Archive | March, 2010

31 March 2010 ~ 82 Comments

Joomla Cheat Sheet to Make a Website

newsowl66

Want to use Joomla to make a website? Joomla to enhanced a domain name and build value by making a website. Sticky content and updated articles using a text-driven keyword focused engine makes a full (not a mini) website. Joomla is a free open source software domain owners can use with basic editing skills.

Test the Joomla Demo first. Browse online for free Joomla templates.

Print this article or use it as a checklist to make a WYSIWYG assisted web page with one of the best site making tools webmasters can utilize. Once a domainer knows the steps, any site becomes  a matter of keystrokes and administration interface manipulation. Use the Joomla forum when in doubt.

1. Install Joomla

Download the source code application zip files or login to your hosting account and initialize Joomla installation. Joomla is one of the pioneer content management systems with highly efficient text and article publishing tools.

At the installation layer, build the Joomla database, assign passwords, and build the site manager Joomla site administration profile.

2. Unpark servers, redirect masked forward

This is done at the domain registrar for the domain name. If you are not using a subdomain or a separate hosting account, assign the settings of the domain functionality to find the destination landing page of the Joomla application.

3. Replace Joomla’s default Web Page message with your domain message and section greeting. Sections are master categories that organize Joomla articles. Categories are division of Sections. Plot these with pencil and paper.

Replace Joomla FrontPage message with your domain message and section greeting. This can include nicknames, slang, and sets the tone for readers to see what level the text is. This can be changed as often as you like.

4. Replace global configuration setting with your Domain Name

In the Admin interface, navigate to the Global Configuration setting. Edit the text. This will show up in the blue frame of the Explorer window in the browser.

5a. Make custom logo using Cooltext.com.com.

Shrink text to fit banner footprint, or use basic Cooltext generated .jpg to make further editions to the graphic for a fine tuned logo presence.

5.b. Replace Joomla logo with custom logo.

Introduce logo graphic to various levels of the interface where they apply.

6.  Mockup 3 main headers (PNG’s) and ad graphics for sponsor ads.

Copy and save the PNG file to your desktop to get file size attributes in pixels. Then convert to a .jpg and edit. Then save as a PNG again to upload to the file manager inside the appropriate template files.

7. Upload 3 main header graphics

Navigate to proper place in the template files in the file manager. Delete placeholders @template/images/header.

8. Write text for 5 newsflashes

Newsflashes are succinct blurbs that alternate inside the browser for quick text bites. Add or edit content inside the admin menu using the Joomla category for Newflashes.

9. Write Text for 6-7 Original Text Stories

These can be done while the webmaster or domain owner is waiting for installation. Using article template files and search and replacing keywords per website domain name can make multiple Joomla site launches easy.

Use 2 news stories, one site review, one “about us” introduction story, and then three translations of current features stories touching your field or topic. Rewrite them in your own words and link back to the source material.

10. Replace OSM ad client accounts and pictures w/substitutes

Default will feature fruit or general images. Navigate to banners area and edit client data or add a new client and input images. Select these ads in the OSM banner and advertisement sections. Make new “customers” for your contact ads.

11. Edit 4 text ads (advertisement module)  to reflect putative ad code.

If you can’t get code from Adsense for your domain name or don’t have it yet, edit the code furnished to reflect keywords, topics, offers and likely ad text from your site’s keyword generator. This can help proof the site.

12. Unpublish non domain specific resources .

Many Joomla module defaults will simply not apply to your site concept or design.  Delete key concepts/irrelevant resources. They can be re-introduced later as needed.

13. Edit poll/add poll module to reflect domain specific content matter

Use a creative time to pencil out a fun survey question and funny poll answers. Joomla offers a small window but makes a site look extremely complete with these multiple features.

14. Compare meta tag & keywords to meta tags for domain forward entry.

Navigate to the appropriate Admin areas inside the menu. Use this tool as a way to furnish key data to Google search result and main site info areas.

