Five Ways To Profit From Public Domain Information

Ever wondered why Walt Disney never got sued for intellectual property theft?

C'mon, the guy ripped off so many Hans Christian Anderson and Grimm Brothers' fairy tales! And he never paid the said authors any royalty fees! Granted that they're dead, but shouldn't their families be entitled to proceeds from their works? Such would be a small price to pay, considering the accumulated wealth of Walt Disney's billion dollar enterprise.

But alas, Mr. Walt Disney, you see, is a marketing genius. He knew how to exploit the allowable usage of public domain information, and he built for himself an empire in the process.

And if Walt Disney can do it, so can you! After all, we all have access to public domain information. We don't even need a touch of that famous Disney magic. We just have to weave our own creative spin on things.

But first, the basics?

Public domain information is defined as any body of creative works and other knowledge that is not protected by US copyright laws. Copyright protection needs further verification, but by force of statute, works done prior to 1923 are public domain information. The law also includes works done prior to 1978, for as long as the life of the author plus seventy years does not exceed the current year.

The term "body of creative works and other knowledge" includes literary works, music, movies, artworks, scientific ideas, and inventions, just to name a few. So, quite literally, public domain information is an ocean of many promises and splendid discoveries for anyone who would decide to dip their feet in its inviting waters.

And public domain information is free. Everything that you'll earn from it is net profit!

Walt Disney made good use of public domain information by making updating old classics into movies for the new, during his time at least, generation. That was the creative spin he used to market works that are quite archaic to make them seem new and fresh. He found his audience, and he made his fortunes. There's no reason why you can't do it.

Ah, budget constraints you say. But we are internet marketers, dear friend. That's the beauty of the web, you see. Seldom do we have to spend a substantial amount to invest on something. Many avenues are available for us to make good use of free public domain information!

Here are some ways to use public domain information. They would surely earn you significant gains!

1. Republish old literary works as e-books. The classics you see in bookstores are prime examples of earning from public domain information. The publishers did not have to buy the rights for the books they have decided to distribute. You could do the same with e-books. Search your local library for old works, and scan them. Convert the images to text with a text bridge program, edit errors, package them nice in .pdf format, and you're all set to market a royalties-free product!

2. Republish old articles as special reports. Granted that you're not likely to find an internet marketing articles circa 1923, but there are still some interesting pieces from that era. Just the other day, I saw a person make 43 sales for a special report he made out of a 1914 article on dog grooming.

3. Make downloadable albums of old songs. Here's your chance to make MP3 downloads that are actually legal. However, please bear in mind that only the songs are free game. The performances of certain versions (i.e. the London Philharmonic Orchestra's version of a Beethoven classic) are separate copyrights in themselves. It would be best to make your own version from the public domain compositions.

4. Offer downloadable movies. Just like Walt Disney, Ted Turner has made a killing with public domain information. One of his channels, Turner Classics, shows pre-1923 movies which he can rebroadcast without having to pay any royalties. You could do the same by offering old movies for download.

5. Make posters of timeless masterpieces. You could also search the web for high quality images of classic paintings and sketches. These digitized masterpieces can easily be reproduced as posters which you could sell to the millions of art aficionados worldwide.

Cedrick Reese is the webmaster of <a target="_new" href="http://www.eclectic-info.com">http://www.eclectic-info.com</a>, Start an easy Home-Based Business through Affiliate Marketing and Adsense. Other sites include <a target="_new" href="http://www.Your-RealEstateCourses.com">http://www.Your-RealEstateCourses.com</a> and <a target="_new" href="http://www.PremeirHosting.com">http://www.PremeirHosting.com</a>

Cheap and Easy Domain Name Registration

Just like any business, your identity is very important. On the World Wide Web, your domain name is your identity. Of course, you can opt for a subdomain name that comes with many free web hosting like http://yourdomain.netfirms.com . But if you are serious about being successful on the Internet, you have to get your own domain name, like http://www.yourdomain.com .
<h3>Top 10 reasons to have your own domain name</h3> Please note that all domain names listed in italic are ficticious: <li>It is cheap and easy to get your own domain name (less than $15/year in most cases)</li> <li>You own the name (as long as you pay the annual fee)</li> <li>You are not dependent on one web hosting company to let you use a subdomain, or worse, a subdirectory</li> <li>Your web site promotion effort does not go to waste if you change your web hosting company (because the domain name remains the same regardless of what host you use)</li> <li>The domain name can be optimized to your business, like www.best-used-cars.com</li> <li>Your web site is more professional</li> <li>The domain name is easier to remember. For instance, www.best-used-cars.com rather than www.geocities.com/web/public/business/auto/best-used-cars/</li> <li>It is much easier to sell a web site with its own domain name</li> <li>A good domain name can be an asset</li> <li>It is cheap and easy to get your own domain name (this one is worth repeating)</li> <h3>How to register for a domain name</h3> Please note that all domain names listed in italic are ficticious: <li>Think of appropriate name for that suit the theme of your web site. For instance, an online dating service may find domain name like www.loveconnection.com, more desirable than say www.best-used-cars.com</li> <li>Search for domain name availability. Every domain name registrar will provide you with a search tool; although some search tools are better than other. You will have to do a lot of searches because a lot of domain name that you wish to have is probably already owned by someone else (very common).</li> <li>As you come across available domain names that you like, jot them down. Keep searching until you have about 3-5 different domain names to choose from.</li> <li>Choose a domain name and register it at a domain name ICANN Accredited registrar.</li> <h3>Other factors to consider</h3> <ul> <li>Initially, you will want the .com version of your domain name. If your internet business takes off, you may want to consider registering other first-level domains (i.e., .net) of your domain name and perhaps even similar domain names to prevent mistaken identity</li> <li>Use domain name registrar that will register the domain under your name under all contacts information (perhaps with the exception of technical contact). It should be clear that you own the domain name.</li> <li>Use domain name registrar that provide good online account support.</li> <li>Use automatic domain name renewal if you are planning to own the domain name long-term</li> </ul>
Pinyo Bhulipongsanon is the owner of <a target="_new" href="http://www.greatnexus.com">GreatNexus Webmaster Resources </a> offering visitors with features such as webmaster forums, webmaster directory, webmaster dictionary, programming scripts, and webmaster articles.

Detagged Domains

What is a DETAGGED domain name? We get asked this question regularly.

Only UK domain names can be detagged. A domain name that has been DETAGGED is no longer hosted on valid name servers.

What happens if there are no longer valid nameservers showing against a domain name?

If no valid name servers are showing this means that any services such e-mail or a web site will no longer work.

Who can DETAG a domain name?

Only a domain registration service or agent can DETAG a domain name. This happens if the relationship between domain name owner and agent expires, for example if the registration fee or renewal fee is not paid.

When are domain names detagged?

Domain names can be detagged at any point after registration. Detagging signifies the end of the relationship between the registration agent and the registrant.

It is not necessarily an indication of whether a domain name is paid for or not.

How can I tell if a domain name is DETAGGED?

You will probably notice that the email or web site associated with the domain name has stopped working.

You can check the status of any registration by doing a WHOIS look-up that will indicate that the domain name is DETAGGED.

How can DETAGGED domain name be retagged?

To restore a DETAGGED domain name, the registrant will need to pay a tag change fee of ?15+VAT as of January 2004 to nominet via a registration service. Nominet charge a higher fee to deal direct with the owner.

Can I register a DETAGGED domain name?

A DETAGGED domain name is still registered to the original registrant, and it remains as such until it is either renewed by the current registrant, or it is cancelled. Once cancelled, it immediately becomes available for registration on a first-come, first-served basis.

How long does it take for a DETAGGED domain name to become available for registration?

Nominet contact the owner of each domain that is detagged and confirms if they wish to renew or allow each name to lapse.

If the domain is allowed to lapse then the domain name will be suspended after 21 days and then cancelled between 6-8 weeks after that.

For further information please visit Nominet <a href="http://www.nominet.org.uk" target="_new">http://www.nominet.org.uk</a>

By Clare Lawrence 29th September 2003

Clare is the CEO of Discount Domains Ltd a leading UK Domain name registration service.

About The Author

Clare Lawrence is CEO of Discount Domains Ltd ? A leading UK provider of Domain name registration and Web Hosting services. Please feel free to re-publish this article provided this reference box remains together with a hyperlink to <a href="http://www.discountdomainsuk.com" target="_new">http://www.discountdomainsuk.com</a> Clare can also be contacted on <a href="mailto:clare@discountdomainsuk.com">clare@discountdomainsuk.com</a>

How to Profit with Domain Name Speculation

Domain Name speculation has become big business. According to recent study, the average domain name bought and sold by domain name speculators realized a 377% profit. In addition, the average domain name was sold in 12.5 months.

Domain name speculation involves finding domain names that appear valuable, and waiting with the domain in hopes that someone will want to purchase it in the future. With a great domain name like business.com, this can yield huge returns. Business.com was sold for over $7 million!

When domain name speculators buy a domain name, they generally put up a page indicating that the domain is for sale. This becomes a sort of free advertising, whereby someone interested in that domain name will naturally check out the site to see if it is a competitor, or if the domain can be purchased.

