Rules for global domain registrants

Do you know the rules when registering a new domain name?

Everyone can learn something by browsing the following rules before purchasing new domains. These rules can change at any time but they tend to be rather stable, over time.

There are two types of domains explored here, the gTLDs and the ccTLDs. The first being general and the second being country-specific. Only a sample of countries were considered for this post.

General domain name suffixes

.COM, .NET and .ORG Domain Names

.COM – to be used for commercial and personal sites

.NET – recommended for companies involved in Internet infrastructure

.ORG – recommended for not-for-profit organizations

Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen (”-”)à

Cannot begin or end with a hyphen

Must have less than 63 characters, not including .COM, .NET and .ORG

.INFO Domain Names

.INFO – to be used for both commercial and personal sites

Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen (”-”)

Cannot begin or end with a hyphen

Must have at least 3 characters and less than 63 characters, not including .INFO

.BIZ Domain Names

.BIZ – sites restricted to commercial and bona fide business purposes

Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen (”-”)

Cannot begin or end with a hyphen

Cannot have two hyphens in a row

Must have at least 3 characters and less than 63 characters, not including .BIZ

.NAME Domain Names

.NAME – to be used for personal sites

Must be composed of a first and last name (yourname1.yourname2.name)

First name (yourname1 in above example) must have at least 1 character and no more than 63 characters

Second name (yourname2 in above example) must have at least 3 characters and no more than 63 characters

Use only letters, numbers or hyphen (”-”)

Cannot begin or end with a hyphen

Country specific domain name suffixes

.BE Domain Names

.BE – Belgium, to be used for commercial and personal sites

Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen (”-”)

Cannot begin or end with a hyphen

Must have at least 2 characters, not including .BE

.CA Domain Names

.CA registrants must meet Canadian presence requirements as defined by CIRA (Canadian Internet Registration Authority)

Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen (”-”)

Cannot begin or end with a hyphen

Domain names must be not less than two (2) and not greater than fifty (50) characters long.

.CC Domain Names

.CC – Cocos (Keeling) Islands, to be used for commercial and personal sites

Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen (”-”)

Cannot begin or end with a hyphen

Cannot contain all numbers

Must have at least 3 characters, but less than 47, not including .CC

.CO.UK and .ORG.UK Domain Names

.CO.UK – United Kingdom TLD used for both commercial and personal sites

.ORG.UK – United Kingdom TLD used for both commercial and personal sites

Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen (”-”)

Cannot begin or end with a hyphen

Must have at least 3 characters, but less than 23, not including .CO.UK and .ORG.UK

.DE Domain Names

.DE – Germany, to be used for commercial and personal sites

Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen (”-”)

Cannot begin or end with a hyphen

Must have at least 3 characters, but less than 64, not including .DE

.DK Domain Names

.DK – Denmark, to be used for commercial and personal sites

Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen (”-”)

Cannot begin or end with a hyphen

Must have less than 23 characters, not including .DK

.FM Domain Names

.FM – Micronesia, to be used for commercial and personal sites

Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen (”-”)

Cannot begin or end with a hyphen

Must have less than 23 characters, not including .FM

.JP Domain Names

.JP – Japan, to be used for commercial and personal sites

Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen (”-”)

Cannot begin or end with a hyphen

Must have at least 3 characters, but less than 63, not including .jp

.MS, .VG, .TC, .GS and .TF Domain Names

.MS – Montserrat, to be used for both commercial and personal sites

.VG – British Virgin Islands, to be used for both commercial and personal sites

.TC – Turks and Caicos Islands, to be used for both commercial and personal sites

.GS – South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands, to be used for both commercial and personal sites

.TF – French Southern Territories, to be used for both commercial and personal sites

Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen (”-”)

Cannot begin or end with a hyphen

Must have less than 23 characters, not including .MS, .VG, .TC, .GS and .TF

.NZ Domain Names

.CO.NZ – New Zealand, intended organizations pursuing commercial aims & purposes

.NET.NZ – New Zealand, intended organizations or services providers related to the NZ internet

