Does the length of your website’s domain name registration
affect the search results at Google? This question has come up
recently and a lot of website owners have been wondering about
it, especially since it was mentioned in a patent awarded to
Google in April. According to the patent, “Certain signals may
be used to distinguish between illegitimate and legitimate
domains. For example, domains can be renewed up to a period of
10 years. Valuable (legitimate) domains are often paid for
several years in advance, while doorway (illegitimate) domains
rarely are used for more than a year. Therefore, the date when a
domain expires in the future can be used as a factor in
predicting the legitimacy of a domain and, thus, the documents
associated therewith.” According to this statement in the
patent, domains that expire in 10 years are more valuable and
legitimate than domains that will expire in less than a year.

Google, in general, is always looking for ways to weed out the
bad (spammers) from the good (legitimate) websites. I suspect
that they looked for a pattern among the good, legitimate
websites and found that most good, legitimate websites have a
commitment towards their business and their domain name-they
register it for a long period of time. In other words, the
theory behind all of this is that if you register a domain name
for several years it shows Google that you’re committed to that
domain name. If you register a domain name for 1 year then
you’re not as committed to that domain name. A lot of spammers
use “throw away” domain names and register them for only a year.
So, Google uses the length of time that a domain is registered
to determine whether the owner of that domain name is committed
to it or not.

One domain name owner I talked to recently told me that renewing
his domain names once each year was a part of his business plan.
He made a certain amount of money each year from each domain
name/website, and he didn’t want to cut into the profits of each
site by renewing each domain name all at once for several years.
“Renewing a domain name for 10 years or even 2 years ahead of
time means that I have to spend more money. If I have to come up
with $50 or $100 more per year for the domain renewal fees it
cuts into my profits”, says John, who wished to remain
anonymous. John’s website is probably exactly the type of
website that Google wishes to identify. Google is looking to
identify quality, well-established websites whose owners are
committed to their domain names. According to the statements
made in Google’s patent, Google thinks that websites that have
been renewed for a long period of time meet that standard.

Should you renew your domain name for a long period of time? And
if so, how long is long enough? If you want to stay ahead of
your competition, then you might consider looking at the length
of time your competitors have registered their domain names. If
your competitors have generally renewed their domain names for
one or two years, you might consider registering your domain
name for 5 or 10 years. While putting off your domain name’s
expiration date might help your search engine rankings, keep in
mind that this may be only a small boost (or a “tie-breaker”
among two websites) when it comes to the actual search engine
rankings. And, be aware that just because Google has a patent on
the idea it doesn’t mean that they’re actually using that
criteria now to rank websites. They, too, want to stay ahead of
their competition (mainly Yahoo! and MSN).

I’ve registered the domains that I really care about for at
least 10 years. Initially, I registered these domains for a long
period of time because I didn’t want to lose them-and I didn’t
want to go through the somewhat-lengthy annual process of
renewing them every year. Since most domain names I own come up
for renewal at different times during the year, it seemed as
though I was renewing a domain name at least once a month-and
renewing them for a few years put it off for a while.

Expired domain name buyers are prevalent nowadays. If your
domain name expires, there’s a good chance that someone watching
will register your domain name within seconds after it expires.
If, for whatever reason, you don’t renew your domain name,
someone watching a ‘watch list’ of expiring domain names will
try to capitalize on the online business that you’ve built over
the years. They know that there is potential website traffic
they can have simply by renewing your old domain name. By
renewing your domain name for several years, your domain name
won’t expire for a while, and it won’t be opened up to expired
domain name buyers.

If you really want to stay ahead of the competition, you might
consider registering or renewing your domain name for 100 years.
Currently, Network Solutions (www.netsol.com) is the only
registrar offering the 100 year option, which costs $999.00.
GoDaddy (www.godaddy.com), currently offers to renew or register
a domain name for 10 years, at a discount of $6.95 per year.
Dotster (www.dotster.com), another leading registrar, offers
domain name registration and renewals for up to 10 years at a
cost of $129.95.

What’s the bottom line? If you’re committed to your online
business, your website, and your domain name, then renewing your
domain name for a long period of time will not only stop expired
domain buyers from registering your domain name when it expires,
it will show Google that you’re committed to it-and that may
give you a boost in the search engine rankings, as well.

If you are like may others on the internet, then you would like to have a web site of your own. The problem is, you don’t know how to design a web site, and you can’t afford to pay a web site designer to design a new site for you. So how do you get around this problem? Actually it is very easy - and as always there are options! There are many talented web designers on the internet, and they will allow you to purchase a web site design from them for a very reasonable price. The designs available to you are as varied as the people that made them. There is literally something for everyone - a design for all tastes and all purposes - just waiting for you to come along and use it.

