Domain Insider Tips for StartUps
Every industry has its insider secrets. Domaining is the same way. It takes time and experience to spot some of them. Not every domainer has a silver blog in his mouth, to coin a phrase. Some inside secrets on domaining some of the books , magazines, reviews and trade blogs will never tell you. To hit the ground running in the domain name game, you might try crawling first.
1. You Don’t Need Your Own Hosting Account
Chances are you probably know about three dozen people who already pay too much in too many different directions for hosting. Domainers are exactly guilty of this more than they would like to admit. Any value realization of this fixed ongoing monthly cost is welcome. This is how hosting companies make money, because nobody can optimize to the outer envelope of their server allocations (Usually).
Domainers who want the flexibility of the access time and files resources for implementing websites can be short the necessary duration of time, so they are paying duplicate fees for stacked hosting, often with the same hosting company for duplicate names. Some domainers may not even understand how duplicated their hosting resources are.
These hosting accounts have generous pockets or wide tranches of unused space in the file directories. There may be database allocations and bandwidth tolerances lying fallow (and feeding someone else’ s websites). Just forwarding a domain name for a while to a subfolder on a hosting account can launch a site without specific hosting expense.
Savvy webmasters and smart domain owners can barter clicks and mortar services or an I.O.U. for future advertising for some space on the hosting account. Tuning a site or installing an application, and learning the basics, can be done before the domain name or launch project has even been identified. This also gives the administrator domain owner some “white noise” time to work without pressure of daily blog submissions or articles to publish.
2. Content Stems from Multiple Strategies
There are a variety of ways to generate a content plethora before the initial launch date of a blog or site application arrives. Once the site is launched, the SEO clock starts and the web starts churning investigative bots to extract keyword density and content attributes from existing text and updates. Experienced content makers know how to churn SEO-friendly content out that is both original and keyword dense, yet still appealing and readable.
Having a press release article ready, some url links to existing stories about you, an “About Us’ text file, some background on how the website idea got started and pictures or background material or history of the product or its practice can help. In the beginning, using news from other outlets is feasible if the “take” on the article is reported as original text by the (new) site author.
3. Imitation is the Most Efficient Form of Flattery
Imitating another site has its uses. It streamlines the production timeline of a site to zero and accelerates speed toward every other domain development benchmark and site growth goal. Site architecture in original form can be problematic to conceive and rebuilding the wheel in terms of time absorption. By the time a site is ready to launch or in its first trimester, most features will have been tweaked out of recognition anyway.
If the skill set of the team lies in content and promotion, use the template, invent a logo for the domain name and move on. People can “see through” to the content. Web standards should prevail and code hacks and unique programming irregularities should be well thought out.
Working through site design hurdles shouldn’t involve heavy books and manuals and eyestrain and late nights. The heavy lifting of marketing a website and promoting a domain name should be the link building and article submission for content, not tinkering with awkward code. This is a trap many domainers fall into.
Branding can come later. Many dominant companies have refashioned their online site colors and logo appeal over time. It’s best for the webmaster to get the hard stuff right, and leave the easy shopping to take care of itself. Fun new themes, avatars, colorations and icons are time consuming and consensus draining. Special typefaces and large images should be avoided for server side concerns.
4. Skip the Jargon, Take the Cannolli
Every industry and especially online occupations have a herd mentality that gets carried away with itself. Sometimes the online swirl of ideas and vibes and trends is moving too fast for a launching domainer to properly evaluate. The players are unknown and the impressions come thick and fast. Avoid leaping before you look.
Many domaining professionals will seek to sell you their services or wares before your site is ready or even if your platform or application is not right for what they offer. The KISS mentality pervades for a reason. Others may not have your situation or understand your project boundaries. Keep to your domain development plan and only bring a new solution or custom addition into the mix if the idea lasts and won’t go away.
5. Write your own Ticket Regarding Service and Hiring Practices
Many products have hidden caveats and many services assume more knowledge and experience than you may have. Don’t part with money until you have had time to evaluate testimonials, references, examples or project milestones. Use a banking service or credit card with buyer protection. Realize you become a vendor when completing services and a creditor when providing wares.
Use your best judgement hiring people online. Don’t write a blank check to a programmer, hire an amateur without accountability, or suspend passwords or administrative control over any accounts in doing so. Work with friends of friends and referred professionals with examples to show. To see if the contractor is genuine, start small and test the communication and see how the other party responds.
Work with tried and true service contractors and web development personnel who have executed results that please you. Someone doesn’t need a Flash video to qualify to wash your car, but they might proffer some valid real proper names and phone numbers for jobs ranging in the hundreds of dollars to the thousands for critical and time sensitive website work.