15. Verify Masked Domain Resolution to new web site’s public url

Make sure when you type in the domain name, the masked domain shows with the new Joomla landing page. Visually check how the words look against featured front page text.

16. Archive sample Joomla data to archives, add additional keywords to existing stories.

Archiving and deleting get rid of things you don’t want and can’t use.

17. Edit header 1, header2,  header 3

These are the file names of the main three graphics that alternate in the background of the landing page banner area.

Navigate to the theme area in the file menu and find the graphics for the header image. Substitute  the new ones and and in a separate window test them for a fit. Using a one shade block image as the  lighter header mask can lighten the area within the graphic and result in a lighter shade using th default theme..

18. Add Graphics.

Replace the library of standard buttons with custom colors or icons with a special feel. The Media Manager inside Joomla handles all images. Upload topical images and select those directories you chose for the images inside the categories and sections for those types of stories and articles.

19. Edit the Joomla Wrapper.

The Wrapper module allows a feature of an entire other site within the current site. Pick a great recommendation site or sister site to your topic and add commentary and criticisms, tips and feedback. Reward visitors with a best of breed snapshot of a another great site.

20. Edit ‘home”.

Navigate to the home page in the text editing menu (the Frontpage) and create the first text eyeballs will see when your Joomla website loads in a visitor’s browser.

21. Edit weblink boilerplate.

Edit the test in the weblink area after making categories for them. Categories can be functional or topical, i.e. “New sources”, or (subject related )Gossip Blogs. Furnish about ten entries at least to make custom resource web directory for your site. Be as complete as possible when furnishing plate “About Us”.

Edit the default “About us” page in the articles menu and edit the “More About Us” page too.

22. Edit Joomla Community Text

Use  the Joomla Tutorial to fill in the blanks.

23. Convert Template if default style does not work for you.

Milky Way and JA Purity are the main default installed themes.

With a safe beta version in the default Joomla installation theme format, experiment with template uploads. Using the Joomla Administration menu, change the templates and preview them. Upload zip files after unzipping to the file manager in the hosting account using the FTP utility.

24. Edit the weblink directory

Web Links should be likely browsing destinations of your topical visitor or site user. Add links to the Joomla accurate details, keywords, links and category text.

25. Schedule future article publication.

Make sure to input future publishing articles in the Joomla interface to keep the flow of material updated and the schedule of text constantly new.

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30 March 2010 ~ 4 Comments

Writing the Content

owlwriteThe content part of any website has become the chore many webmasters like to deal with last. Importing flashy graphics, inserting complicated scripts, playing with logo designs and flirting between banner concepts can delay the text element decisions and work until very late in the game.

Many webmasters consider a site practically finished with a new template, an RSS feed, a banner a custom logo and host of plugins to wrap around the daily posting. But what’s missing is the product quality in the most important site element of all: the content.

After being hired by domainers and webmasters the world over for the last six years, I have some observations to make about the attempts to improve a website via original text infill. But so many webmasters attempt to fill their site with odds and ends that make a visitor simply shrug and click away. Then they follow up eagerly to see all the income they’ve accrued.

One tool I urge webmasters to use often is a mixed schedule of content which harvests news and information online about a given topic or set of keywords yet allows a savvy webmaster to render its content in a unique manner. This means surveying Google search results and news sources of updated reports about individuals or companies of interest, as well as notable milestones in related subject to the website.

Domains require an acknowledgement that the written word and the reading function imparts some value to the recipient audience. The tools used to analyze content can show metrics and functional uses text blocks can be put to. A tool such as Copyscape.com can show the originality of an article or feature story. Even to Google a few liens of content can locate content poachers effectively.

A site like Textalyser.net can reflect multiple attributes of a text contribution or text file. The density of the text and readability of the text can be examined. The repetition of keywords and key word phrases can be reviewed against traffic and search engine discoverability results. Free tools like this are golden.

