Domain Name Blogger

As a domainer, I’ve become quite the multi-tasker. I use a few forums to browse the industry and see what’s in the marketplace. The forums I mostly visit are DigitalPoint, DNForum, and NamePros. Going from one site to another often enough can drive anyone crazy, so I have been working on a new tool mostly for myself, but it’s something you find refreshing.

It’s name? DNMarket, and it’s location is http://www.DNWatch.biz. I know, I hate .biz domains too, but some sites are just there to be helpful and who really cares what they are called right?

DNMarket will allow you to see what is happening in the market place forums (which happen to mostly be the only ones I really use much) in real time. Or in reality, every 15 minuets. Each quarter hour, the site will feed in the most result threads generated on sites like DigitalPoint, NamePros, and DNForum which pretty much eliminate the need of visiting all three sites unless you see something that sparks your interest. If you do see something your looking to grab, clicking  on the thread will bring you there in a new window so you don’t loose your spot.

I have found the site quite helpful in my wanderings and use the site every day. I just added DigitalPoint to the mix and may add my own domain forum when sales and posting picks up there. For now, I want it to be as full of deals as possible.

If you find the site helpful, bookmark it and check it daily – I do.

There are millions of websites on the internet, and this number is growing each and day, so it is only natural to search out a particular term or keyword on the web with the aid of a search engine. For online businesses, an owner wants their website to be displayed at the top of search results desperately for visibility and traffic which is crucial for online success. Brain storming by webmasters regarding what to do to make this happen often leads to what we now call search engine optimization or SEO. 

Search engine optimization or SEO is a method of reverse engineering search engine indexing patterns and designing a website accordingly so that it’ll be more search engine friendly. Even though SEO is not 100% successful, despite search engines periodically changing their searching algorithms, it has been able to strike a decent success percentage rate, making it an indispensable technique for most online businesses and other site owners. In the next few paragraphs, we’ll see in brief what all goes behind the method of SEO.  

SEO includes optimizing different factors such as the website design, keyword density, keyword location, contents, Meta tags, total number of pages etc alongside avoiding certain mistakes called that could adversely affect page rankings. 

To begin with, keyword density must be in the range of 5-7%. Since search engines list websites in search results based on the keyword provided for search, it is important that website contents be built around a few keywords which reflect the main theme of the site. However, to have keyword density in excess of 10% can be counterproductive for search engine spiders consider it as deliberate spamming meant to mislead its indexing process.

Page rankings also weigh a lot on the contents of the title and Meta tags. It is the contents of the title tags that are sometimes picked by the search engines to display alongside the URL in the search results. Ideally, the contents of the title tag must be a short description of around 80 words, about the contents of the website. The same applies for Meta tags as well for its contents are also used by spiders to put it alongside the URL in search results.

Regarding keywords, other SEO tips include having the most keyword concentration at the top of the webpage than the lower half, stuffing keywords in links, and occasional text formatting in bold or higher fonts to catch the eye of search engine spiders.

The most common mistake committed by web designers is the use of high quality graphic headers or flash media. While it may look pleasing to the eyes, search engine spiders don’t consider these flashy graphics as something to make sence out of. They do not have eyes and can not see it, so if it takes up a lot of code or area on the page, your keyword density can greatly decrease. The top part of the webpage must be preferably left for contents rich in keywords and limited images. The same principle applies to graphic navigation menus as well. Another common SEO mistake is the use of scripts for site navigation. Remember, search engines can’t read or execute scripts. Finally, avoid attempts to dupe search engine spiders such as by including hidden texts. While it may appear to work in the shorter run, it could spell the end to everything if the search engine finds out what you’re doing. Avoiding redirects is also an important factor.

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has a headquartered in Marina Del Rey, California. ICANN is a California Non – Profit Corporation that was created on September 18, 1998 in order to oversee a number of Internets - related tasks performed directly on behalf of the U.S Government by other organizations. The task of ICANN is to managing the assignment of domain names and IP addresses. The work has its concerned the introduction of new generic top – level domains. The technical work of ICANN is referred to as the LANA function and the rest of ICANN is mostly concerned with defining policy.

On September 29, 2006 the ICANN signed a new agreement with the United States Department of Commerce (DOC) that is a step forward toward the full management of the Internet’s system of centrally coordinated identifiers through the multi-stakeholder model of consultation that ICANN represents.

ICANN is formally organized as a non-profit corporation “for charitable and public purposes” under the California Non – profit Public Benefit Corporation Law. ICANN is managed by a Board of Directors, which is composed of six representatives of the Supporting Organizations, sub-groups that deal with specific sections of the policies under ICANN’s purview. And eight independent representatives of the general public interest, selected through a Nominating Committee in which all the constituencies of ICANN are represented; and the President and CEO, appointed by the rest of the Board.

The Supporting Organizations are currently three: the Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) that deals with policy making on generic top – level domains (gTLDs); the Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO) deals with policy making on  country – code top – level domains (ccTLDs) and the Address Supporting Organization (ASO) deals with policy making on IP addresses.

ICANN also relies on some advisory committees to receive advice on the interests and needs of stakeholders that do not directly participate in the Supporting Organization. The Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC), which is composed of representatives of a great number of national governments from the entire world. At – Large Advisory Committee (ALAC), that composed of representatives of organizations of individual Internet users from the entire world. The Root Server System Advisory Committee, providing advice on the operation of the DNS root server system; the Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC), composed of Internet experts who study security issues pertaining to ICANN’s mandate; and the Technical Liaison Group(TLG), composed of representatives of other international technical organizations of the Internet.

Domain names are simply the addresses of the Internet. E-mail is sent and web pages are found through the use of domain names.

Often a well established company finds that the domain name corresponding to their corporate name or product trademark is owned by someone else. When this happens the company can either choose a different name or fight to get the domain name from its current owners. When a dispute over a domain name occurs, the parties can always turn to the courts. While courts and judges (discuss this at CourtForum.com) have the authority to award control and ownership over domain names (just as they have authority to award control and ownership over any other property), the judicial process is notoriously slow. Many parties have avoided the courts and turned to the domain name dispute policies of the domain name registrars.

Companies that do bring a court action must present legal arguments on why a domain name registered to someone else should be cancelled or transferred to an organization who wasn’t fast enough to register the name first. Historically, these arguments were based on trademark law or dilution law. It was sometimes difficult to present a strong case under the traditional principals of trademark law, especially when the party seeking to obtain a domain name either could not prove a likelihood of confusion (which is required under trademark law) or was a famous individual who never technically established trademark rights in their name.

On November 1999 the Congress passed the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. The act made it easier for individuals and companies to take over domain names that are confusingly similar to their names or valid trademarks. They must establish that the domain name holder acted in bad faith.

The experience necessary to successfully challenge domain ownership and defend against domain claims in arbitration proceedings under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) established by ICANN in 1999.