NETEA | Domain & Hosting

New ccTLD Available - .BZ!

2009-03-17T07:05:00.001-07:00

.BZ, .COM.BZ and .NET.BZ just rolled out today! This is the official country code for Belize, but it's also breaking into the social space as the domain to use when you want to create a buzz.

.bz

.com.bz

.net.bz

Netea

24.99

49.99

Network Solutions®

34.99

N/A

Register.com®

N/A

Enom®

49.95

N/A

See Details

Hosting Domains on MobileMe Accounts

2009-02-21T00:40:00.000-08:00

There are several ways to use your domain with MobileMe, but we suggest using the following process:

Park the domain you want to host on your MobileMe account using our Parked nameservers.
Configure your MobileMe account.
Forward the domain you want to host on your MobileMe account to the "www" version of your domain (for example, forward coolexample.com to http://www.coolexample.com).
Edit the "www" CNAME record for the domain you want to host on your MobileMe account to point to web.me.com.

To Park Your Domain

Log in to your Account Manager.
In the My Products section, select Domain Manager.
Use the checkbox to select the domain you want to host on your MobileMe account, and then click Nameservers.
Select Parked nameservers.
Click OK.
Click OK again.

To Configure Your MobileMe Account

For information about setting up your MobileMe account to work with your personal domain, see the help for your MobileMe account.

To Forward Your Domain

Log in to your Account Manager.
In the My Products section, click Domains.
Use the checkbox to select the domain you want to host on your MobileMe account, and then click Forward.
Select Enable forwarding.
In the Forward to field, enter the domain you want to host on your MobileMe account preceded by "www". For example, http://www.coolexample.com.
In the Redirect type area, select one of the following:

301 Moved Permanently
Redirects to the site you specified in the Forward to field using a "301 Moved Permanently" HTTP response. The HTTP 301 response code tells user-agents (including search engines) that the location has permanently moved.
302 Found (Temporary Redirect)
Redirects to the site you specified in the Forward to field using a "302 Found" HTTP response. The HTTP 302 response code tells user-agents (including search engines) that the location has temporarily moved.
Click OK.

NOTE: Forwarded domains can take up to 24 hours to become active.

To Edit Your CNAME Record

Log in to your Account Manager.
In the My Products section, click Domains.
Click the domain you want to forward to your MobileMe account.
In the Total DNS Control field, click the Total DNS Control and MX Records hyperlink.
To edit your "www" CNAME, click the Edit button for the "www" record.
Click OK to confirm you want to edit the record.
In the Points to Host Name field, type web.me.com.
Click OK.

NOTE: As a courtesy, we provide information about how to use certain third-party products, but we do not endorse or directly support third-party products and we are not responsible for the functions or reliability of such products. MobileMe is a service of Apple Inc. We are not affiliated with, endorsed, or sponsored by Apple or Apple products.

NEW Unlimited+ Hosting: More Freedom & Flexibility!

2009-02-14T04:25:00.000-08:00

NETEA NEW Unlimited hosting plan, which replaces our Premium shared hosting plan, adds unlimited disk space and bandwidth to the other great hosting features you know and love. With Unlimited Hosting, you have the freedom to host as many files as they want - plus, you'll never have to worry about exceeding your plan limits with too many downloads or data transfers.

Note: Current Premium Hosting customers will need to upgrade to Unlimited Hosting by calling customer service or through online Account Manager.

Plan provides unlimited storage and bandwidth; limitations apply to other plan features.