The complex features of  the way the web looks at text is revealed at Textalyser. Lexical density and SEO values impart a high level analysis than grammar checkers and spell check scripts. But seeing where a few more instances of certain keywords might help can make the difference over about  a hundred articles and posts or so.

A bouquet of content is desired. but slapping articles from other sites and news makes a dull search result and a highly redundant page. But the first paragraph of any kited news story should be an abstract that can be furnished to the Excerpt field. Likewise, a custom encapsulation of the story as the excerpt field still yields unique content values.

When working with abstracts, summarize the content. Search result browser want to briefly scan what they are looking at. Shorter sentences work better, and these abstracts make excellent posts to links you place elsewhere on the web with links back yo your site. These can display in the text blurb portion of the Google search result and direct readers who want readable information t your site.

Product reviews can work well for a website if they are readable and impart some value to the reader. Product reviews can answer the following set of questions and voila,a hundred words of content just sprang into being. Was the device easy to use or hard? Were the directions difficult or simple to understand? Is the warranty or returns and exchange policy a dealbreaker? What rebates, coupons or savings are available and where is the best place to buy the product?

One of the best pieces of content a webmaster can add to a site is a site review of another site. Outbound links to the the pertinent features and attractions discussed kills two SEO birds with one linking stone. These types of features can generate spirited comment and debate. Opinion is one of the biggest gifts the Internet can offer, yet many webmasters structure their site content as though the New York Times was editorializing the content.

Making a website hum means adding new ingredients daily into the machine. Domain values hinges on readability, participation, and traffic. Stop making the content addition the heavy lifting of administrating your website and make manipulating the front page of your site the new turn of the river. The feedback and traffic statistics will surprise you.

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29 March 2010 ~ 11 Comments

Keyword Combo Grey Area

owlglass

Tired of looking to Google, Yahoo and others for qualified search results? Hard to believe as it is, there are still Google searches than come back…empty. These are opportunities. Domainers are constantly looking for opportunities. Curling the ball over home base is the challenge. Using a name to create and draw traffic is a domaining varsity sport.

Opportunities to define the terms with a website make SEO results. These will draw all traffic because you yourself have established the primary web source authoring the terms and the information coordinated with it. Being the top Google result or only Google result is pay dirt for domainers.  Yet astonishingly many domainers strive to make their sites look like carbon copies of others in deeply entrenched topic categories.

Finding unique terms for the keyword combination is an exceptional way to draw traffic. One such word might be “murse”, a slang term for man-purse. Attach a keyword word part like -store, -shop, and/or “TV” and you’ve got a domain. Murse.tv, murse.com, and combined keyword domain names are taken. I checked. But many of the pages were simple landing pages or parked hosting company template parking pages.

There is a SEO discoverability opportunity in the YouTube search engine. Finding unique SEO phrases and providing content to match up with them is the Holy Grail of domaining. Establishing the website behind an appropriate domain name is half the fun. Doing it ahead of the competitors in the domain world is grabbing the brass ring.

Architecture of the site plan should exploit every option to group keywords with content. Images of generic items that match TV show keywords can dramatically enhance the SEO profile of any such video based product website. And succeeding seasons of the television show showing on TV and being released on DVD around the world drive traffic cyclically.

Value can be found in surprising places, like mushrooming Indian peppers for weapons and newfound Google independence in China.  But lightweight sites can have poor “nutrition value”. A truly discoverable website has content as appealing as twice-fried cherry pie and stickiness to match. Gold nuggets of delectable content should be waiting for visitors.

Time to take the video opportunity to the next level. I’ve had some questions and comments regarding my Grey’s Anatomy entry and would like to expand on some of the ideas expressed there. But any TV show or domain name can draw users and visitors likely to click ads and links. Their extended reading time will make SEO bots record your site as an authority.

There is a gold mine of search engine discoverability for domainers willing to follow the steps and establish key points of internet authority on certain topics. Identifying some key elements in the domain development cycle can exploit searches for users wanting new content enjoyment. Grey’s Anatomy is merely one avenue to try for a domain destination that will bring international traffic.