.ORG.NZ – New Zealand, intended for non-profit organizations

Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen (”-”)

Cannot begin or end with a hyphen

Must have less than 23 characters, not including .CO.NZ, .ORG.NZ, and .NET.NZ

.TO Domain Names

.TO – Tonga, to be used for commercial and personal sites

Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen (”-”)

Cannot begin or end with a hyphen

Must have less than 23 characters, not including .TO

.TV Domain Names

.TV – Tuvalu, to be used for commercial and personal sites

Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen (”-”)

Cannot begin or end with a hyphen

Must have less than 63 characters, not including .TV

.US Domain Names

.US – to be used by U.S. citizens and residents, U.S. corporations and other U.S. organizations and organizations with a presence within the United States

Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen (”-”)

Domain names cannot begin or end with a hyphen

Domain names must be longer than 2 characters and cannot exceed 63 characters (this does not include the extension)

.VU Domain Names

.VU – Vanuatu, to be used for commercial and personal sites

Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen (”-”)

Cannot begin or end with a hyphen

Must have less than 27 characters, not including .VU

.WS Domain Names

.WS – WebSite, to be used for commercial and personal sites

Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen (”-”)

Cannot begin or end with a hyphen

.WS domains registered through register.com™ must have between 4 and 59 characters, not including the .WS extension

If you only have .coms in your domain name portfolio, make sure to check out the “local variations” for your major domains. As such, having “timely-meetings-software.com” might work nicely for an international audience but having .ca, .co.uk and even .co.nz might bring back positives results if you also cater to those countries.

It’s important to note that ccTLDs are gaining popularity worldwide. The latest example is the .us boom.

It’s better to buy -before- the boom than after!

New ICANN rules for introducing gTLDs

The Internet Committee for Assigned Names and Numbers has issued a press release on January 3rd, 2006, calling for papers on the matter of Policy Development for introduction of new gTLDs.

Here are the four main questions they’re looking to find answers for:

1. Should new generic top-level domain names be introduced?

Given the information provided here and any other relevant information available to the GNSO, the GNSO should assess whether there is sufficient support within the Internet community to enable the introduction of new top-level domains. If this is the case the following additional terms of reference are applicable.

2. Selection Criteria for New Top-Level Domains

(a) Taking into account the existing selection criteria from previous top-level domain application processes and relevant criteria in registry services reallocations, develop modified or new criteria that specifically address ICANN’s goals of expanding the use and usability of the Internet. In particular, examine ways in which the allocation of new top-level domains can meet demands for broader use of the Internet in developing countries.

(b) Examine whether preferential selection criteria (e.g. sponsored) could be developed which would encourage new and innovative ways of addressing the needs of Internet users.

(c) Examine whether additional criteria need to be developed which address ICANN’s goals of ensuring the security and stability of the Internet.

3. Allocation Methods for New Top-Level Domains

(a) Using the experience gained in previous rounds, develop allocation methods for selecting new top-level domain names.

(b) Examine the full range of allocation methods including auctions, ballots, first-come / first-served and comparative evaluations to determine the methods of allocation that best enhance user choice while not compromising predictability and stability.

(c) Examine how allocation methods could be used to achieve ICANN’s goals of fostering competition in domain name registration services and encouraging a diverse range of registry services providers.

4. Policy to Guide Contractual Conditions for New Top-Level Domains

(a) Using the experience of previous rounds of top-level domain name application processes and the recent amendments to registry services agreements, develop policies to guide the contractual criteria which are publicly available prior to any application rounds.

(b) Determine what policies are necessary to provide security and stability of registry services.

(c) Determine appropriate policies to guide a contractual compliance program for registry services.

Quite an agenda!

If you’re lobbying for a new domain name suffix, like .space, .beer or .college, this is your time to shine.