NETEA hosting starting at $3.99

2009-02-07T04:59:00.000-08:00

Economy Plan
2 mo:$4.20/mo
12 mo: $3.99/mo SAVE 5%
24 mo: $3.78/mo SAVE 10%
36 mo: $3.57/mo SAVE 15%

Plan Features
• 5 GB NOW 10 GB Space
• 250 GB NOW 300 GB Transfer
• 100 Email Accounts
• FREE! Software
• 10 MySQL Databases
• 50 Email Forwards
• Forums, Blogging, Photos
• $20 Google® AdWords® Credit1
• $25 Microsoft® adCenter Credit†
• FREE! Google Webmaster Tools

Deluxe Plan
1 mo:$6.99/mo
12 mo: $6.29/mo SAVE 5%
24 mo: $5.94/mo SAVE 10%
36 mo: $5.59/mo SAVE 15%

Plan Features
• 100 GB NOW 150 GB Space
• 1,000 GB NOW 1,500 GB Transfer
• 500 Email Accounts
• Unlimited Web sites
• FREE! Software
• 25 MySQL Databases
• Unlimited Email Forwards
• Forums, Blogging, Photo Galleries
• $25 Google® AdWords® Credit1
• $50 Microsoft® adCenter Credit†
• FREE! Google Webmaster Tools

Unlimited+ Plan
1 mo:$14.99/mo
12 mo: $13.49/mo SAVE 5%
24 mo: $12.74/mo SAVE 10%
36 mo: $11.99/mo SAVE 15%

Plan Features
• 1,000 Email Accounts
• Unlimited Web sites
• FREE! Software
• Unlimited Number of MySQL Databases
• Unlimited Email Forwards
• Forums, Blogging, Photos
• $25 Google® AdWords® Credit1
• $50 Microsoft® adCenter Credit†
• FREE! Google Webmaster Tools

See Details

NETEA Domain Names .COMs starting at $7.49*!

2009-02-07T04:41:00.000-08:00

Promote your business, build your brand, create a family scrapbook, announce a new arrival... How you use your domain name is up to you. But with incredible pricing customers expect from Netea® and a long list of FREE extras, you'll have everything you need get started online. It's easy, fast and affordable. With each domain name you purchase, you get everything you see here, ALL backed by the world-class support Netea is known for. Start your domain name search now!

Photo Album - Share, print and store your photos online, hassle-free
Share, store and even order prints for your favorite photos, right from your domain name, with your own personal online photo album! Photo Album’s login-free sharing takes the hassle out of viewing photos. Plus, you can enhance your pictures with built-in photo editing, keep personal photos private with password-protected albums and more!

Personalized Email Account
Promote your domain with FREE fraud, spam and virus protected email (essential for small businesses) that includes 1GB total storage! Best of all, your personalized email account is customized to the domain name that you use for your Web site (you@yourpersonaldomain.com).

Hosting
Affordable, reliable and backed by 24/7 support, your free hosting also includes our world-class data centers; FrontPage extensions; 24x7 FTP access; best-of-breed routers, firewalls and servers; Web site statistics and much more. See sample page

Web Site Builder
Activate free hosting for a Web site you’ve already built or create a 5-page Web site. Just open your Internet browser, select your images and type your text. In the time it takes to do it, your site gets built. Drag-&-drop text/images, add your photos or graphics and much more. Password-protected Web pages, specialty content and editing features make it secure and simple! See sample page

Starter Web Page
Enjoy a professionally designed home on the Web in seconds! Put your domain up for sale at its own address or tell the world your site's “coming soon.” Customize with your own text, graphics and links – even choose color combinations.
Comprehensive Web site-building tools available.

Quick Blogcast
Create, manage and promote your own blog and podcast. Post your stories, thoughts and ideas on your blog and invite readers to leave comments. Use our recording tool to create your own audio and video podcast and upload it to your blog to share with visitors. Publish and promote your podcast (and the blog it's hosted on) with automatic notifications to popular listing services including iTunes®, Feedburner and more. Whether you're writing your own personal journal or looking to influence audiences, this must-have blogging application is free with your domain purchase.

Domain Forwarding & Masking
Direct different WWW addresses to an existing site. When someone types your domain name into a browser, they will automatically be forwarded/redirected to whatever URL you choose. And with masking, users don't see the underlying address; only what they type.

100-Pack Email Forwarding
Set 100 variations on your basic "@domainname" email address. That means you can automatically redirect emails to an existing account, keeping your main email address private. A single mail box was never so flexible! Additional accounts and storage space available.

