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Transferring a website from one web hosting plan to another is a fairly easy process if done properly. However, there are several protocols and steps that need to be followed before the migration/transfer process can begin. Most people tend to overlook the most trivial steps, one of which is the process of transferring an existing domain name to the name servers/registry of the new hosting provider. Although this is not always necessary, some domain registrars or web hosts will require new customers to transfer their existing primary domain to their servers when purchasing a plan. The following paragraphs outline the process of transferring website to a new hosting provider.

What Does the Domain Transfer Process Entail?

The domain name transfer process is simply the transference of domain registrant records from one registrar or hosting provider to another. The transferring of a domain name does not affect any of the content currently located on the site or web server. After purchasing the new hosting plan many web hosting providers (some of which are also domain registrars) will require that ownership of the primary domain be transferred from the previous registrar to their servers. A DNS (domain name system) server is a web server that has name server software installed and is capable of communicating with the domain name system on a continual basis. Therefore, to ensure a problem free hosting transfer it is often necessary to transfer domain names.

What Are the Steps of Transferring a Domain Name?

Transferring a domain name from one domain registrar to another is as easy as completing a form within the backend interface of the current registrar’s control panel. Most domain registrar control panels include a domain manager that has a module specifically devoted to domain transfers, which usually bears the name “transfer domains” or a similar phrase. Although its usually simple to find, your hosting support staff may be able to provide assistance if you are unable to complete the process. After transferring domain ownership to the new registrar you’ll receive a confirmation e-mail to confirm the transfer. It is important to note that domain names younger than 60 days usually cannot be transferred. Therefore, if you are shopping for a new web host and your domain name is younger than 60 days, you’ll need to ensure that the new web host does not require domain name transfers.

How Much Does Domain Name Transfer Cost and How Long Will It Take?

The majority of domain registrars/hosting providers will allow you to transfer the domain name for free, while some will charge a nominal fee. Some hosting providers/registrars will offer free domain transfers if you choose to purchase a year’s registration for another domain with them. The domain transfer process usually takes about 3-10 days, with the average time being about a week. However, it is possible for the process to be completed within 24 to 48 hours in some cases. It is important to note that domain names that are currently involved in disputes cannot be transferred, or may take much longer to transfer, as the dispute must be settled before a transfer can occur.

Regardless of which industry or niche you choose to pursue, registering an optimal domain name is the first step in building a popular website and a successful online business. Every day there are thousands of domain names being registered by professional domain speculators and webmasters who are determined to obtain the most valuable names for their websites. Unfortunately, such heavy competition makes it very difficult to find domain names that are inherently valuable, without requiring extensive search engine optimization and promotional effort. A lot of decision-making goes into registering a single domain, however many people consider the wrong factors when determining which domain name would be the best to register. The following are three of the most important determining factors of domain name value.

Exact Match Keywords

Any domain name that contains an exact match of a popular keyword is inherently valuable. This is because such domain names instantly gain high rankings in the search engines for the keywords that they’ match, with nearly no effort on behalf of of the webmaster. For example, an individual could buy “bicycleshorts.com”, and be ranked for the keyword “bicycle shorts” within one week after placing only a small amount of content on the site. Thus, the first determining factor you should consider when registering a domain name is whether or not the domain name contains a popular keyword within your niche. Even if you choose not to build a website, by obtaining a domain name that contains exact match keywords you can almost guarantee that you will be able to resell the domain name in the future to regain your investment, or possibly even earn a profit.

Character Syntax

The character syntax of the domain name is also a very important aspect consider, especially the length of the primary name itself. Domain names that contain less than six letters are considered to be highly valuable, particularly when a domain name has a popular TLD (domain extension) such as .com,.org, or .net. Domain names that contain a lot of hyphens or numbers in substitution of letters (i.e. – 4 instead of for) are considered to be less valuable, as such character syntax is usually not used by web surfers when inputting keywords and key phrases into search engine search bars. It is also not recommended to lengthen the primary domain name by adding additional words to the exact keywords (i.e. – “mybicycleshorts.com” instead of just “bicycleshorts.com”)

Keyword Commerciality

Another important determining factor to consider is the commerciality (profitability) of the keyword which you are targeting, as this will ultimately determine whether or not the search engine traffic generated by this keyword will be targeted enough to produce high conversion rates (also known as “buying keywords”). For example, an individual Googling “where to buy bicycle shorts” would be more likely to purchase a pair of shorts than someone googling “the history of bicycle shorts”. Thus, when registering a domain name that has an exact match keyword, it is important to exhaust all options to choose the most commercialized keyword possible.

Although it may seem like a rare occurrence, copyright infringement is a common problem that webmasters have to face in the highly competitive online industry. Online business owners spend a lot of time and effort trying to find the most suitable domain name for each of their websites, as it can have a significant impact on search engine optimization attributes and the overall traffic levels received initially. The domain name of the website essentially represents its online branding, and is ultimately what site visitors will remember when mentioning the site to their friends and family. Therefore, protecting the domain name is equivalent to protecting the popularity and success of the website that it represents. The following paragraphs describe how to protect domain names and web content from copyright infringement.

How Domain Names Are Protected Via Copyright Laws

By registering a domain name you are effectively copyrighting the brand of your online business. However, it should be noted that some domain names cannot be copyrighted if they do not fall under a certain set of criteria outlined by the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). For example, if you register the domain name “qualitypoloshirts.com”you cannot copyright the phrase because it contains the company name of a brand that already has copyright laws. In fact, with the right legal assistance and a bit of diligence Polo may even be able to have this domain taken from you based on previously established ownership rights of the term “Polo.” However, this is unlikely because the word Polo is in the English dictionary, can be used to describe a sport as well, and is therefore classified as a broad term or phrase.

