours.

Dave Tiberio operates CheapBooks.com.

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Most new websites tend to look for a domain name with a .com or
.net tld (Top Level Domain). They feel this gives the site a
more professional appearance and will appeal to a more
international audience and in many cases this is true. However,
it can also be beneficial to look at purchasing a domain name
with a country specific tld.

There are a number of benefits that can be gained from choosing
a domain name with a country specific tld, especially if you
conduct your business primarily in one particular country.

Search Engine Benefits

Most of the large search engines will give you a higher search
ranking for a site that has the tld of the searchers country.
For example, if someone from the India is performing a
search for widgets, a search engine will often rank
widgets.co.in higher than other sites selling the same product
but only have a .com tld.

Having a country specific tld will also allow you to be included
in a lot of great country directories that stipulate that your
domain name has a certain tld. Getting your site into these
directories can be a great way of improving your search engine
ranking as these are 1 way links from authority sites for your
chosen subject. These kind of links are graded much higher than
reciprocal linking.

Buyer Confidence

Having a domain tld will often give the buyer more confidence
when making a purchase as they consider the site to be local,
therefore governed under the same laws as the buyer. This makes
it easier to follow up and sales and make complaints if any
problems occur during the purchase of the product. It also helps
to settle any nerves if the buyer is able to see a street
address that they recognize, rather than a foreign address.

Sometimes the best policy is to purchase both a .com and a
country tld. This allows you to appeal to both international and
national customers. The potential sales that you can get with a
country domain tld should not be overlooked as a small
investment in an extra domain can bring big returns for you and
your business.

Gather information about your customer before they start
browsing

Another benefit of having a country domain name is that you
already know where your customer is likely to be from. This
means that you can display products for that particular
customers region without having to ask the customer to select
which geographic area they are in. When a customer types in
their country domain, you can forward them to your main domain
name but display only products that will be of interest to them
and have all the prices in their own currency. This gives the
site a local feel and will again bring that buying confidence
that is so important when trying to make a sale.

Summary

I hope you’ve seen the importance of not overlooking this great
opportunity to bring in extra customers, simply by choosing a
country domain name or simply adding as an extra name that
points to your main domain name.

Author is the ceo of http://www.silicasys.com

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Investing in a quality Generic Domain Name is the most
effective and long lasting Marketing Strategy for your
Internet based operation.

In today’s competitive online marketplace, it’s increasingly
difficult to get your website noticed or even seen by your
prospective customers.

Unless you are a large company with tens of thousands of
dollars to spend on advertising and search engine
optimization — you may end up in the bottomless pit of huge
search engine databases and never get the attention you
deserve…

Now, there is an easier way to get noticed and attract
millions of search engine visitors starting from day one.

The choice of your Domain Name is the most important
Marketing Strategy you’ll ever make to help you to rank
higher on thousands of Search Engines and attract millions
of visitors each year.

The truth is, websites with Generic Keywords in their domain
name WILL list higher (in the first 20 listings on top
Search Engines) than the most optimized websites and is
easier to find on top Search Engines.

Before purchasing a domain name, there are many things to
consider. In order to be seen by buyers when they are using
a search engine to look for a product or service, it is
essential that your website be one of the first 20 or so
listed. One of the best ways to insure this, is to use a
GENERIC domain name for your website.

For Example…

Using a search engine is very similar to looking up a
product or service in the Yellow Pages of your local phone
book - under the generic name of the product/service you
will find companies that have what you are looking for.
Similarly, on the internet, some search engines list
websites by how closely the website name compares to the
item being searched for.

If your business name is ABC Corp. and you are in the
business of selling ‘Baby Toys’ online. You’ll drive
thousand times more targeted traffic if your Domain names
includes your “Main Key Word” on it like:

TopBabyToys.com

JustBabyToys.com

CustomBabyToys.com

AmericanBabyToys.com

UltimateBabyToys.com or,

ABCKidsToys.com; Instead of your brand name ABCCORP.COM.

