I am often asked about setting up a web hosting package and using multiple domain names. There are a couple of scenarios to consider with multiple domain names.

The first part of the picture is the serving of webpages.

An organisation may have registered, or may wish to register, www.mycompany.com and www.mycompany.net - but only need one website for both domains. That is, it doesn’t matter which domain name a visitor enters, they will be directed to exactly the same site.

This is known as DOMAIN PARKING. Most high quality hosting companies offer this service as a standard in their offering.

The other part of this picture is the ability to run multiple websites on the one hosting package. That is seperate sites for www.mycompany.com and www.mynewcompany.com. When a visitor enters either domain name, they are shown a different site.

Many hosting packages provide ADD-ON DOMAINS, which allow for a hosting package to serve multiple websites. To serve the websites, the domain is directed to a separate subdirectory. Like this:

www.mycompany.com directs to the root public directory on the hosting package

www.mynewcompany.com directs to the subdirectory <mynewcompany> on the hosting package.

And so on….. This makes it very easy to manage multiple domains and websites from the one package.

The second part of the picture is EMail

The next question I am asked about is how to manage email addresses to the individual domains, particularly when a domain is parked. It is possible to configure email to any domain to be sent to another domain, which makes managing email accounts very easy. E.g: email to mycompany.net is sent to mycompany.com - if mail is sent to charly@mycompany.net, I will receive it at charly@mycompany.com. This ensures that no matter which domain is used, I will get my email.

This function is known as email domain forwarding.

It is also possible to use aliases for your email addresses. An alias is simply another name used to send email to the same mailbox. I may set up an alias for cjl@mycompany.com. That alias will send any email to cjl@mycompany.com to charly@mycompany.com.

This function is known as email aliasing or email forwarding and can be quite powerful.

When setting up your web presence, it is important to understand the functionality that your business requires and choosing your hosting package to suit.

For more information on hosting packages, see AussieHQ’s Business Hosting Plans.

Popularity: 94% [?]

I saw this article today on Webware and thought it extremely interesting:

Network Solutions, a dominant registrar of Internet sites, has stepped back from some controversial elements of a new registration process.

Network Solutions had implemented some changes in an attempt to curtail “front-running,” a process in which a company registers a domain name as soon as somebody searches to see if it’s available; front-running can turn a registrar into the exclusive holder of a domain and therefore potentially charge more for it than locked-out competing registrarTo read more visit:

Webware - Network Solutions amends Net registration process

Popularity: 91% [?]

This article discusses what a Domain Name is and some of the considerations you need to take when choosing a domain name.

A Domain Name, that is. Let’s start with some “basics”…..

What is a Domain Name ?

A domain name is, effectively, your address on the Internet. Like you may live at 1 Smith Ave, Smallville which is then used by people to find your physical location, the address www.domainname.com is used to find your website.

Every domain name ends in a top-level domain (TLD) name, which is always either one of a small list of generic names (three or more characters), or a two-character territory code based on ISO-3166 (there are few exceptions and new codes are integrated case by case). Top-level domains are sometimes also called first-level domains. A generic top-level domain (gTLD) is a top-level domain used (at least in theory) by a particular class of organization. These are three or more letters long, and are named for the type of organization that they represent (for example, .com for commercial organizations). The following gTLDs currently exist:

• .aero - for the air transport industry
• .asia - for companies. organisations and individuals in the Asia-Pacific region
• .biz - for business use
• .cat - for Catalan language/culture
• .com - for commercial organizations, but unrestricted
• .coop - for cooperatives
• .edu - for post-secondary educational establishments
• .eu - for companies. organisations and individuals in the European Union
• .gov - for governments and their agencies in the United States
• .info - for informational sites, but unrestricted
• .int - for international organizations established by treaty
• .jobs - for employment-related sites
• .mil - for the US military
• .mobi - for sites catering to mobile devices
• .museum - for museums
• .name - for families and individuals
• .net - originally for network infrastructures, now unrestricted
• .org - originally for organizations not clearly falling within the other gTLDs, now unrestricted
• .pro - for certain professions
• .tel - for services involving connections between the telephone network and the Internet (added March 2, 2007)
• .travel - for travel agents, airlines, hoteliers, tourism bureaus, etc.

