Domain Name Basics
Monday, March 31st, 2008Hello
I just wanted to leave a couple more posts regarding domain names before I move into information on web design, web hosting & search engine optimization. There are quite a few things you can do with a domain name once you’ve found a domain that works for you. What you do really depends on what you plan to do with the domain name. I don’t want to make this a boring post so I’ll just list a few domain name basics with a brief explanation.
1. Web Hosting - If you plan on actually putting up a website you’ll need to purchase a web hosting plan. This is the space on a web server that you place the files that make up your website. There are a lot of options in regards to web hosting and I’ll be covering that in an upcoming post.
2. Domain Forwarding - If you have a current website you can just forward a domain name to your current website. This is something that’s very common with real estate agents. For example, a Remax agent gets a Remax provided website address such as http://ww1.remax.com/associates/243443433.asp.
Obviously this isn’t something to put on a business card so they register their full name, if available, as a domain name. They then simply forward TheirNewDomain.com to http://ww1.remax.com/associates/243443433.asp. This makes it much easier for them to give their website address & looks much more professional.
3. Email Accounts - Many times people will register a domain name simply to use for email purposes. Rather than using a free email service such as Yahoo or HotMail, many people would like to have a custom email address. For example, say your name is Bill Smith, rather than using a Yahoo email address such as bill_smith2008@yahoo.com you could search for a domain that represents your name, your interests or just about anything else that you want.
Then assume that you were able to register Smith.com, which you wouldn’t be able to do but for explanation reasons let’s assume it’s available. You would then be able to setup any email address you want such as Bill@Smith.com, Sales@Smith.com, Info@Smith.com, etc. There are a few email addresses that you can’t use such as www@YourDomain.com but other than a few your options are limitless.
4. Domain Parking - If you have a great idea for a website or think that you’ve found a domain name that may be valuable you can simply register the domain name and ‘park’ it. This is simply a page showing that the domain is registered and/or Coming Soon. A few things about park pages is that you can park a domain name with a company such as NameDrive.com which will display ads on your website and if someone were to type in your domain and click on one of those ads you would earn a percentage of the revenue earned on that click.
That’s about it for the domain name basics, there are a few more options but these are the 4 main reasons for registering a domain name. I’m sure that I’ll receive an email saying that I left something off the list but like I mentioned, these are the 4 main reasons for registering a domain name.
Best regards,
David Lalumendre
www.WebsiteSpot.com
Domain Name Registration Tips
Friday, March 28th, 2008Hello again
I figured that I’d leave a quick post with some information regarding domain registrations for those of you that are new to domain name registration and give you a few tips. Below you’ll find some of the more common & important tips for registering a domain name. Rather than going on with details of this post let’s get started. They aren’t listed in any particular order but each of them definitely deserves to be read.
1) Don’t register domain names that are too long. Yes, you can register domain names up to 63 characters long, but that doesn’t mean you should use all 63 characters. You want your domain name to be easy to remember. Not everyone will bookmark your page initially so try to think of something that can be easily remembered — although most premium domains have already be registered for quite some time. I personally try to keep every domain name that I register under 15 characters which is still quite a few but these days it’s tough to get a decent domain with less characters.
2) Use of hyphens in your name. Much like the 63 character domain names option above, you should try to avoid registering a domain name with a hyphen. It’s often times difficult for people to remember but it’s still an option. Now I’m by no means a search engine expert but I’ve found that there is no benefit or penalty for registering a domain name with a hypen. As a matter of fact I own a couple of domain names with a hyphen and they rank rather well so don’t let this be a deterrent. It’s actually quite possible to register some keyword dense domain name with hypens so it’s still an option but one that avoid at all costs if possible.
3) Try to reserve a dot com name. .COM is the most recognized domain extension and if it’s available definitely register it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with registering one of the many other domains but again, people first think of .COM when typing in a domain name. I have a competitor that registered a .NET for a domain names that I own, this was before I registered every extension but the point of the story is that if someone is wanting to visit his site they are most likely going to think of the .COM and end up at my site. They may realize that they are at the wrong place but it’s definitely possible that they will stay at my .COM and make a purchase from me rather than the intended .NET. Just something to think about.