Auto Renew Protection
Keep your domain name secure by automatically renewing your registration. Never worry about forgetting to do it manually. You'll keep your domains, hosting, Web site builders and other products where they belong: in your name, in your account and under your control!

Total DNS Control
Manage your domain name server (DNS) records, set your email, FTP, sub-directories, web site location, and more. Our Domain Control Center makes it easy.

Change of Registration**
Assign your domain name to another registrant, right online. You can change all four contact fields for the domain whenever you want.
**Note: changes of registrant's name are not available for .UK names without a fee from the Registry.

Status Alerts
Monitor key status indicators to your domain and get instant alerts if there's any change.
DomainAlert® Pro Backordering and other services available.

Domain Locking
Prevent anyone from making changes to your domain's vital ownership/administrative information. Domain Locking prevents unauthorized or accidental transfers, and stops anyone from misdirecting your name servers.

NETEA Hosting support SSH Access

2009-02-05T06:44:00.000-08:00

Some of you may have noticed the latest and greatest feature we began offering to our Linux shared hosting customers. SSH, or Secure Shell, is a program that you can use to log in to another computer over a network. In this way you can execute commands on a remote machine and then move files from one machine to another.

Where do I find this new feature?
All paid accounts will find SSH under 'Settings' in the Hosting Control Center.

How do I begin?
First, you will need to enable SSH in your hosting account using the following help article.
Enabling SSH on Your Linux Shared Hosting Account

Once my account is enabled how do I connect?
In order to connect, you will need an SSH client. Use this article for instructions.
Using SSH to Connect to Your Linux Shared Hosting Account

In order to provide the best experience, customers using SSH are required to be located in our newest hosting environment. All new hosting accounts will have SSH available. For our existing customers, we're in the process of creating a mechanism for you to have your account moved to the new environment. This mechanism is currently available if your hosting account does not have any databases configured for it. If you do have databases, you may choose to use the existing MySQL database backup feature to save your content before removing that database and enabling SSH.

*Currently, customers using ColdFusion do not have SSH access.

Enabling SSH on Your Linux Shared Hosting Account

2009-01-13T06:46:00.000-08:00

Here's the lowdown: To SSH to your Linux Shared Hosting account, you need to enable SSH within the Hosting Control Center.

SSH is a secure method of connecting to your hosting account to upload files, move files, and execute commands. When you enable SSH, it is enabled for the primary FTP user associated to the account.

NOTE: If you have databases on your account, you cannot setup SSH. We recommend backing up your database structure and data before deleting it and enabling SSH. After SSH is enabled, your databases must be recreated on the new hosting server. See Backing Up a MySQL Database for more information.

To Enable SSH on Your Linux Shared Hosting Account

Log in to your Account Manager.
In the My Products section, select Hosting.
Next to the hosting account you want to modify, click Manage Account.
In the Settings section of the Hosting Control Center, click the SSH icon.
Type your Country Code, Phone Number, and Extension (if applicable) in the corresponding fields and click Enable.
NOTE: SSH requires a strong password. If prompted to change your password, click Change Password, type a new password, and click OK.
We call the phone number provided within 10 minutes. Once the connection is established, an automated message plays a message containing a PIN. Type the PIN number into the You will be called with your PIN field and click Verify.

Once verified, it may take 24-72 hours for SSH to be enabled for your account. See Using SSH to Connect to Your Linux Shared Hosting Account for information on how to connect to your account using SSH.

TIP:If you did not receive the call, or have entered the wrong pin, repeat the steps above to receive a new call and a different pin.

Using SSH to Connect to Your Linux Shared Hosting Account

2008-12-03T06:48:00.000-08:00

You can access your Linux Shared Hosting account using SSH.

NOTE: To connect to your Shared Hosting account using SSH, you need to enable SSH. For more information, see Enabling SSH on Your Linux Shared Hosting Account.

