Domain Owl

The worst thing that can happen when a webmaster gets presented with a new project is to find that the client has already chosen the web hosting plan. This is because many website clients decide on a web hosting plan before seeing the site take shape. This is an error which can cost a project personnel, energy, time, and vital resources to correct.

The needs of a website change with template selection, affiliate program installation, open source application integration, and email and newsletter incorporation. The web hosting interface is the starting point for every administrative task. Web hosting choice should not always be determined by cost, however. But variable offerings can now eliminate sheer cost as a concern and drive the web hosting decision by the attributes it offers for HTML publishing and web project planning.

But whereas a neighborhood race driver knows the best shops to get parts at, the race car owner may insist on flashy parts, unneeded additions to the interior, and extensive add-ons. A webmaster can work with managerial choices of others, but where web hosting is concerned, the entire health of a website and its marketing campaign can hang in the balance.

Webmasters are clients of multiple web hosting companies at the same time. The ease of use of any web hosting plan carries the webmaster further in ever optimization goal. But often the we hosting plan of a new website must span the skills of all parties involved working on the site.

The orientation of the vertical elements, banner placement, and menu items can be a reflection of the power of a web hosting company. The synchronization of the email, the coordination of the domain name,  and the response time of page requests must be bundled in a price sensitive package.

One of the most common web hosting plans I suggest to new clients is the Godaddy economy plan. This can bundled with a domain name for a budget $1.99 domain name purchase with three months of development breathing room.

This menu can be dictated over the phone after a time, due to familiarity over the phone without reference to the website for clients and guest bloggers. Complex and unfamiliar pathways to a website or domain name manager are never a good sign with a web hosting purchase.

When GoDaddy publishes in semi-annual and holiday discount domain codes, it can be a great bundled bargain to obtain multiple TLD domains of the same base domain word company or brand. Occasionally subdomains and sub-TLD names can serve the website better than a compromised domain name choice.

The periodic discount option to obtain privacy services can be invaluable when managing a domain portfolio, vending a domain offer, and/or establishing SEO. Privacy is also of use without penetration of the public, hackers, and potential vendors to your home or business.

Email, SEO vouchers, and optional open source applications can provide much more web hosting capability than most websites need, at a bargain price. Keeping an eye on the online forums for current coupons, offers and deals can leverage even more value from a discount web hosting plan. Getting the most attributes suitable to the website project is the best served goal.

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While navigating three hosting accounts in one morning I remembered more than I wish I had forgotten about the in’s and out’s of relative advantages of different hosting companies. Administrating Wordpress websites is about as easy as being a webmaster can get short of editing mere HTML pages strung together. But it can still be a headache. And performing tasks in MySQL on no coffee is torture.

I went between Godaddy.com and 1 & 1 Hosting, between 1 & 1 hosting and Hostgator, and back again from Hostgator.com to Godaddy again. This is the chore when different hosting accounts get different parts of the hosting account offering formula right and different parts of it wrong. Experiencing multiple hosting account interfaces before breakfast can take a lot of elbow grease and keyboard forgiveness.

A lot depends on the browser. At one point in the project I realized I had both Firefox and Internet Explorer open because one hosting account stayed open better in Explorer while another transited better between navigation screens in Explorer. But Explorer seemed more secure in certain parts of the hosting account interface where security was tighter, and Firefox sort of stalled in the Backup/Restore pathway of commands.

GoDaddy.com does have a cornered market on the Godaddy Hosting Connection installation utility. It’s a nice arrangement that unfortunately you have to learn to be comfortable with. Control panel and ControlPanel Deluxe have that absolute party favorite of all hosting account surfers, Fantastico. Except to get version information you have to sift carefully and compare versions and perform upgrades per application before executing database restore and upload tasks.

The jury is never really out when debating which hosting account vendor online is the best. Certainly Enom.com is a stable bedrock names registrar. but just try and get a name hosted there or working with any application without Indian medicinal juju working for you. Frustration with one hosting account leads to the germination of another at a new company. This cycle can only continue so far.

