SEO Blog, Web Hosting & Website Development Guide

Archive for September, 2010

You should think about registering a domain name before you actually do it. Many people come up with a catchy name, or feel the need to lock in their name, and rush out to buy a domain name. But there are several things to consider in your domain name. After all, your domain name is an extension of your business and your image—don’t you want to project the right one?

These ten tips will help you to pick just the right domain name for you and/or your business.

1. The extension you select makes a statement to user about where you are and who you are aiming to attract. For example, .co.uk tells people you are operating out of the United Kingdom, and .ca tells them you are operating out of Canada. If that is important to you, then register accordingly. If you would rather give them impression of being a global company, or based in the US, then pick a .com name.

2. Use a reputable registration service. Unfortunately, some domain registration services are little more than a scam. They are only middlemen. You tell them the domain name you want, and they register it, for a fee higher than you would pay! In the worst case, they actually register the domain name using their information, so it becomes very difficult for you to do anything with your domain name.
Do some background research into the company before you register a domain with them.

3. Use keywords in your domain name. These will sometimes help search engines in ranking your website. For example, if you sell gourmet dog treats online and from your own store, but your business name is “Laura’s Homemade Snacks,” you might consider two domain names: one for your business name, and one for keywords. In this case you might select “gourmetdogtreats.com” as your domain name to represent to the search engines and searchers what you are about.

4. Short names are easier to spell correctly. What’s easier to remember and type in: gourmetdogtreats.com, or laurashomemadeandgourmetdogsnacks.com?

5. Avoid trademarks from other companies. Companies have been known to sue website owners for copyright and trademark infringement, so be very careful if you try to play off an existing business. Make sure that you register a domain name in good faith, and think about the possibilities and connections that might exist between you and another business.

6. Avoid hyphens. Sometimes you must use hyphens because the straightforward name is gone. In that case, a better idea is to come up with a completely different name. The problem with hyphens is that users may end up visiting the wrong site. If you try to register gourmetdogtreats.com but it is already taken, you might choose to register gourmet-dog-treats.com instead. But you run the risk of someone trying to find you typing in the first address. This means you lose business. Better to try and register a name like homemadedogtreats.com instead.

7. Consider buying several different extensions so no one else can infringe on your success by registering a similar name. For example, if you register homemadedogtreats.com, you might also take .net and .org (with the same name), since these are the most popular extensions after .com. That way, no one can register homemadedogtreats.net and try to piggyback of your success.

8. Look for companies that offer telephone support. If you have trouble with your domain name, you need to be able to contact the company and talk to someone. If there is no phone contact, that may be a sign that you are not dealing with a reputable company.

9. Look for accreditations (i.e., ICANN). Reputable companies will seek out accreditations because they know it boosts their business image to be part of a group that enforces good business ethics and practices. Failure to have an accreditation does not necessarily mean the company is bad, but it could mean that. If the company you are looking at does not have an accreditation, make sure you check for other things like phone support, payment procedures, etc.

10. After you find a company you like, do a search on Google for “domain registration.” Does your company of choice appear in the first couple of pages of results, or just via Adwords? If the latter, they may not have been around for a long time and may not be reputable. A legitimate company with a solid track record will be ranked in Google’s search engine, especially within the first couple of pages. Beware of registration companies that you can only find in Adwords.

These ten tips will help you as you seek to register your domain name.

There are thousands of dedicated servers available on the market today. If you are considering a dedicated server for your internet business website, you are probably overwhelmed at the selection as well as the difference in price. You will find that some dedicated servers seem to cost a lot more money than others.

You may be tempted to opt for one of the budget dedicated servers. Budget dedicated servers are all over the internet and offer low, if any, start up costs as well as low monthly fees. Some budget dedicated servers cost a fraction of what larger dedicated servers cost in fees each month.

It is a normal rule of thumb that you get what you pay for. Chances are, if you are paying a lot less for a dedicated server, you are getting less space as well as bandwidth. You may also be sacrificing customer service. This can be okay, if your business is big enough to require a dedicated server, but not that big.