To use SSH, you need an SSH client. Below are examples of popular SSH clients:

PuTTy (Windows)
OpenSSH (Linux and Mac)

After downloading and installing one of these clients, you can use it to connect to your hosting account via SSH. These are your SSH settings:

Host Name or IP Address: Type your host name (domain name) or IP address.
Port: If prompted for the port, type 22.
NOTE: Once you have entered the host name or IP address and the port, open the connection. Once connected, you will be prompted for the user name and password.
User Name or Login as: The primary FTP user name for the account.
Password: This is the same as the primary FTP user password on the account.

NETEA Hosting Support the Cron Job

2008-12-02T06:17:00.000-08:00

What is a Cron Job?

Cron is a standard Linux feature that allows you to schedule tasks, called "Cron Jobs," to run unattended at a specified frequency. For example, you can set the frequency of a job to run twice an hour, Mondays at 8:00 a.m., or weekdays at 12:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.

There are several ways to schedule commands to run. Typically, you create a shell script to run as a Cron Job. It runs a list of commands while checking for errors and valid return codes. To run a shell script, set its bit set permissions to "executable." Alternatively, compose a binary executable with a number of arguments. For example, "touch" a file:

/bin/touch $HOME/html/cron_test

The first part of this sample command, "/bin/touch" runs the executable. The second part, "$HOME/html/cron_test" is an argument for the "touch" command.

NOTE: In the example above, the "$HOME" variable is set to the default directory of the hosting account. The "html" directory is the document root of the hosting account.

In addition to shell scripts, your hosting environment supports other language scripts. For example, Perl is a commonly used scripting language that can use scripts as Cron Jobs. In most cases, you can perform this task by specifying to use the executable as the first line of the script. For example:

#!/usr/bin/perl

When a script begins with a line, as in the previous example, and the executable permissions are set, you can specify the line as the command to run for a Cron Job.

The PHP (versions 4 and 5) hosting installations do not support the use of the executable line in scripts. To run a PHP script with Cron, you must set the path to the PHP interpreter as the first element of the command, and then enter the full path of the script you want to run.

The full path to the PHP executables are:

PHP version 4: /web/cgi-bin/php
PHP version 5: /web/cgi-bin/php5

http://www.netea.com/

Uploading Files to Your Web Site

2008-11-07T00:36:00.000-08:00

To upload files to your Web site, you need an FTP client. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It lets you connect to a remote computer, such as a hosting server in another state. Using FTP, you can move files from your machine to the remote one and create folders for those files on that computer.

Some popular FTP clients are:

If you are using Windows XP, you can create a network connection to your Web site. You might also be able to upload your file using the same software you used to create your Web site. You can use popular programs like Macromedia Dreamweaver and Microsoft FrontPage to upload your Web site.

You can also use the Hosting Control Center to upload files to your Web site. See Using the Hosting Control Center Web-Based FTP Client for more information.

After downloading and installing one of these clients, you can use it to connect to your hosting account. These are your FTP settings:

FTP User Name: This is the user name for your hosting account.
FTP Password: This your password for your hosting account.
Web Site URL: http://www.example.com
FTP Site URL: ftp://www.example.com
Start Directory: Some FTP clients will ask for a "Home" or "Start" directory. Our hosting service does not require this. Leave the box blank. If the client requires a value, enter a single forward slash followed by your hosting account user name (i.e., /).

Website Hosting Tips to Generate More Traffic

2008-07-18T05:09:00.000-07:00

Web hosting services put a website (domain name) on the internet. After registering a website and picking a domain name, the next step is to find a perfect web hosting service. For successful business campaign a website must be always up and running, only a quality website hosting provider can do this.

Bad Hosting May Cause Problems

There are a ton of unreliable hosts on the web offering either free or discounted web hosting. Hosting is one thing one should spend good money on. If your site is down most of the times you may lose potential customers and spiders may not be able to spider your site. Your online reputation may be destroyed completely. System lag and overloading of the server let the website down. Overloading is generated when hundreds or thousands of domains are placed on a single IP address on a single server. This is called ‘Bad Hosting’.

