Monthly Archives: May 2009

May 30

How to choose a SEO-friendly domain name

Posted on by

Today’s post is dedicated to providing some tips on how to choose a SEO friendly domain name for your online project. To start with, nowadays, Search Engine optimization’s role has grown so much that it will not be exaggerating to say that ignoring it would be a crime. Knowing there are thousands of websites in the Internet “seeking” visitors’ attention, you must do something to come to the front row and be noticed. You do not want your website to be left alone in cyberspace hardly ever visited by someone that could be a potential customer, right? Moreover, you can’t just rely on random visits, you need to do something about it. We suggest starting your online project with choosing a SEO friendly domain name and here are some guidelines on that matter.

When starting an online project, especially a business oriented one, there are many aspects of site optimization that have to be considered. Choosing and buying a keyword-rich domain will not make or break your PageRank but it may indirectly increase your visitors as Google will see links that use your domain name. So why not get a domain name that not only reaches your audience but lands you a little higher in search results. It is known that Google tends to give weight to keywords in the domain name. That is why you must find out and use the right keyword or keyword combination that best describes your business/website. Let’s say that you wish to create a web design studio site. First thing will be to check for keywords describing that business. Write down key words and phrases that you think your potential clients can associate you with when Googling. Now you want to make sure that the keywords you are optimizing for are a part of the search terms that people actually use when trying to find your product/service on the web. We suggest using the Google’s Search Volume tool – it helps you find out how often those keywords are in fact used in searches.

For example you can check the related key words for “webdesign” here.

Using the Google’s Search Volume tool you can try out different words or phrases connected with your business in order to find out which are the preferred ones – the ones with the highest estimated search volume. What is best is that you can add search criteria by regions, too. If you are an American and wish to focus on the USA market, you can check out the level of interest towards the compared keywords in all states or you can choose only a number of states. So, on the one hand, you have the Totals that shows the result in a graph so that you can clearly see which word is most preferred by users in searches. On the other hand you have Regional Interest – you can check out the interest towards the chosen word by regions. You also have Top Searches where more keywords combinations are offered, again they are listed according to their search strength. And last but not least, you have Rising Searches: you get keyword suggestions  for your market and their estimated search volume. Be advised that you do not need to sign up in order to use this tool.

Play some time with the Google’s Search Volume tool  and we are sure you will enjoy choosing a successful domain name for your online project. This way you will guarantee yourself a well-established presence on the Web and you will know that your domain name works for your SEO.

You can also check the following online video presentation on Google’s Search Volume tool:

[youtube fGmAUwkrD3U]

Here are some more guidelines on choosing a SEO catchy domain name:

  1. Avoid choosing hyphenated and multi-term domains like get-best-hosting-now.com (I just made this one up). Such domains have limited SEO value and lack credibility. So if you are planning to do serious business, we will recommend you to not name your website this way.
  2. It is important that you opt for a .COM name whenever possible. There are two main reasons for that: users tend to think in terms of .com, and any other extension will be hard for them to remember; .com names tend to receive higher rankings in Search engines than websites using other extensions.

Get your SEO friendly domain name registered for free by TMDHosting Services! Contact us:

TMDHosting Livechat

May 22

Domain Name Lifecycle

Posted on by

This article examines the lifecycle of a typical domain name, from registration to deletion.Domain renewal can be a real nightmare even for those that deal with domain names every day. It is recommended that you read through this text in order to understand the domain lifecycle. The following article will help you keep your domain name easily up to date and never face high renewal fees- because of redemption period.

Available

The first step is to register a domain name. You need to choose a domain name and if it is public available for registration to proceed with its registration. A domain is available to the public registration for a period not to exceed a maximum term of 10 years.

Registered Domain (Active)

A domain name is registered and in active state.After 60 days, the domain can be transferred to another registrar, if desired. Most registrars start sending renewal notices one month before expiration.

Expired – Registrar Hold

Within a 24 hour period of a domain name going past its expiration date the domain name will be deactivated.