Generally speaking, proponents of adding new gTLDs argue that they are easy to create and free up new space for Internet addresses. Those opposed say more gTLDs only lead to confusion and pose an increased risk of trademark infringement, cybersquatting, and cyberpiracy.

As a reminder, here’s the 411 on what ICANN’s calling papers for.

A gTLD (generic top-level domain name) is the top-level domain name of an Internet address that identifies it generically as associated with some domain class, such as .com (commercial), .net (originally intended for Internet service providers, but now used for many purposes), .org (for non-profit organizations, industry groups, and others), .gov (U.S. government agencies), .mil (for the military), .edu (for educational institutions) and .int (for international treaties or databases and seldomly used).

For example, in the domain name, www.apple.com, ".com" is the chosen gTLD.

In addition to the gTLD, there’s the ccTLD (country code top-level domain name) that identifies a specific national domicile for an address, like .ca for Canada.

Recently, such suffixes like .jobs, .travel and .xxx have been approved. In and of itself, it shows there’s legitimate hope for people pushing TLD propositions destined for niche markets.

It’s also worth noting the ICANN previouly rejected gTLDs such as .kid, .site, .home and the very straightforward .dot so if you’re going to propose a new suffix, it better be -very- good!

Domain name ownership privacy dangers

Every domain name owner in the world is asked to provide their contact information upon registration. It’s then possible for other people to know exactly who the name belongs to.

That information can be queried from anyone providing access to the “whois database”, usually through a server-side script like this one — this particular tool is not linked with any registrar and as such, is designated as “bulk whois query tool”.

Privacy advocates are quick to point out this may be considered an invasion of the domain owners’ private lives because some individuals make unacceptable uses of such contact information which is made freely available. For instance, think of all the “anonymous” junk marketers who harvest their e-mail databases directly from the whois databases, around the world — they’re clearly abusing the goodwill of the whole system.

But, many other people have legitimate uses of the whois listings. They should be served relevant, up-to-date and complete contact data pertaining to the ownership of any domain name, especially the gTLD.

After all, when you’re curious to see who owns the prestigious “cnn.com” domain name, it’s cool to see the -real- information. In this case, it’s Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. Please note you’re seeing this information from a bulk query for the domain ownership or, if you want, you didn’t have to specifically go to the registrar’s own whois query tool to browse the data.

Do all registrars feel good about sharing the domain name owner’s contact information?

Most registrars find many benefits to the current ICANN rules but others beg to differ.

Take Herndon, VA based Network Solutions who is looking to have things changed by lobbying the ICANN for new bulk whois access rules. The following says a lot on how NetSol sees things in terms of whois bulk access:

“Network Solutions is lobbying for the elimination of the Bulk WHOIS access requirement by ICANN. If our proposal is accepted, the requirement to make Bulk WHOIS information available to third parties will be eliminated.”

So there you have it, a major registrar is fighting the Internet Committee for Assigned Names and Numbers to have the right to “protect” their domain name customers from having their whois data mined from another registrar’s query tool. Is NetSol acting to solely help its customers? Perhaps a little bit but the driving force behind this bold move may be more economic than anything else.

This is what NetSol instantly gains by shutting down the bulk access to its whois information:

Less queries to its own servers (major bandwidth and resources economy);
Absolute exclusivity of all whois queries to its customer’s data — this creates traffic streams which may have never considered visiting NetSol otherwise;
Opportunity for NetSol to sell “privacy protection” services to its customers, which goes the opposite way from the Internet’s general rule of openness therefore generating new problems;
On a global scale, it’s another way for NetSol to regain some of the powers the ICANN has acquired in the recent years for the management of the gTLDs.

Anyone following the domain name insider news knows NetSol and the ICANN have opposing views on many subjects. The first being more of a monopolistic, expensive and generally introverted entity and the second being a largely respected, open and accountable tribune for overseeing the way domain names are managed worldwide.