Common Hosting Problems

Bad hosting prevents customers from finding you and may prevent your site from getting and staying fully indexed in the search engines.
Some hosts will not let you change some of your files or configurations that you need to change when running your site
Some hosts configure incorrectly with the wrong clock time or sending DNS errors that prevent your site from being indexed. A server header checker can be used to ensure your clock time is not way off and your home page provides a 200 code and non existent pages provide a 404 error.
One can also use Web Bug or the Firefox Live HTTP Headers extension to check HTTP headers.

Dedicated Vs Shared Hosting:

Dedicated hosting is typically far more expensive when compared to share hosting. Shared hosting places many domain names on the same IP address & same server, whereas dedicated servers allow you to place just your stuff on a server. If you are going to be making major investments into the web then it may be worth it to buy a reliable dedicated server. As in shared hosting you have no security for your web site. In shared hosting there are chances of invading your web site by other Spammers hosted on that same server but in the dedicated servers your web site is more secured as you have total access over the server.

Host in Your Country

Getting regional focus in the search results can also be a better idea. Many major search engines give sites a relevancy boost if it is hosted in the same location as the local search market. If you are promoting a site primarily geared toward Japan, you should not host that site in India.

Do I Need Managed Web Hosting Or Shared Web Hosting?

2008-05-13T06:35:00.000-07:00

There are many different choices to make when it comes to selecting the best type of web hosting for your particular needs. Shared web hosting is by far the most popular type of web hosting, and is ideal for most websites. However, many websites, such as those with very high traffic or form whom security of sensitive information is of utmost concern, managed web hosting just might be a better choice.

Shared Web Hosting
For smaller websites, purchasing a server or paying to leasing a dedicated server would be an unnecessary and very significant expense. Shared web hosting is an inexpensive and effective web hosting solution for most smaller websites. This type of hosting is referred to as shared web hosting simply because multiple websites share space on a single web hosting server.
Web host servers are large and powerful, and have sufficient room and bandwidth capacity to host multiple websites with ease. When you select a shared web hosting option, you purchase a package from a web hosting company that includes a certain amount of space and bandwidth on the company’s server. This option allows website owners to enjoy the power of a powerful web hosting server without having to pay for more than is actually needed.
The number of other websites with which your site shares a web host depends on the size and bandwidth needs of each website along with the capacity of the server. As long as your shared web hosting agreement includes a sufficient amount of space and bandwidth for your needs, you don’t have to worry about running out of room in a shared environment.
If your website grows faster than you expect, and you do find that it is outgrowing your current hosting agreement. You can always negotiate with your web hosting company to add additional space and bandwidth capacity to your current shared hosting agreement. Another option is to step up to a higher level of web hosting, which could mean getting a dedicated server with managed web hosting.

Managed Web Hosting
Websites that deal with highly sensitive confidential information, as well as those who receive a great deal of traffic are more suited for a dedicated web hosting environment than for shared web hosting. With dedicated web hosting, your website does not share a server with other websites. One web hosting server is dedicated specifically to your website.
Most companies who need the capacity of a dedicated web host decide to go with a managed web hosting solution. This is because the actual management and administration of a dedicated host can be very time consuming. If a website owner selects an unmanaged hosting option, he or she becomes responsible for every aspect of maintaining the web hosting server. Managing a web host is very time consuming, and involves everything from day to day maintenance to security issues.
Those who operate large websites are typically busy with other activities, and it is worth setting up their web hosting agreement so that the hosting company handles most of the task associated with managing the dedicated host. Another option for managed web hosting is simply to contract with an outside organization to handle the duties associated with managing the web host server.

Making a Decision
If your website is large enough to need a dedicated web hosting, it is certainly in your best interest to go with managed hosting instead of unmanaged hosting unless you employ a server maintenance expert who has the time to handle the large task of maintaining your web server.
However, before making the decision to invest in managed hosting, it is in your best interest to see if shared web hosting will meet your needs. Shared web hosting is significantly less than dedicated hosting options. Remember that shared web hosting is sufficient for most websites, so don’t take on the expense of managed hosting if it is unnecessary.

How do domain names work?

