1
Oct
2011
Can I use an IDN as my primary domain?
Many languages other than English have language-specific characters in their alphabet, which can be used in many country code domain names. The French accent egu, the German umlaut or the Spanish cedilla is extremely commonplace in these languages. Also in Germany and Scandinavia there are special characters. Actually domains in Danish are called domæner.
Domains with such characters are called IDN, which stands for Internationalized Domain Names. When you use IDN domains the domain is truly encoded to a puny code domain beginning with xn--. For instance the domain name café.com is encoded to xn--caf-dma.com.
Not so long ago not every browsers supported Internationalized Domain Names. You had to use
special IDN plugins to get it to work. Fortunately new browsers like Internet
Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari all supports IDN today.
So is it such a smart idea to use IDN domains then? Well you could have guessed the answer but lets go through the problems.
The most obvious issue is to type the personality on a non local keyboard. With some characters like é you can use a shortcut, but how can you type an Æ on an American keyboard?
Well you want a keyboard map, and that's not extremely useful, is it?
A large amount of net services does not support IDN domains. So you will have to utilize the converted feeble code domain. As an example if your email was mycaf.com your often have to enter myxn--caf-dma.com.
Using it for open source Content Management System like WordPress and Typo3 can also be hard and maddening.
And eventually there are some SEO professionals saying that using IDN domains are causing them Problems with search engine optimisation and search rankings.
I would recommend that you buy a regular domain name as your first domain, and instead use the IDN domains with a 301 redirect to your main domain.
Lars has been working for a Danish webhosting business for 10 years helping selecting domain names for their clientele ‘ webhotel
and online business.
6
Oct
2010
The Benefits Of Domain Tasting
A good domain not only makes people more likely to visit a website, it can also increase search engine rankings. This is because search engine bots rank websites based on keywords found in its content and domain name. However, how does a webmaster know if their domain is going to be profitable? In most cases, they don’t until they have purchased the domain name. Hence, there is the practice of domain name tasting.
What is domain tasting? Domain name tasting is the process of buying a domain and seeing how much traffic it brings to a website during whatever grace period the domain name registrar offers (which is normally five days). If the domain brings in a lot of visitors, the webmaster will keep it. Otherwise, they will cancel their registration and get a refund.
Does this sound interesting to you? Well, before you decide to do domain tasting for your web site, you should consider the ethics of the practice. Domain name companies lose a lot of money every year due to domain name tasting. While some webmasters may not be concerned about this, if domain name tasting continues without any legal restrictions, domain name registrars may strike back by increasing their prices. Such a consequence would also impact on customers who intended on buying the domain name outright.
Another ethical dilemma involved with domain tasting is the issue of good domain names not being available to more serious customers. Some webmasters may feel that in a system of free capitalistic enterprise, domain name testers have every right to access however many domains they can. Yet, if they aren’t really going to buy them, why shouldn’t these domains be available to individuals who may need them more? Many would argue it is better to sell a domain name to a company that is serious about using it as their brand than selling it to a webmaster wanting to use it to get quick traffic.
It is also important to bear in mind that a good domain is not the sole indicator of whether or not a site is going to be successful. Domain name tasters are kidding themselves if they think their practice of domain name tasting is what has brought about their success with website traffic. Granted, an expired domain might have a small amount of traffic associated with it, but to get one that is of value, a person would have to pay significant amount of money. Many domain tasters wouldn’t have the funds for such a domain, so they may instead deal with cheaper ones. Most of the cheaper domains do not have their own traffic stream.
Indeed, the type of website that gets a lot of traffic is one that has an appropriate domain name, keyword-enriched content and lots of inbound links. Even if one doesn’t see anything ethically wrong with domain name tasting, doing it may not accurately reflect whether or not a domain name is valid. In fact, if a person does domain name tasting and their website did not have the other elements that make for proper traffic-building, they could potentially be throwing away a domain that could be very valuable in the future.
1
Sep
2010
Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy
After several minutes of searching for domains with domain name search engines, you find an ideal domain for your website. So, you sign up for it, under the assumption that it is available.
Then after a few months you receive a letter from a lawyer saying that your new domain name has violated another business’ trademark. You are now stuck with a potential law suit that may result in you losing the domain name, your reputation and maybe even worse. However, with domain name arbitration, there’s a possibility you can get out of such a situation and avoid any possible repercussions .
What is domain name arbitration? It is a process in which the complainant and the original holder of the domain name try to work out a reasonable agreement as to who actually has the rights to the domain. The arbitration in itself is done through the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy, (also known as UDRP). This is a special arbitration method set forth by the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) organization. The UDRP is used for most domain name disputes. It has the benefit of being less expensive than traditional litigation.
In order to initiate a domain name arbitration proceeding, a webmaster must go through a provider that has been approved by ICANN to handle such disputes. Once the arbitration begins, the provider will first determine if the complainant has merit in their claim. They will do this by seeing whether the domain name in question is similar to a trademark or domain set forth by the claimant.
They will then determine what rights the claimant has to the title along with whether or not the domain was chosen accidentally or with the intention of taking advantage of the claimant’s brand popularity. If the provider finds that the domain was chosen in bad faith, the domain name will be transferred to the claimant. Otherwise, the original owner will be able to keep the disputed domain.
If either party is not happy with a domain arbitration proceeding, they can challenge the findings in a regular courtroom. An example of this happened with Robert De Niro, when he tried to claim the rights to any domain name containing the phrase ‘Tribeca.’ He is still in court trying to retain the rights to Tribeca.net, which has been claimed by another person.
In conclusion, domain name arbitration is a convenient alternative to avoiding taking a domain dispute into a courtroom. There is the option to go to court if either side feels an arbitration isn’t fair. Yet, for most domain name holders, the decisions made by the UDRP panel are adequate, since getting their consul is a lot cheaper than going to a judge.