Godaddy.com has the most fluid domain manager but the bells and whistles flavor of the nonstop “Buy This” circus inside a hosting login can’t exhaust even a patient webmaster fast. This administration environment seems very commercial next to the minimal functionality of the Hostgator Control panel. The Fantastico “hosting connection” delivers good install functionality for third party applications, if the versions are consistent with the “exit” versions on other outgoing site hosting accounts.

What this means is that a WordPress install at Godaddy might be at Wordpress 3.01.01 yet the Fantastico release at HostGator might have the WordPress installation release only at 2.98.2. This means the security and support is not guaranteed for custom tweaks and plugins that are the main feature of the updated Wordpress. Backwards blog migration is never a pretty site.

Thus the hosting account selection equation might be reduced to the smoothest and most updated installation suite. Yet so many functions inside the Control Panel (except Fantastico) can remain untouched for the life of the account. Or worse, they can be experimentally tried with brilliant reactions of equal parts of glee, panic and chaos. Having the tech support number close at hand is a must.

The hosting at 1&1 hosting is a curiosity to me. The custom tweaked interface for administration of the hosting account seems to mask more than it reveals of available and necessary domaining chores. The ease of use never seems to be 100% there. For a domainer intent on SEO and marketing and domain name promotion, supposedly only programmers venture this far.

I have a 1 & 1 hosting account that it took a considerable amount of time to cancel, simply because the process was so labyrinthine I barely got the confirmation of the account cancellation in time. I got quickly into the habit of not using the account because I didn’t like the interface as was constantly stalled by the “lookup and see” factor involved in very simple tasks.

To be sure, Godaddy captures a big part of its hosting and domain business from ease of use and familiarity. But not often do I get the opportunity to see triple hosting company side by side performance. I remember how much I resisted the Godaddy interface on my journey from ControlPanel. I like the direct file management approach but miss the protections and hidden file attributes of the Godaddy File manager.

For the 1 & 1 Hosting file access was almost impossible, rendering many templates and theme graphics closed to customization. I used to cling tearfully to my Control panel until an installation version got so vulnerable to failure almost every operation was liable to disappear from day to day. This is the sort of thing that causes hosting account migration.

My love affair with Fantastico was long and meaningful. But many other administration options when navigating through reseller accounts and multiple hosting trees became necessary. Godaddy is a hosting account utility most webmasters will shoulder sooner or later simply by nature of the amount of domains hosted there. Until there is a definitive result for the best hosting company for SEO, the choice for domainers remains personal.

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Domain name careers can scare off some of the newbie domainers because they sense  a ton of hard money has to funnel into those bursting domain portfolios. Those domain names took time to buy and resources to amass. Many domainers started small. And some concentrated  effort has been done buying and selling names  instead of developing core competencies in domain services.

But getting in on the ground floor of a career with website developers and name owners is the most available free occupation opportunity and career education online. Here are some ways to earn money in the domain space without ever owning a domain name. The domain world is one where the ramp up to any point in the compass to profit starts on its own tilt.

1. Template Maker

For every open source application or freeware website type, each website owner or blogger wants a custom look for their template. The template is the group of files that organizes and projects the two dimensional look of the site. Because the application is open source, every like programmer will have a site that looks exactly the same. Templates can work on standard or custom designs and releases.

The scope of freedom to create a template is limitless. Downloads can be conveyed from a portal website free, fees charged for bulk access, custom design purchased, or donation-request vended basis. The designer can decide how much they want to charge for each. Sometimes a design is a feature a domain owner will invest more money in to make the site experience better.

2. Content Writer

Minisites and content articles are the development manna in answer to a domainer’s prayers. A college student, retired person, senior citizen or housewife could make 5 templates a day for a minisite and rework the keywords later. A minisite is an HTML file with areas of text added in. The density of repetition of certain key words serves search engine result dynamics, or SEO.