2007-11-27T06:15:00.000-08:00

Registering a domain doesn't automatically make your Web site appear when visitors enter your domain into a Web browser. You have to upload your Web site to a computer that hosts the site and assigns a numeric address, called an IP address, to your domain. Your domain and associated IP address are stored in a database with every other domain and associated IP address. When visitors enter your domain into a Web browser, your domain works like an address forwarding service by forwarding visitors to the IP address where your Web site is stored. We use domain names instead of IP addresses because most people find it easier to remember a name rather than a series of numbers.

When you register a domain, you do not have to create and upload a Web site. You can also:

Sell it. Domains can be a great investment. If you have registered a domain that you are not using, maybe someone else can. Log in to your Account Manager and set up a For Sale parked page for your domain. Don't forget to include your contact information.

Protect your brand online. The more domains you register, the better. Prevent others from registering a similar domain to yours—just to steal away your customers. What to do with all these names? Forward them to your main domain.

Hold on to it. Maybe you haven’t decided what to do with your new domain. Don’t worry – there’s no rush. You can leave it parked with us for the length of your registration.

For new .COM and .NET domains and updates, it may take up to eight hours for changes to become effective. It may take up to 48 hours for changes made to all other domain extensions to become effective. This is because of the number of networks and agencies involved. Delays apply to all domains and registrars. Please allow for this delay when planning Web sites or configuring a domain to work with your email.

http://www.netea.com/

Things to Consider When Choosing a Web Hosting Company

2007-06-25T05:15:00.000-07:00

If you're a beginner just putting up a simple site that uses no programming; you can probably do fine with the starter package offered by most companies. Service, support, reliability and value added features like free PHP scripts are most important to you. However if you're site is for business and/or involves programming languages and/or ecommerce features ,you need to be concerned with other issues:

- do you need shared or dedicated hosting? If you expect very large amounts of traffic, or you need a lot of administrative control over your web site, or your site involves a complex setup of scripts, databases, multimedia content etc then you may need a web hosting company with dedicated hosting.

- do you want windows or unix hosting? If your site is written in ASP or .net you definitely need windows hosting. Same if you use Microsoft databases like SQL Server or Access. Otherwise you are probably ok with either platform. Most companies have both available.

- disk space and bandwidth - make sure you have a good idea of the space requirements for your site as well as bandwidth. Usually drive space isn't a big issue since the typical web hosting company usually offers lots of space with even the starter web hosting plans. However if you're storing lots of data or video, audio files etc. than this will be something to look out for.

- how many domains and subdomains do you need? companies all differ in the amount of domains and subdomains you can have within your web hosting plan. Think carefully about whether this is or will become important to you. Its nice to have room for expansion for your web activities without having to get another web hosting plan if you decide to host a new domain, for example.

- do you need ecommerce and other advanced features like shopping carts or credit card processing? These differ by hosting provider, as does whether there's an extra charge involved.

- are you interested in custom PHP modules? Some companies offer a selection of very useful PHP modules for no extra charge, typically with an easy installation menu. This can be great if you want to add a blog, MYSQL database, or other PHP feature to your site.

Other Issues

- Reliability - do they claim 99.5% or greater uptime?

- Support - are there lots of resources available to you to help you out? Can you reach a live person at the web hosting company for no-extra-charge help?

- Speed - If the hosting company's home page takes a while to load - your site probably will to! Take that as a bad sign and skip that one.

- Make sure that you can use and can setup fairly easily any CGI scripts you need.

- Email services - think of your needs and make sure you use a hosting company that provides you with the email solutions you want.

Keeping the above issues in mind will help ensure that you end up with the hosting you really need.

Choosing Domain Names for Your Business

2007-03-06T05:18:00.000-08:00

Let's say that you're creating a website for Barb's Specialty Pet Products. Should the domain name be barbsspecialtypetproducts.com?

Perhaps -- but don't stop there. Having the right domain name, or domain names, can bring more traffic to your site.

Why more than one domain name?