The following gTLDs are in the process of being approved, and may be added to the root nameservers in the near future:

• .post - for postal services
• .geo - for geographically related sites
• .cym - for Welsh language/culture

A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country or a dependent territory.ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all two-letter top-level domains are ccTLDs.

So when you see a domain name it is generally in the format of:

www.<websitename>.<gtld>.<cctld>

The most important part of that name is the “website” name.

Why is the Website Name Important?

Firstly, this is part of your overall organisational branding. For example Coca Cola is brand that is know world-wide as Coca Cola - it makes sense then that the website name be www.cocacola.com or www.coca-cola.com. Notice that the words Coca and Cola may be run together or hyphenated and that these are different website addresses (however, they do go to exactly the same site).

I am strong advocate that you should register the name of your company as a domain name in, preferably, the .com and .net domain spaces as well as the cctld domain space. As I live in Australia, I would try to register mybusiness.com; mybusiness.com.au; mybusiness.net; and mybusiness.net.au - at the very least. That way no one can “hijack” my business name and the investment I’ve made in advertising and branding my business.

Your domain name is also an important key to Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Once you understand the keywords you wish to target for your business, your domain name should also reflect these or at least a subset of these. For example, if you wanted to target the “Work At Home” niche, you may want your domain name to be workathome.com. The reasons for this are many and varied and not the focus of this article, visit the Arvoreen Treasures SEO website for more information on this.

Can you have multiple domain names for one site?

This would have to be one of the main benefits of a website as opposed to a physical address. Your website can be reached through multiple addresses, or domain names.

Using the capabilities of all good hosting packages, it is possible to “park” multiple domains on one website. Using this technique, whatever domain name is used will direct to the one website.

Why Use Multiple Domain Names?

As discussed above it is as equally important to protect your companies brand as it is to rank organically in Search Engine results.

As it is unusual for company to choose a Business Name that will rank organically in Search Engine results for a chosen niche, the requirement for multiple domain names should be evident. Let’s look at the Coca Cola example. If you were to want to rank highly in organic web searches for the keyword “soft drinks”, the domain name cocacola.com (or its derivatives) is not likely to cut the mustard. However a domain name of softdrinks.com will! So registering and using the two domain names that point to the one site is a great way to increase the reach of your website.

Where to get Domain Names

AussieHQ provides 24 x 7 support on Domain Name registrations. You are able to register gTLDs and ccTLDs online. With 24 x 7 support, you are able to have any redirection issues addressed quickly and efficiently.

Visit AussieHQs website for more details.

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Are you considering setting up your online business or are you just not happy with your current provider?

As a business person, you are generally focussed on the core aspects of your business - what do you have to do to bring money through the door? You really don’t want to be burdened with translating techo jargon to business speak. Unfortunately, many web hosting companies are more than happy to quote statistics and tech specs at you without telling you what they really mean to your business. On top of all of that, the pricing for services varies greatly and, without knowing the right questions to ask, there is little chance of differentiating the offers and ensuring you’re getting the best deal for your businesss.

Your online presence can be as effective as your bricks and mortar store front. If you don’t have a bricks and mortar store front, then your online presence may be the best means for your customers to get in touch with you. A poor hosting provider may mean that your online presence is intermittent, slow or just not available for a percentage of the time. This would be like having a closed store front when your customers came to visit or not answering the phone - doesn’t leave a good impression for the customer base. A good provider ensures that your online presence has high availability and great response times - leaving a much better impression for your customers.

Maybe this will help decipher some of the technical jargon and work out what questions should be asked when choosing a hosting provider.