A good generic domain name can put you way ahead of your
competition in the search engines, and, can literally be
worth many millions of dollars.

In the past, some companies believed that company
recognition was the key and were willing to pay a lot of
money to obtain this. The internet, however, is changing the
way that knowledgeable company executives are attracting
buyers.

Unless you are willing to spend hundreds of millions of
dollars on advertising, it is much more important to select
a generic domain name that identifies the product or
services you provide to users on your website.

With a GENERIC domain name and a programmer who
understands the importance of generic keys to search engine
spiders, your website can be way above your competition on
internet search engines.

You may publish this article in your ezine, newsletter on
your web site as long as the byline is included and the
article is included in it’s entirety. I also ask that you
activate any html links found in the article and in the
byline. Please send a courtesy link or email where you
publish to: support@multiplestreammktg.com

Abe Cherian is the founder of Multiple Stream Media. His website NicheDomainNamesNow.com sells memorable domain names that are highly in demand. Find out if you can find a winning domain name for your business
or personal use by visiting his website.
http://www.NicheDomainNamesNow.com

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In the E-World your domain name is your first assessment of what
your site is about. It’s not just your site name but it is the
first criterion of your success on the Internet and when it
comes to a point of success you must hold it tight. It can make
your business stand out in the crowd, or just float aimlessly in
space. Well many of us think that it merely plays any role but
it’s not the truth. Think if nobody remembers your site name or
see no visual look of what your site is about.

The temptation of a good domain name is so powerful; that’s why
some companies even paid ridiculously high prices to get the
name they want. The domains Loans.com and Wines.com were both
bought for $3 million each. Telephone.com was acquired for $1.75
million, while Bingo.com sold for $1.1 million.

So the main question is, what points we should consider when we
choose a domain name. For better results, your domain name
should be memorable and easy to remember. Remember the following
tips when creating a domain name.

* The domain name should be short. * The domain name should be
simple. * It should be suggestive of your business category. *
It should be unique. * It should be easy to interpret and
pronounce. * It should be personalized. * It should not be
difficult to spell. * It should not be difficult to remember.

Domain names can be registered through many different companies
(known as “registrars”). You can register for 1 to 10 years -
prices can vary anywhere from $10 to $20 per year. Most web
hosting companies, will handle the registration process for you,
but make sure that you are properly listed as the owner of the
domain when it is registered.

If you have registered a domain name for a specific period, make
sure you renew it in time. You can be surprised at the number of
cases, where site owners have let a domain name slip by if they
have not renewed in time.

How to use expired domains:

Did you know you can use expired domains to skyrocket your
traffic? Let me tell you about expired domains first. Thousands
of webmasters invest time, effort and money to promote their
site and build up traffic. Many of them then lose interest and
move on, leaving their site active. That means that although
they still own the domain, they’re not actively promoting it.

All the automatic marketing systems they’ve put in place are
still bringing in traffic. The site runs itself. Now, at some
point the ownership of those domains is going to expire. If you
snap up those domains once they come back onto the market,
you’ve got a pre-built stream of customers. You can either
rebuild the site, or redirect the traffic to your domain. You
could set up an affiliate program get paid for users someone
else paid for.

Its that easy.

Websites such as www.expiredtraffic.com or
www.deleteddomains.com are doing great job for expired domains.
They actually do all the legwork and let you reap all the
rewards. Even you can back-order a specific domain name also.

Do be careful when using other sites though. There are some
swindlers out there that will sell you subscriptions, provide
you with outdated lists, take your money and keep the good
domains for themselves.

There are tons of options, and lots of easy ways to make lots of
money with very little effort. Opportunities like these are
everywhere. All we need a strong determination to succeed, and a
good mentor.

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If you have or are about to purchase a domain name, YOU could be in trouble and you don’t even know it yet…

See, what the domain sellers won’t tell you is that the domain name you are purchasing or have purchased can possibly infringe on trademark rights and you can lose that domain name or even worse.