4) Protect your name by registering multiple extensions (.net, .org, etc.). This stops people from copying your name and putting up a competitor site based on the brand that you’ve built. For example, if you own JustBirdCages.com you may want to seriously consider registering JustBirdCages.NET, JustBirdCages.ORG, JustBirdCages.US, etc if they are available. This will keep imitation sites from building their brand on your domain name. Try our domain name search tool to search for some domain names that you’re considering and it will show you all of the available extensions.
5) Keyword Dense Domain Names. If you continue to read my blog I’ll get into keywords in regards to search engine optimization (SEO). Obviously you know some of the more common words that someone would type to find a website related to yours so using a domain name with your keywords in it is definitely a plus. With that said, you’ll find that sites that rank well in the search engines without their domain having anything to do with their website but it definitely doesn’t hurt. I tend to search for the main keywords related to my websites topic before anything else and then research from there for alternatives.
6) Domain Privacy.Recently the option for private registration has become a feasible option. You can find the owner of a website on any registered domain names by doing a WhoIs lookup. The information provided would be your name, address, phone number & email address. Adding domain privacy is like an unlisted phone number with the phone company. There is always an additional cost but these days it is almost becoming necessary. Click here to read more on private domain registration.
That’s about it…
You’re ready to check if your domain is available. You can click here to visit www.WebsiteSpot.com which offers domain names for as little as $1.99 for an entire year.
Best regards,
David Lalumendre
www.WebsiteSpot.com
Making A Website That Accepts PayPal
Monday, March 24th, 2008Hello
I last left off after briefly explaining fees associated with merchant accounts and accepting credit cards on your website. I gave a brief explanation so please make sure that you ask as many questions as you can so that you don’t have any unexpected charges after locking into a contract with a credit card processor.
In this post I’m going to explain the most popular payment provider out there, Pay Pal, and the pros & cons of accepting credit cards via Pay Pal. For those who aren’t familiar with PayPal.com, PayPal lets you send or receive money from anyone with an email address. They are sort of the middleman to ensure secure transactions for both the buyer and the seller. PayPal makes their money by charging a minimal fee on completed transactions. The fee is generally paid by the seller.
I’m sure you’ve heard and probably used them but Pay Pal is probably the most trusted provider of merchant services on the internet. Most shopping carts out there are integrated with Pay Pal because of the popularity of the payment processor. They offer a few different options but if you don’t have any intention of setting up a true credit card processor right now they are without a doubt the way to go.
Be sure to sign up for their Business or Premier plan because this will allow you to accept credit cards without your customer having to have a Pay Pal account.
PROS:
CONS:
Here are some other basics related to Pay Pal. They offer some great ways to get your money fast, going so far as offering a Pay Pal debit card so that you can start using your funds the same day. You will need to go through some verification steps to be an ‘verified’ PayPal merchant which is a must because it proves to your customers that you’ve gone through the steps to prove you are who you say you are. This is going to help when it comes to conversions.
Also, if you plan on selling on eBay you’ll definitely want to accept Pay Pal because they won’t accept any other payment providers such as Google Checkout. Pretty much anyone that uses eBay will use Pay Pal as their payment method. This is obviously my opinion but it’s an opinion drawn from experience.
In closing, even if you accept credit cards through a true merchant provider you’ll want to also give the option of Pay Pal. Many people don’t have a credit card and this gives them a reason & the capability of still purchasing through your website.
I hope this helps.
Best regards,
David Lalumendre
www.WebsiteSpot.com
Making A Website Just Got More Affordable!
Friday, March 21st, 2008Hello
My blog is based on how to make a website but I just wanted to take the time to announce that we’ve reduced the cost of our industry leading web hosting along with our online website builder,Website Tonight, and our shopping cart software, Quick Shopping Cart. We took a small survey of customers that were hosting their websites with other companies and found that cost was the biggest issue so we took action.
We’ve priced all of our plans competitively and even offered larger discounts for annual & 2 year sign ups for each product. I feel that our hosting plans are about as competitive as there is out there but with the reliability & trust that you’ve come to expect with WebsiteSpot.com. We’ve added popular applications such as Joomla and Wordpress for creating your own blog along with about 15 more pre-installed applications.
The great thing about our web hosting is that we offer a 99.99% uptime guarantee so you can rely on us to keep your website online. I just can’t say it enough, our plans are competitively priced and offer so many features plus you don’t have the annual commitment to get the great pricing as you’ll find with many other leading hosting companies. Plus you’ll never run into a setup charge for setting up a web hosting account.
