NameFAQs - Answers to common domain name questions

[RJ]

NameFAQs - http://www.namefaqs.com

I am compiling a list of frequently asked questions about domain names. The goal is to have a base of knowledge that will further help 'Newbies' become 'Name Pros'.

What kind of questions do you think would be fitting to include?

If you'd like to help further the effort, you can post or PM your Domain Related Questions and Answers.

As a little bonus, if your question makes it onto NameFAQs you'll get 25 NP$ out of it, and if you provide a question AND an answer to the question and we use it, you'll receive 75 NP$

 

[Mobi Cheap]

Do most domainers purchase a reseller account for the purpose of obtaining the registration discounts for themselves?

I wouldn't say most, but many do.

Especially with registrars like Enom, which are set up to be primarily wholesale operations.

The idea is that everyone wins this way: the registrar doesn't have to waste man hours explaining the same thing to too many people, and the registrants don't have to pay for that.

 

[Syntheso]

How can you contact someone to purchase their domain if their information is kept private?

 

[Mobi Cheap]

How can you contact someone to purchase their domain if their information is kept private?

In most cases you can simply send an email to the address shown in the Admin Contact - however random it may look.

Usually the email is automatically forwarded to the owner of the domain, using the real email address that the whois service has on file.

It does works with GoDaddy's whois protection service.

In rare cases this method doesn't work, for instance with domains protected by ResellerClub - possibly because their whois protection is given away for free.

 

[Syntheso]

In most cases you can simply send an email to the address shown in the Admin Contact - however random it may look.

Usually the email is automatically forwarded to the owner of the domain, using the real email address that the whois service has on file.

It does works with GoDaddy's whois protection service.

In rare cases this method doesn't work, for instance with domains protected by ResellerClub - possibly because their whois protection is given away for free.

Thanks!

 

[chassmp3]

What do you guys think about this? If I come up with my own names to register and find that they're already registered as .com, but the .net is available and the keywords for it are somewhat strong or promising. Go for it? or forget it? I'm talking in scenarios where the intention is to park the name not develop it.

Thanks
Chas

 

[Mobi Cheap]

What do you guys think about this? If I come up with my own names to register and find that they're already registered as .com, but the .net is available and the keywords for it are somewhat strong or promising. Go for it? or forget it? I'm talking in scenarios where the intention is to park the name not develop it.

Thanks
Chas

I would say forget it.

That's based on your stated intention to park instead of develop.

The same applies to all non-.com gTLDs by the way, including my favorite one - which you would never guess

There are exceptions to most rules in domaining, but in this case you have to be really lucky to chance upon an available .net that makes you money just by parking it.

A strong keyword in .net is a prime candidate for traffic tasters. If it's still available, that probably means it's been tested for natural type-in traffic at least once and was found to be not worth keeping.

 

[emu]

But Sometimes..webservers are sensitive to the case of the URL.. (ie. it might not identify Microsoft.com and microsoft.com as the same domain)

I thought that webservers are case-sensitive only in subdirectories and specific filenames.

I thought that this is okay:
http://www.NamePros.com/domain-newbies/

I know that this is not okay:
http://www.namepros.com/Domain-Newbies/

 

[Barrucadu]

I thought that webservers are case-sensitive only in subdirectories and specific filenames.

I thought that this is okay:
http://www.NamePros.com/domain-newbies/

I know that this is not okay:
http://www.namepros.com/Domain-Newbies/

Domain names are not case sensetive at all, so Microsoft.com = microsoft.com = MiCrOsOfT.CoM etc...
However, servers running on *nix are case-sensetive when it comes to directories and files.

 

[emu]

Domain names are not case sensetive at all, so Microsoft.com = microsoft.com = MiCrOsOfT.CoM etc...
However, servers running on *nix are case-sensetive when it comes to directories and files.

I said nothing about domain names being case sensitive.

In fact, it looks like I said the same thing but in a different way.

It seems that you should have replied to the other guy.

 

[chassmp3]

I would say forget it.

That's based on your stated intention to park instead of develop.

The same applies to all non-.com gTLDs by the way, including my favorite one - which you would never guess

There are exceptions to most rules in domaining, but in this case you have to be really lucky to chance upon an available .net that makes you money just by parking it.

A strong keyword in .net is a prime candidate for traffic tasters. If it's still available, that probably means it's been tested for natural type-in traffic at least once and was found to be not worth keeping.

Thanks Mobi Cheap, that was basically what I thought too, but needed second opinions, and it's why I've hesitated to register a lot of good .net names.

I found a list of acronyms on a different thread that was helpful, but it was missing some of the common acronyms used when you view your parking stats at your parking company.

I particularly am interested in knowing not only the meaning or RPM, CTR and RPC, not just the literal meaning but what they actually mean to the parking company. For instance I see my RPM at $430 for one name then the CTR at 200%, RPC $0.22 and Revenue at $1.72. So I'm having a little difficulty making sense of this data.

Your input is much appreciated.

Chas

 

[Mobi Cheap]

Thanks Mobi Cheap, that was basically what I thought too, but needed second opinions, and it's why I've hesitated to register a lot of good .net names.

I found a list of acronyms on a different thread that was helpful, but it was missing some of the common acronyms used when you view your parking stats at your parking company.