Video clips of popular television shows are one of the most searched items online. Episode capsules and a detailed analysis speak to hardcore fans dying to know what their favorite characters did and then what happened next. Grey’s Anatomy is universes sexier than lithium ion electric batteries and healthcare regulation. Let them know what happened.

Escapism from recession and difficult financial times mean SEO results for things like video entertainment (that is accessible immediately online) are through the roof. Consider optimizing all video tags and links and images with buzzwords from the shows to get visits from fans.

Keyword combinations at YouTube yield favorite fanvids. But you can watch 300 versions of the same episode of Grey’s Anatomy but only the 300th will have that missing extra scene that makes all of the rest pay off. Buying the episodes on iTunes is easier when buyers know what’s in the episode they want. By providing a text assist, the browser can find the episode details for the proper episode.

Fans know the best scenes and search for them again and again. But for any show, by providing a resource to review episode content is easy. And for consumers looking to buy key episodes featuring their favorite characters, this makes a website a bookmark to refer to again and again.

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28 March 2010 ~ 13 Comments

Domainer Webmaster Hall of Shame

owltips

If you are a webmaster guilty of the following website composition and site promotion mistakes, repair thy errors and  go forth and sin no more. If you own a domain, you are a webmaster. Face the reality and adjust the rose colored glasses for internet url management. Denial isn’t flattering for domain name owners.

[Psst- No. 10 is the best!]

1. Outdated Copyright Data

When scanning a new site or plowing through possible type in inspirations, I can page down to the copyright or version data for any website and learn a lot. Editing the 2005 or 2008 to 2010 takes approximately seven keystrokes. If a website is wearing an old hat, chances are the operators are asleep at the wheel. How long since they overhauled the site? Or even proofed it? Visitors will possibly assume the site is forgotten or obsolete.

2. Code Errors

If you have a feature on your website generating errors, get rid of it. You’ll get polite messages or downright ‘j’accuse” rants from visitors and peers. If you don’t get rid of it, it makes the site look too desperate for content and willing to sacrifice usability. Use online utilities and user feedback to fix problems. Pursue opportunities for site critiques.

3. Browser Favorite Sons

Check for cross browser compatibility. Please. If you believe any contractor who tells you their issued service product will qualify for site use on the basis of only one browser functionality, NB the Brooklyn Bridge is still for sale. When choosing content and design, take the middle road. Optimizing for one browser excludes future converts and customers.

4. Oversized Banners

Too many forum or other types of websites have default template banners that obscure nearly 70% of the browser window. Use Cooltext.com to make a smaller banner and use a smaller font or undersize the resulting jpeg. Given that today’s potential web browsing environment is a mobile device or netbook, this should bring the size of empty image space down. Considerably.

5. Sleep-Inducing Parking Pages

In the age of widgets, code scripts, affiliate ads and RSS, those plain old parking pages leave the visitor nauseated. Templates and free themes are everywhere! Use color and related images! Make a visitor landing page with something on it other than hosting company generated links. Snore.

6. Grainy/Imperfect Images

Image quality should be sharp, defined, well edited and chosen for good use of color and impact for the overall site. Using filters and online photo editing  tools can render any source image into a better quality visual experience. Take out blah blacks and overly spaced white areas and put sharp compositions than arrest the eyes of readers and contribute better flow to the site. One great photo can soften the visual blur of three adsense boxes.

7. Unchecked Comments

I contributed for a client to two online blogs for eleven months. Every day. the point of which was to furnish content to a site and create an opportunity for dialogue with readers. 365 unmediated comments. Comments are  an excellent indicator of who is finding your site and what spurs them to participate. Take note!

8. Undeveloped Forum

Forums are best things about the internet. You can find a place that talks about your niche interest and weigh in. Forums don’t have to be resident inside a given website. Utilities like Sparklit Activeboards furnish excellent CSS editable resources and sterling performance without code error bugs.

