domain online

The internet is a wonderful thing, except for a few small details. When you register your first domain name, you get your introduction to one of them. There’s a lot of information they want. Your name, your email address, your physical address, your phone number. For each of 4 separate categories, and the Registrant, Admin and Technical categories are publicly available (for almost all TLDs – Top Level Domains, with the possible exception of .ws – Western Samoa).

Email addresses, which must be valid, phone numbers and physical addresses which also must be valid. I personally think it’s both absurd and dangerous to make this information so easily available. Once again the right to privacy of law-abiding individuals is being abridged supposedly to help catch lawbreakers. Since this information would be provided under a court order, making it publicly available just invites abuse.

Spammers, scammers, stalkers and the idle whacko can easily get this information. And it’s a nice start on identity theft, too. However, for most people, the most likely result is an increase in the amount of spam you get. But, much worse can and has happened.

So what solutions are there? Basically there two ways to protect your privacy if you are a private individual without access to a legal entity such as a company to own the domain name (note that if it is a company, you must provide accurate information. This only moves the problem to a slightly less personal level).

First you could lie. No, that’s not one of the ways. Unwise and illegal too, and you are a law-abiding type, right? So, first, a proxy registration is one alternative.

Essentially you make a binding legal agreement with a company which will register the domain name as if they owned it and then provide their own information to meet the requirements. For each domain, they will set-up a special email which they will monitor and forward to you, usually after spam filtering, if you want them to.

They, of course, retain your data and will also monitor physical mail. You will be notified of first class mail which appears to or could be legal documents or if registered or couriered mail arrives. They will, for a fee, ship such to you, if you agree and pay. Generally such items would be sent by courier. Phone callers will be directed to use the email or physical address shown in the WhoIs record.

Of course, under subpoena or other specified conditions they will provide your details. You will have full rights as owner – as long as you behave and don’t violate the agreement.

The other alternative, usually called “private registration”, is a little different. Here your name would still appear as registrant. You would provide the names of the admin and technical contacts. But the address, email and phone number would be provided and monitored by the organization handling the private registration in essentially the same manner as a proxy registration. Thus with this alternative you remain in full legal control of your domain name since it is registered in your name rather than the name of a proxy.

On the face of it this second alternative sounds better, but your name is hanging out there on view and you may have valid reasons for not wanting that (perhaps the company you work for takes a dim view of moonlighting, or you have had a stalking problem or are doing something perfectly legitimate but don’t want your name linked to it).In that case, a proxy registration is the only real alternative.

In case you’re thinking you can hide out and do whatever sort of bad stuff behind a proxy or private registration, don’t even dream about it. These outfits take it very personally if you misbehave and the legal agreements spell it out.

If you decide to pursue a proxy or private registration, make very sure that you are working with a legitimate company with a track record. A domain name can be a very valuable possession. Both your registrar and, if it’s a separate organization, the entity that does the proxy or private registration must be quality, legitimate outfits. Registrars offering extremely low prices which are way out of line with the going rates – unless it’s a special – just might be after your credit card and identity. Also, this time, actually read the agreement and TOS so you do know what you’re doing and what could happen under what circumstances.

Wondering why I’m writing about this? Well, it’s because I’m getting more and more spam and I started doing some research on possible solutions. And I figured, I wan’t the only one looking to do something about the problem. And then, I discovered that some registrars will provide free proxy or private registration with your domain name purchase. So think about it and do some checking before you buy a domain name. Your privacy is a precious possession.

Copyright 2005 Richard Keir

Should you take the advice of experts to register your new domain for at least two years or more? Search engine algorithms evolve constantly, and the value of your domain registration term and SEO, or search engine optimization, has changed. Website SEO strategy needs to be revised over time to be effective.

Being aware of constant changes in Google and other major search engines for SEO factors is necessary to maintain a successful website optimization strategy. Ranking well in search results depends on many factors, yet domain registration length is one where the number of years advice for SEO is irrelevant.

Search engines tweak their top secret algorithms used by the crawlers to evaluate websites for trust and credibility. Their goal is providing the best and most relevant search results, so details of how they determine relevance leaves SEO experts guessing on the importance of topics like domain registration term and SEO.

Website owners face the task of creating content to attract favorable search position in Google and the other major search engines. The value of on-page original quality content added often is still the essence for online success. The example external SEO factor of the number of years for your domain registration is no longer significant for SEO, trust, and credibility.