But selling the domain is not the only way domain name speculators make money. In addition to advertising that the page is for sale, most domain speculators park their domains with a domain parking service. These services store a simple website for free, and place content sensitive advertising on the parking pages. They share advertising revenue with the owner of the domain. In this way, domain name speculators get free website hosting for their domains, along with occasional advertising revenue.

There are important considerations that must be taken into account before embarking on a domain name speculation career. While it is always advisable to purchase any really high quality domain name available, actually making a stable income from domain name speculation can require significant resources. It will cost a considerable amount to purchase the domain names necessary to make a stable income, and it is certainly no get-rich-quick opportunity.

As a domain name speculator, you should carefully analyze the domain name registrars and communicate with them about bulk purchasing opportunities. A domain name speculator will be buying many ? perhaps even hundreds ? of domain names daily, and should therefore find the best discounts on domain names. Many registrars will allow for domain names to be purchased in bulk at substantial discounts. Taking advantage of these opportunities will likely be the difference between success and failure at this type of enterprise.

Deciding which domain names to purchase can be challenging. It is very difficult to find high quality .com names. But don't rule out country-specific extensions. As countries get their own extensions, a new world of high quality available domain names is opened up to speculators. New top level domains are being created all the time, and most recently a .jobs domain name was created. A name like computer.jobs could prove very valuable in the long term.

While a lot has been mentioned of purchasing names like Mcdonalads.com, this practice is not particularly productive. Trademark laws allow corporations with trademarked names to take domain names that violate their trademarks. So rather than getting a big paycheck for registering a company's trademarked name, you're likely to be served with a lawsuit demanding you forfeit the name to them.

Domain name speculation should be viewed for what it is: an investment opportunity. Like all investments, the returns will be predicated on the wisdom and decision making skills of the investor.

Rex Ryan maitains the website:

<a target="_new" href="http://www.domainnamesnews.info">http://www.domainnamesnews.info</a>

Domain Squatting Explained

The one thing that annoys me most about the topic of domain names is when trying to find a domain name for a new site only to find most of the names I come up with are already taken. Even more annoying is that these names are not being used for a site that relates to the domain name.

Domain squatting or cyber squatting is the term used for someone who registers a domain with no intention of using it, that would otherwise be used for a site relating to the domain name.

Let me give you an example, recently I came up with an idea for a site and there was a couple of domains that were ideal, keyword1keyword2.com and the plural version, so I checked to see if they were available. I found that both the names I thought would be perfect were taken. Both domain names were directed to a generic search page whose sole purpose is to make money off of direct type ins.

Now I haven't given the names as I don't want to give away my idea and I don't want to give the sites any free advertising. This is not a one off incidence but something that happens quite often, especially with domain names with good or popular keywords. This activity is not illegal unless you use a trademark name, but it is against the ethics of what the internet is about.

There is a difference between domain squatting and domain parking and that difference is intent. If you register the domain with the intent of using it in the future for a purpose relating to the domain name then you have just parked the domain. If you register a domain with the sole intention of making money from reselling it or getting revenue from people typing in the domain name then that is domain squatting.

As I have explained it is not illegal it is just unethical, it is a free market economy and people are motivated by profit. I do not agree with domain squatting as it forces webmasters like myself to use domain names that are far from perfect, take this site on <a target="_new" href="http://www.namesearchdomain.com/">domain names</a>, this name was far from my first choice. It also misleads internet users as the expect a site to be related to the keywords in the domain name making the internet less user friendly.

Find out more about <a target="-new" href="http://www.namesearchdomain.com/">domain names</a> and get some advice before registering your next domain.

8 Tips for Choosing a Domain Name

If you're just starting out on the Internet, choosing a domain name is one of the first major decisions you will have to make. I won't say that choosing a name for your site will determine the overall success or failure of your online business. It will, however, affect almost every aspect of your business. Finding a good domain name requires extensive planning.

I would like to offer some tips for successfully choosing a domain name:

1) Use the .COM extension. This is still the number one choice for the majority of online businesses. While, .NET,.ORG,.INFO,.BIZ, and .US are viable alternatives they are not as widely recognized as .COM. The .COM extension will immediately give you and your business more credibility. Also, because we are creatures of habit many people automatically include .COM when typing in almost any web address, so why not capitalize on human nature?

2) Keep it Short. Whenever possible your domain name should not be longer than 13-15 characters, numbers, or hyphens. It is much more difficult for the average person to remember longer variations of a web address.

3) Make it Sticky. You want your domain name to be easy to remember. Make it stick out in people's minds. Be creative. Be Unique.

4) Minimize Confusion. You should never lose a prospective customer because they misspelled your domain name, or they used the wrong extension. If you can afford it, register other variations of your domain name and have them redirect to your main site.

5) Include Keywords in Your Domain Name. Try to include at least 1 and if possible 2 keywords in your domain name. Many of the experts believe this can help with the way some of the search engines index and rank your site.

6) Be Descriptive. Your domain name should have something to do with your business. Make it descriptive of your site, your product offerings, or your service.

7) Search for Deleted Domain Names. Domain names that were once registered but have expired turn up every day. With some research you might be able to find one of these names that would be a good fit for your business. You can search for deleted domains at <a href="http://www.deleteddomains.com" target="_new">http://www.deleteddomains.com</a>

8) Check for Trademarks. You should do this before registering your domain name. Search as many existing trademarks as possible and look for possible conflicts. Obviously you want to choose a name that is unlikely to cause you any legal problems. Trademark research can be done at the following sites:

U.S Patent and Trademark Office - <a href="http://www.uspto.gov" target="_new">http://www.uspto.gov</a>

Thomas Register - <a href="http://www.thomasregister.com" target="_new">http://www.thomasregister.com</a>

The Trademark Association - <a href="http://www.inta.org" target="_new">http://www.inta.org</a>

Nameprotect - <a href="http://www.nameprotect.com" target="_new">http://www.nameprotect.com</a>

If you need help with researching your domain names try the following websites:

1)Nameboy - <a href="http://www.nameboy.com" target="_new">http://www.nameboy.com</a>

2) GoDaddy - <a href="http://www.godaddy.com" target="_new">http://www.godaddy.com</a>

Both Nameboy and GoDaddy are well-known registrars and will allow you to search for and register domain names.

You can register a domain name today for less than it costs for a nice lunch. There is really no reason not to put forth the effort and money to register a domain name that you can begin building your online presence with.

Your domain name is your first chance to build credibility with your visitors. Keep in mind that you never get a second chance to make a great first impression.

Remember, choosing your domain name is one of the most important first steps you will take in building your online presence. Make it a step forward. Happy Hunting!

About The Author

David Cooper is the editor of the 1Source-WebMarketing Newsletter. David specializes in helping people with their internet marketing efforts by offering real world tips and strategies. Subscribe to his FREE newsletter at: <a href="http://www.1source-webmarketing.com" target="_new">http://www.1source-webmarketing.com</a>

<a href="mailto:dave@1source-webmarketing.com">dave@1source-webmarketing.com</a>

Domain Names - How to Choose, and Register One

What is a domain name?

A domain name is the address of your website and it looks like this: (http://www.ebizmodelsyoucancopy.com/). Website addresses are unique, just as your personal ID; no one else in the world can have the same ID number as you. Likewise, once the domain name has been registered by you, no one else can register a domain name which is the same as yours.

Choosing the best domain name

The best name you can choose is always one that follows the theme of your business. If the theme of business is &quot;starting your online business&quot; then you should include words like &quot;e-biz&quot; or &quot;internet&quot; or maybe &quot;internet business&quot; in your domain name.

You see, the best domain names out there are ones that are easily remembered. Visitors are likelier to come back if they remember your domain name. So, if you want a great domain name, choose one which is short and easy to remember. Here are some tips to choose a good domain name: The name you choose should not exceed 5 words or 20 characters and it should be easy to spell. Try making use of keywords or popular search terms whenever possible and try not to have it more than 3 ? 4 words long.

Registered vs. Free

Now, it is time to decide between a free domain name and a paid one. Tell me, what would think if someone is selling a $97.00 ebook using a free domain name? A big cheapo right? Even If that person is selling a popular ebook that comes with a 90 day money back guarantee, you'll probably wonder if he would ever return the money if you decide to ask for a refund. Here is another point, If I were to name my business &quot;ebizmodelsyoucancopy&quot;, would it be much better if I registered www.ebizmodelsyoucancopy.com rather than www.geocities.com/internet/public/business/ebizmodelsyoucancopy/ ? After all, registering your own domain would cost less than $15.00 per year. What is $15.00 a year compared to a potential loss of sales?

Registering a domain name

The last step here is to register a domain name. Write down possible domain names that you like, then do a quick search to see if that name you want is available at the registrars website. For your information, most domain names that you might have thought of would have been already taken. So, you might have to do a lot of searches to find available domain names of your choice.

Next, Jot down all available domain names you like, then keep searching until you have about 5 ? 7 good names that you can choose from.

Finally, choose a domain name you like best, and register it at a domain name ICANN Accredited registrar.