Article writers can earn page view money at Associated Content, Triond and other websites. Sites like Helium encourage a social network approach to writing earnings. Constant-Content orders work from selected writers. No college degree or topic restraints are resent. Writers can speak to the topics they are most qualified to author on or research new material and publish it.

3. Graphics Designer

Along with a logo and banner, most new websites will want avatars or iconic symbols to enhance their visual website brand in color. Devising a background image or set of icons for a website can be a creative outlet for many people just starting out in website illustration. Often a standard size for each application type has the same specifications, which allows for uniform fit in graphic design for websites.

Introduction to graphic design can be self taught. Online courses and college training classes are available now. Many free and basis graphics programs are available for download online. Resizing and recoloring many types of the same images in a class or category can provide some webmasters with choices when laying out their site.

4. Link Building

Link Building and site url promotion is one of the fastest developing careers online. Cementing search engine relevance of a site by planting posts with link backs and track backs all over the Internet takes time and skill. Knowing which highly SEO rated web directories can help a site get boosted to its highest optimized result is a knowledge few can claim. Doing this quickly for best results makes an online professional shine.

5. Site Marketing Guru

Organizing all of the above services from start to finish for a domain name is a business in and of itself. Writing press releases, finding new members, signing up for affiliates and publicizing the website for a given domain name is a full time job just for one name. And many domain name portfolio owners need to get active marketing for multiple domain names they want to promote.

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Some while back I blogged about how filling up a site can be simple with original content in the form of site reviews. But site reviews can be research for opinion pieces and commentaries as well. For many webmasters and site authors, however, the trick is knowing where to start. The below review template should work for just about any article. A very good tip for beginning content writers is to capture the essential web journalism inherent in a website, product, or movie review. The template below is only a beginning.

Sites featuring just reviews are now big websites and reviews of the quality of these reviews  are websites too. One of easiest ways to generate content is to react to content already up somewhere else. Reacting to other published material is web journalism. This content generation can be from newspaper websites, media portals, or even tech publications and customer trials. Links to original sources build trackbacks.

Here is a sample review and one bit of text that can be used as an interchangeable submitting beta model for your site reviews. The unique aspects of a review, the critical commentary, the perspective and experience the writer brings to the writing is what makes the reading of it interesting. This example is only meant as an original authoring tools for webmasters to use to craft their own text.

Be advised many review website portals will have their own interface designs and input formats. Sometimes the web sites the comments blog will accept an inset of pure text, and in other types of review sites a format for manual submission of  salient points is provided. But by reworking and repurposing much of your material, the reviews will spin into new content and furnish a website with anterior text lines to support an enhanced SEO footprint.

AssociatedContent.com likes a text block with snippets, a photo, and some links, while FastReviews.com likes text and ratings, as well as cost and vendor information for products. Even sites ratings reviews are hot online right now. The reworking of the below text featuring reference urls, source links, and destination urls can also be used for link directory submission abstracts.

These sites and their routines for submission can be very good training wheels for new bloggers or webmasters. Meta tags and introduction of relevant keywords is absolutely suggested and encouraged. A small generic photo can help promote your site, especially if the site credit allows the webmaster to put the idea name or the site name in the photo credit area.

Web link areas of websites should have mini-reviews already present for browsers to scan.  The ready made abstracts made form these types of basic reviews can be furnished to article directory and link directory submissions  services for enhance SEO optimization online. These text blocks can even be used for audio narration accompanying a video of the site or a slideshow of screenshots.

Copy the text and insert the appropriate keywords, content urls, and links as necessary. Quotes and a link from the original site or product text can also validate a review. (I have used DomainOwl as an example for obvious reasons). Edit as needed. Bracketed are areas where a choice or substitution is required. Underlined are substitution points for keywords or proper names.

Remember to spellcheck afterwards!

Review Template

Recently I bought/visited/clicked at (destinationsite.com). My experience was [ expected, awful, disappointing,  surprising, as expected] or [lackluster].