Trademark and servicemark laws apply not only off-line but on-line as well and they even apply to domain names.

Now, a trademark generally applies to goods where as a servicemark applies to services. For the purpose of this article I will refer to trademarks as the same rules apply.

A trademark can be a word, name, symbol, or device and it is used to distinguish and indentify the goods and services from one person or company from that of another.

The purpose of a trademark is to prevent confusion in the eyes of the consumer relating to particular goods and services. Basically, they are in place to prevent unfair competition.

So with that said, just because you purchased a particular domain name it does not necessarily mean you have exclusive rights to it.

If there is a trademark in your domain name, the mark owner has a legal right to send you a “cease and desist” letter and possibly take that domain name away from you.

If you don’t believe a word I’ve said so far then I offer myself as proof because it happened to me. I recently lost one of my domain names under this exact same circumstance.

For legal reasons I can’t tell you the domain name as I agreed to make no further references to it, but there were two words in my domain name that were associated with a trademark.

Now, I wasn’t aware of this when I purchased the domain name. And I definitely wasn’t aware of trademark laws.

Don’t be ignorant on the subject like I was. You can avoid any potential problems by educating yourself and thereby preventing the samething from happening to you.

Don’t make the same mistake that I did!

Do your research before you buy a domain name and make sure there is NO trademark associated with that name.

There are trademark search engines where you can type in a word or a phrase and it will tell you if it is a trademark.

You can visit the United States Patent And Trademark Office (USPTO) website to do a trademark search:

http://www.uspto.gov/

Now, in my case I chose not to fight the trademark dispute and gave up my domain name voluntarily. I felt it just wasn’t worth the time, money and headaches to launch a fight over this.

If this should ever happen to you, you do have rights and there are proper channels to go through to settle the dispute. Contact a lawyer who specializes in this field.

And don’t even think for one minute that this sort of thing can’t happen to you. Trust me. If you have a trademark in your domain name it is only a matter of time before you get that letter in the mail like I did.

There are numerous cases all over the internet concerning disputes over trademark and domain names.

Don’t you be one of them…

If you would like more information on the subject of trademarks and domain names then I highly recommend you visit this website:

http://www.chillingeffects.org/domain

This article and any links associated with it are for informational purposes only and not intended as legal advice. As always, speak to an attorney who specializes in this field in the event of a dispute.

Al Martinovic is the publisher of the Millenium Marketers Newsletter where you will find powerful concepts, killer strategies, useful tips and no bull business advice: http://www.milleniummarketers.com

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A website’s domain name (also know as a website address or URL) is an important consideration when developing your online presence. Choosing an appropriate domain name is the first step in the process of building online credibility. Remember to choose carefully because this online address may be where your business resides for the rest of its operating life. Now, some important tips to consider before choosing your domain name:

Choosing Your Domain Extension

A domain extension or top level domain is simply the suffix of your website address: (.com, .net, .org, .ca, etc.) Most Internet users are familiar with the “.com” extension, and will generally use this extension by default when typing an address into their browser. Choosing a “.com” extension should be your fist choice in case your potential customers forget that your address is “www.mybusiness.NET”, and visit your competitor at “www.mybusiness.COM” by mistake. Choosing the “.com” extension gives your website the most credibility in the eyes of your customers.

If your business only caters to the local community, then it makes sense to get a country specific domain name, such as the “.ca” extension. A country specific domain benefits you in two ways: both your customers and search engines such as Google will know that your website is registered to a Canadian and operates in Canada. Potential customers will feel more comfortable knowing that they are dealing with a Canadian company, and not a U.S. based business pretending to be a Canadian company. Also, search engines will give your website higher placement in the search results when a user is performing a Canadian specific search.
I personally recommend that my clients, if possible, register both the “.com” AND “.ca” extension. This way, your Canadian based website will benefit from using the “.ca” extension, while at the same time ensuring that they reach your website if they accidentally type the “.com” extension into their browser.