NetSol’s latest pledge for domain name owner privacy may be counted as yet another trick to “get more while giving less”, true to what can be interpreted as its “overly capitalistic” history.

Let’s be clear, when NetSol had the world monopoly of selling .coms, they milked their cow all they could, selling domains at 100$US per year… nowadays, thanks to the end of their monopoly, the same names can be renewed for under 10$US per year.

The numbers speak for themselves.

Whatever your opinion on NetSol, the fact remains that they’re campaigning to gun down the bulk whois access. To the average Joe out there, just looking to easily find the whois information he’s looking for, it’s very bad news. This basic principle of trying to restrict the free movement of information appear fishy, given the Internet is all about reaching out to the world.

Don’t count on NetSol to become a team player anytime soon. They launched a http://www.internetprivacyadvocate.org in 2003, to focus on consumer Internet privacy issues. That’s when NetSol introduced “private domain name registration”:

“The new Private Registration service allows customers to provide accurate contact information when registering a domain name, but keep their personal information – such as their address, phone number and email address – secure from public view to people searching the WHOIS database.”

Properly managed, this could be an acceptable service. If anything, the ICANN itself should be in charge of overseeing this kind of service doesn’t abuse someone else’s right to domain name ownership information. Leaving such a critical initiative up to a single registrar doesn’t make much sense, from a global perspective.

In my view, all whois information should always be fully available to the public. It’s the central registry for domain names. How can hiding owners identity help trade? If there are a few drawbacks like spam, let’s work on that problem without compromising the current system, which happens to work well for the vast majority of people.

Do we really want to be part of a globally anonymous Internet where nobody knows who owns what?

I don’t think so.

Unless there’s a very good reason which I can’t currently think of, only cowards and criminals may be tempted by NetSol’s Private Registration options. If you can’t stand up to your own name, what are you worth? Really?

What’s your opinion on all this domain name privacy, bulk whois access and private registration issues?

Disney isn’t going to Sao Tome

Disney Enterprises, based in Burbank, California aren’t planning anything at all to do with Sao Tome & Principe, at least not in a foreseable future!

How do I come to this conclusion / prediction?

Simple. Nobody has registered disney.st which happens to be Sao Tome & Principe’s official domain suffix.

With hundreds of country level domains out there, is this kind of “random check” a valuable indicator of things to come, for Disney (or any other corporation out there)?

Probably not but still, here’s some more info on the matter.

Disney Online International provides a bird’s eye view of the vast array of country level domains which are currently being used. America, Asia-Pacific and Europe are abundantly represented. Some of the national destinations, like disney.ch look like they’re not ready yet because they head back to the “international page”. Obviously, these markets are the most important for Disney.

A worldwide domain name check on “disney.**” shows that it’s registered almost everywhere. It’s hard to say for sure if the Disney people are the ones owning those domains but I assume they have the lion’s share.

So this brings us back to Sao Tome & Principe. Why have they been left out?

The CIA Factbook provides interesting insight on the country (smallish, generally poor, isolated) but basically, the name, in itself, could be relevant because “Main Street” is the name for Disney’s Parks “central gathering locations / arteries” so it would make sense to get “disney.st”, don’t you think?

Will this humble post prompt some C-Level Executive at Disney to “address” this situation ASAP?

I doubt it, very much.

A serious company like Disney probably counts on the finest lawyers in the world to protect their brand so having this tiny island domain left out probably means Sao Tome & Principe is so small, Disney (yes, the billionaire empire) couldn’t even figure out a way to cover the costs of keeping a credible “web presence” for this island, located along Africa’s West Coast.

So the domain is available… for anyone to register. Would a huge icon like Disney risk this kind of thing? Well, it looks like they’ve already sided on this issue!

The whole thing still feels weird. What’s your take on this?

Who doesn’t indulge a little luxury?