How to Protect Domain Name Ownership Rights

Fortunately, by simply registering a domain and populating the website with content you are effectively copyrighting the domain name and all of the content contained within the site. When content is published on a web property that you own you are automatically entitled to ownership rights, and can therefore file DMCA complaints against any party that steals this content and posts it on their website without your permission. Perhaps the best way to stop competitors from stealing your content or violating domain name ownership rights is to report them to Google for posting duplicate content and abusing copyright laws. Most of the time this will cause their website to be de-indexed, essentially eliminating most of their web traffic and success. Alternatively, you could contract legal assistance and have a ‘cease and desist’ notice sent to the website owner, which threatens legal action if the content is not removed.

Understanding the Importance of Enforcing Copyright Laws

Although many website owners don’t worry about copyright infringement, it is something that should be considered on a regular basis, as heavy competition within the Internet industry is creates an environment in which copyright infringement is relatively common. By allowing people to steal the content from your website and/or register copywritten variations of your domain name, you’re essentially giving away web traffic and profits that you rightfully deserve.

.CO domains have been lately seen to have become present for domain web hosting to the overall public. The reason why they were bought was to choose top companies during “dawn” and “land haste” stages in the months before they were released to everyone else and this way a number of smaller and desired names were cracked up. It was also learnt that almost around 70% of the 500 Fortune brands were attained by organizations such as eBay, Nike, Coca-Cola, Amazon and Apple. Yet 30% is left and it is possible that some of them would work properly for a number of marketers and site holders. But the inquisitive point arises here is that what is the necessity of a .CO and what are its advantages.

The formed name .CO domain was created in 1999 as it was specifically assigned as a country domain of Columbia. Then coming to 2009, the possessor of the TLD, .CO Internet S.A.S. got victorious with the right to trade the allowance worldwide and to the public after it was found out that .CO was associated with business and commerce in people’s minds and hence it was the decision of Columbia to astutely gain cash on that fame.

A number of factors make up to the top part of the appeal. The pool present for .com domain is lessening continuously while there is large demand for them. However, it should be known and expected that prior to that happening the “.com” will be fatigued resulting in a tightening market.

Why the market is going crazy and excited for it is because it is a small, short and unforgettable domain name is always a priority for people. Thus, this will be a relieving act for organizations and businesses who want a smaller, shorter and related domain name for their brands to be spread worldwide.

The recorded sales of the leading .CO domain name have been immense. One of the prominent online vendors, Overstock gave way to a massive $350,000 to get Overstock.CO whereas E.CO spent an $81,000.

Also, not only did these two organizations spent enormously on the .CO domain but others also have spent good amounts of money to gain the same. It is also said that this commonly named .CO domain will reach around $30 which is three times more than what you would have paid for the .COM domain.

A domain name aftermarket is already present for .CO domains and the rats are going to vary from $250 to $1,521,200 for London-2012.CO.

The inquisitive point that arises here is that whether or not this domain name extension will turn out to be more advantageous than the .com, .net or .org. Yes, for businesses that have already build up their reputation amongst the masses and they plan to spread their name, it a good idea for them. It could also be beneficial for niche marketing websites where the keywords in the domain can make a huge difference. But for all the others, we just have to wait, try and see.

DreamHost is a globally renowned web-based services provider that originally began their endeavors as a web host nearly 15 years ago, in 1997. Shortly thereafter the company became a domain registrar accredited with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Number s (ICANN). After more than a decade of providing domain registration services, DreamHost has amassed a network of nearly 2000 web servers in various data centers around the world. These powerful servers currently host nearly 1,000,000 websites, for tens of thousands of clients in hundreds of countries simultaneously.

DreamHost also pride themselves in providing completely environmentally friendly products and services, as most of the energy that powers their web hosting plans is generated from solar and wind energy. By using such alternative energy the company is able to pass savings on to customers, while also improving the health of our planet. The following paragraphs briefly review the domain registration and related services offered by DreamHost.com.

Domain Registration Services

Through their comprehensive website interface even the most novice webmaster and first-time customer can register, transfer, renew, and manage domains quickly and easily. Upon domain registration, DreamHost customers can log into their robust domain management control panel, which contains all of the primary administrative functions related to the domain name itself, the name servers it points to, e-mail account preferences, and domain forwarding settings. Fortunately, even webmasters on budget can register a domain name with the DreamHost for a relatively low price, especially when purchasing a multiple domains or TLDs at once. In fact, first-time DreamHost web hosting customers can even receive a free domain for life with all of their hosting plans. The company also offers additional administration services such as private registration, business registration, and domain certification.

Hosting Services

Since DreamHost originally endeavored into the online industry by offering hosting services, it is not surprising that they offer some of the most competitive pricing on powerful hosting plans. All of their hosting services are backed by a 100% uptime and an astonishing 97-day moneyback guarantee, which is the longest guarantee offered in the hosting industry, and is an indicator of the company‘s reliability and stability. DreamHost currently provides access to nearly every type of hosting environment, including but not limited to shared, VPS, dedicated, and reseller.

DreamHost Company Agenda

Aside from being a completely green web hosting provider, DreamHost is also fully employee owned, and strives to maintain a neutral carbon footprint through various forms of alternative energy. The DreamHost Company agenda is to provide superior support via live chat, e-mail, and phone, 24 hours a day. DreamHost staff and personnel are professionally trained to accommodate the questions and needs of their hosting customers, and are constantly being taught new hosting and server administration techniques to ensure the utmost professionalism and customer service.