To view our new pricing for our web hosting plans: CLICK HERE
To view our new pricing for our online website builder plans: CLICK HERE
To view our new pricing for our shopping cart software plans: CLICK HERE
I think that if you give us a chance that you’ll be very happy with our web hosting services. We’re so sure of our reliable web hosting that we don’t even try to lock you up by signing an annual commitment. So give us a try and you’ll see why we’re so sure of our affordable web hosting.
Best regards,
David Lalumendre
www.WebsiteSpot.com
Make A Website That Accepts Credit Cards
Thursday, March 20th, 2008Hello
It’s been awhile but I’m back with some more great information on how to build a website and accept credit cards online. This is by far one of the most confusing parts of operating a website that has a secure ecommerce shopping cart. Let’s get into the fees that generally are associated with merchant accounts and in the next post I’ll break down the options for merchant accounts based on fees & ease of use.
There are 3 primary fees associated with a merchant account.
1. Initial Setup Fees
2. Monthly Fees
3. Transaction Fees
Here is a breakdown a brief explanation of the fees. By the way, if you think reading a cell phone bill is difficult wait until you receive your monthly merchant statements. Your cell phone bill will look like a Dr. Seuss book.
INITIAL SETUP FEES - You’ll generally run into two fees but these days the market is so competitive that many merchant providers have reduce if not eliminated their setup fees. The application fee is the fee that the merchant provider charges to setup your account. This can vary anywhere from $0 to a few hundred dollars. You will also find a Gateway Fee, the payment gateway provides an interface between your website and your merchant provider.
Think of it as your credit card terminal, you won’t be able to swipe a credit card so the Gateway is the connection to your merchant provider. I personally use Authorize.net as my payment gateway and have never had a complaint. By the way, you generally won’t find a company that waves this fee, if anything they will just add it into their application fee. Lastly, most initial setup fees are non-refundable.
MONTHLY FEES - You’ll generally run into 2 main monthly fees but don’t hesitate to ask about any additional monthly fees that a merchant provider or payment gateway may charge. Your monthly payment gateway fee will vary, I pay $25 for each of my Authorize.net accounts. This fee is for the use of the payment gateway’s processing services and will include items such as transaction reports & many other miscellaneous charges.
The monthly statement fee is a fixed monthly fee that pretty much all merchant account providers charge. This fee is really a fee that merchant providers provide each month that really breaks down your traffic for the month in regards to charges, credits, charge backs. You’ll find that even though your merchant provider claims a certain percentage of each sale, what they don’t tell you is that these rates vary. For example, someone uses a card that offers them reward points, you’re going to pay a higher percentage on those charges. The bottom line is there is not a way to avoid the monthly statement fees so just make sure that before you sign anything make sure that you ask as many questions about any fees that vary.
TRANSACTION FEES - These are another set of fees that you won’t get away from because this is how the merchant providers make their money. Like I mentioned above, make sure that you get a full report on varying transaction fees, fees for declined transactions & even charge backs. By the way, a charge back is when a customer disputes a charge with their credit card company. Your merchant provider will charge you a fee in addition to refunding the customer. In regards to the transaction fees you’ll run into two different fees of which I’ve broken down below.
Discount Rate - This is charged as a percentage of each transaction. This is the fee charged by the credit card company and your merchant provider adds a certain percentage to this number to pay their bills. These rates vary so much it’s difficult to say what a good rate is, if I say 2.29% someone is going to say that they can do better but they don’t tell you about the hidden fees that you don’t see until your first monthly statement arrives. When you’re just starting out you may find that your provider has a monthly minimum fee of $25. You may also find that as you do more business with a provider that you can earn better discount rates.
Per Transaction Fee - This is a fee that you pay per transaction on top of the discount rate. Let’s say your ‘per transaction’ fee is $0.30, if you have 100 sales/transactions in a month your monthly transaction fee will be $30. Again, this is on top of all other fees including the discount rate.
Well that’s it for now, hopefully this clears things up a bit and gives you an idea of the sort of questions to ask your merchant provider. We offer some great merchant account options so please take the time to look them over and give tech support a call at 1-480-624-2500 with any questions.
In my next post I’m going to list some great options for merchant accounts that can help you cut down on some of the costs associated with a full service merchant account.
Best regards,
David Lalumendre
www.WebsiteSpot.com
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