Third level domain names are often used by free web hosting companies to help create distinction among the websites of their customers.  If third level domain names weren’t used, customers would have not be able to access their website in a user-friendly way.  Some third level domains may have the first level domain word or phrase first.  An example is Geocities, where a person would have to include ‘Geocities.com’ before the third level domain name.  Other third level domain names may have the first level domain name last.  This is the case with Netfirms, where ‘Netfirms.com’ comes after the third level domain word or phrase.

For customers third level domains come at no extra cost.  This is in contrast to getting a regular domain name which can range from $6.50 to $35 per year.  Additionally, it may take time before the domain name is active.  This can be up to 7 days, especially if one is transferring a domain name.  Conversely, third level domain names can be setup instantaneously.

However, third level domains are far from perfect.  Since they require the first level domain name as part of their syntax, they can be quite cumbersome for a website visitor to remember.  A person can pretty much forget about getting traffic if they promote a third level domain name in various forms of offline media, such as in circulars or on business cards.  In these situations it definitely behooves a webmaster to go on invest in a first level domain name of their own.

So, does this mean third level domain names aren’t worth anything to webmasters?  Well, if a webmaster uses hyperlink marketing, they can still find value in a third level domain name.  What is hyperlink marketing?  It is simply when a word or phrase is linked to a URL rather than the URL itself.  It is commonly used in emails, viral e-books and on websites themselves.  A potential visitor never even sees the third level domain name, since it is masked by a hyperlinked word or phrase.  And hopefully, they will like the site so much they will bookmark it, rather than trying to remember the full URL.

In conclusion, third level domain names offer affordability to both web hosting companies and their customers.  They also offer convenience since there’s no waiting time associated with their setup.  However, if they are used it’s best that they are hidden in hyperlinks, since most website visitors would prefer to type in first level domain names.

Geodomains are highly used in the tourism industry.  For example, if a person visits Maryland.com, they will see a site that offers information on what a tourist can do if they are planning a trip to Maryland.  However, this should not dissuade other markets from centering in on a geodomain.  As long as a product or service can be distributed outside of the webmaster’s location, they should not be afraid to use geodomains that target national or even international audiences.

This is not to say that geodomain marketing isn’t better for some industries than it is for others.  Why?  It’s because the areas that people live in have their own cultural and sociological needs.  Even if one markets in their own country, people living in one state or province may not have as much of a demand for a particular product or service.  For example, consider a website that is marketing private boats.  If they use a geodomain that encompasses an area that is lower-income, naturally, their efforts won’t result in many sales.  This is why it’s very important that webmasters investigate the general characteristics associated with the location they would like to create a geodomain for.

So, how can a person find a geodomain name?  Well, chances are state-based or country-based geodomains are taken at least for the most common domain name extensions.  If they can’t get these types of geodomains with lesser known extensions, they can consider combining a geographical term with something else or look for a more specific geodomain.  When looking for something more specific, webmasters will need to consider making geodomains based off of cities, counties and even popular neighborhoods.  They need to do this both for their own country and for other countries, provided that their website can meet the needs of an international audience.

In conclusion, a geodomain can be a good method for marketing, if a webmaster doesn’t mind trying to appeal to a local audience.  Research will still be required to make sure a geodomain properly fits what is being promoted, but overall a webmaster will find that with the right geodomain, they will be able to generate more sales with less advertising expenses.

This is because the keywords used in geodomains are not highly focused on in the Internet marketing world, especially those that are very specific.  And when this scenario happens, a website has a greater chance of ranking higher in search engine listings.

First, a webmaster needs to evaluate the purpose of their website.  If their website is designed to simply direct people to an affiliate page, then it won’t really matter what extension it has, since they are only going to visit it once anyway.  However, if a website is designed for repeat visits, people may not care about the site not having a .com.  Sites that contain updated information, games and message boards tend to be the type of sites that get repeat visitors.

Secondly, webmasters need to consider the memorable nature of their domain name.  If a webmaster is able to create a witty domain name hack, such as del.icio.us,  and their content is good, it may not matter that they don’t have a .com.   A good site that can allow a webmaster to register unconventional domain name extensions is New.net.  This site offers extensions such as .love and .free.  By looking at these extensions, webmasters can start pondering ideas for their own domain name hacks.  If they need help, they can always type the word or letters used in the extension in a keyword analyzer or search engine.

Thirdly, webmasters need to determine whether or not a domain name with an unconventional extension will rank higher in search engines than a domain name with a traditional one.  In fact, consider the above-mentioned example of del.icio.us.  Honestly,  how many people are typing such a domain name in their browser?  While it is certainly memorable, all of the periods associated with it are annoying.  Yet, the site still has a high search engine ranking, which is probably how it’s getting its traffic.