About:

Find out how you can FULLY set up and run your own internet business within a few days at <a target="_new" href="http://www.ebizmodelsyoucancopy.com/">http://www.ebizmodelsyoucancopy.com/</a>

Visit E-Biz Wiz Blog for proven ideas, tips and information on starting your own Internet Business and subscribe to the 12 Day Internet Marketing Success Course. <a target="_new" href="http://ebizmodelsyoucancopy.blogspot.com/">http://ebizmodelsyoucancopy.blogspot.com/</a>

Expired Domains Explained

It is annoying to find that you have a great idea for a site but when you start searching for a domain name to match you find every possible combination has been registered. Don't worry all is not lost there are still the expired domains to check.

Not everybody reregisters their domain names. For whatever reason, financial or otherwise good domain names come back onto the market. These are expired domains and you can get your hands on them.

The first stage of an expired domain goes through is the registrar hold. This is a period of up to 45 days where the registrar may pay the renewal fee for the domain in the hope that the expired domains owner registers the domain name again. The registrar may wait the full 45 days or decide to let the registry know sooner that the domain fee has not been paid. This means the name goes into the redemption period.

The expired domain is now in the redemption period which lasts for 30 days. The domain is now back in the hands of the registrar as the original owner has not paid the renewal fee. For the original owner of the expired domain to get their domain name back they are likely going to have to pay a hefty fee to the registrar.

The domain is now in pending delete which is the final status. This means that expired domain is back on the market. On the 6th day on pending delete the domain name is now available to everyone.

The expired domain is back on the market. Now is your chance to grab the domain you are after. I will talk about the best way to increase your chances of this in my next article at <a target="_new" href="http://www.namesearchdomain.com">Name search domain</a>.

Allan is the webmaster at NameSearchDomain.com where you canfind out all about <a target="_new" href="http://www.namesearchdomain.com/">Domain names</a>.

Domain Name Registration Explained

Registering a domain name is a pretty straight forward process. In fact the hardest part of registering a domain name is coming up with a name that has not already been registered. There are some people who have never registered a domain name, they have left it up to a third party or have always used free hosting. Here is simple explanation of how to register a domain.

The first thing you need to come up with is the name itself, this believe it or not is the hardest part. As there have been so many domain names registered there are not many choices left for keywords to use in your domain name. There are two routes you can go down for choosing your name, using keywords or thinking up your very own word.

Which ever route you choose you are going to need several ideas for a name so jot lots of ideas on a piece of paper first. Write down a list of keywords that you can use in any combination or come up with a list of your own made up words. I chose <a target="_new" href="http://www.namesearchdomain.com/">NameSearchDomain</a> for my site but only because most other combinations of the words that I wanted to use had already been taken. You could of course try making up your own word such as Google, it's both catchy and memorable.

Once you have a list of possible names you will need to find out if they are available. To do this you will need to visit a domain name registrar. I use Godaddy but I would not recommend them to a first time user as they offer too many extras which could easily catch out a newbie during registration. I would suggest you check out a few forums such as <a target="_new" href="http://www.dnforum.com/">DN forum</a> for recommendations, visit a few sites and see which you feel comfortable with. For dot com names look to pay around ten dollars.

Having found a domain name registrar then you need to go through your list of names to see if they are available. To do this just type the name into the search box and select an extension, it is usually best to use .com because of it's popularity. If a domain name you have chosen is available for registration then you will be given the option to register it. All you need to do now is follow the on screen instructions and the brand new domain is yours.

Once you have registered a new name you will need to point it towards your web space, this is presuming you are purchasing the name to create your own site. To do this you will have to provide some DNS information, you can get this from your web host. You should have two addresses, probably both starting with NS, probably NS1 and NS2, you need to add this information into your domain name registration account under Domain name servers. You will usually need two, a primary server and a secondary server. This will take a while to propagate through the internet servers, usually anywhere up to 72 hours. Once the DNS information has propagated then you will be able to type in your domain name in a web browser and arrive at your web site.

This is pretty much an overview on what you need for domain name registration. It should provide you with a grounding for being able to register your own domain. An important word of advice before you register your domain, all sales are final, that means once you have purchased a domain name there is no refund. A final tip, the longer you register as domain for the more discount you usually get. I would advise only registering for a minimum of 1 year initially in case you get cold feet later, you don't want to be stuck with a useless domain name for 10 years.

Allan is the webmaster at NameSearchDomain.com where you can find out all about <a target="_new" href="http://www.namesearchdomain.com/">Domain names</a>.

Domain Names Explained

If you are totally new to the internet then you may not realize that the web address you type into your browser is known as a domain name. A domain name is an easy way for humans to understand and navigate the internet.

A domain name is a string of characters used to make a name. There can be up to 63 characters in a domain name which can consist of all the letters in the English alphabet plus the numbers zero to 9 and the hyphen or dash symbol. The name can consists of a mixture of these characters but they cannot start or end in a hyphen. The hyphens are used to separate words within a domain name to make them more readable for humans.

All domain names must have a top level domain suffix. The top level domain extensions are the characters at the end of your domain name after the last dot. This extension is used to describe the country or type of website that the domain name represents. The most popular top level domain extension is com and this will probably continue to be so for some time due to it's ingrained relationship with the internet. Web business's are mostly referred to as dot com's.

Domain names can be purchased from a domain name registrar. Domain name registration is a process of registering a domain name, much like you would register a new car or the birth of a new baby.

The cost of domain name registration will vary depending on the registrar and the domain extension that you choose. To register a dot com name you should expect to pay about ten dollars for a years registration. You can register a name for up to ten years and you would usually expect to get a small discount for this.

Allan is the webmaster at NameSearchDomain.com where you canfind out all about <a target="_new" href="http://www.namesearchdomain.com/">Domain names</a>.

How To Make Great Money Part Time Buying And Selling Domain Names - Part One

This truly is the business to get into in 2005. It's a red hot opportunity that savvy investors can make a killing on when you know how. And this article will walk you step-by-step through the money-making process.

Don't be put off by the term "investors". I'm not talking big money down here. As long as you've got a spare ?5 a week then great money can be made for only half an hour of your time. Like the sound of that? Thought so.

There's a few ways you can make money buying domain names and selling them on for profit. And I mean PROFIT. You'll see why people will be scratching at your door to buy off you in just a moment.

Let's start with the basics.

All domain names are only registered for a limited amount of time.Registrars can choose to use the name for a period of between 1-10 years. After this the rights to these domain names expire and the user has to renew the name again. If they don't do this it will be placed on hold for a short time and then deleted. This means it is then availible for anyone who wants to buy it!

This Is Where You Can Cash In!

20,000 expired domain names are made availible each and every day. Some of them are very attractive and well-established names.

Example. Last year the owners of Race.com carelessly didn't renew their registration fee. It was grabbed (the term used to describe purchasing an expired name) by a savvy 'investor' for a few pounds and sold for thousands and thousands back to the old owner.

The owner was willing to pay huge sums for to the investor because he had built up qualified traffic over X amount of years and didn't want to lose all the previous custom.

Now I admit that making a sale for thousands is rare, but is certainly possible.

The likeliness is that you can buy a domain name and register it for ?5-?50 and then sell it on for anything from ?150 - ?1000. Do this with five domain names a week, and your looking at a big sum of money for only a couple of hours work.

It's not just businesses that have carelessly let their domain name that will buy off you. It's other businesses too that will buy the name to get the old owners' traffic. It's a legitamate way of increasing your customer base.

And if the old owner and a new potential owner get into a bidding war...well..the sky really is the limit.

So there's two main reasons why people will be willing to pay YOU a couple of hundred pounds for a domain name.

a) They carelessly let the domain name expire. That means that they will pay you to get the name back to ensure that they don't lose their existing traffic that they may have built up over years and years.

B) They are a business in the same field as the one that has let the name expire and therfore will pay you to secure the exisitng custom of a rival.

Here's step-by-step how you go about this fantastically profitable part time business.

There are several sources of expired domain name information and reserach tools, some free and some that require a payment of a fee.

www.wehavethem.com supplies lists of names due to be deleted. Www.DeletedDomains.com allows you to do some searching free and more extensive searching for a $99 annual fee.You can search for names that are due to be deleted and also allows you to bid on newly deleted names that have already been grabbed by other 'investors'.

What you are looking for is an expired domain name with traffic in the last month of anything over 1500. Ensure that the site is an actual consumer site. There's no point buying a domain name if the previous site wasn't selling any goods.

If you see a site that had tens of thousands of visitors in the last month GET IT. The likeliness is that the previous owners will be itching to get their name back off of you due to its obvious success.

Also if you see a name with a large qualified traffic thats due to expire and has a high traffic volume use an automated grabbing system such as www.snapnames.com and www.pool.com. These will ensure the second they become availible you will have registered them. The cost is about $60 but only if they get the names for you. Definately worth it in my eyes.

Remember you could easily sell the name for hundreds, maybe thousands.

In part 2 we'll take a look at how you go about selling the names once you have acquired them. But in the mean time here's a few domain names which were up for sale at the time of writing this article. Now obviously not all names sell for this much, but it's a very real possibility that you could stumble across a gem in your business.

my.com $750,000
lovelife.com $350,000
fights.net $16,000
diet.us $35,000
askdoctors.com $7,500
dietary.info $6,000
lovemaking.info $10,000
textmeassage.net $17,000
ejobmarket.com $1,800
smokers.tv $5,000
teens.org $22,000
raregifts,com $20,000

The profits in this business are like no other. Now it's your turn to get your hands on your share in the billion dollar industry of buying and selling domain names.