One domain is all you need to set up a website. But with more domains directing to your site, you can have these additional benefits:

- Bring site visitors who type variations of your domain name

- Acquire traffic that might otherwise go to your competition

- Harness the marketing power of keyword domains

Your primary domain name

If it's feasible, use your business or brand name in your primary domain. People will remember it and associate it with your business. Also consider the following factors when choosing your primary domain.

Domain name extensions

Should your primary domain end with .com, .net, or .biz, or with a country-specific extension such as .ca or .co.uk?

If your website is aimed at people in a specific country, having a country-specific domain can help:

- Site visitors will recognize right away that the business has a presence in the country of the extension. They may therefore be more comfortable buying from you.

- Some country-specific search results include sites with the relevant country-specific domain extension even if the site isn't hosted in that country.

On the other hand, if you're targeting an international audience, a country-specific domain could work against you. People from outside the country of the extension may be less inclined to buy if the business looks foreign to them.

If you want to attract both people within your country and those in other countries, have both. Each domain could direct to the same site, with each audience seeing the domain intended for them. For country-specific search results, the primary domain should be the country-specific one.

Chances are that the .com domain you want is already taken. If you use the .net or .biz version, you risk having potential site visitors go to your .com competition instead. Be sure to use the full domain name on all promotional material to reduce this risk.

Domain name length

A short domain is easier to remember, it has less risk of being mistyped, and it'll fit easily on your business cards and correspondence.

Conversely, if a short name doesn't represent your business, it's more difficult for people to remember. The short names you like may already be taken anyway.

If your business name is up to three easy-to-spell words, it'll probably work as a domain name. For a longer business name, the initials or just one or two words may be easier than remembering a combination of words.

Secondary domain names

Secondary domains directing to your site are for online use:

- For people who type your primary domain name incorrectly

- For people who search for your products or services online

Typing and spelling variations

How many ways can people spell and type your business name?

barbsspecialtypetproducts.com

barbs-specialty-pet-products.com

barbspecialtypetproducts.com

barbsspecialitypetproducts.com

barbspecialtyproducts.com

barbspecialtyproduct.com

Hyphens aren't recommended for your primary domain. When people tell others about your site, they're likely to omit the hyphens. They may also forget to type them.

For secondary domains, hyphens make long domains easier to read. Each word stands out when people see your domain. However, domains such as buy-keyword-product-now.com make some people view hyphenated domains, especially those with more than one hyphen, as spam-like.

Having the words in domains separated may help some search engines recognize keywords. With Google, though, hyphens don't make any difference.

Consider all of these variations for secondary domain names:

- With and without hyphens

- Different ways of spelling some words

- Singular and plural versions of nouns

- Extensions with .com and .net as well as a country-specific extension if relevant

What people search for

If you want to find the website for Time magazine, you might do a search for it, or you might try typing in time.com. If you do the latter, you'll find yourself at the Time site.

This type of search behavior extends to generic words too. Searching for dog collars? Try dogcollar.com, for example, and you'll be redirected to dogidcollar.com. Do you want life insurance? Lifeinsurance.com redirects to nmfn.com (and so does northwesternmutualfinancialnetwork.com).

While having keyword domain names may not draw a lot of site visitors, using them is a technique to consider.

How to use more than one domain

Set up your website with your primary domain, and use that domain on your correspondence and with your customers.

Point secondary domains to your site using URL forwarding (also called domain forwarding, domain redirect, or URL redirect). To have the secondary domain appear in the browser, use domain masking. You can set up these features when you log in to your account with your domain registrar (if your registrar offers these services).

With domains that are simply variations of your primary domain, you can expect additional traffic just from having set up these domains. With domains that contain keywords, you can get more from them by using them to list your site in online directories. When these domains appear in search results, searchers will see the keywords.

The next step

Once you decide on the available domains that you want, register them immediately. They might not be available tomorrow.

If you don't already have a business name, you'll find it easier to market your business online if you choose a primary domain and a business name together. If your first choice for a business name doesn't work well with any available domains, consider a business name that you can easily market with an available domain. Once you've registered that domain name and your business name, register secondary domains and put them to use.