[Products/sites] such as (Domainowl.com) are highly relevant just now because of the [rise/increase/acceleration/noticeable trend in] the [technology/information/industry/marketplace] for [keyword/ subject/product type/site synonym, topical noun.]

I liked the way that (DomainOwl) used the various online references and useful links to show readers all about (blank).

I would have liked to know more about the [technical details, origin, research, history] or [background] of [main topic]. I found the [site/product/concept] of [main topic] using [search engine/link/type-in discovery].

But at [DomainOwl] there is [more than enough, not enough, just barely enough], or [the right amount of information] to get a clear view of the [product/site]idea]. This experience [promotes/detracts against] an interest for keyword/topic.  I would { suggest/advise against this site/product} as a [link or bookmark site/good buy] for people who [ fill in the blank.]

For more information check out the story at [source] or [additional information] at [news article ]or [link].

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Got ten minutes? Ten minutes a day 365 days a year could be the secret to publicizing your site and growing a web readership that explodes with page views. Build a list of referral websites you plan to refer visitors to your site from and keep them handy as a task list to work through during your domaining chores calendar.

Embroidering details about your website at sites all over the web is the most easily overlooked way to firm up a web footprint for any site. Ten minutes a day can build a domain name beanstalk online that climbs into the sky and returns pageviews and clicks ever after. Practice submitting these reviews and blurbs at journals, blogs, and directories will spur other promotional ideas.

The nation state of domaining is always grooving on the fast track of marketing, promotion, website launches and domain name auctions. But online browsers want their web information and they want their destinations fast. Seeding routes to the website must occur as an action item of the domain marketing plan. Aggressive traction online is required to stay in the SEO game.

The marketplace for gods and services available online is global. Remember, anything that can be browsed interactively around the world on a mobile device is a premium value add. Use IP addresses to determine who is visiting your site. Who are your referrers, and how did those links get there?? Is your audience local, national, or concentrated in a small Internet cafe in Rangoon? Cater to those markets.

Every web user has an opinion about a certain website, product portal, or an insightful few words to say about a rogue snarky YouTube.To promote your site, there should be at least ten links on YouTube responding to appropriate indexed and subject video material. Your site url should be in your profile or in the comment. Craigslist should have a listing for your site requesting site feedback and reviews. These listings spark page views, discussion, and comments.

Cementing a text presence with authorship of content from your keyboard or drawn from your site, or original review comments and analysis of a product, service or website is a valuable opportunity to throw up a link at a busy intersection on the information superhighway. Getting those references online speeds the SEO plow to directing smart browsers to your site.

Each marketing plan strategy for a domain name will be different. A geo site for restaurants in a given zip code will have an indexed link to the Yelp listings for those restaurants, but this won’t apply to all types of websites. And for zip code rich listings sites Judy’s book works too. Make sure directories online for these types of links aren’t missing your site information.

The product from your site or the site itself should have multiple consumer reports at FastReviews.com. Get guest reviewers to write them or formulate them from user feedback. Write a site analysis or website review at AssociatedContent.com. For your site, a similar site, or a site dealing with your site’s subject matter,  TopTenReviews.com or Judy’s Book should have at least one hit in their database for your site.

Where does user feedback come from? Survey comments. Where do the survey comment come from? The survey or poll area on your web site. The squeeze page survey issues upon the browser’s exit from your site. Why is your visitor leaving and where is he going? Experiment with different site traffic tools until you find the one that issues the data you need in a format you like.

Survey your statistics and generate an idea from downstream traffic analysis. When this data changes, note how and why. Can’t do a survey? Then blast a broadcast to all members requesting some feedback. These members have a way of signing up, if you provide them an opportunity for doing so. Joomla is an excellent site platform for collecting member data for later use.

Where’s the reward in all this site promotion? Google your domain name url after a reasonable period of time has passed. SEO takes a one to three month burn-in cycle. If the bots have done their dance correctly, your website will now have an outward traveling profile, and your domain will be moving into the fast lane on the information superhighway.

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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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