When it comes to the lives of the rich and famous, nothing is more spectacular for the “rest of us” than the overwhelming luxury they flaunt abundantly like casual to, let’s say, play tennis with an 80k$ watch!

Okay, the watch example pales in comparison with vanity cars, expensive boats and all out jewelry. Perhaps you’re not the one to have lunch in New York and dinner in Paris but nevertheless, luxury hold an appeal to many people.

As such, you might want to look into the available domain names pertaining to luxurious lifestyles. Use your imagination. Many online and off projects can make use for these domains:

Are you feeling good, yet?

Hundreds of millions of people from all walks of life are looking to get richer, every day. They’re the ones who may want to check out your newly acquired domain names.

Remember the pay-per-click payouts for luxury-related domains are quite generous, on average. You can explore domain names specific to a theme, like real estate or travel. There might be very valuable names in those niches.

Happy domain name buying!

Available domains for IP television

When the mighty Microsoft ventures in a new market, you know something big is brewing.

Even more so, when the heavyweights of the communications world meet to discuss this emerging market, it’s clear opportunities should be quickly identified. As always, early “domain name registration” birds get the best seats on hot new trends.

Who thinks IPTV is -the- thing to watch out for?

Look at this partial list:

…to name a few. You can see that “IPTV” is already -very- big.

You’ re curious by now, right? You want to know why all the fuss?

Well, the nice people at Pyramid Research have a good idea of what IPTV means for the big telcos around the world. Here’s how they see things shaping up:

“In their quest to pull itself from the throes of a decaying voice business, telcos have one major hope: IPTV (Internet protocol Television).

The technology promises to transform television, and in the process re-energize telcos by reducing customer churn and introducing new revenue streams.

Yet, IPTV is as uncertain as it is tantalizing, and making it work will be as complex as the end-user experience it promises will be easy.”

So there’s a battle shaping up!

Until the dust settles and the winners emerge, perhaps you could consider snapping up the following domains names which applu to the spirit of Internet Protocol TV:

At this point, some people have had a taste of what IPTV could bring in terms of convenience, as long as you have access to high-speed internet. Converge! reports that CBS has recently made available a few shows, in conjunction with Google’s video marketplace:

“At the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Google announced plans to open a video marketplace, enabling consumers “to buy and rent a wide range of video content from a major television network, a professional sports league, cable programmers, independent producers and film makers.” Launched early last year, Google Video initially provided only free videos uploaded by end-users.

CBS is Google’s first major video content producer to sign-up for the service. CBS’s current primetime hits will include CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, NCIS, Survivor and The Amazing Race. Library classics will include I Love Lucy, The Brady Bunch, The Twilight Zone, MacGyver, Have Gun Will Travel, Mannix, My Three Sons, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager.

All CBS programs will be presented commercial free.”

So it’s on! The race to get the best domain names for anything related to IPTV has started.

Grab your online real estate now!

Blogger secrets to keep in mind

There are many ways to start your own weblog but one of the easiest is with a free service called Blogger. Owned by Google, it’s a feature-rich service that makes it simple to start a blog of your own.

If you think blogging is just about typing text, think again. There are many fun things you can do once you’re up and running with your very own blog.