Surfers visit it from the search engine, bookmark it and never again have to be associated with its unique URL.  This is the type of success a webmaster wants to emulate.  Indeed, if a domain name is keyword-rich and memorable, webmasters need to definitely go for whatever extension is available for it.

Of course, this is not to say that a person must be limited to just domain name.  If they want to still use .coms after using other extensions they can.  In fact, the more domain names that point to a site, the more likely a search engine bot will index it higher.  So, ultimately, with this strategy, webmasters will have two domain names they can work with.  They can use the one with the unconventional domain name in search engine marketing in hopes of getting indexed high, while the other one can be used in printed media, where people are more likely to be concerned with the type of URL they are entering in their browser.

This, in combination with a more ‘professional’ email, could trick someone into giving away all of their personal data.  And when this happens they will eventually become victims of identity theft.  But, how can a scammer acquire a domain name that looks official?  It’s through the unfortunate practice of the homograph attack.

What is a homograph attack?  A homograph attack is when a person makes an internationalized domain name, (also known as an IDN), look like a traditional domain name associated with a popular website.  They are able to do this because of the way internationalized domain names work.  Basically, internationalized domain systems use a different type of coding system than the ASCII-based domain names Americans are used to.

However, even with a different coding system, some languages have characters that look similar to characters used in American English.  Scammers exploit this by taking these letters and creating domain names that look ‘new’ to browsers and servers, at least in terms of coding.  To the human eye, these fraudulent domain names appear to already be taken, which is exactly what a scammer wants.  They cause further confusion by creating sites that look pretty much like the sites associated with the original domain name that the scammers are spoofing.

Before and even after internationalized domain names became popular, homograph attacks were expressed through spoofing just English characters.  Scammers exploited the visual similarities between ‘O’ and ‘0′ or ‘I’ and ‘l’.  Examples include ‘G00Gle.com or ‘PayPaI.com.’  If a person is not paying attention, they could still become victims, but at least these types of domain names still look unusual.  With internationalized domain name homograph attacks, the above-mentioned websites could look just as they are supposed to, fooling even the most vigilant Internet user.

So, how can a person prevent becoming a victim of an internationalized domain name homograph attack?  First, they should never click on any domain name that is given through an email.  Instead, they should enter the domain name manually into their browser.  In situations where one is working with a third-level domain that could be harder to remember, Internet users need to copy and paste the domain name into Notepad.  This program will help them determine what character set and coding is being used for the domain name.  If it’s not English and ASCII, a person should be weary.

In conclusion, internationalized domain name homograph attacks can cause a lot of havoc for Internet users.  However, Internet users should find comfort in the fact that while they do need to be aware of the presence of the homograph attack, the traditional method of spoofing which is much easier to spot tends to be more common.  This is because a person must be both clever and lucky to land an internationalized domain name that looks that much like a domain name that is already in use.  It’s much easier for scammers to try and fool people through email hyperlinks.

What is a domain name redirect service?  It is one in which a long, cumbersome URL is ‘masked’ by a more memorable domain name.  Instead of having to type in the longer URL, the website visitor would type in the new domain name.  This domain name would then redirect to the original URL.  The visitor would then see the original URL in their browser.  However, most won’t pay that much attention.

Domain name redirect services can be free or paid.  An example of a free service is Tiny URL.  In order to use this service, all a person has to do is enter in whatever URL they need to have shortened.  Tiny URL would then return a domain name that is much more convenient for website visitors.  This URL would have ‘tiny url’ as part of the domain name followed by a number.  An example is the following: tinyurl.com/3.  Granted, it’s not perfect, but it is a lot better than what one would typically get with an affiliate program or a free web hosting service.

If a person wants a more customized domain name, they will need to use pay for a redirect service.  One of the best is Namestick.  The process for using Namestick is similar to Tiny URL except webmasters must first choose the domain name they want to use for their redirect.  They can choose any domain name they wish, just like if they were getting it through their web host or a domain name company.  Namestick even provides suggestions if a person’s desired domain name is taken.  Once that is done, a person will have to enter in their URL they want redirected.  After about 72 hours, the new domain name will be ready for use.

Can a person get away with not using a domain name redirect service?  It depends on how they do their marketing.  For instance, if a person does a lot of offline marketing, a short, meaningful domain name is essential.  However, if a person uses a lot of hyperlinks, a domain name redirect service may not be as important.  What are hyperlinks?  They are simply words or phrases that are linked to a particular URL.  When the visitor clicks on them, they are taken to the website that is hyperlinked within.  Hyperlinks can easily be created in HTML editors or by use of the anchor tag.

In conclusion, a person’s life can be made easier if they decide to hide their long URL with a more normal-looking domain name available through a domain name redirect service.  This is if they aren’t marketing through hyperlinks, which do not require an official domain name.