9. No Outgoing Links

Links inward are always good, but no or too few outgoing links make it look like your website evolves in its own universe. keep a record over time of checking the outgoing and incoming link number. Both figures should increase over time. These mechanics are organic to a growing site with an expanding web presence. Lack of link development should retard expectation of profit.

10. Article Submissions

Sites like Helium and About.com, Associated Content, Triond and others feature SEO optimized articles free of charge. Submit and even get paid for your articles while promoting your site as a news or information source. Anchor a tidy hint, valuable tip, or astonishing snippet on your site and then use it as a footnote or quote in one of the above mentioned content sites in an article.

The push for clicks those sites will generate will only work to your advantage. Links will drive traffic, bots will scrub up and notice your site, search engines will record the link, and referrals from the savvy to the merely curious open in an constantly extended time envelope. And repetition of central keywords linked to your site build SEO kernel value.

Publishing on these sites helps any webmaster build site and domain name value, yet so many ignore this obvious instrument of web promotion! Learning to seed keywords and associated content text values is a core competency for domain name professionals.

11. Bells and Whistles Volume XXXMIXIV

Not every site needs every feature. Delete non-value-adding modules and types of attractions that add no interest to the site. Choose the right site engine or open source application for your site goals, not just because you know another (unrelated) site that used it. Robbing visitors of premium site experience to tab through unappealing features just bogs down load time and takes the efficiency out of any site.

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27 March 2010 ~ 9 Comments

Changing the Domain Game Up

owlblue

Domainers speak in a language of their own. Their constructions for their websites also speak volumes. But websites have advanced beyond mere online destinations. They are now portals for other devices such as wireless devices and cellphones. A webmaster or domain owner with a cellphone or mobile phone app can bring a new generation of web user to the site.

Does your site have a mobile app? I ask because I am being convinced by contacts on all sides that unless you give a remote visitor to your site something to do, all is lost. Conventional domain wisdom now has it that the teeming hordes of wireless device tappers must be kept busy with digital bread and circuses! Building the appeal is the key.

In ancient Rome, senators and Emperors ordered festivals of spectacle for the anxious crowds to get their minds off the pressing social, political, civil and economic problems of the era. The forum was filled with games and combat, and bread was thrown to the crowds. Today’s forums have XBox games and World of Warcraft combat, and people spend their sustenance in clicks.

The offering of any site, url or domain to deliver some amusement, entertainment or a solution has become primordinately important. Today’s web user demands new entertainment and new activities than just text images and organization of a grid of panel diodes. Even when the visual array is much much smaller than a breadbox, users want something to occupy their minds.

When looking for an app to provide, think inside the box. Look for free online scripting and application building tools and resources. I actually downloaded a free application for building a computer game. Every once in a while I load the program and build a new action or ponder a new route to the mapped game architecture. Webpage making got fun again.

What will you build? A click driving puzzle or game, or a mapped site journey that guides visitors and users through multiple screens? A link to other sites with multiple click pathways? Coloring book images or downloadable activities for kids score big with new users. Selection scripts with “rewards” or coupons and discount codes make visits to the site profitable.

What activities are available at a target website for niche users is up to the webmaster. Quizzes, surveys, puzzles, comment opportunities or analysis of stated commentaries or opinions is one way to go. But custom games, text sallies, mobile phone rewards and prizes can also now be part of the mix. Many sites are customized strictly for the mobile user.

Webmasters can download software to make their own computer game. I use FPS Creator to fashion a game that soon will be ready to offer to user to my own game website. I may offer enhanced participation options and features to a paying membership after a free play period. Every major online game maker is doing the same thing. With this app my attraction bring my domain into the big leagues as a future online search destination for free game play.

So the project design for the new website will flourish and visitors will discover something new to do. Then their friends will Twitter the site and word of mouth and word of link will get the news out. People doing nothing in airports and waiting rooms and on beaches will manipulate their digits to my site. With an activity for new users and niche game players, the domain will be bookmarked and Facebooked aplenty.