Using Your Business Name

The first choice for any domain name would be your business’ name. This ensures that your customers will remember your website’s address. You can’t expect your potential customers to remember a phrase that just relates to your business.

Choosing Choice Keywords

Including specific keywords in your website’s address will help your rankings in popular search engines such as Google or Yahoo. It is best to choose a keyword that you think your potential customers will use to search for your business. A search engine optimization (SEO) professional such as Cost Effective Design can assist you in choosing your keyword(s). These type of domain names are used in instances where the client does not want to use the business name because it is either already registered by another company, or the company name is simply too long. Any company that is serious about generating traffic through search engines should acquire a domain name with a keyword in addition to your business name.

Don’t Confuse Your Customers

If possible, try not to use domain names that include: “2” for “To” or “4” for “For” or “u” for “You”. These may make your domain look “cool” or “hip”, but in reality they are not very practical. These domain names create a problem when directing your clients to your website verbally or over the phone. For example, if you owned www.UsedCars4U.com, every time you verbally directed someone to your website, you would have to specify that the URL uses the actual number 4, and letter U.

To Use, Or Not to Use Hyphens

Given that more and more businesses are registering domain names every day, getting the website address you want is becoming increasingly difficult. One or two word domain names are usually already registered, forcing new registrants to choose URLs containing three or four words. To some people, these URLs can look like a big mess of words. Using hyphens in between the words can make them visually more appealing. For example, “www.used-cars-for-you.com, looks better than “www.usedcarsforyou.com. The jury is still out on hyphenated domain names. The advantages are that they look better and search engines can easily distinguish the separate keywords for better search placements, but the disadvantages are that they are difficult to verbally communicate and type.

The best solution would be to register both the hyphenated, and the un-hyphenated version of the domain name to ensure that there is no confusion.

Domain Name Length

Even though you are allowed to use 67 characters for a domain name, the general rule of thumb is: shorter is better. Although, in some instances, the website address may be more memorable if it is more descriptive. For example a domain consisting of initials only, such as “www.waa.com”, may not create a lasting impression compared to the domain name “www.windsorautoassociation.com”. Therefore, it is best to choose a name that, while short, contains enough description for your customers to easily remember.

Buying an Existing Domain Name

Maybe the domain name you really want is already registered, either by a legitimate company, or by a “domain squatter” who merely registered the name to sell for a profit at a later date. You can make an offer for these types of domains, although they make cost several hundred, or even thousands of dollars. There are advantages to purchasing an existing domain name. In addition to getting the domain you want, it may also rank highly in the search engines for certain keywords and / or generate topic specific traffic that you will benefit your business.

Paul Coulter owns and operates a custom web design company in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. If you would like to read more web design articles or contact Paul, visit his business’s website: Cost Effective Web Design, Windsor ON

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There is no secret that a domain name plays a critical role in a
company’s overall brand strategy. But what role does a domain
name play when building the most important brand you have
control over, your own personal brand? This valuable, but less
implemented, brand strategy is arguably one of the best
investments that many individuals have yet to take full
advantage of in today’s wired world.

One of the most effective ways to build personal brand is
through a domain name. To show what I mean, let’s look at
Michael Simmons of SuccessManifesto.com, a successful
entrepreneur who is using a domain name to build his personal
brand while also helping bring attention to his new book The
Student Success Manifesto, The Guide to Creating a life of
Passion, Purpose and Prosperity.

At the age of 21, Michael is a student at the Stern School of
Business at New York University, an author, and an award-winning
entrepreneur. Michael has written popular articles on
entrepreneurship that have been published by Entrepreneur.com,
College Bound Magazine, and Whizteens in Business. He has a
unique perspective on the importance of personal brand and how
it plays a role in helping people achieve their goals.

