WebProWorld
On Feb. 6th, 2003, websidestory Inc., [http://www.websidestory.com], a web analyzation company released a report showing that the majority of websites are now visited by direct navigation, instead of using search engines and web links.
Direct Web Navigation is when a visitor locates a site by typing the domain directly into the browser or from a using a bookmark.
Before you become a “domain connoisseur,” you need to understand the advantages of owning more then one domain and what you can do with them:
1) Redirects: Maybe when you registered your site there were other names you liked as well, or perhaps you registered the .net version of your name. It’s very easy to point these names to your existing site so when someone types in one of these alternate domain names in their browser, they’ll still wind up at your site.
Would you buy from someone with an “@yahoo.com” e-mail address? I wouldn’t. And the clients I’ve had the most trouble with use yahoo addresses or other free addresses. I understand that you don’t want your regular e-mail address in ads that your run on free ad sites to prevent spam, but lets use some common sense here.
If you don’t buy anything from yahoo’s off line why would you buy from a yahoo online? If you’re serious about your business you have to show it in your actions. The first action to take is to buy your own domain name and use it for all of your e-mails.
Are you having sleepless nights thinking of the right domain name for your online business?
Copyright law goes back to the founding fathers who, in order “to promote the progress of science and useful arts” in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, secured for authors, artists and inventors the exclusive right to their work for 28 years. In 1909, the Copyright Act allowed that after 28 years, protection could be renewed for another 28 years. In 1978, the law was revised to provide protection until 50 years after the creator’s death. The 1978 law also extended previous unexpired copyrights for another 47 years.
It’s quite common for a site to be referenced by more than one domain name. In fact, most sites are referenced by at least two: a www version and a non-www version. These are usually set up to reference the index page on a site and produce the same results for a searcher.
It could, however, be argued that these are the same domain names. So the question remains: why would someone want to have more than one unique domain name for a single site?
Search engines – First, let’s take a brief look at search engines. In the past, it was a very common spamming technique to purchase dozens, hundreds or in some gross cases, thousands of domain names, all referencing exactly the same site. These were all submitted to the search engines, and many of them were indexed and blindly added to the results. This is how many questionable sites used to get top search results very quickly and inexpensively.
Every professional business should be keeping up with the demands and needs of its customers, if it is to survive. One of the essential tools of any business these days is to have a professional web site. This begins with choosing and registering a domain name that will clearly identify and brand your business online for many years to come, so you need to choose wisely.
When ever I see the statement “Free sites do not build trust and credibility.” It makes me ask, “What hosting service is this person promoting?”
The importance of having your own domain name cannot be over- emphasized. If you are running an online business, and don’t yet have a domain name, you are probably losing thousands of dollars worth of business because of this. Why? Simply because, unless you have a domain name, your customers will simply not feel comfortable buying from you. In order to sell on the web, you need to build up your credibility. Having your own domain name is the first step in that process.
You have no doubt been bombarded with emails from all manner of marketing ‘gurus’, including most of the big names, telling you to hurry up and get in on the “once in a lifetime” marketing opportunity of owning a long domain name of up to 65 characters.