Until next time...

Jonathan Street

Jonathan Street is a master at making vast sums of money for very little investment. Direct mail, mail order, selling domain names, eBay...you name it - he's making money from it. He's also the author of "How To Make ?5,000 - ?10,000 A Month From Home". A book which he invites you to get for free from his ever popular web site.

For FREE info and to get a copy of Jonathans book go to: <a target="_new" href="http://www.millionaire-enterprises.com">http://www.millionaire-enterprises.com</a>

Domain Name Registration - Key Tips

Domain name registration is a necessary, easy, and strategically important first step in establishing an online presence, whether for business or otherwise. A well-chosen domain name registration can set you up for success with your new site in so many ways, the most prominent of these being increased search engine traffic. Here's some vital elements to consider when executing your domain name registration.

A good domain name registration, particularly for an online business, (which is the main focus of this article) is easily done, but at the same time requires choices that will impact your site's effectiveness. So here, in no particular order, are some things to bear in mind when doing a domain name registration.

The extension - Will it be a .com, .net, .org, .info etc. Any of these will get spidered and indexed by the search engines, but if you can get a .com for your chosen name you'd be better off, as this extension is more common and carries an air of legitimacy with it.

Try not to have you domain name registration with your web host. The reason being that should you decide to part ways with your host, (and this isn't uncommon!) it's potentially a massive headache to move your domain as well. Split them up: you'll be glad you did!

Your domain name registration, purchased from a reputable company should run you somewhere between $1-10, depending on the extension and the amount of time you sign up for.

Probably the most important aspect of your domain name registration is the choice of keywords to use in your domain name. Try to use the main keyword or phrase you'd like to optimize the whole site for, and see if you can craft a domain name around it. The search engines seem to favor keyword-rich domain names. Nuff said.

Keep it short if possible. A shorter name is easier to remember than a long one.

Don't use your company name unless it has your keywords in it. There's no point in ranking high for your name if no one is looking for it yet.

Try to keep your domain name registration topically relevant. As search engines get smarter and smarter, sites that display total relevance will rank higher than catch all sites.

Lastly, be sure to avoid other companies trademarks and copyrights in your domain name. For example, let's say you're an affiliate of The Sharper Image. It's tempting to use some version of that name to promote your affiliate site, but don't do it, unless of course you'd like to meet their lawyers!

To sum up, your domain name registration is easy to do, but important to do well. It can make the difference in whether you get found or not!

Keith Thompson is the webmaster at Domain Name Registration Today</a> where you will find the latest news and information on domains.

Domain Name Secrets Revealed

If internet is about interactivity between websites, domain name is the door for that interactivity. It is your online identity, very much like the name of your best friend, what is his very own personal identity.

From a user's point of view, a domain name is what he types in the address bar of his web browser to get a certain web site. For example, domain name of our website is www.kigoobe.com and one can get access to this site using the domain name www.kigoobe.com.

However, the scene behind the screen is not exactly the same. Though we see that computers use domain names to communicate over the internet, the basic things that they use to communicate is something called Internet Protocol Address (also called IP address). It is something numerical and a simple IP address can be like 10100011.00011011.00010101.10010011

This kind of combination of zeros and ones is called binary number system. To make things easier for people IP addresses are translated from binary to decimal numbers and the result becomes something like: 189.01.23.255 This looks simpler, but when thousands and millions of websites are in question, this kind of number system, though better than the first one, was still posing problem and then at last in 1983, the University of Wisconsin came forward with a solution to it, and that was to replace these numeric values with suitable text formats.

So here starts the story of www.kigoobe.com or www.yahoo.com or www.microsoft.com. Of course you will agree, that this is much easier to remember than all these 1 2 3 4 etc.

Another term important in this context and what you may come across quite often is URL. An URL (Uniform Resource Locator) can be said as the exact address that holds your domain name. For example, URL of the domain name www.kigoobe.com will be http://www.kigoobe.com. To see that in action, open another window and type in www.kigoobe.com in its address bar. If you press the enter key after that, you will see that kigoobe.com has been changed to http://www.kigoobe.com as the page loads. That's the URL. The browser changes it itself.

If we break this in different parts, we will find http, www, kigoobe, and com.

http: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. Protocol stands for a set of rules for these kinds of communications. Transfer we all know. Hyper text stands for texts that contain links to other texts, and which is not constrained to be linear only. It can thus hold text, graphics, images, sound, video, and other multimedia files, etc.

Now if we take all together, http or hyper text transfer protocol stands as a set of rules that come into being during transfer of those kinds of hyper text files over the internet.

www: World Wide Web. It refers to all the publicly accessible websites of the world. Besides it also includes ftp (file transfer protocol) files, usenet newsgroups, etc.

kigoobe: It can be anything, something that you choose yourself. We have chosen Kigoobe, somebody else chose one day yahoo, you can choose yourname, or yourbusiness, whatever.

com: The most commonly used first level domain name. Other first level domain names include .org, .net, .edu, .gov, .us, .fr, etc.

Got more questions? Why don't you simply write to us and we will try to reply to your question! You will get our contact details at <a href="http://www.kigoobe.com" target="new">Paris web design</a>.

Happy surfing. Cheers.

A Master in biological anthropology, the author is the owner of a Paris based web designing firm 'Kigoobe'.

If anybody else is publishing this article, please let us know, there is no restriction, but we would love to know where our articles are getting published. A link back is also requested towards <a target="_new" href="http://www.kigoobe.com/fr/accueil.html">Cr?ation site internet Paris</a>

.info Freedom Frenzy

Whether you're someone that registers domain names on a regular basis, or you're a person looking to register one domain name for your website or business, then it's likely that you've encountered the free .info registrations taking place at several registrars.

I've encountered a lot of debate regarding the free .info giveaways. Some think that this free rush will decrease the value of the domain extension, while others insist that no matter what the price, certain domains maintain value due to the high demand of the keywords.

The best thing we could do to maintain the value of the .info is to only register the extension appropriate keywords. I've seen a lot of random, and worse, profitless .info domain names being registered for the sake of being free. This doesn't really help the .info market, especially when I've personally come across several hundred domain names that match perfectly with the extension, and are still available for registration.

The .info should be used for exactly the purpose it was designed. For information. Anything else would just be impractical. It's not difficult to find worthwhile terms to match with the .info extension. Do some research. Visit your favorite directory and browse through for topics. I've found hundreds of available extension appropriate terms using this method. Forget the strategy you've been using to find .com's, and other such extensions. The .info is a very special extension, and should be treated as such.

This is not to limit you, quite the contrary. This is a great opportunity for many people to register valuable domain names at little to no cost whatsoever. If you spend a little extra time to find better registration choices, then it will pay off in the end. Rushing out to register the first thing that comes to mind for the sake of doing it won't benefit you, or anyone else in the end, especially come renewal time.

Another tip is to only register names that would be worth registering if you were paying out of your pocket for them. Also only register names that would be worth the renewal cost. Chances are if you avoid these two tips, it won't even be worth it to you to park your ineffective domains at a revenue bearing parking service. Think before you register. Be sure that there is a way that you can profit from this opportunity, whether it be in reselling, developing, or parking. Quick, thoughtless registrations of the .info are counterproductive, and should be avoided at all costs.

About The Author

Jennifer Chiera, Webmaster/Investor

DomainBash.com - <a href="http://www.domainbash.com" target="_new">http://www.domainbash.com</a>

DotTown.com - <a href="http://www.dottown.com" target="_new">http://www.dottown.com</a>

DomainAppeal.com - <a href="http://www.domainappeal.com" target="_new">http://www.domainappeal.com</a>

<a href="mailto:webmaster@domainbash.com">webmaster@domainbash.com</a>

.info Freedom Frenzy

Whether you're someone that registers domain names on a regular basis, or you're a person looking to register one domain name for your website or business, then it's likely that you've encountered the free .info registrations taking place at several registrars.

I've encountered a lot of debate regarding the free .info giveaways. Some think that this free rush will decrease the value of the domain extension, while others insist that no matter what the price, certain domains maintain value due to the high demand of the keywords.

The best thing we could do to maintain the value of the .info is to only register the extension appropriate keywords. I've seen a lot of random, and worse, profitless .info domain names being registered for the sake of being free. This doesn't really help the .info market, especially when I've personally come across several hundred domain names that match perfectly with the extension, and are still available for registration.

The .info should be used for exactly the purpose it was designed. For information. Anything else would just be impractical. It's not difficult to find worthwhile terms to match with the .info extension. Do some research. Visit your favorite directory and browse through for topics. I've found hundreds of available extension appropriate terms using this method. Forget the strategy you've been using to find .com's, and other such extensions. The .info is a very special extension, and should be treated as such.

This is not to limit you, quite the contrary. This is a great opportunity for many people to register valuable domain names at little to no cost whatsoever. If you spend a little extra time to find better registration choices, then it will pay off in the end. Rushing out to register the first thing that comes to mind for the sake of doing it won't benefit you, or anyone else in the end, especially come renewal time.