These pre written web sites are called web site templates, and some of them are extremely well done. Web site templates are usually created one of three ways - they are : Html, Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Flash. If you know how to edit html, a template can be a quick and easy way to turn your ideas into a new web site. I can already hear some of you saying “That’s no good to me, I can’t write html!”. That’s ok! There is the photoshop style of web site template that you can try. Do you have a digital camera? Have you ever put a title on your photos? Have you edited your pictures or made a collage out of them? (multiple pictures joined into one..) If you have, then you can probably make your own web site using Adobe Photoshop - or a similar photo editing application. The photoshop templates do all the initial design work for you, you just have to fill in the text areas with whatever you want to say. It really isn’t that hard to do. The software will do most of the work, you just need the ‘content’ to fill in the provided spaces. Have a go at home using your own digital photos, and when you have made a couple of pages download a photoshop template and make a complete web site. Of course you will need someone to host your new site, but as most ISP’s include a small ‘home page’ area with every account, you can probably put your new site there to begin with. The next type of web site template uses Macromedia Flash to create it. Web site templates designed using Flash are usually animated and can have some quite advanced visual effects. The downside to using Flash templates is they are not really intended for novice web designers - the Flash software is quite complicated - but the results can be well worth the effort.

As a side note, search engines have a very poor understanding of Flash web sites, and if you want to create a commercial or business web site, then you would be better off using html or photoshop for your design.

The final option for designing a web site by template is to find a template that you like the look of, and have someone else turn it into your web site. By purchasing a web site template you will greatly reduce the cost of the design of you new web site - and as a bonus, you will know from the start what it will look like when it is finished

When you use a template to design a new web site please be aware that you are not the only person on the web that is using that template. There could be other web sites using the same design - but with the enormous number of web sites on the internet it is unlikely that you will ever find one of those sites. If you want to guarantee that your web site is completely unique, then you need to design it yourself, of you will have to get it designed just for you. Good luck with your new web site!

Colin Visser is the owner of webdziner.gotdns.com/ and also webdziner.biz/ Services : web site design & english proof reading. Proof reading for web sites, software, help files, email and news-letters. Free quotes. Please send comments using webdziner.gotdns.com/email.html

After having decided to start a business, the next thing that
arrives in your mind is How to market the Product/Service? How
to create a brand? How to recruit people? How & where to
advertise? etc… Next is creating departments like Marketing,
Operations, Advertising, Branding and Human Resource. You need
some way to represent each department…

For example Human Resource needs a way to represent the company
to hire talents, marketing team needs someway to represent
products/services, branding team needs a way to represent the
company overall… As a startup you can’t make huge investment
to represent your company by giving ads in news paper or through
sign boards or through hoardings or any other means…

One of the cheap & efficient ways to represent your business is
through a website… Let me tell you about the advantages of
having a website

•It is cheap •Your company goes global if you have a website
•Most online advertising is cheap •Saves time

Likewise there are many more advantages… Ok let me take you in
detail about the above mentioned points… To create a web site
you need a domain name and hosting space (You can Google to find
a cheap domain registrar & host), then the next thing is content
(also there are many freelance content writers) or you can do it
by yourself if you are good in it… Then you need to have a good
web design (http://www.templatemuseum.com sells ready to use
corporate designs)… With all these things you can launch a
website for less than $50 - $100…

If you launch a prospectus representing your company its reach
is only local, by having a website for the company you are going
global & your reach goes beyond territories…

Unlike news paper advertising, sign board advertising,
television advertising online advertising is cheap & worth it,
because •In online advertising you can advertise to your
targeted audience •Online advertising are global

Normally these are the steps that is involved in marketing

Step 1: Making appointments Step 2 : Give an introduction about
the company Step 3 : Give a brief about the product / service
Step 4 : Show a demo Step 5 : Close the deal

Having a website we need not make appointments, give a brief
about the company & product/service, your website will talk for
you… So you can eliminate Step 1, 2 & 3… Same can apply to Human
Resource & Advertising too… So it saves time…

Also you are bound to get enquiries from search engines, online
directories etc… So you have possibilities of getting new
opportunities without any effort.