Photo Blogging:
Post photos to your weblog with this free software called “Hello.” Get it at Hello.com. It makes it easy to upload photos to your blog.
Audio Blogging:
Post to your blog by phone. Once registered, you’ll receive a special number. Call it, leave a message and it’s immediately posted to your website as an MP3 audio file. To sign up, go to AudioBlogger.com.
Email Posting:
Post to your blog by sending an email from any email application. To set it up, you’ll need to log into your blogger account and go to “settings” then “email.” You must specify if you want your posts to publish automatically or be saved as drafts for later publishing. The subject of your email will be the title of your blog post, with the email body making up the rest of it.
Team Blogs:
This allows groups of people to contribute to one blog. One person must create the blog, then invite others to join in.
Templates:
Blogger has over 30 templates to choose from. Make sure you back up your blog before attempting any changes. There are also third party template providers you can choose designs from. See:
- BlogSkins.com
- BlogDesigns.com
Blogger Toolbars:
Google has one built into its toolbar that makes it a snap to post to your site while visiting any webpage you might want to comment on. Firefox also has a toolbar of its own with blogging components. See it at FireFoxToolbar.com or Google’s at Toolbar.Google.com.
Feeds:
Blogger users can syndicate their content via an Atom Feed. Former Blogger Pro suscribers can choose between Atom and RSS formats. You can find this feature in your Blogging account under “settings,” then “site feed.” If you’d rather syndicate in RSS, your only choice is to use an outside service like FeedBurner.com.
Comments:
If you’d like your readers to participate on your Blog, you’ll want to turn on “comments.” Found under “settings,” you can choose from preferences like allowing anyone to post a comment, allowing only regular users to post comments, or allowing only members of the blog to post (if it’s a team blog).
TagBoards:
Different from comments, TagBoards also allow your blog readers to post comments. These act more like a discussion board or chat room for your blog. However, they’re not aimed at individual posts but attached to your entire site. You’ll find free providers of this service at:
- Tag-Board.com
- ChatterBox.com
This is a great way to add a feeling of community.
PhotoBlogs: If you’d like to share a lot of photos with your readers on a regular basis you may want to add a “photo album.” You’ll find many sites that offer this free service such as:
Polls:
Do you know what your readers think? Running polls on your site is a great way to get inside your readers minds and get them involved with your blog. A few free poll service providers are:
Advertising:
If you’d like to run ads on your blog and get paid per click, you’ll want to look at Google Adsense. Since Google owns Blogger too, they make it simple to add their advertising to your site.
Camera Phones:
If you have a SprintPCS cellphone with a built-in camera you can send your pictures directly to Blogger. You’ll need to set up an “email address” to post to. For instructions, see Blogger’s Help section on “posting via email”.
On your phone it works like this: you snap a picture, select “share,” pick your specific blogging email address, then ok. Your picture is uploaded.
Keyboard Shortcuts:
Blogger has many different keyboard shortcuts you can use while making a post.
- cntrl + B= Bold
- cntrl + I= Italics
- cntrl + shift + A= Link
- cntrl + d= Save as draft
- cntrl + s= Publish Post
- cntrl + shift + P = Preview
FTP:
You can host your blog on Blogger’s server, or host it on your own via FTP access. You’ll find this option under “settings”, then “publishing”.
Email Posts to a Friend:
If you’d like to allow your visitors to email your interesting posts to their friends you can enable this feature under “settings,” basic tab, then where it says “show email post links?” say yes.

If you’d like to watch some free tutorials on “Learning Blogger,” see these by Molly Holzschlng at MovieLibrary.Lynda.com.

So what are you waiting for? Now that you know all of the really cool things you can do with Blogger, why not experiment. Who knows, maybe there’s been a “born Blogger” hiding inside of you all along. Blog away my friend; the world is waiting.

About the author

Merle of WebSiteTrafficPlan.com offers a F-r-e-e ebook and an e-course that will teach you how to promote and market your website. Grab your copy now at WebSiteTrafficPlan.com.

10 reasons to use RSS

When I first stumbled across RSS syndication while surfing the net, it peeked my curiosity to the point where I couldn’t help myself, but, to look into this new form of site promotion further.What I found out about this new technology will absolutely change the way you keep in touch with your subscribers and/or readers, in many ways, for years to come.

Now, for those of you who aren’t quite up to speed on what RSS is, here’s a quick definition for you:

RSS is an acronym for “Really Simple Syndication” or “Rich Site Summary”, and the XML extension is the format used for distributing your news headlines via the Web, which is known as Syndication.

Syndication is where the true power of RSS is unleashed, getting your message across the web in an Instant to your subscribers and/or readers.