.Mobi is the extension of choice for websites that are being formatted for cell phones, pdas and other mobile devices.  It can be bought from most major domain name companies such as Godaddy or Network Solutions.  As far as registering a .mobi domain name, one would go through the same type of procedure that is associated with traditional domain names.  This involves first choosing a .mobi domain name and seeing if it is available.

If it is not available, the domain name company will offer suggestions on what a person can use.  Either way, the customer will be given another chance to select another .mobi domain name.  Once they get one that is not taken, they can proceed to purchase it.  The contract will last one to two years, depending on what they agreed upon with the domain name company.  When the contract is up, a person will have to renew their .mobi domain name if they want to continue to keep it.

So, why would a webmaster decide to invest in a domain name that is restricted to mobile devices?  Well, it’s mainly because they get an opportunity to center in on a market that is relatively new.  Since most webmasters or companies are trying to take advantage of the .coms or the .nets, the .mobi has become somewhat forgotten.  This means that it is prime for search engine keywords that would normally not be available for traditional domain names.  It can also allow a webmaster a branding opportunity for their company.

However, since a .mobi domain name means a webmaster is creating a website specially designed for a mobile phone, it cannot have the types of frills that it could have if it was being promoted on a computer.  Good mobile websites need to be mostly textual with very limited number of pics, (if any).   Granted, plain text is not fancy, but it doesn’t require much loading time.  Mobile phone sites should also not be very large nor should they be created with frames or other more complicated layouts.

A webmaster may also want to consider trying to divert the mobile website visitor to a regular website.  One way this can be done is by advertising the domain name that is associated with a traditional website.  But it must be made clear that the site will only display appropriately on regular computers.  Another option is trying to capture the person’s email address by offering them something free, such as an e-book or low-cost merchandise.

When they sign up to the email subscription, their first newsletter could advertise the traditional website a webmaster wants promoted.  By doing either of these options, webmasters can still take advantage of pay-per-clicks or affiliate programs, revenue generators which may not be promoted on .mobi websites due to viewing limitations with banner or text ads.

In order for domain names to work, they must use domain name servers, (also known as DNS).  These are special computers that store data pertaining to domain names and the IP addresses they point to.   It does this through a process known as reverse mapping.  What happens is after a domain name is entered, the domain name server will look up its corresponding IP address in a directory service.  It will also correspond with other domain name services to see if they have ‘knowledge’ of the IP address.  This process is known as a distributed database, since no ‘official’ entity is responsible for updating information on other domain name servers.

How can a computer be turned into a domain name server?  It has to run DNS software.  The most common DNS software is BIND, (which stands for Berkeley Internet Name Domain).  This, (along with other types of DNS software), works in a hierarchal fashion.  The beginning of the hierarchy contains the character ”.  It is called the system’s root.  Underneath the root there are the domain extension such as .com, .org, .net or .biz.

A domain name server must also have client computers to help conduct its operation.  These client computers are called nameservers and resolvers.  Nameservers are responsible for locating a domain name’s IP address.  The resolvers, on the other hand, stores a list of all other nameservers on the Internet.  This list is used to help contact these nameservers should a domain name’s IP address not be stored in the initial domain name server.

Should a web hosting company bother in investing in a domain name server?  It depends on how large their operation is.  Smaller-scale web hosting companies probably won’t get much from such an investment.  However, if a company wants to attain the type of status that sites like Godaddy.com have attained, it may want to consider spending the money.  Companies can get domain name servers from enterprises that sell regular servers.

In conclusion, the domain name server can be considered the heart of domain name functioning.  Without them there would be no way a domain name would be associated with an IP address, which is what is really responsible for identifying computers on a network.  This does not mean it’s essential for a web hosting company to invest in one, especially since there are so many cheap domain name services they could use instead.  Yet, if they do get a domain name server, they would have the ability to sell web hosting as well as domain names to their customers.

What is domain name tasting?  Domain name tasting is the process of registering a domain name 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 name 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 name tasting for your site, first consider the ethics of the practice.  Domain name companies lose millions of dollars every year due to domain name tasting.  While some may not feel sympathy for them, if domain name tasting continues without any legal restrictions, DNS enterprises may strike back by making their prices higher.  Such a consequence would also hurt customers who intended on buying the domain name outright.

Another ethical dilemma involved with domain name tasting is the issue of good domain names not being eligible for more serious customers.  Some may feel that in a system of free capitalistic enterprise, domain name testers have every right to access however many domain names they can.  Yet, if they aren’t really going to buy them, why shouldn’t these domain names 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 person thinking they can use it to get quick traffic.

It is also important to keep in mind that a good domain name is not a sole indicator of whether or not a site is going to be successful.  Domain name tasters are fooling themselves if they think their practice of domain tasting is what has brought about their success with website traffic.  Granted, an expired domain name might have a little bit of traffic associated with it, but to get one that is of value, a person would have to pay hundreds maybe even thousands of dollars.  Many domain name tasters wouldn’t have the funds for such a domain name, so they may instead deal with cheaper ones.  And most of these cheaper ones probably do not have their own traffic stream.