I’d like to make a point clear that having a website doesn’t
mean you are done with everything, it is just a supporting
medium to represent your company & can help in simplifying many
process… So, it is recommended to use it as a support for your
business & follow your traditional way of business too…

I hope this article must have helped. Please drop in your
feedback to anand@templatemuseum.com…

People who have an idea for a website sometimes require help in
finding out relevant content to add to their website. This is
where article websites are invaluable as you are able to use the
articles on your site for free as long as you make all the links
live.

There are three article websites I regularly use for this
purpose:

http://www.ezinearticles.com http://www.goarticles.com
http://www.searchwarp.com

You should be able to find relevant articles on the subject
matter of your website which will include lots of keywords to
enable search engines to pick up your site.

It is also worthwhile submitting your own articles to these
websites. There are number of reasons for this, firstly other
people may want to use your article on their website. At the
bootom of the article you are able to include a link to your own
website, therefore when somebody includes it on their website
this gives you a backward link.

As we are all aware the number of backward links a website has
is becoming increasingly important and the more links you have,
the more visitors to your website you are likely to get.

Many people also read this articles on the article websites
which could in turn result in more visitors to your site.

If these article websites are not sufficient or if you want
original content you could try a website like
http://www.elance.com. This site has many experts in different
fields and is a way of outsourcing work.

You’ve got your website up and published, and you are proud of what you have accomplished.

You have spent some time building links and getting noticed by search engines, but your stats show you that most of your visitors don’t stay around very long! What can you do to make your site more attractive, and most of all, make your visitors want to return time and time again?

If you have a retail site you could do offers of the week, and use opt in email lists to promote these to visitors. If you have an information site this may be a bit more difficult.

Tools provided by your hosting company

There are some very good tools around which will make your website more interesting. Some should be included in your web hosting package and will include a guestbook and forum. A guestbook is useful for people to give you an indication of whether they like your site or not - but be prepared to remove entries from unscrupulous visitors simply wanting to get free advertising for their own sites (usually completed unrelated!). Forums are useful for self help - you don’t need to be an expert on everything, as your visitors will (hopefully) help you out and answer questions themselves!

Other tools

Other tools may be free, or may require a subscription. Options you could include are RSS tickers, event calendars, web polls.

An RSS ticker can either be used to show people what is new on your site (see http://www.limebrook.com for an example), or to bring in a news feed relevant to your site. Many magazines offer this feature free to other sites.

A web poll is useful as it seems to be human nature to want to give an opinion. Putting up a poll on a subject relevant to your site can give you useful information about your visitors as well as making them feel the site is interactive.

Many free tools can be found by doing a Google search, however be aware that nothing is ever really for free. Many good web poll packages work very well, but when giving the results back to your visitor will use it as a way of presenting advertising information to them. You may be very happy with this, but make sure you try it out for yourself first to make sure that it fits in with what you want visitors to your site to be exposed to!

If you want advert free tools you may need to pay. You can spend a very large amount on advert free web polls, but you can also get some at very low cost. Beware of ‘14 day free trials’ - nothing wrong in principle, but it is very easy to waste a lot of time setting a web poll up on your site only to suddenly find it will cost you $200 to keep it after the free period! Our advice is if you sign up for any free trial make sure you know how much the subscription will eventually cost you, and only use that tool if you know you are going to be able to afford it in the long run!

A word of warning!

Once you have your website there are unlimited improvements you can make - but be careful they really are improvements and add to your site. As you become more proficient in web designing you may want to add a flash intro to your site, for example, but always put yourself in the position of your visitor. Always remember to think:

1. Who is your target visitor?

2. Why are they coming to your site?

3. What do you want them to focus their attention on?

If you have a long flash intro you may find people go to another site rather than wait to see what is on yours. It may be appropriate for an entertainment site to set out to entertain its visitors from the start - but if you want a middle aged person to buy some widgets, a long introduction, especially with loud music playing, may not make them stick around long enough to find you are the cheapest in the market!

There are a lot of tools out there - just make sure you don’t get carried away and use them just to show how clever you have become. Remember, the whole point of your site is to get, and keep, visitors.

Pat Ransom has worked in the IT industry for 15 years and is experienced with local government and company websites. Having designed and published a successful and acclaimed website in her own right the secrets of website design and publishing are now shared at http://www.webmasterproductions.co.uk

Nowadays, eBay is becoming a fast increasing market for online
shoppers. It gives them the convenience and feasibility of
shopping online.

However, it is the seller that benefits most of the time as they
find selling things on eBay a lucrative way of earning
additional wages. But before a seller logs in and sell his or
her items on eBay, there are some things that needs to be done
first, here’s how:

1. Sellers must know the rules.

It is extremely important for sellers to know first the rules
and regulations of eBay concerning items to be sold and the
transaction method. This is one way of protecting themselves so
as to avoid fraudulent activities.