According to Michael’s book, knowing how to brand yourself is
critical. In the same way that companies have a brand,
individuals have one. By becoming aware that you are a brand,
you too can leverage it to achieve your goals. In The Student
Success Manifesto, personal brand is composed of three parts. I
have listed the three parts below, but for the purpose of this
article I have changed the meanings to better relate them to
domain names:

1: Communication - The overall message a domain name says about
you 2: Credentials - The phrasing in the domain name that
communicates experience 3: Reputation -The phrasing in the
domain name that communicates trust

In order to have a positive image associated with a personal
brand it is important to have a domain name that is able to
bring all three of these parts together to deliver one
meaningful message. Just think of the benefits of having your
own personal brand associated with a well known and successful
domain name! An individual’s association with a highly credible,
trusted and meaningful domain name can be leveraged to get jobs,
network with people, acquire customers and clients or fulfill
any other desirable goal. By having a domain name associated
with these three intangible assets, personal brand can be
leveraged to achieve any purpose.

Michael knows how to leverage a domain name to improve personal
brand recognition. Michael is not only the successful brand
strategist behind SuccessManifesto.com but he also co-founded
PrincetonWebSolutions.com when he was only sixteen years old.
The company later went on to become the #1 youth-run web
development company in the nation in the year 2000. Michael
credits much of his personal brand building success to his
carefully planned domain name strategy.

Michael’s latest domain name strategy involves the launch of
SuccessManifesto.com, a domain name and web site that
prominently displays his personal brand as the main theme. The
site features his own image, personal achievements, and an
online journal that helps bridge the gap between him and his
inspired readers. The domain name and web site also serves the
purpose of helping him gain credibility with young people and
giving them access to his new book The Student Success
Manifesto.

Another interesting brand strategy Michael has implemented with
his domain name and web site is his ability to blend his company
brand with his own personal brand. After visiting
SuccessManifesto.com, visitors come away with the perception
that Michael Simmons, the person, displays the same
characteristics and values that the Extreme Entrepreneurship
Education Corporation, his company, holds.

Whether he is starting a new business or promoting a book,
Michael has always demonstrated an ability to use a highly
brand-able, trusted and persuasive domain name as part of his
strategy. This method has been used to build credibility with
his target market. His innovative approach of using a domain
name for his personal brand building through
SuccessManifesto.com gives Michael a clear and competitive
advantage over other individuals who do not have a domain name
or are only using conventional means to build their personal
brand. To date, using a domain name as the foundation to build
one’s own brand can still be considered an unconventional route.
The good news is that only success and growth have come to
individuals who have chosen this less traveled path towards
personal brand building.

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DENIC, the registry of the German Top Level Domain (TLD) has announced, that it has received the eight millionth application for the registration of a de-domain. The de-domain has the position as the world’s favourite Country Code TLD, ahead of .uk, which has about 3.7 million registrations. The de-domains are also numerically stronger than nearly all the generic Top Level Domains that are used throughout the world, such as .org, .net, .info and .biz. Only one the com-domain with more than 30 million domains is more often registered than the de-domain.

October 2004

.de      7.981.014     (Increment compared to one month ago: 89.793)

.at        367.987     (Increment compared to one month ago: 4.766)

.com    31.017.772     (Increment compared to one month ago: 750.631)

.net     4.999.073     (Increment compared to one month ago: 88.952)

.org     3.138.385     (Increment compared to one month ago: 37.607)

.info    1.919.331     (Increment compared to one month ago: 683.846)

.biz     1.041.432     (Increment compared to one month ago: 13.118)

.us        881.411     (Increment compared to one month ago: 6.395)

The de-domain is not totally liberalized, as it seems. Foreign companies and individuals can register also de-domains and sell products and services to the attractive German market by websites, but they must have a German Admin-C. DENIC-Member and ICANN accredited registrar Secura provides automatically this German Admin-C during the registration process. https://www.domainregistry.de/de-domain.html

About The Author

Hans-Peter Oswald
CEO
ICANN accredited Registrar Secura

http://www.com-domain.com; secura@domainregistry.de

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