Indeed, the type of website that gets a lot of traffic is one that has: a decent 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 name that could be a gold mine in the future.

But misspelled keywords can help in another venue of Internet marketing… one’s domain name.  When a popular misspelled keyword is included in a domain name, the search engine bots will be more likely to notice the website.  Granted, it won’t get listed with the properly spelled keyword, but even traffic from a misspelled keyword is better than nothing.  A person will just have to decide whether they want their website to be branded with a domain name that has an improper spelling.

So, how exactly can a webmaster make such a determination when they are deciding on their domain name?  Well, first they need to look at what their website is for.  If they are just doing affiliate marketing or Adsense promotion, it doesn’t matter as much if their domain name is branded properly.  This is because they are not promoting their own business.  However, if they are using a website to promote a company, they will want to try to keep their domain name as professional as possible.

Secondly, a webmaster needs to see if there is profitability in a misspelled keyword.  Even though a misspelled domain isn’t as harmful to a webmaster promoting affiliate sites, they don’t necessarily want to make it a first option, especially if the misspelled keyword in the domain name doesn’t get much traffic.  To determine a misspelled keyword’s profitability, a person can look it up in a keyword analyzer.  In fact, some paid keyword analyzers, (such as Word Tracker), even have features where a person can see which specific types of misspelled keywords are worth taking advantage of.

If a misspelled keyword fits both of these criteria, a webmaster may want to consider putting it in their domain name.  From there they will need to decide if they want that keyword to be included in the content.  If it is then there’s an even greater likelihood search engine bots will index the website according to the misspelled keyword.  However, if it’s not there’s still a chance that the website could be indexed according to the correct keyword, though if this ranking is low, it may not be a preferable option.

The webmaster will ultimately have to decide whether their content still looks ‘professional’ with the misspelled keyword.  Some words, (such as mesothelioma), are so hard to spell, that a person may not even notice improper versions of it.  If this happens they won’t have any issues seeing it so many times in the content, since they didn’t really know how to spell it right themselves.

In conclusion, including a misspelled keyword in one’s domain name could be an excellent way to covertly get website traffic, at least if a webmaster knows what he or she is doing.  If they don’t a misspelled domain name could cause a person to think negatively about a website.

For this reason webmasters must take caution in which misspelled keywords they choose for their domain names along with whether or not they continue to use it in their content.

Long, complicated domain names are associated with affiliate marketing or even scammers, so businesses need to try and stay away from them as much as possible.  The best solution involves getting a normal domain name from a reputable domain name company.  One of the best domain name companies around is Yahoo Domain Names.

Yahoo Domain Names is a great alternative for individuals who do not know much about domain names or website hosting.  In fact, with Yahoo Domain Names, a person can get a domain name free should they decide to buy one of their hosting packages.  The cheapest hosting package available is $11.95 a month plus a startup fee of $25.  With this along with any other Yahoo Domain Name hosting package, webmasters get an online website builder.  Basically, all they have to do is enter in their information and the site is created for them instantly.

Another reason one should choose Yahoo Domain Names is because of their domain name locking system.  This helps prevent hijackers from stealing the domain name.  With Yahoo Domain Names, the process of domain name locking is as simple as clicking a button.  Webmasters can check to make sure their domain name has been locked by looking up their Whois information.  If it says Status: Registrar-Lock, (which it will since Yahoo Domain Names was used), then they can feel assured that their domain name is safe from unauthorized individuals.

Thirdly, Yahoo Domain Names offers private domain name registration.  Without private domain name registration anyone can find a webmaster’s basic contact information.  This is because ICANN has designated that webmasters have their contact info posted in a database that is accessible online.  With Yahoo Domain Names, a person can use Melbourne IT’s contact information as their own.  Any inquires made to the ICANN for a webmaster’s personal information will simply point to Melbourne IT.  This feature is essential in making sure a webmaster is protected from spam email and even worse, identity theft.

Lastly, Yahoo Domain Names offers 24/7 technical support.  Many webmasters overlook the importance of tech support when managing their domain names, but it is still important, especially if one is a newbie.  This is because domain names sometimes point to 404 error pages if something goes wrong.  With 24/7 tech support, Yahoo Domain Name users can pinpoint what is exactly causing the problem and get it fixed immediately.

In conclusion, if a company is having trouble deciding both where they should get their web hosting and their domain name, they should consider Yahoo Domain Names.  Yahoo Domain Names is affordable, offers great features and most importantly is trustworthy.  Many other domain name companies may not even deliver a domain name, but Yahoo Domain Names has too much of a reputation to even think about doing such things.