Posts Tagged ‘domains’

The rule for acceptable domain names allows letters, numbers, hyphens, and periods only. For corporations and especially attorneys who include the & symbol in their name, the ampersand you use on your letterhead must be written out as “and” if you want that in your domain name. Ampersand is not allowed in domain names.

The ampersand is a reserved character in html used in code for displaying special characters and symbols. While it may not be used in a domain name, it can be displayed as text on a web page. Most people type each instance of ampersand as a single character located above the number 7 on your keyboard which is pressed while holding the shift key.

To properly display the ampersand in web page text it cannot be typed as a single character. The code to indicate the single symbol to mean the word “and” is &. Otherwise, browsers encounter just the symbol & in the html code without the extra 4 characters and it signals a special character follows immediately.

To get the & to display properly in that last paragraph of this post I actually had to type & and post in html mode. Each time just & is used in the html it is a code error per W3C, so enter it properly where it is allowed and remember the “and symbol” is not allowed in domain names.

Bonus Tip: Protect your brand when choosing a domain name. Here’s a tip if your company name includes the ampersand & symbol and you decide to use the company name but leave out the word “and” in your domain name. My advice is using the one you like yet get both, as well.

To illustrate, AT&T originally chose just the ATT.com domain, and so a squatter grabbed ATandT.com likely thinking it was a gold mine. Follow this link to read the details and the ruling in the AT&T complaint filed 8 years ago. They prevailed. It took less than 90 days. Following atandt.com automatically forwards to att.com.

Squatters typically inflate the price to transfer a domain for less than the legal cost of arbitration. They’re hoping you do not have the inclination, budget, or attorneys on staff to fight. So while it’s true ampersand is not allowed in domain names, you may still want to register the company name using the word “and” to avoid potential headaches later.

How long should it take to get a domain registered, a logo proof, and a custom web design for your small business? Incredibly, some of my new clients contact me for one of the above after waiting months for service from prepaid vendors. You pay in advance for support of your new small business and it is reasonable to expect timely action.

Previously a client paid a large design company for a logo, domain registration, and web design, and two months later they were still waiting for the domain to be registered. Phone calls were either not returned or sent to voice mail oblivion without any callbacks.

When contacting me for assistance, the domain was registered within two days plus a logo proof was emailed, as well. With their logo approval the site prototype was online within two days, and the site was complete in two weeks. Since their first order, that client has ordered two more custom website designs.

Another client has been on hold with their custom web project because they’re waiting two months for their logo from another designer. If you have been waiting to get your custom web design online for two days, two weeks, or two months, and you’re growing impatient, please email me or give me a call.

Besides the advantage of fast response because I’m a home-based sole proprietor, my overhead is negligible and I pass the savings on to my clients with modest pricing for custom web design projects. To succeed, web developers need to be responsive to inquiries plus deliver a quality design at a fair price on time. That formula works for me, and it’s sad some companies overlook this basic principle of providing professional web design services to small business owners.

After meeting with an Orlando area recording artist last weekend, I offered to assist them in recovering a domain with their personal name being held by a cybersquatter. More details will be provided in an upcoming cybersquatting case study podcast episode.

Cybersquatting is the practice of registering a domain name strictly for gain without any rights or legitimate interests in that domain. For individuals using their personal name as the trademark for a small business venture, you have options for recovering your domain.

Recovering a cybersquatted site may be successful through arbitration which is usually less costly and faster than pursuing legal recourse. Your name is intellectual property and if used as a trademark in the course of doing business, the chances of success are improved.

Acquiring your domain from a cybersquatter when their intent is to resell at an excessive price, use the domain in bad faith, or unrelated commercial use will be presented in my upcoming podcast episode. Visit and bookmark the Small Business Website Mailbag podcast, and then return next week to hear the program and detailed advice.

Update: Listen now to the podcast episode on cybersquatting advice released 26 April 2008.

Small business website owners should be careful about expiration of their www domains. I’ve warned readers before about the problem of registrars registering domains for customers and the “owner” (registrant) is listed as the registar not the customer. You should be listed as the registrant, and it’s easy to verify by searching Google for “WhoIs” to find a site to confirm your website expiration date.

There are companies such as Snapnames.com, Enom.com, and Pool.com who specialize in grabbing popular domain names that expire. They have the technology to track expiring domain names and selectively go after the best ones in the hope of capturing a valuable www domain for resale.

The expiration of any domain goes through a grace period, a redemption period, a locked period, and then the final deletion. This time frame is approximately 75 days which can slip by quickly for small business owners busy running their day to day operations, so do not ignore your domain expiration. If you rarely go to your website or mistakenly ignore an email announcing renewal, your site could cost you significantly more than necessary to recover.