Another tip is to only register names that would be worth registering if you were paying out of your pocket for them. Also only register names that would be worth the renewal cost. Chances are if you avoid these two tips, it won't even be worth it to you to park your ineffective domains at a revenue bearing parking service. Think before you register. Be sure that there is a way that you can profit from this opportunity, whether it be in reselling, developing, or parking. Quick, thoughtless registrations of the .info are counterproductive, and should be avoided at all costs.

About The Author

Jennifer Chiera, Webmaster/Investor

DomainBash.com - <a href="http://www.domainbash.com" target="_new">http://www.domainbash.com</a>

DotTown.com - <a href="http://www.dottown.com" target="_new">http://www.dottown.com</a>

DomainAppeal.com - <a href="http://www.domainappeal.com" target="_new">http://www.domainappeal.com</a>

<a href="mailto:webmaster@domainbash.com">webmaster@domainbash.com</a>

How to Win Expired Domains

Every day thousands of expired domain names come back onto the market. This is due to the owner not extending their registration. The reason for non registration of domains can be for a simple a reason that the owner forgot of no longer has any interest of funds to continue with the registration of their domain.

Once failure to re-register their domain it becomes an expired domain. If you are new to expired domains then this article on <a target="_new" href="http://www.namesearchdomain.com/expired-domains-explained.php">expired domains</a> will tell you all you need to know.

Now there are several reasons you may want to register an expired domain. Two good reasons to do so are that all of the current domains you have searched for are already taken. Or that the expired domain names already have a good link popularity in the search engines which means that for a time you will get lots of free traffic.

The first step to finding an expired domain is to search for it. There are several sites available that offer expired domain searches. You can find many by searching on Google. Here are a couple of expired domain search engines I have found useful, you can try <a target="_new" href="http://www.deleteddomains.com/">Deleted Domains</a> or <a target="_new" href="http://www.domainsbot.com/">DomainsBot</a>.

Once you have found some domains that are about to expire or have just expired then you will need to back order them to give yourself a chance of getting your hands on the expired domains that you have found. Backordering a domain can be done through many of the domain registration sites, however if you want to increase your chances of getting the domain name here is what you do.

The registry for com and net names gives each registrar a limited amount of bandwidth to attempt to register an expired domain name. Each registrar has a certain amount of affiliates; some have 1 affiliate whilst others have several. To increase your chance of successfully registering the domain you want you need to backorder with a service that has a greater number of affiliates.

To find out who has the most affiliates you can look at this <a target="_new" href="http://whois-search.com/deleting/who.php">whois search</a>. This is a list of affiliates for each registrar, by choosing registrars with the most affiliates this increases your chance of winning your back order. For example Pool currently has the most affiliates so registering with them will give you a better chance of succeeding than someone who went with Godaddy.

This technique by no means guarantees you will get the domain you are after, but it will improve your chances over someone else who has registered with fewer registers. However you will increase your chances of winning by having the greater amount of back orders with different registrars. This is something many people do not realise when they back order expired domains.

Allan is the webmaster at NameSearchDomain.com where you canfind out all about <a target="_new" href="http://www.namesearchdomain.com/">Domain names</a>.

Think All the Good Domain Names are Taken?

Have you heard of the other tlds (top leve domains) such as: .free, .church, .video, .travel, .llp, .golf, .school, .agent and .love? There are many more too. Wait! Don't wretch just yet. I'll tell you why in just a minute.

If you look for a great domain name for very long you will learn how rare they are. Trying to find a one word dot com is a futile effort. The only exception to that is the occasional name that someone gives up. The problem with that is you must search a list of thousands (or tens of thousands) to find one and of course you must get there ahead of the next person. If you just have to have a one word dot com, be ready to shell out thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.

Then there are the dot net, us, cc, org and biz. Generally if you checked a dot com a few years ago you could find the net, org or biz equivalent. Not so anymore. Besides, the only one of these related to business is biz.

So why am I writing this you ask. First, though, think about it for a bit. I did that and realized it would be (is) great to have stockpick.free, camera.video, poem.love, game.video and loan.travel. Are you beginning to see what I mean? Don't you agree that these are somewhat better than allthefreeebooksyouwant.com or stopheretogetaloan.com.

The point being made here is "type in traffic" (people who go online and just type what they want in the browser). You could wait for years for someone to go to the internet and type in one of those dot coms.

Think again, though, about how many will be looking for toy.free or camera.video. What would it be worth to you to have 30 or a hundred or a thousand people searching for a video camera typing your name into their browser? Pretty obvious now, huh.

I told you not to wretch, now I'll tell you why. There is a wesite where you can get these tlds, and there are lots of them. They are at new.net. When you finish reading here go and see for yourself, but let me tell you two more things.

1. You need to download a plugin to view these sites (very easy)

2. 175,000,000 people already have theirs

Copyright 2004 Dean Walden

About The Author

Dean Walden is the owner of <a href="http://www.clikngo.us" target="_new">http://www.clikngo.us</a>. If you find some value in this article please do some searches with us (clikngo is a ppc search engine).

The net-Domain: Backbone of the Web

We do not always realize that figures are just quantity and can deceive about quality.

In spite of the fact that the net-domain is only the No. 4 in terms of the number of domain names registered, it works as a backbone of the web. The net-domains build the largest Top Level Domain by number of hosts, or machines connected to the Internet. More than 44 percent of name servers use net-domains. We presume, that programmers and other technical experts have a more narrow emotional relationship to .net than to .com. Their sympathy for .net is just greater than for .com.

Historically .net was once reserved for providers. This might have still an influence to the technical use of .net and the importance of this use. Every programmer and hostmaster has an idea of .net, but not every programmer and hostmaster has an idea of .com. In some way .net stands for the web.

Other facts:

-- 31 percent of all page views are dependent on a net-domain for resolution

-- 32 percent of all B2C e-Commerce in 2004 is dependent on a net-domain for resolution. <a href="https://www.domainregistry.de/net-domain.html" target="_new">https://www.domainregistry.de/net-domain.html</a>

About The Author

Hans-Peter Oswald
CEO
ICANN Registrar Secura

<a href="http://www.com-domains.com" target="_new">http://www.com-domains.com</a>; <a href="mailto:secura@domainregistry.de">secura@domainregistry.de</a>

Public Domain - Internet Gold Mine

With the advent of the internet and the ease of which information can readily be downloaded and compiled you would think that more people would realize that the public domain is a source of wonderful wealth that can be tapped into for huge profits.

I have spent the last 4 years &quot;discovering&quot; little known secrets of this information that is readily available to those who know where to look. Or should I say &quot;prospect&quot;. That's exactly what it is. It's Mining. When you mine the internet, you are not mining little rocks in a quarry or dredging a cold river looking for that elusive nugget of gold. You are searching for the gold of the future, and of the past. Information becomes your ore. You now become an information prospector. A &quot;Millennium-Age Gold Miner.&quot;

The tools of your trade are much different today than in the days of old. Your &quot;pick-axe&quot; has evolved into your mouse, and your &quot;gold pan&quot; is your hard drive. Your computer is the dredge and your internet connection is your &quot;claim&quot;. In the old days when a prospector found gold he would drive a stake in the ground and this would become his claim. You are doing the same thing when you sign the contract for your internet connection. You are staking a claim to the largest source of wealth in the world. Public Domain Information.

You transcend the boundaries of the physical world by entering a realm in which it is possible to find riches in the deepest recesses and crevices of the web. The public domain is the undiscovered country of the information age. It's mysteries are deep as oceans and it's knowledge as expansive as the universe. The public domain now becomes ultimate natural resource.

Information has always reigned king since the beginning of time. There are millions of us who know not the sheer power and value of the information that is freely available to anyone who knows where to look.

The new millennium, and the information-age is very much like the GoldRush of 1849 in which hundreds of thousands of people rushed westward in a stampede of gold seeking pioneers. Some were young, some old, some in between, but all sought a common goal. Gold. Only this time it is different, the gold we seek in this age is information, and it's not mere thousands, but hundreds of millions people who are on this new quest blazing new trails and forging great new paths to wealth.

Information is abundant and widely available. You can mine this gold at anytime, from any place in the world. You do not have to travel vast distances facing the perils of the land to stake your claim. All you need is a computer and a connection to the web. From anywhere in the world you are able to seek out, find, download, and refine your treasure from the warm and cozy comfort of home.

Never before, in the history of man have you been able to procure such wealth so quickly. You are able to locate information on any subject in an instant, and your results are displayed before you faster than you could have ever imagined.

Your &quot;gold pan&quot; quickly become full of the valuable information-ore. Each time you find a nugget it motivates you to find more. You become entranced with the new found riches and it almost becomes obsession. The desire to find more pulses through your veins like a hot drug, steadily increasing your craving for more. The more you find the more you want. It the realization becomes obvious that you have &quot;Gold-Fever&quot; and now you can't stop searching for more information.

This is what the public domain is. It's an internet goldmine chock full of free information ready for the taking.

Stake your claim!

Eric Wichman is founder of <a target="_new" href="http://www.pdtimes.com">PD Times</a> a public domain resources site specializing in free resources for web content and references for webmasters, researchers, marketers, and businesses alike. Be sure to tell your friends about this great new resource for businesses using the public domain.