Our advice when buying a new domain license is still registration for two years, or longer up to five years. However, today the reason for that advice is based on convenience and not SEO, so why did that search engine optimization strategy change? The reason to register five years will be explained in a moment, but first some SEO background information.

Years ago SEO experts including us advised new site owners to register longer than one year to demonstrate a commitment to be online. The SEO logic was search engine robots crawling the internet can access your worldwide registration data and discover the term in years, and were suspicious of new websites registered for just one year.

Short registration is typical of scam website owners who make online offers to take your money without ever delivering a product or service. Shutting down a website one step ahead of the authorities and opening a new site even in a new country was easy. As a result, all new websites registered for just one year were thought to be placed in what web designers call the Google sandbox. This imaginary place was in theory a holding pattern where the website would be indexed yet not show up in search results until their content established trust and credibility.

Until recently, our SEO advice was expect a new site launch to take 3-6 months or as much as a year to show up in search results. In the last year actual site performance has meant Google page one results in weeks, not months, for custom cms web designs launched for clients. Obviously site owners were very pleased.

Google provides SEO advice for creating quality websites even though their algorithms are still top secret. Search for Google Webmaster Tools to sign up for a free account, and then view their advice for design strategy and other SEO tactics to avoid. You may want to search for Google webmaster videos, too. Earlier in 2009 they released a video that confirms there is no SEO penalty for a one year domain registration.

Were the SEO experts wrong? Not necessarily. The difference is how content is indexed now versus years ago. If you create a site for your visitors first without attempting SEO tactics to game the search engines, Google and the others can determine the value and sort out sites that may be deceptive. High quality original content added often will stand up to scrutiny. Scam websites are detected based on content and not just a one year registration, so they are unlikely to show up on page one results.

Our advice is for a two to five year registration because your domain price should be less than $10 USD per year. Keep in mind no one owns a domain. Your registration is an exclusive license for a fixed period of time only. The cost for five years is nominal, so your domain renewal is less frequent and you can remain focused on SEO for developing your site content and expanding your customer base.

To add credibility to any website with a new domain registration, provide detailed contact information in the footer on every page and include your name or company name, a physical address and not a postal box, plus a phone number and email link. If your budget only allows launching with a one page site, having the contact details will help with establishing trust and credibility. Unless your theme is extremely unique, it may take months for a one page website to show in search results, so make adding content a priority.

Your domain registration term and SEO should not be a concern as long as you are adding new and original quality content often. The previous comment stated earlier bears repeating. Being aware of constant changes in Google and other major search engines for SEO factors is necessary to maintain a successful website optimization strategy. Design website content for a positive visitor experience and take what you learn about SEO to enhance your site with ongoing improvements.

This article will be talking about the concept about domain registration. In the online world, this is something that happens quite often, especially when people are concerned with getting some real estate online. It is very important for one to actually know about the mechanics of domain registration and how it is going to be important when you are going to be able to know about things like web hosting and how to best place your name on the World Wide Web. Of course, just think about this as just as a starter when thinking about this, and you should be getting more information online for things that are more advanced in the world of domain registration.

In the edge of the definition of domain registration, what happens is that a person or a company is going to want to have some sort of presence online, and in the end of the day, they are going to be able to park their real estate and their website online. Now, when you are thinking about securing a website domain, you need to secure a domain host for this. Once you have registered for this domain, what you can do is actually have that domain for the next year. Now, an annual registration is one of the most common plans that these sort of companies have, but of course, there are extended plans that can be up to 5 to 10 years. Even then, the common thing that happens is that when the registration expires, it always gets renewed according to the contract. If you do not want to revert or you do not want to have this sort of domain anymore, it reverts back to the public and will be up for bidding. Of course, bidding is sometimes fairly common for popular domains, and prices can sometimes go up to ridiculous levels. Now, if you are wondering where does all of this domain registration comes from, and where all the Domain Name Servers (DNS) database is controlled by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). This is the main authority that handles all this sort of domain registration and domain names, and they are the ones that checks them for authenticity and if the owners are not hoarding. ICANN will be in the business of ensuring that the names and the domains that are registered are all unique and they do not clash with one another.

These are some of the things that you need to know about the concept of domain registration and of course, you might want to find out more information on the web. In fact, what you can do is to actually ask one of the domain registration companies or the web hosting companies that deal with this sort of thing. In the end of the day, the technicalities are of course one of the most important things that you need to know about domain registration and its peripheries.