I’ve written another published article with advice for small business owners and it contains pointers for ensuring control of your www domain name. View the full article entitled Out of Control WWW Domains to learn how two unwary website owners incorrectly thought they owned their domains.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

In both cases the client paid for their domain. In the first instance the registrar simply registered the new domain in their company name, not the client’s. In the more recent situation, my client bought a business and the previous owner did not take action to transfer the registrant information. Each relationship deteriorated to the point where the clients felt compelled to register another domain, and fortunately the productivity of each business site was insignificant, so the downside of letting it go was minimal.

Unhappier endings to hostile relationships have occurred. The article includes comments on a case that was out of control resulting in the website going offline, and the true owner could not regain control for more than a year. If you have any doubts about who controls your domain, you may want to read my article about WhoIs here.

Small business website owners unfamiliar with the terms cybersquatting and typosquatting should take a moment to learn a little about these subjects.

Registration of domain names for deceptive or unscrupulous reasons such as unfair trade practices or misuse of an established website based on a famous name may be covered by US federal law. If you feel that a person has in fact taken a domain name similar to your name in violation of this law, you may want to investigate the possible legal recourse available to you.

For website owners in the USA, the Truth in Domain Names Act, also called the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, is explained eloquently at Wikipedia. Visit their site to learn about cybersquatting here, and while you’re there check out typosquatting here.

Some cases with familiar famous names are presented. This is a good starting point for website owners to learn about the subtle difference between offensive practices and illegal activity before engaging in the services of legal counsel. The intent and content of the similar site is the real test that may affect your rights.

Wal-mart first registered their domain as walmart.com not realizing that dashes could be used in their domain name to match the formal corporate spelling. They immediately added wal-mart.com and eventually the misspelled version wallmart.com to redirect visitors to their official and correctly spelled commercial site.

These cybersquatting and typosquatting tips may not apply to your small business website, but it doesn’t hurt to be aware of the activity just in case it eventually affects you.

Two calls this week from clients prompted me to expand on previous advice about new domain names for small business owners. Here’s an excerpt from my published article Choosing Small Business Website Names:

The real value in the name you choose from a search perspective is how easy it is to spell and remember. Of the two types of visitors to your site, the human visitors and search engines, the ability of a person to remember your domain name and spell it correctly to pass it on to others outweighs any SEO value. Search engines are robots and don’t care.

Using words like “greatest”, “best”, or other exaggerated terms in your domain name is thought by some to be a disadvantage and penalized by search engines. Search algorithms change often and likewise that theory, and although you may not be penalized for using such words, consider the reaction of your human visitors. They may not stick around if they feel you boast without the content to back it up. For a serious small business commercial enterprise, my advice is avoiding adjectives in the domain name entirely.

You may want to read the full domain name advice article here. In addition to domain name selection, points are made about SEO, or search engine optimization, also.

This free 17 page report in pdf includes website domain tips for small business owners that may save you money. My choice for domain registration is GoDaddy.com.

This free tutorial gives you step by step illustrated instructions for how to register while avoiding unnecessary add-ons. It’s easy to make errors or buy more than you need if you’re not careful.

A 5 year www domain registration and prepaid hosting for 24 months is less than $115 from GoDaddy as of March 2007. Once paid, you don’t pay again for 2 years.

The tutorial is loaded with additional bonus advice for small business owners who are buying a domain registration for the first time.

Download the zipped GoDaddy Domain Registration Tutorial in pdf here (right click and save target as). File size: 1.1 meg zipped.

Check the terms when you register a domain on specualtion. A website design client reported concerns that one of their www domains was hijacked. They asked me to investigate a domain registered on speculation for future use. Their site was supposed to be parked, but instead it displayed a one page directory with links and advertising.

The site was not hijacked because the temporary content is within the agreement terms for hosting with their service company. The income stream enjoyed by others while your sites are waiting for launch may be characterized as opportunistic by some, yet it is perfectly legitimate if the registrant accepted those terms.

Visit the welcome message of your parked domains. Is advertising shown? You may be entitled to a percentage of the revenue. It doesn’t hurt to ask.

At times my small business clients for custom website design have reported receiving very official looking documents in the mail concerning their www domain, and I get them, too. Some are designed like an invoice, or others warn about pending domain expiration.

Be careful of scams. Small business owners are especially susceptible to these offers because many lose track of who originally helped them register their www domain.

Often these are not from your original registrar because your domain expiration date is public information which others try to use to their advantage. Usually the notices are an attempt to convert you to a competitor’s service at a higher fee. My previous blog post about WhoIs, and the article about Why You Need to Visit WhoIs on my main site will provide more details about what to do.

Email me for advice if you ever have doubts about offers involving the www domain for your website, or you think it’s a scam.