Web Hosting Box

If you’re a web developer than you’re probably aspiring to make a significant contribution to the online community. One of the easiest ways to build a custom software without having to devote an exuberant amount of temporal dedication to the project is to use a pre-designed open source platform as your starting point.

Control panels are great projects for novice and intermediate web developers because they provide a productive and useful service to the developer and their clients. Although many people have heard of cPanel, vDeck and other popular control panels, there are many custom solutions currently being implemented by independent developers and their clients. Web-cp provides the perfect base platform for such a custom solution, and the following review outlines the reasons why.

Open Source/Full Featured

One of the most appealing aspects about the Web-cp control panel is the fact that it already includes all of the basic features one would expect from a quality control panel, and it comes in various ‘flavors’.

The Web-cp selection actually consists of 4 different control panels – personal, reseller, domain, and server. Each of these solutions is geared towards a different type of user, and therefore provides a different level of functionality. By providing access to personalized and customizable control panel solutions, Web-cp offers the perfect starting platform for any control panel developer. Each version of the software is specifically designed to create the ideal user interface for the targeted user.

Web-cp Versions

The ‘personal’ control panel lets users perform tasks like editing personal information, changing passwords, and adjust spam control settings. The ‘domain’ version of Web-cp is geared towards domain owners, and lets webmasters add new users, sub domains, domains, aliases, databases, and domain pointers. The ‘resellers’ control panel lets hosting resellers efficiently control the domain accounts of their clients, and the ‘server’ control panel, lets server administrators add and/or modify resellers, monitor and control server usage, edit DNS and VirtualHost templates, and restarts server services. Having this diverse functionality at your fingertips will help you create a perfect control panel solution for your clients, without having to start from scratch.

Development Support

Another aspect of Web-cp that makes it perfect for aspiring control panel developers is the extensive development support offered on the software’s web site. There users can find information about recent Web-cp releases, and research detailed documentation, including information about recently added features, software compatibility, and error reports. The site also provides access to discussion forums, live chat, commercial support, a regularly updated bug tracker, and of course a Frequently Asked Questions section. All of these resources help you create the best control panel solution possible, with minimal experience and web development skills.

Although Web-cp is not currently offered by major hosting providers, and its popularity pales in comparison to that of a cPanel’s, it provides the perfect learning and development environment for those looking to create the next big control panel that will be offered by web hosting companies

Looking to purchase a domain name that has already been acquired by another user? It is disappointing to create a great product or idea and then not be able to register the domain name. Therefore, how can we view who owns the domain name and then contact them?

Why Use this Service?

Viewing the owner of a domain can come in handy for a business that is not up to par or even if you want to acquire a specific domain name that is owned by another. Luckily there is a way to view the owner of a domain through the Whois service.

How does it Work?

This service is provided by many different sites across the internet and displays all the information you need. Whois is an internet user name database that is free and can be searched by anyone. The service is simple; you type in the domain name of the site information you are searching for and it displays if the domain is available. If not, it lists other domain names that are similar to your original request and their availability.

Also listed is the information of the owner. Therefore, if you want to buy a specific domain name, you have the information (email and phone number) to contact the owner. Since each domain name corresponds to a unique IP-address, you can also search the directory by inputting the IP address.

A Great Example

One excellent site to find this information is www.domaintools.com. Not only does it provide available domain names and Whois information, it also displays domain history. Also, the visitor can utilize the DNS tools area. Viewing the domain history is important to avoid any trademark or copyright blunders.

An additional service offered by the site is Mark Alert. You setup a contact email so that when a visitor registers a domain name with any term or phrase you specify, you are immediately notified. This is an extremely beneficial feature as it allows you to track your competition as well as monitor trademarks.

The Whois service is an excellent method to even the playing field in the world of internet business or just to view who owns a specific domain name. The benefits of this free tool are endless and constantly utilized by many. The Whois service offers a good balance between freedom of information and not displaying too much for those that use it in a malicious manner.

So you’ve chosen your domain name and you’ve been using it for about a month, when suddenly you decide that it just isn’t fitting and you would like to change it. Unfortunately, you don’t have this option directly, but there are some things you can do to change the name of your web site without losing all of the hard work you’ve put into it. The main attributes you’ll be trying to preserve will have to do with search engine optimization, which will have the biggest impact on the site’s traffic levels after the transition. The following information discusses some of the methods used to transfer domains, as well as some of the practices used to retain SEO benefits during the transition.

Domain Forwarding

The best way to retain the search engine optimization attributes that you’ve worked so hard for is to utilize domain forwarding. Domain forwarding is a practice that is similar to URL forwarding, in which the location of one domain is forwarded to another. For example, if you were to type in the web address of site A, you would be directed instead to site B. While this may not necessarily change the domain name, it will display the new domain name in your visitor’s when they’re directed to your site from a search engine, the effect will be identical to changing your domain name. Domain forwarding is a free service that is usually offered automatically with most hosting plans. The process of domain forwarding a simple one that nearly anyone can accomplish with no training.