Game sites attract teens, kids, and adults. Themes for games, characters, and game play options build a user base.  Cheat codes and tips for quest completion, as well as hints for top scoring points can form another entire value building url. Elegant solutions make saleable websites that are very far from minisites. With a portfolio of content, a  modest single word domain name just became a business-in-a-box.

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26 March 2010 ~ 2 Comments

Blogwriting Recipe

cakemix

The questions regarding how to write a blog for domain enhancement and traffic building are open ended. They could swallow a universe and still leave room for templates, details, hosting, themes and image optimization. But blog learning for blog writing doesn’t have to be a list of technical abstracts and a weighty glossary of terms.

Cooking up a blog takes energy and dedication, but just like those experienced cooks who never look at a measuring cup or review the recipe but make batches of yummy stuff, tips for successful blogging are best used in the mix. Some days you have time for the extra steps, sometimes hungry readers just want to gobble up something hot and fresh.

Peppering your recipe with a few new terms adds flavor. Throwing in some glittery accents excites the eye. Some extra twists and turns and preparation of the final containers can make even uninterested browsers  stop and taste the text. Frosting the end product with a new layout or color can refresh the eye. Even old flavors seem new with a special new color.

Jargon and buzzwords can be propagated from every other website. But being that blog people stop and read intuitively on an impromptu basis, hands on stirring up of the topics can make or break the user traffic daily that keeps a blog happening. Different versions of cookie batter, for example, can be made when one batch gets split into four different parts. Things can be added to each blog entry to spice them up and flavor the content a different way.

One blog edition can feature technical help or how-to advice to solve certain problems. One blog entry can embrace a philosophical bent happening in that milieu. The next blog entry can be humorous or a technical or product review. When the blog writer reviews the comments it’s surprising what subjects and topics people respond to.

Getting into the habit of a daily blog means doing the extra chores. Capturing the reader’s interest is the holy grail of blogging. Getting pinged and quoted means readers are actively searching you out and absorbing your text. Search engines take note of this. SEO rankings define and contribute to the value of a blog domain name.

It’s shocking how many legacy blogs I can log into six or eight months down the line and see hundreds of unapproved comments lying in stasis. This is a shocking abandonment of a fully functional blog. Happens all the time. Sadly. Like leaving cookies baking in the oven after the oven is turned off. And not taking them out of the oven.

So, install that WordPress and start inscribing your blog. link in, link out, research topics and write content. And get cooking!

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25 March 2010 ~ 9 Comments

WTF is the new domain craze? Dot-WTF?

Owl on Beach web

The domain sandbox always has new opportunities on foreign shores. The explosion of foreign country codes has new and existing domainers watching the auctions and the forums to see where profit taking could happen.

Right now the geo market in the space between Fiji and Samoa looks hot. The collective of Wallis and Futuna is ready to launch its ccTLD.  Two island geographies encompass three French Polynesian tropical island kingdoms.   These three kingdoms of domain entity are oriented under a potentially lucky domain star.

It came to my attention today that the Polynesian island realm of Wallis and Futuna was launching the registry for its country code .wf.  One of my blog colleagues details this release at Domaingang.com.  While the chief impact of the dynamic is the underwater nature of most of the country, the monetary value of the domain possibilities are more than seaworthy. Perhaps the dot-wf tag has meaning for some.

I then started thinking that if they added one island, one tiny dot to the barely sea level Paradise, and named it “Tahlia”, for example, they could have the registry dot-wtf.  The meaning of the name Tahlia is ‘Dew of God; female lamb’. But the noun “Terra” could serve just as well. But any number of Futanan terms could work too. Perhaps a name to commemorate one of the kingdoms.

The wonder of words, of language, is infinite. Just by supplying one more entity the capital letter T could deliver a tidal wave of value crashing over this landing strip of a country. A banana republic of names might sprout up. Right now there is mostly white sands, churches and pigs crowding Wallis and Futuna.