When choosing among budget dedicated servers, you need to make sure about the space allowed for your websites, the bandwidth as well as the type of customer service offered by the provider. You do not want to sign with a company, no matter how inexpensive, that will not give you decent customer service. Imagine your server going down at a peak time and not being able to get in touch with your provider. This can cause a huge loss in revenue.

Not all budget dedicated servers offer poor customer service, space and bandwidth. There are some bargains out there if you look hard enough. Many of the budget dedicated servers that are started by those just beginning a web hosting business can be quite a bargain. The service provider may be offering attractive rates in order to procure customers.

Make sure you understand what type of bandwidth you are seeking as well as space. Then check out the different online directories that offer budget dedicated servers. Phone several of them and speak to someone about what type of service they provide. Explain to them what you are looking for and the type of service that you need.

You can tell a lot about a company from calling them over the phone. While it is a good idea to get the best selection of budget dedicated servers from the various online directories, you need to actually speak with people on the phone to really get a feel for their customer service skills. Once you find a provider that is helpful, knowledgeable an offers the services that you need at the right price, you can sign up.

Many businesses are moving to budget dedicated servers as a smart alternative to a shared server that hosts many different websites. By having your own server, you allow your website much more space, easier traffic flow and an opportunity for growth. Some budget dedicated servers cost a little bit more than some popular shared servers. This can be well worth the extra money if you want to expand your website and increase your traffic flow.

What are clean rooms? Why is clean room data recovery important? We look at these issues first.

What Are Clean Rooms?

Clean rooms are rooms that have been designed to reduce the level of particulates in the air like dust aand airborne microbes. Clean room construction employs filters extensively. Outside air is filtered to prevent dust entering the room. Filters and processes will be in place inside the room to remove internally generated contaminants during production and working areas are often further filtered locally such as laminar flow bench.

Staff would usually have to enter clean rooms through airlocks and wear protective gear while working inside the rooms.

There are different “classes” of clean rooms, with each class limiting permissible different numbers of particles per cubic meter, as well as the maximum sizes particles. Thus a Class 1 clean room is one where the number of particles should not exceed 1000 particles per cubic meter.

Clean rooms are used extensively in the pharmaceutical, semiconductor manufacturing and biotech industries. Data recovery centres typically use a Class 100 clean room that has an allowance of 100,000 particles per cubic meter (compared to 35 million particles per cubic meter in a normal room).

Why Use Clean Rooms for Data Recovery?

Clean rooms are used for data recovery to prevent dust, electro static discharges and such disturbances. These kinds of precautions become necessary because even microscopic dust particles can damage the image on the drive platters, and make data recovery difficult.

With each generation of disks, data is packed more and more densely on the disk platters. It is thus increasingly important that data recovery be attempted in exceptionally clean rooms.

Drive manufacturers usually specify that their product guarantee will become void if the drive is opened by anybody other than themselves, or their authorized agents. And typically, one of the conditions they impose on authorized agents is that the disks be opened in clean rooms meeting specified standards.

Thus clean rooms are necessary for data recovery on both performance and product warranty considerations.

Clean Room Data Recovery

Disk drives are opened only in clean rooms and kept there until the recovery is complete and the drive is closed. All devices are also protected against electro-static discharge, physical shocks, temperature fluctuations and electrical disturbances.

Staff wear special clothing while working in the rooms and particle density is constantly monitored using particle counters. A typical objective of clean room data recovery centers is to maintain Class 10 conditions during production.

Conclusion

Data storage media are getting packed with data more and more densely with each new generation of drives. It is thus extremely important to attempt data recovery in exceptionally dust free rooms.

These days, clean room data recovery uses Class 100 clean rooms where the number of particles is reduced by some 350 times compared to normally prevailing particle density.

Clean room data recovery centers actually aim to achieve even higher levels of dust free conditions during production operations. Even minute specks of dust on the drive platters can damage the image on the media, and make data recovery even more difficult, if not impossible.