2. They should know their market.

Before selling, a seller should first contemplate on what type
of market is she or he aiming at. If the sellers know who their
target market is, it would be easier for them to think of
effective words to use on their descriptive title and the
details of their items.

3. They should know the selling fees.

It’s a must for them to know how much the selling fees of eBay
are so that they may include this on the initial price of their
item.

4. They should know the available payment scheme.

The sellers should know these first so that they can assess
which type of payment mode are they comfortable with. After all,
they should stress this out when posting their items on sale.

5. They should know how to make an account.

It is, indeed, important for the seller to know first the basic
procedures of creating an account on eBay before selling an
item. No one can go start selling an item right away without
having an account on eBay.

They should know how to register first. They can do this by
going to the eBay website and set up a seller’s account by
entering some pertinent information like a valid credit/debit
card account or bank account. Though, they may opt for an
alternative if they are not comfortable doing this. They may opt
to become ID verified as a substitute.

For payment purposes, they should also know how to open a PayPal
account.

Also, they should know first what kind of format to use, the
category of the item, how to write the title and the
specifications of the sale, item description, how to increase
the item’s visibility, and how to contact the winning bidder
before starting to post an item on eBay.

If all of these things are already clear on the seller, then
posting an item on eBay will never be a problem. It’s that easy!

Small to medium size UK businesses are wasting money every day
and putting the future of their business in jeopardy through old
fashioned computing practices, which are costing them £18
billion annually. This is the conclusion of the Server Solutions
Study by Fasthosts, the
UK’s largest independent hosting company.

Fasthosts
conducted a study into server computing solutions in SME
businesses. It examined the basic solutions needed to set up a
server securely in-house in comparison to using hosted services.
The study revealed that many small businesses in the UK host
their server in-house because of the out-dated belief that this
allows maximum access and security. Following an examination of
the SME server computing environment, the opposite was found to
be the case, as hosting a server within the company premises
requires careful consideration and preparation.


Analysis revealed that the minimum requirements for SMEs running
a server in-house are a power failure system to ensure the
server can be shut down safely in case of an emergency; SDSL
internet connection for maximum upload speed; a remote control
card for access to the server from outside the office; a
firewall for security and additional considerations such as air
conditioning; physical security and remote back up. The study
found that the cost for these quickly add up and on an ongoing
basis impact the bottom line. (Source: National Statistics and
Fasthosts’ Server Solutions Study, 2005)
However, when
these systems are not in place the future of any small business
can be at risk. Especially small businesses in London have a
very low three-year survival rate at 62.8% in contrast to
Northern Ireland (72.4%), Wales (86%) and Scotland (65.3%)
(Source: Confederation of British Industry, 2005).


“In our experience many businesses are still stuck in 1980s
computing mentality,” comments Andrew Michael, CEO of Fasthosts.
“They need to move and embrace new computing practices. It is
impossible to put value on data so it needs to be kept under
maximum security - data is the lifeblood of any business. Only a
hosted environment offers the required security solutions in a
cost effective bundle, however the SME market remains largely
ignorant of this.”

Fasthosts carried out the Server
Solution Study to analyse its dedicated
server offering and ensure it matches the needs of the
marketplace. Fasthosts offers hosted services for servers in a
highly secure, air conditioned data centre in the UK. The hosted
servers can be set up instantly online and come with a private
LAN, easy to use control panel, full remote control and
firewall. An SDSL connection can be added as well as secure
database hosting.

The Server Solutions Study was
carried out in November 2005 and examined the costs of essential
solutions needed to host a server securely and safely in-house
versus hosting it at a remote data centre. The study examined
the UK SME server computing environment, including all factors
essential to secure maximum uptime and the security of business
critical data. Key solutions examined included air conditioning,
SDSL, UPS, firewall, remote control card which are provided by
most hosting providers as part of a standard hosting package.


About Fasthosts
Since 1999, Fasthosts has
delivered market leading online services to the home, home
office and SME markets. The business has a successful track
record and proven business model in providing high value, award
winning products.

Contact details:
Ed
Johnson
Ed.Johnson@fasthosts.co.uk
Fasthosts Internet
Ltd.
Discovery House
154 Southgate Street

Gloucester
GL1 2EX
United Kingdom
Tel +44 (0)870
888 3600
Fax +44 (0)870 888 3838