Wallis, Tahlia and Futana as a nation could grow their export sales by 15% of the current monetary level. The current GDP per capita is about $12,000 US.  The “underwater” appellation is indeed more than a jest, the highest point in the territory is Mont Singavi at 765 meters above sea level.  But additions to the land mass could happen if an Internet boom rushed more CPC French currency into the island enclave.

Is anybody letting the Polynesians sitting on the beach of this fact? The island territory nation could have a gold mine on its hands if the ccTLD is manipulated correctly. Somebody smart should get a charter plane to the Futana airport and check out the local business men, possibly at Lake Lalolalo. Cannibals and Catholic churches stud the colorful island past.

No other opportunities will be cropping up for Wallis Futana soon. Current Wallis Futana tourism bemoans the lack of fresh water. The tour guide features churches and discos, but it read something like the description of Marlon Brando’s personal island, with logistics and supply problems that make habitability an “adventure”.

I believe the sales for domains ending in .wtf are endless.  WTF is instant slang loosely translated as “what is this and why? (emphasis)”. This may be one of the most easily recognizable and easily translatable phrases in the English language worldwide. Put any word in front of “wtf” and you have an idea, and a reaction.

The obvious keywords or any video tag instantly becomes a domain, a brand, a trademark, and a destination. The type-in traffic possibilities are astounding. Everybody could entertain themselves incessantly looking up the clever workings of ‘noun’ or “verb”. wtf. It translates into any language. Image tags could leverage search traffic infinitely and repeatedly.

Ironically the correct term  for the island state is (French) Collectivite d’outre-mer (COM) or French overseas collectivity.  technically, Wallis Futana is already a “COM”. That’s domain karma like I’ve never seen it. The online land grab for .wtf names might tilt the axis of the earth. The potential for video based sites with Youtube or other video clips is limitless.

Such names and sites would be inordinately discoverable. But is geographic manipulation of nations really legal for online real estate name development? The online domain name population is ready to buy. Presales could bring the land mass of Wallis and Futuna above sea level. So, how many Polynesian speaking domainers are now occupying office space on Wallis and Fortuna?

The only bank in Wallis and Futana is a division of BNP Paribas. The merchant marine furnishes fishing rights to other countries as export sales,  and the .wf development supposedly is suspended in favor of the .fr and .nc (Nouvelle Calédonie) data codes. Nicholas Sarkozy is titular head of state.

If the business men of Wallis and Futana might implement the renaming of the region or the locals might vote it into place, the communication costs, transportation facilities, and other civil resources  of Wallisian and Futanan life could skyrocket. The real estate land grab for .wtf might build (another paved) airport, a health system, schools, and jobs.

Does anyone have the guts to make it happen?

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24 March 2010 ~ 1 Comment

L. A. De-Taxes DotCom Firms

Just when the heat was turned on high tax wise for many Los Angeles dot com and Internet based businesses, Los Angeles mayor Anthony Villaraigosa signed away the premium business tax rates slicing and dicing the clicks bizzes in Southern California. The ordinance keeps dotcoms like Shopzilla in business here. Without such regulation as this, all business will have trended to exit the California economy substantially.

The business environment in Los Angeles has gone from soft to Swiss Cheese, and many Santa Monica internet companies have gone belly up or are still struggling. In this softest-in-memory retail and business climate, Los Angeles last year taxed Internet businesses at a premium rate, driving many to threaten to relocate.

Looks like L.A. could be the new regrowth market.

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23 March 2010 ~ 1 Comment

China’s Miniskirt of Google

dino

China continues to go rogue on Google, accomplishing both the most massive redirect crime in internet history (legally) and giving the biggest entity of SEO dynamic driving all development worldwide. The doings of Google and the Chinese government on this issue has made headlines around the world and not just for domainers.