The Sub-Domain - An Affiliates Friend

It's surprising, at least to me, the amount of Affiliates who aren't aware of the value and flexibility that the 'sub-domain' can give their promotional website activities. Set up in the right way, a single domain through a host who includes multiple 'sub-domains' in their hosting package can fill ALL the online needs of even the busiest and most diversified Affiliate.

Firstly, for those who need to know, a 'sub-domain' is simply a separate, individual web folder, which can be attached to a 'main' domain and treated in all respects as a separate entity online. It is similar to a 'sub-web', which most hosting facilities include except that it is, in it's own right, treated as a separate domain by the SEs rather than a sub-folder under a domain.

The way in which they are represented online as URLs is as follows:

For instance, if you have a domain name, 'domain.com' and you add a sub-domain named 'bubble', the URL to that particular 'website' (which is what each sub-domain amounts to, a separate website) will be 'bubble.domain.com'. No doubt, many have seen these types of URLs online and in promo emails etc. The 'dot' between the sub-domain and main domain is not to be confused with the 'dash' that can be used as part of a main domain. For instance, 'bubble-domain.com' would need to be registered and propagated in it's own right whereas, sub-domains can be created under a main domain in a matter of seconds, with their own FTP password, image, private and cgi-bin folders etc.

What makes them so valuable a tool, if it's not so obvious already, is that an Affiliate can create a separate website for totally unrelated products or services, fill each website with the necessary pages of content, links and facilities etc and promote each to the Search Engines and other directories, virtually as if it were a different main domain. As I've said, the SEs treat each sub-domain as a separate entity and categorize them as such. A very handy ability when it comes to Affiliate programs that supply a website or webpage for their Affiliates to use and promote. In such a case, you can basically make that page or site your very own in every respect, optimizing for SEs and presenting it how ever you please (provided no agreements are broken).

Obviously, having a 'generic' main domain name is essential to getting the best out of this cost, time and trouble saving method of creating multiple websites. If you have a main domain name 'pillshop.net' (perhaps your initial Affiliate endeavor involved promoting this type of product) it is really only going to be useful for the one type of product or service. Alternatively, something more generic like 'online-plus.biz' is going to be useful for promoting almost anything because it has no specific meaning. For instance, in the case of promoting a Singles Dating Affiliate program, something like 'singles.online-plus.biz' would work as well as 'pills.online-plus.biz' or even 'dogs.online-plus.biz'. However, 'singles.pillshop.net' just doesn't work, does it? (Although, I have seen some pretty weird URLs around!)

The only problem you will be presented with, concerns the traffic ranking facility Alexa. Alexa will read all sub-domains as their parent 'main domain', so the traffic ranking for each website will be the same, as will all the other Alexa information. However, this isn't such a great problem when you consider that the total traffic indicated for each website will actually be the total for ALL of them. In my opinion, not so much of a problem, at all.

So, for the Affiliate at least, choosing the right type of domain name and a hosting facility that includes multiple sub-domains in their package is very important, especially if there's any possibility that you're going to be venturing into promoting unrelated products and services. The first hosting facility I was involved with a few years ago, charged $10 to create each sub-domain. The one I've been with for the last couple of years, allows unlimited free sub-domains (contact me at one of my websites if you want to know who they are).

The 2005 Edition of Steve Brennan's popular ebook title <a href="http://www.ebooks.online-plus.biz" target="_blank">'The Affiliate Guide Book</a>' is available now. He also operates a number of Affiliate wesbites which include <a href="http://www.hair-loss.online-plus.biz" target="_blank">Hair Loss Remedy</a> and <a href="http://www.diet.online-plus.biz" target="_blank">Diet & Weight Loss Place</a>.

Making Money with Expired Domains

There are billions of websites and thousands more popping up each day and they all require a name. As competition on the Internet intensifies, more and more people are actively looking for a quality domain for their site. Unfortunately for them there are already over 30 million dotcoms taken, which often times leaves webmasters with two choices. Settle for a long unpleasant looking domain or spend thousands to purchase a quality one from a private owner. Examples of the few most valuable domains ever sold are:

* Business.com sold for $7,500,000

* Casino.com sold for $5,500,000

* AsSeenOnTV.com sold for $5,100,000

Exceptional domains are obviously worth a lot of money, but what good does that do anyone now? Here is where expired domains come into the picture. While there are over 20,000 domains being registered each day, most people don't realize that there are also just as many expiring. Many times their owners don't realize how valuable the domain is when they let it go. Because of this, it's not uncommon to hear about a user grabbing an expired domain for $20 and selling it for 100 times that.

How do users find these valuable expired domains? They use a special type of search engine known as an expired domain search engine. While most of the domains that expire are junk there are handful each day that are worth a fair amount of money. To find this needle in a haystack you need to use a powerful expired domain search engine. A comparison chart of the top 5 expired domain search engines can be found at http://www.droplistpro.com/comparison-chart.htm.

A demo of an expired domain name search engine can be found at (<a target="_new" href="http://www.droplistpro.com/domain-search-demo.htm">http://www.droplistpro.com/domain-search-demo.htm</a>).

Chris Richmond, domain enthusiast and programmer, recently finished what is called an expired domain name search engine. With it you can search through millions of expiring domains by content, dictionary, length, status, and more. A demo of this new search engine can be found at <a target="_new" href="http://www.droplistpro.com/domain-search-demo.htm">http://www.droplistpro.com/domain-search-demo.htm</a>

The Power of Domain Names in Marketing

Purchasing your own domain is inexpensive and very effective for any kind of marketing campaign online or offline.

You should be able to purchase a domain and redirect it from the same place at no additional cost. Their is no reason to host it - and the KEY in redirecting is to redirect the URL as "cloaked" or "stealth." In other words, when someone clicks on your domain, that is all you ever want them to see in the address bar of the browser... so they do not know you have redirected a domain to another site.

For example,

http://www.FreeSampleCard.com

is redirected to...

http://www.makeloyalcustomers.com/cards.php/lindamiller

Which do you think someone is more likely to remember or be more interested in clicking?

If you have a domain that attracts curiosity, you can post your domain name almost anywhere and you will attract people who are looking for what your domain describes.

Don't let anyone tell you all the good domains are taken. Be creative - add a word to the front or back of what you want and you will find something good for you. I recommend keeping your domain names to 3 words that flow well together. Think of words that are also good key words for what you are offering so that when people search for what you are offering they will find your site.

Tip: When you are brainstorming ideas for domain names, type them into a Word document and capitalize the first letter of each word to get an idea of the "visual effect" - and when you use your domains in advertising, also capitalize the first letter of each word like I have done above. It will much easier for people to read.

I have been buying domains from the same place for years...

<a target="_new" href="http://www.GetYourDomainHere.com">http://www.GetYourDomainHere.com</a>

How's that for an effective domain?

So, get out there and get your own domains! There are still plenty of domain names for everyone!

Copyright 2005 Linda Miller is a Spiritual Entrepreneur whose quest is to empower others to deliberately create true abundance and prosperity. This article may be distributed freely, provided that this resource box is included in its entirety.

<a target="_new" href="http://www.SpiritualEntrepreneurToday.com">http://www.SpiritualEntrepreneurToday.com</a>
<a target="_new" href="http://www.MyDivineDirection.com">http://www.MyDivineDirection.com</a>

Domain Name Registration - Key Tips

Domain name registration is a necessary, easy, and strategically important first step in establishing an online presence, whether for business or otherwise. A well-chosen domain name registration can set you up for success with your new site in so many ways, the most prominent of these being increased search engine traffic. Here's some vital elements to consider when executing your domain name registration.

A good domain name registration, particularly for an online business, (which is the main focus of this article) is easily done, but at the same time requires choices that will impact your site's effectiveness. So here, in no particular order, are some things to bear in mind when doing a domain name registration.

The extension - Will it be a .com, .net, .org, .info etc. Any of these will get spidered and indexed by the search engines, but if you can get a .com for your chosen name you'd be better off, as this extension is more common and carries an air of legitimacy with it.

Try not to have you domain name registration with your web host. The reason being that should you decide to part ways with your host, (and this isn't uncommon!) it's potentially a massive headache to move your domain as well. Split them up: you'll be glad you did!

Your domain name registration, purchased from a reputable company should run you somewhere between $1-10, depending on the extension and the amount of time you sign up for.

Probably the most important aspect of your domain name registration is the choice of keywords to use in your domain name. Try to use the main keyword or phrase you'd like to optimize the whole site for, and see if you can craft a domain name around it. The search engines seem to favor keyword-rich domain names. Nuff said.

Keep it short if possible. A shorter name is easier to remember than a long one.

Don't use your company name unless it has your keywords in it. There's no point in ranking high for your name if no one is looking for it yet.

Try to keep your domain name registration topically relevant. As search engines get smarter and smarter, sites that display total relevance will rank higher than catch all sites.

Lastly, be sure to avoid other companies trademarks and copyrights in your domain name. For example, let's say you're an affiliate of The Sharper Image. It's tempting to use some version of that name to promote your affiliate site, but don't do it, unless of course you'd like to meet their lawyers!