Transferring Files

The alternative to domain forwarding is transferring all of the site’s files via FTP or via a site backup utility within the control panel of your hosting account. While doing this eliminates the slight delay that occurs when a visitors is transferred from one domain to another, it can have a very detrimental effect on the search engine optimization of your site. This is especially true if your site has already been indexed by the search engines, as the new site will have identical content and could therefore be penalized with a duplicated content penalty, which has the potential to put your site in the ‘sandbox’ for several months. In fact, your site may even be de-indexed and taken out of the search engines completely.

Conclusion

Although completely renaming your site may appear to be the more appealing option, doing so can result in the negation of all of your SEO efforts thus far. If you want to keep the traffic levels of your site coming in on a consistent basis then you may want to consider the advantages of domain forwarding rather than restoring a backup or transferring all of your site’s files. However, if your site has not yet built up a considerable amount of SEO ranking then it would be pertinent to transfer the files to the newly desired name as quickly as possible before doing so has negative effects on your SEO campaign. Ultimately, all of these troubles can be avoided by thoroughly examining all of the options when registering your domain name, and by choosing a name that you will be comfortable with for a long time to come.

Registering a good domain name is perhaps one of the most important aspects of constructing a successful and profitable web site for your online business. Unfortunately, after you’ve chosen a domain name there is little you can do to turn back time, other than buying a new domain name and then forwarding the old domain to the new one through a practice known as domain forwarding. Thus, it is imperative to ensure that you’re satisfied with your selection before registering the domain. Even though he cost of domains is relatively low, the cost of choosing the wrong name can be quite high. The following tips can help you register the best domain name possible.

Register Expired Domains

One of the secrets the pros use to find valuable domain names quickly is expired domain auctions. If a domain name is expiring, that means that a webmaster held interest in the name at one point in time, and since many webmasters base their domain name selection on thorough keyword research, there is a good chance that the expired domain will have some inherent value. In fact, some expired domain names still retain some of the SEO attributes that were built up by the previous owner, such as backlinks and even page rank. If you’re having trouble brainstorming to come up with ideas for your next domain name, you may want to stop by a domain auction site to get a good idea of what domain names have been registered and expired recently.

Avoid Hyphens and Numbers

Although domain names can consist of any combination of letters, numbers and hyphens, most experts recommend that you completely avoid using hyphens, and try to avoid using numbers as a substitution for words. For example, the domain name “example-4-domain-names.com” would be less desirable than “examplefordomainnames.com” simply because people are not likely to remember the hyphens when revisiting a web site.

Also, search engine queries usually never contain hyphens, which means the site’s SEO ranking could suffer because of the hyphens. Although inserting numbers and hyphens may shorten the length of the domain name and make it easier to read, the value of domains that contain hyphens and numbers is considerably lower than those that do not.

Consider Private Registration and Domain Certification

When you register your domain, any information that you give to the registrar is cataloged into a public database that can be accessed by anyone that is willing to do so. Fortunately, private domain registration can keep your private details out of the WHOis database and away form malicious competitors and marketers that could quickly use it in nefarious ways. Domain certification also provides an extra level of security because it helps you provide proof of ownership when needed. If someone hijacks your domain then you can used the signed and notarized domain certificate as proof of ownership. Domain certification only costs about $3 while private registration only costs about $10. Both of which are worthy investments for the committed webmaster.

Name servers are a very important part of the way the internet works, connecting IP addresses to domain names and making the world wide web an enjoyable experience for everyone. Every site online has is pointed toward two name servers, also known as DNS servers. When you register for a hosting account you are given the addresses of these two name servers, after which you have to log into your domain registrar account and point the domains to the appropriate address. This allows you to attach your site to your web hosting account so that it can be put live on the internet.

Registration Privacy

When someone does a DNS lookup on your domain in the WHOIS database there is a variety of information displayed, including the name of the person who registered the domain, the address, phone number, and of course the name servers. This information can be made private, however after the fact there is little you can do to hide it, other than creating your own name server. While it may sound incredibly complex, creating your own name server is as simple as installing a piece of software on your web server. Keep in mind that some web hosting accounts (particularly those in the shared hosting environment) do not allow the account holder to make software adjustments or install new software on the server, so you will need a VPS or dedicated hosting plan to create a custom name server.

Professionalism and Presence

Having an online presence that is trustworthy and  professional is of the utmost importance when operating an online business, especially if you want to expand your presence and gather new clientele. While most people will not execute  DNS lookup on your site, some will, and when they do they will be able to see your name server. If you want to appear as professional as possible then you may want to consider purchasing your own domain and installing DNS software on that domain to create your own custom name server. For example, if the name of your company is “Random Company”, then you could purchase a domain entitled “randomcompanynameserver.com.” If the custom name server was created on this site, the nameservers would appear as: “NS1.RANDOMCOMPANYNAMESERVER.com” and “NS2.RANDOMCOMPANYNAMESERVER.COM,” this would give your client or site visitor the impression that you own your own web server and are therefore more established company.

Installing DNS Software

Before looking for DNS software to install on your server it is important to esquire with your web  hosting company to ensure that your plan is compatible with DNS software. This means having more than one IP address, and having the ability to install new software on the server. If you’re having difficulty learning how to create your own name server, or you would like to know more about DNS software and your hosting account you should contact the support staff of your hosting provider.