Is it worth registering multiple domains for one site? That depends on your site, but any variations that you don't register will be available for competitors to register and use. If a domain is valuable to a competitor, it's valuable to you.

NETEA to Support Open-Source Framework Ruby On Rails

2007-02-02T04:51:00.000-08:00

NETEA, one of the fastest growing domain registrars and hosting providers, has announced that it now supports Web sites created using "Ruby on Rails".
“Ruby on Rails” is an open-source framework which lets developers easily assemble rich and dynamic Web sites.

Programming with Rails allows a Web designer to wrap applications easily around a database. It has been widely acclaimed in Web development and software engineering circles as a new standard for ease of development and speed of delivery.

"We are excited to support yet another new technology as part of our hosting services”, says Rocky William, President of NETEA. “Staying at the forefront of new technologies truly sets us apart from the competition, and our customers have grown to appreciate that. Along with industry leading customer support and unbeatable prices, it is clear that NETEA continues to set new standards”.

Be A Domain Name Speculator/Investor

2006-10-06T05:33:00.000-07:00

A question we are often asked is whether or not it is too late to get into the domain name speculation business. By this we mean the practice of buying a domain name now in the hopes of selling it sometime down the road for a great profit.

Our Conservative Answer: Who Knows?

Just like the stock market, if there were any guarantees, everyone would do it. Obviously, most of the best names are already taken. There will never be an opportunity again for you to buy a name like Shopping.com or Cars.com for just the basic registration fees. Sure, prices for good domain names on the resale market have only been going in one direction (up!) for years now. But is this trend going to continue? Or is today the day that domain name historians will later cite as the precise peak of domain name hysteria? Maybe it is.

There is one thing we can recommend with confidence: Don't gamble any money on domain names that you are not prepared to possibly lose.

Our Gut Answer: It's Still Not Too Late

There are many strong reasons to believe that money can still be made speculating on domain names:

Scarcity Of Dot Coms - Domain names ending in dot com are ingrained in the public's minds. Other endings like ".shop" may be introduced in the future but they will never have the same marketing potency as ".com" because ".com" came first and is associated with every strong internet company that now has a strong foothold in the eBiz market. As more and more businesses seek a presence online, they will always prefer a dot com name. If you own one, even if it is not in demand today, it may be tomorrow because of the limited supply.

Also, dot coms are becoming so scarce that even some dot nets and dot TVs are beginning to fetch significant amounts on the resale market. (Note: Dot TV ending domain names can only be purchased from the company named DotTV. These names are currently being sold for fairly high amounts.)

The Trend Is Holding - Names are only becoming more and more valuable and there doesn't seem to be any signs of a decline or even a plateau. Like in real estate, art, or stocks, there is a popular saying, "the trend is your friend." If you believe this trend will continue, it only stands to reason that prices you pay today will be lower than what you'll receive tomorrow.
Marketers Are Realizing Value - Many internet companies today are realizing that with a good, solid domain name, they can spend much less on marketing to attain their desired results. Idealab, one of the most successful internet incubators regularly pays $1 million for a domain name knowing that it will save them many more millions in the long run because their marketing message will resonate that much more in people's minds.

More Businesses Coming Online - This is a trend that we are confident will continue. Numerous studies have shown that an enormous number of businesses still do not have an online presence but are planning to get one in the future. This does not include the vast number of new businesses that will be started from scratch on the internet. All these businesses will share one need in common - the need for a domain name. It's possible that they will all pick seven word long variations that are still available, but highly unlikely. Instead, many will look to pay a premium for names on the resale market.

Buy High, Sell Higher - The name Business.com was bought a couple years ago by a domain name speculator for around $300,000. It was later sold for $7.5 million. Quite a nice return. Although you might not have $300,000 to gamble with, the principle still applies on a smaller scale. Many decent names are currently being offered for $200-$500 (or are offered for more but could actually be negotiated down to this range.) A good name for $300 might fetch $3000 in a couple years. Who knows?