To sum up, your domain name registration is easy to do, but important to do well. It can make the difference in whether you get found or not!

Keith Thompson is the webmaster at Domain Name Registration Today</a> where you will find the latest news and information on domains.

Domain Squatting Explained

The one thing that annoys me most about the topic of domain names is when trying to find a domain name for a new site only to find most of the names I come up with are already taken. Even more annoying is that these names are not being used for a site that relates to the domain name.

Domain squatting or cyber squatting is the term used for someone who registers a domain with no intention of using it, that would otherwise be used for a site relating to the domain name.

Let me give you an example, recently I came up with an idea for a site and there was a couple of domains that were ideal, keyword1keyword2.com and the plural version, so I checked to see if they were available. I found that both the names I thought would be perfect were taken. Both domain names were directed to a generic search page whose sole purpose is to make money off of direct type ins.

Now I haven't given the names as I don't want to give away my idea and I don't want to give the sites any free advertising. This is not a one off incidence but something that happens quite often, especially with domain names with good or popular keywords. This activity is not illegal unless you use a trademark name, but it is against the ethics of what the internet is about.

There is a difference between domain squatting and domain parking and that difference is intent. If you register the domain with the intent of using it in the future for a purpose relating to the domain name then you have just parked the domain. If you register a domain with the sole intention of making money from reselling it or getting revenue from people typing in the domain name then that is domain squatting.

As I have explained it is not illegal it is just unethical, it is a free market economy and people are motivated by profit. I do not agree with domain squatting as it forces webmasters like myself to use domain names that are far from perfect, take this site on <a target="_new" href="http://www.namesearchdomain.com/">domain names</a>, this name was far from my first choice. It also misleads internet users as the expect a site to be related to the keywords in the domain name making the internet less user friendly.

Find out more about <a target="-new" href="http://www.namesearchdomain.com/">domain names</a> and get some advice before registering your next domain.

How to Profit with Domain Name Speculation

Domain Name speculation has become big business. According to recent study, the average domain name bought and sold by domain name speculators realized a 377% profit. In addition, the average domain name was sold in 12.5 months.

Domain name speculation involves finding domain names that appear valuable, and waiting with the domain in hopes that someone will want to purchase it in the future. With a great domain name like business.com, this can yield huge returns. Business.com was sold for over $7 million!

When domain name speculators buy a domain name, they generally put up a page indicating that the domain is for sale. This becomes a sort of free advertising, whereby someone interested in that domain name will naturally check out the site to see if it is a competitor, or if the domain can be purchased.

But selling the domain is not the only way domain name speculators make money. In addition to advertising that the page is for sale, most domain speculators park their domains with a domain parking service. These services store a simple website for free, and place content sensitive advertising on the parking pages. They share advertising revenue with the owner of the domain. In this way, domain name speculators get free website hosting for their domains, along with occasional advertising revenue.

There are important considerations that must be taken into account before embarking on a domain name speculation career. While it is always advisable to purchase any really high quality domain name available, actually making a stable income from domain name speculation can require significant resources. It will cost a considerable amount to purchase the domain names necessary to make a stable income, and it is certainly no get-rich-quick opportunity.

As a domain name speculator, you should carefully analyze the domain name registrars and communicate with them about bulk purchasing opportunities. A domain name speculator will be buying many ? perhaps even hundreds ? of domain names daily, and should therefore find the best discounts on domain names. Many registrars will allow for domain names to be purchased in bulk at substantial discounts. Taking advantage of these opportunities will likely be the difference between success and failure at this type of enterprise.

Deciding which domain names to purchase can be challenging. It is very difficult to find high quality .com names. But don't rule out country-specific extensions. As countries get their own extensions, a new world of high quality available domain names is opened up to speculators. New top level domains are being created all the time, and most recently a .jobs domain name was created. A name like computer.jobs could prove very valuable in the long term.

While a lot has been mentioned of purchasing names like Mcdonalads.com, this practice is not particularly productive. Trademark laws allow corporations with trademarked names to take domain names that violate their trademarks. So rather than getting a big paycheck for registering a company's trademarked name, you're likely to be served with a lawsuit demanding you forfeit the name to them.

Domain name speculation should be viewed for what it is: an investment opportunity. Like all investments, the returns will be predicated on the wisdom and decision making skills of the investor.

Rex Ryan maitains the website:

<a target="_new" href="http://www.domainnamesnews.info">http://www.domainnamesnews.info</a>

Understand the Domain Name System

Ever wonder why DNS systems came into existence? Efficiency. Every computer has a distinct IP address, and the Internet needed an elite method for obtaining these addresses and for managing the system as a whole. Enter ICANN. <BR><BR>The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number manages the DNS root of the Internet domain namespace. ICANN's role is to manage the assignment of identifiers, ensuring that all users have unique names. <BR><BR>The DNS system is run by a series of servers called DNS servers. ICANN manages the root DNS domains, under which are the top-level domains. <BR>It also manages: <BR><BR>Organizational domains<BR>Geographical domains<BR>Reverse domains<BR><BR>Beneath the top-level domains are other naming authorities such as Nominet, the UK's naming authority. <BR><BR>How does a DNS Query work? <BR><BR>The process occurs in two parts. Firstly, a name query begins at a client computer and is passed to DNS client service for resolution. When the query cannot be resolved locally, DNS servers are queried. <BR><BR>For example, when a web browser calls the fully qualified domain name www.discountdomainsuk.com, the request is passed on to the DNS client service to resolve the name by using locally cached information. If the query is held in the cache, then the process is complete. <BR><BR>If, however, the query cannot be answered locally, the DNS client service uses a server list (ordered in sequence) to query external DNS servers. When a DNS server receives a query, it first checks to see if it is authoritive for that domain name. If it is authoritive, it resolves the name, and the process is complete. <BR><BR>If the DNS server is unable to resolve the query, it in turns queries other DNS servers, using a process known as recursion. DNS servers make use of root hints to assist in locating DNS servers, which are able to provide the required result. In this way, DNS queries are minimised and the Internet is able to operate quickly and effectively. <BR><BR>A typical query may run as follows: <BR><BR>Client contacts Nameserver A looking for www.discountdomainsuk.com.<BR><BR>Nameserver A checks its cache, but can't answer, so it queries a server authoritive for the Internet root.<BR><BR>The root server responds with a referral to a server authoritive for the .com domains. NameserverA queries the the .com server and gets referred to the server authoritive for www.discountdomainsuk.com.<BR><BR>Nameserver A queries this server and gets the IP address for www.discountdomainsuk.com.<BR><BR>Nameserver A replies to the client with the IP address.<BR><BR>Queries can return answers that are authoritive, positive, negative or referral in nature. In the event of a negative answer, another DNS server is queried.<BR><BR><BR>

---------------------------------------------<BR>Clare Lawrence is CEO of Discount Domains Ltd ? A leading UK provider of <A target="_new" href="http://www.discountdomainsuk.com/">Domain name registration</A> and <A target="_new" href="http://www.discountdomainsuk.com/webhosting.php">Web Hosting</A> services. Please feel free to re-publish this article provided this reference box remains together with a hyperlink to <A href="http://www.discountdomainsuk.com/" target=_blank>http://www.discountdomainsuk.com</A> Clare can also be contacted on clare@discountdomainsuk.com. <BR>---------------------------------------------

.info Freedom Frenzy

Whether you're someone that registers domain names on a regular basis, or you're a person looking to register one domain name for your website or business, then it's likely that you've encountered the free .info registrations taking place at several registrars.

I've encountered a lot of debate regarding the free .info giveaways. Some think that this free rush will decrease the value of the domain extension, while others insist that no matter what the price, certain domains maintain value due to the high demand of the keywords.

The best thing we could do to maintain the value of the .info is to only register the extension appropriate keywords. I've seen a lot of random, and worse, profitless .info domain names being registered for the sake of being free. This doesn't really help the .info market, especially when I've personally come across several hundred domain names that match perfectly with the extension, and are still available for registration.

The .info should be used for exactly the purpose it was designed. For information. Anything else would just be impractical. It's not difficult to find worthwhile terms to match with the .info extension. Do some research. Visit your favorite directory and browse through for topics. I've found hundreds of available extension appropriate terms using this method. Forget the strategy you've been using to find .com's, and other such extensions. The .info is a very special extension, and should be treated as such.

This is not to limit you, quite the contrary. This is a great opportunity for many people to register valuable domain names at little to no cost whatsoever. If you spend a little extra time to find better registration choices, then it will pay off in the end. Rushing out to register the first thing that comes to mind for the sake of doing it won't benefit you, or anyone else in the end, especially come renewal time.

Another tip is to only register names that would be worth registering if you were paying out of your pocket for them. Also only register names that would be worth the renewal cost. Chances are if you avoid these two tips, it won't even be worth it to you to park your ineffective domains at a revenue bearing parking service. Think before you register. Be sure that there is a way that you can profit from this opportunity, whether it be in reselling, developing, or parking. Quick, thoughtless registrations of the .info are counterproductive, and should be avoided at all costs.