In case the renewal of the domain name is not processed on time the domain expired. Most registrars will HOLD the domain, which means your website and email will no longer work. You can still renew your domain name for the regular price; you can no longer transfer the domain unless you renew first. In short expired domain names cannot be managed.

Redemption Period

After 40 days, if the renewal of the domain name is not submitted the domain name will enter a 30 day Redemption period. Most registrars delete the domain.Whois information(name,address,telephone numbers, etc) will be deleted.The domain name will still be inactive. In order to get the domain back after this point you have to restore it which usually costs a lot .

Pending Delete

After 30 more days, the domain can no longer be restored.The only way to get the domain back is to wait until it is dropped from the registry. At that time the domain name is public available for registration and can be registered by anyone else.

If you want to keep your domain name, the best policy is to renew early. You do not lose any time by renewing early. Always keep an eye on your domain names and never let them expire.

In order to review the lifecyle of a domain name, here it is a really comprehensive image that describes the process in details:

May 20

TMDHosting with a new design

Posted on by

We are glad to announce our new website design. We have spent a lot of time planning this change and looking for the best solutions. Some of the key points that we wanted to cover with the new design are:

We have added some navigation links on the bottom of our home page containing the most popular pages for direct access. We hope that this will help our visitors to find all the needed information just in a few seconds without the need of a search box or browsing internal pages of our website.

2009-05-20_2039

In order to provide even better customer care and save our visitors valuable time we have added a direct chat box on our pages. Via the chat box you can easily contact our representatives who will be glad to provide you with additional information and answer all of your questions.

TMDHosting Livechat

The new page  about our SiteBuilder included in our hosting package provides a detailed information of web site building process.

sitebuilder

On our new reseller hosting page you can find a detailed video tour tutorials about the reseller WHM control panel.

2009-05-20_2129

We are very excided about the new design and we hope you like it. Your feed back will be highly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

May 20

Create a Microblogging website with WordPress

Posted on by

In our previous article we have introduced you to Laconica open source microblogging application and some its key features which can help you to create a Twitter clone website. Still, Laconica is not the only platform that can be used to create a microblogging website.

WordPress is another platform which can be easily customized in order to apply all the core functions required for a nice looking microblog website. To achieve this you will need only a WordPress installation and P2: The New Prologue theme for WordPress. For step by step instructions how to install WordPress you can always refer to our WordPress tutorial.

As soon as you have a WordPress installed you can download the P2 theme from the WordPress Theme directory. After you have installed and activated the P2 theme for your WordPress your blog fron page will be converted into a Twitter-liked microblogging paltform.

All logged users will be displayed with a text box where they can input their status updates and post it on the wall:

2009-05-20_1934The platform supports comments, key shortcuts for fast reply/update and many other features:

  • Threaded comment display on the front page.
  • In-line editing for posts and comments.
  • Live tag suggestion based on previously used tags.
  • A show/hide feature for comments, to keep things tidy.
  • Real-time notifications when a new comment or update is posted. (If you have a Mac, you know what we mean when we say it’s Growl-like.)
  • Super-handy keyboard shortcuts: c to compose a new post; j to go to the next item; k to go to the previous item; r to reply; e to edit; o to show and hide comments; t to go to the top; esc to cancel.
  • Helvetica Neue for you modern font lovers.
  • Plus more to come! Keep an eye on the news blog for updates.

And as always, there’s:

  • Hassle-free posting from the front page.
  • RSS feeds for everything: the entire prologue, each author, each tag, and any search.

2009-05-20_1932

You can also check the official video tour of P2 theme for WordPress:

If you are looking for a professional hosting package to build your Microblogging website you can review our WordPress hosting package. Our technical support will be glad to install both WordPress and P2 theme for you completely free of charge in a timely manner and leave all the fun of microblogging to you.

If you need any professional assistance in choosing your hosting or have additional questions you can always contact our experienced representatives via our live chat.

TMDHosting Livechat