That’s the basics of RSS (Real Simple Syndication).

Now, for the rest of this article I want to focus on the “10 MOST Powerful Reasons WHY You Should Be Using It”:

RSS streamlines communication.
RSS streamlines communication between the publishers and readers making it easier for the subscriber to receive your content.
Readers can opt-in to feeds.
RSS gives the subscriber the ability to Opt-In to the feeds they are interested in and the ability to Opt-Out, if they wish, through their RSS reader just like an auto-responder.
You don’t have to maintain an RSS feed.
This is a great time saver for the busy marketer because RSS is a great communication supplement that doesn’t burden the publisher with having to maintain a “List” or having to follow strict privacy rules.
You have the ability to Syndicate your content.
This is where the true power of RSS comes into play because RSS gives you the ability to Syndicate your content to your subscribers and website owners in an instant giving your content the exposure it deserves.
Broadcasts your sales and specials.
RSS gives you the ability to broadcast your Sales message and Specials to a wider audience in less time it would take to set-up an email broadcast.
No filters to worry about.
This is the next best feature to RSS feeds because you don’t have to worry about your message being passed through some email filter.

By using RSS, your message gets delivered to 100% of your subscribers.

This is a very powerful feature.
No more “Spam” complaints.
This is yet another great benefit to RSS because you don’t have to worry about “Spam” complaints or “Privacy Policies” – again because they have to add your feed to their reader, not the other way around with email.
You get Instant credibility.
By publishing your own RSS feed, you’re establishing yourself as an expert in the eyes of your readers and as someone who knows his/her industry which will build “Trust”.
Multiple ways to read your feed.
RSS is very versatile because it allows you to view the feed in many different media platforms.

Some examples are, Browser Based readers, Software Based readers, and the ability to view feeds on different operating systems like MS-Windows and MacOS.
Free and Easy site promotion.
I like to save the best for last because RSS is a great way to get free traffic to your website without the need of spending money on advertising.

This benefit alone will save you hundreds, if not thousands, in yearly expenses to advertise your online business.

Well… are those reasons enough for you to get started with RSS?

I certainly hope so because they sure get me excited everytime I read through them.

Just imagine for a minute your same message you worked so hard on that you were going to send via email getting to 100% of your subscribers instantly — On-Demand — via your own RSS feed without ever having to worry about email filters.

Your response rates would Double, if not, Triple, meaning more $$Profits$$ in your pocket with less work.

Internet technology at its Best.

As I mentioned early in my article, the best way to take advantage of RSS… Starting Today! … is to set-up your own dedicated RSS webpage on your website.

If you don’t have time to set-up your own webpage I recommend you set-up an account with Blogger.com — and then head over to FeedBurner.com — and set-up an account there.

FeedBurner.com will auto-generate you a RSS subscription page with whatever RSS feed URL you choose.

In conclusion, publishers using RSS as a communication vehicle for their business are able to create keyword-rich, themed content, establishing Trust, Credibility and ongoing communications with current and prospective subscribers and/or customers.

About the author

Want to find out more about BLOGS and RSS? Search CBmall — Or if you want to get More ‘Insider’ marketing Secrets, subscribe to Cory Threlfall’s ezine called… The Internet Wonders eZine — or you can visit his BLOG at BlogSpot.com.

Hopelessly looking for available domains

It’s widely known that the first reason why a domain name becomes available is because the previous owner failed to renew it.

Some registrars take a little more time than others to make the such names available for new registrants but they all have to let them go, at one point or another.

You may wonder where those who are hopelessly looking to find highly valuable domain names go for inspiration. Well, there’s a certain amount of research a domainer must make to find the exact word that’ll work best and these tool can come in handy:

…and then you can search specific keywords for similar terms:

…of course, some domain name search tools can also help:

Your domain name registrar may also have interesting tools to assist you look for available domains.

If your registrar doesn’t fully satisfy you, feel free to try mine!