About The Author

Jennifer Chiera, Webmaster/Investor

DomainBash.com - <a href="http://www.domainbash.com" target="_new">http://www.domainbash.com</a>

DotTown.com - <a href="http://www.dottown.com" target="_new">http://www.dottown.com</a>

DomainAppeal.com - <a href="http://www.domainappeal.com" target="_new">http://www.domainappeal.com</a>

<a href="mailto:webmaster@domainbash.com">webmaster@domainbash.com</a>

Domain Names - How to Choose, and Register One

What is a domain name?

A domain name is the address of your website and it looks like this: (http://www.ebizmodelsyoucancopy.com/). Website addresses are unique, just as your personal ID; no one else in the world can have the same ID number as you. Likewise, once the domain name has been registered by you, no one else can register a domain name which is the same as yours.

Choosing the best domain name

The best name you can choose is always one that follows the theme of your business. If the theme of business is &quot;starting your online business&quot; then you should include words like &quot;e-biz&quot; or &quot;internet&quot; or maybe &quot;internet business&quot; in your domain name.

You see, the best domain names out there are ones that are easily remembered. Visitors are likelier to come back if they remember your domain name. So, if you want a great domain name, choose one which is short and easy to remember. Here are some tips to choose a good domain name: The name you choose should not exceed 5 words or 20 characters and it should be easy to spell. Try making use of keywords or popular search terms whenever possible and try not to have it more than 3 ? 4 words long.

Registered vs. Free

Now, it is time to decide between a free domain name and a paid one. Tell me, what would think if someone is selling a $97.00 ebook using a free domain name? A big cheapo right? Even If that person is selling a popular ebook that comes with a 90 day money back guarantee, you'll probably wonder if he would ever return the money if you decide to ask for a refund. Here is another point, If I were to name my business &quot;ebizmodelsyoucancopy&quot;, would it be much better if I registered www.ebizmodelsyoucancopy.com rather than www.geocities.com/internet/public/business/ebizmodelsyoucancopy/ ? After all, registering your own domain would cost less than $15.00 per year. What is $15.00 a year compared to a potential loss of sales?

Registering a domain name

The last step here is to register a domain name. Write down possible domain names that you like, then do a quick search to see if that name you want is available at the registrars website. For your information, most domain names that you might have thought of would have been already taken. So, you might have to do a lot of searches to find available domain names of your choice.

Next, Jot down all available domain names you like, then keep searching until you have about 5 ? 7 good names that you can choose from.

Finally, choose a domain name you like best, and register it at a domain name ICANN Accredited registrar.

About:

Find out how you can FULLY set up and run your own internet business within a few days at <a target="_new" href="http://www.ebizmodelsyoucancopy.com/">http://www.ebizmodelsyoucancopy.com/</a>

Visit E-Biz Wiz Blog for proven ideas, tips and information on starting your own Internet Business and subscribe to the 12 Day Internet Marketing Success Course. <a target="_new" href="http://ebizmodelsyoucancopy.blogspot.com/">http://ebizmodelsyoucancopy.blogspot.com/</a>

Got a Small Business? Choose the Right Domain Name

Choosing a domain name can be daunting. Research the subject (after all, you're the type of marketer who researches, right?) and you'll be hit with a landslide of opinions, most contradictory. There is, however, two points that everyone agrees on:

Pick your domain before you launch your business.

This is especially true if your market niche has lots of competition. Research your domain before you commit to a business plan.

Don't wait too long if you like a domain.

While you're researching, you'll likely come across a couple of domains that attract you. You might be tempted to wait, since you haven't finalized or refined your business plan. Don't. A handful of domains isn't going to cost you much at an affordable registrar like GoDaddy, and once they're gone, they're gone. Chances are you can even resell the rejects at cost, if not a profit. Or "develop" them with unique content and point them to your main site for extra traffic.

Now that we have the easy part of the way, let's wade into murkier waters.

Q. Which TLD (top-level domain) is best?

A. If you're a juggernaut in the business world with a giant ad budget, the answer is dot-com (.com). If you're a smalltime business struggling for search engine positioning, the answer is still dot-com.

People do disagree on the value of a dot-com TLD. Some assert that dot-coms have no particular value in the search engines, which may be true.

However, the fact is, if you haven't yet seared your brand on the collective brow of the planet, dot-com makes you easier to remember. If you eschew dot-coms, then in some deep dark place inside, people will remember you as "that hard-to-remember URL with the ending that isn't dot-com." What's worse, if you pick an otherwise memorable domain ending in dot-net, -us, or (God forbid) -tv, some of your traffic will end up at that competitor who snagged the dot-com version of your domain. Okay, that's settled. Now for the controversial stuff. Which is best: the "keyword" domain, or the "creative-genius, snappy and brandable" domain?

Keyword Name vs. Creative-Genius Brandable Name

A Keyword Name is the boring, workhorse kind of domain. You seem them everywhere. They bristle with hyphens: "best-anchovy-pizza-in-siberia.com." Or "super-labrador-accessories-and-golfballs.biz." On the face of it, they're hard to brand. They're hard to fit on business cards. They're really hard to explain over the phone to Aunt Martha.

On the other hand, a Creative-Genius Brandable Name is the sexy kind of domain. The successes are sparkling: Yahoo!, Google, Amazon.com. You can shout these URLs across the room and the other guy will probably get it right. But note: the dot-com road is littered with hip, snappy business who failed to brand their product successfully, or get listed high in the search engines. Now their URLs all point to the same page: "server not found ?"

The debate rages on, but the first question you must ask yourself is:

How will people find YOU?

It was recently reported that "direct navigation" web traffic has started to outnumber search engine traffic. In other words, more people visit sites by typing in the URL directly than they do by combing search engines for results. So more gurus are recommending 'brandable' domains.

But think about this. As a small business owner, how will people find you? Word of mouth? Billboards on I-95? "Corporate sponsorships" on hockey arenas? Probably not: they'll find you through search engines. They'll type in "cheap purple widgets," and as a smart marketer, you will offer them a website optimized for the keywords "cheap purple widgets."

Still, this doesn't imply you should automatically pick a keyword domain. There are pros and cons to both types.

BRANDABLE: ADVANTAGES

The brandable domain is great for business cards. In fact, it's nearly compulsory if you're planning on offline marketing. In other words, if you're printing up stationary at Kinkos, you want a brandable domain name.

If you're also a marketing genius, this is a fit challenge for your talents. Finding a memorable, apt domain to brand your business is something no software-driven suggestion tool can do.

Most "hybrid" domains -- ones that are really crosses between keywords and brandable names -- are long gone. But if you create a unique idea for your brand, you can probably snag the dot-com name for yourself. Now all you have to do is burn that brand onto the world's collective forehead. If you do, you'll benefit from type-in traffic. That means that if someone hears about you, they can probably find you just buy typing in your domain.

BRANDABLE: DISADVANTAGES

The brandable name requires solid marketing skill, research and luck. Your name should be so catchy, it's almost viral. It should also convey your actual business ? or you'll have to work hard (often meaning, spend money) to associate the two. Your name should be "tested" on coworkers, cousins and dishwasher repairmen to ensure it has no undesirable connotations. Finally, your name should be available as a domain, and not suffer from competitors with similar domains. Sometimes, pulling all this off is difficult.

KEYWORD: ADVANTAGES

By keyword names, we're not talking about the glorious generic keywords ? the one-keyword kings such as drugs.com or business.com. No, we're talking keyword names you can afford.

This is where you buy the domain name www.cheap-purple-widgets.com in hopes of getting a top search ranking for cheap purple widgets.

Advantages are many. First, more keyword names are available. (They're ugly, and many people feel an aversion to hyphens.) Also, they do help you place higher in the search engines. It's true that search engines only give you a little credit for having a keyword in your domain, but "a little credit" counts.

Second, keyword domains leave no doubt in the searcher's mind about what you're selling. If you decided to call your widget business "Ableeza," a searcher might not get at a glance what it is you're selling, even if your rank is high.

Finally, if you can get people to link to you, those links will be valuable. No matter how Webmaster Joe describes you, the link part will always say, "cheap-purple-widgets." This is a powerful search engine strategy for moving higher.

KEYWORD: DISADVANTAGES

You won't get type-in traffic for a keyword name. You can't really explain it across a phone. It won't look pretty on a business card, and it's almost impossible to pair up with a cute logo. But if search engine traffic is going to drive your business, the keyword name is worth a long, hard look.

WRAP-UP

Regardless of which type you choose, don't play guessing games. If you go with a keyword name, use a search tool (like <a target="_new" href="http://conversion.7search.com/scripts/advertisertools/keywordsuggestion.aspx">http://conversion.7search.com/scripts/advertisertools/keywordsuggestion.aspx</a> to determine what keyword phrases people are searching on.

If you choose a brandable name instead, test it out on a variety of real people first. Pay attention to their reactions. Reserve your domain early, since brandable domains go fast unless they're very unique.

In the long run, both types of domains can work for you, especially if offline marketing is an option and you have a knack for branding. Overall, though, the keyword domain is probably the easiest path to success for the small-business owner.

About The Author

Blake Kritzberg is a web designer and small business owner. Find more on domain selection, buying and selling at <a href="http://www.domain-aid.com" target="_new">http://www.domain-aid.com</a>.