But how valuable can a Google ranking be if it elides all Chinese internet traffic? Is Google still Google? China is a big place. That is a lot of inputs missing from the matrix. Many articles extensively trace the invisible bureaucracy of China and examine the role of Chinese business practices in yet another milieu of international trade.

Both Google and China are the biggest titan players in their respective milieus and yet each is attempting to give the most profitable opportunity and most advertising revenue creating power on earth the finger. That’s not small potatoes, and China has an ambitious start in its national internet derby for world dominance. China may hope to attract international customers by closing its door to Google search results, but it’s not clear how.

How efficient can a Google result be if the operator knows one fifth of potential word traffic is missing from its mathematical result? Can Google operate in a world where a huge tranche of its results are known to be missing? How can China set up a competitor search engine brand to vend internal China internet search result oriented traffic?

What does it mean that Google is being turned off in China? Well, it could be the start of a newly mechanized internet model, perhaps the first without the premier decision maker mover and shaker in the online world involved. But will Google learn to do business missing one of the most populous nations on Earth? If you ask Chinese experts,

Cross-pollinating the whole mess is the mobile phone connection, which can drive mobile Internet traffic.The China Google model for defeat seems to stem any input to a search engine driving value from inputs. So, is Google getting brushed off the world stage in China, or is Google getting away from the constriction of Chinese business tactics while they can?

The news reports stemming from these activities both by Google and by China are confusing. is China standing up for its rights or is it crimping the style of the Internet’s leading pioneer? How can a government decide to blanket is citizens in censorship? How can public use of the sites convince Chinese regulators otherwise?

The world is watching. And clicking.

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22 March 2010 ~ 2 Comments

Good Internet, Bad People

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The downside of the Internet is that often the few who have no scruples don’t hesitate to exploit the online sale portal network when possible. It’s an abuse of the Internet age that sales of tropical birds, protected wildlife, and substances like coral and other natural flora and fauna are vended illegally.

According to recent reports, the Internet has emerged as one of the greatest threats to rare animal and plant species, fueling the illegal wildlife trade and rare substance market. From medical uses to ornamental display, the Intenret has made it easier to buy everything from live baby lions to wine made from tiger bones.

A body of concerned conservationists and law enforcement officers made statements to the media Sunday. But for a long time the domaining community has known that rogue vendors and scammers are a  law unto themselves. Even hosting companies allow a 30-day disconnect when notified of such illegal material sales.

The Web’s impact was made clear at the meeting of the 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES. Delegates voted overwhelmingly Sunday to ban the trade of the Kaiser’s spotted newt, which the World Wildlife Fund says has been devastated by the Internet trade. Iranian newts have been sold so volubly online their number has shrunk to one fifth its natural population(200).

“The Internet is becoming the dominant factor overall in the global trade in protected species,” he said. “There will come a time when country to country trade of large shipments between big buyers and big sellers in different countries is a thing of the past.”

What happens when a country like Japan decides to cement its economy selling bluefin tuna and Mediterranean coral? The internet becomes a portal to vend goods in a manner that defeats ecologically sound practices and methods. To think that the Internet has supported tiger farms and tiger deaths because internet vending has encouraged tiger encroachment is stunning.

The IFAW has done several surveys of illegal trade on the Web and a three-month survey in 2008 found more than 7,000 species worth $3.8 million sold on auction sites, classified ads and chat rooms, mostly in the United States but also Europe, China, Russia and Australia.Many such sites, even Ebay, can let such forbidden or illegal sales through the cracks.

Most of what is traded is illegal African ivory but the group has also found exotic birds along with rare products such as tiger-bone wine and pelts from protected species like polar bears and leopards. Such sales often take place under false labels and mislabeled import statements.

A separate 2009 survey by the group Campaign Against the Cruelty to Animals targeted the Internet trade in Ecuador, finding offers to sell live capuchin monkeys, lion cubs and ocelots. Conscientious domainers should police themselves and support a community of moral and ethical trading and move toward a community of standards which voluntarily do not cross globally established cultural and natural species protection norms.

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