When embarking on setting up your online presence, be clear about the purpose of the site. Do you want it to be an “online brochure” or do you want to be able to process sales?

The requirements for a “brochureware” site and an “E-Commerce” site vary greatly, as does the price. Most hosting providers have a progression through their hosting accounts to allow customers to migrate from a “brochureware” site to and “E-Commerce” site.

The other questions to consider are:

1. How many domain names will you want to use for the site? It is not uncommon to register several domain names that all point to the same site. This is a way of protecting your brand and not allowing competitors to “steal away” your customers.
Examples of this are: yourbusiness.com.au, yourbusiness.com, yourbusiness.net.au, yourbusiness.net. Using any of these addresses will provide the same website - this is known as Domain Parking.

2. How many SQL databases can you have? SQL databases are used for Blogs, Content Management Systems and the like. The ability to have more databases, the better, even if you are running a BrochureWare site.

3. Does the server have scripting support? To run Blogs, Content Management Systems and the like, you will need the webserver to have scripting support (php etc). Most servers come standard with php support, but it is worthwhile confirming this.

4. Applications Vault. Fantastico is a great add-on that automates the installation of web applications to a website. There are more than 50 applications that have Fantastico scripts associated with them, including Web content management system, Blogs, Wikis, Photo sharing and Shopping Cart software. This will save a lot of time and money for any organisation.

5. Email accounts. Whilst you may initially think you only need one email address, the ability to have seperate addresses for different functions is a major bonus. Again, the more email accounts the better.

6. The ability to “forward email domains”. If you do decide to register multiple domains that point to the one site, you should also ensure that email to any of those domains is receivable. For example, your primary email address may sales@yourbusiness.com.au however, if a visitor tries to email sales@yourbusiness.com, without domain forwarding, the email will not be received. Email domain forwarding will divert email from one domain to the primary domain, thus making you more contactable.

7. SPAM filtering. There is nothing more annoying than receiving SPAM in your email inbox. You should check what level of email SPAM and virus filtering the webhosting company provides.

Check how often the definitions for the filters are updated - some update monthly, others update hourly. Spam is generated minute by minute, a filter that is updated monthly will allow a lot more SPAM emails through than one that is updated hourly.

Is the SPAM filtering device seperate to webserver, or is it a function of the webserver? If the SPAM filtering is performed on the webserver, this takes up valuable processing resources that should be used to present your website to visitors in a more timely fashion. A seperate SPAM filtering device is preferable.

8. Web Mail. Is it possible to access your mail from anywhere on the web? Whilst it’s fine to configure your desktop PC to download mail to your email client (like Outlook), there will be times that you are mobile and don’t have access to your PC. In these cases, you should be able to use a web browser to access your mail box from Internet Cafe or a remote office.

9. Level of Support provided. What type of support does the hosting company provide? Is it business hours only or phone support only? Do they provide 24 hours a day, 7 days a week phone, email or Live Chat support? Does the hosting company actively monitor their services and rectify problems as they occur, or do they wait for a customer to call them? As a business, your online presence should be available 24 / 7 - if there is a problem, you want it dealt with quickly and effectively. If you need to talk to someone for assistance, you should be able to.

AussieHQ, proudly 100% Australian owned and operated, was founded through the merger of a number of medium sized web hosting service providers in 2004. Retaining a strong power base of talented and experienced staff, and backed by a new economy of scale and executive team, AussieHQ is now one of Australia’s fastest growing web service providers.

AussieHQ strives to deliver a complete web service suite to cater for the requirements of individuals, businesses, corporations, and government, backed by the highest quality Australian based customer service and state-of-the-art technology.

Visit http://aussiehq.com.au/business/hostingplans for information on hosting plans or call the Web Hosting Consultants on 1300 889 461 (inside Australia) or +61.261639300 (outside Australia).

Popularity: 91% [?]