I particularly am interested in knowing not only the meaning or RPM, CTR and RPC, not just the literal meaning but what they actually mean to the parking company. For instance I see my RPM at $430 for one name then the CTR at 200%, RPC $0.22 and Revenue at $1.72. So I'm having a little difficulty making sense of this data.

Your input is much appreciated.

Chas

Sure Chas.

I've create a worked example from the numbers you reported (please ignore the minor rounding errors):

(reported) RPM $430
(reported) CTR 200%
(reported) RPC $0.22
(reported) Revenue $1.72
(calculated) Clicks (inferred) 7.8
(calculated) Visitors (inferred) 3.9
(calculated) RPM Check (recalculated) 440

To find out how much you understand the definitions you discovered yourself, tell me first to what extent the above makes sense to you and we'll take it from there.

 

[chassmp3]

Sure Chas.

I've create a worked example from the numbers you reported (please ignore the minor rounding errors):

(reported) RPM $430
(reported) CTR 200%
(reported) RPC $0.22
(reported) Revenue $1.72
(calculated) Clicks (inferred) 7.8
(calculated) Visitors (inferred) 3.9
(calculated) RPM Check (recalculated) 440

To find out how much you understand the definitions you discovered yourself, tell me first to what extent the above makes sense to you and we'll take it from there.

Hmmm gosh! This feels like when I took calculus :td: So I'm guessing that the stats I gave you were raw info, and at some point this all gets calculated into new numbers. hmmm yeah I guess you better break it down a little more.

Thanks dude.

 

[Mobi Cheap]

...So I'm guessing that the stats I gave you were raw info, and at some point this all gets calculated into new numbers. hmmm yeah I guess you better break it down a little more.

Thanks dude.

Yup, here goes (let's pretend these are average daily numbers so that the decimal places make sense):

Visitors (input) 3.9

Clicks (input) 7.8

CTR (Clicks/Visitors) 200% Click-through rate (showing how attractive your visitors find the info they believe they would find if they clicked on an ad link)

Revenue (input) $1.72

RPC (Revenue/Clicks) $0.22 Revenue per click (showing how well advertisers pay you for the average click)

RPM (Revenue/Visitors*1000) 440 Revenue per mille (showing how many dollars you can expect a thousand visitors to your site to generate; being a simple measure of your overall success in parking)

Your RPC in this example is pretty standard, the CTR is very good (the average visitor clicked on two ads) and that means that the RPM is very good too.
:imho:

 

[chassmp3]

Yup, here goes (let's pretend these are average daily numbers so that the decimal places make sense):

Visitors (input) 3.9

Clicks (input) 7.8

CTR (Clicks/Visitors) 200% Click-through rate (showing how attractive your visitors find the info they believe they would find if they clicked on an ad link)

Revenue (input) $1.72

RPC (Revenue/Clicks) $0.22 Revenue per click (showing how well advertisers pay you for the average click)

RPM (Revenue/Visitors*1000) 440 Revenue per mille (showing how many dollars you can expect a thousand visitors to your site to generate; being a simple measure of your overall success in parking)

Your RPC in this example is pretty standard, the CTR is very good (the average visitor clicked on two ads) and that means that the RPM is very good too.
:imho:

Sweet, makes a heck of a lot of sense now. I found that they have the meaning of each of these acronyms in the FAQ but certainly not very detailed, examples like this would be helpful. Thanks, I appreciate your info.

Chas.

 

[soggyindo]

how do you search for volume?

hi guys,
wonderful site, btw. it can be a lonely business, this domaining!
i am a newbie, and was wondering the best way to search for keywords or words by volume, i.e. compared to total i.e. global internet search usage? i think i've had a pretty good hunt for threads here for an answer
some people mention overture (which seems dead), others google adsense keyword (which only seems to give a very approximate ranking, and then only relative to similar keywords, not to total web searches). some have mentioned things which seem like you have to pay for them (wordtracker?).
besides that, i've found a few "top 10" type sites, and google trends, both not useful (i'm not looking for just the trends).
is this secred internet information? what do you guys reccommend?

:td:

 

[BlackDiamond]

If this thread is still accepting questions, I have one, although I'm not sure it's all that common.

Which methods can a domain name registrant use to check the traffic statistics for his or her domain name (or more accurately, Web site the domain name directs to)?

 

[jedik1]

If this thread is still accepting questions, I have one, although I'm not sure it's all that common.

Which methods can a domain name registrant use to check the traffic statistics for his or her domain name (or more accurately, Web site the domain name directs to)?

I think the better way of getting accurate details for your site or domain is by the following steps :-

If you are using a general purpose search i.e. not intended to any specific group of visitors - You can safely use Alexa traffic Ranking for it. Also you can see how many back links pointing to your site.

If you using keyword specific/ visitor specific then try to use the freely available tools on the web that analyzes traffic based on specific keywords. By that way you can know what kind of visitors you are actually getting...

 

[bizcorp]

A very helpful website for anyone starting out in the domain industry. This is a must see website.

 

[allroundguy]

In some English dictionaries, yes, but ...

Question: Are all the Dictionary words gone?

Answer: Some 97 percent of the words in Webster's dictionary have been registered.

Hmmm,
The domain industry is world-wide, and a number of people don't care if what they want is in any dictionary, or just a random mix of characters.
Lots of web documents, published on an unpronounceable url, attract all sorts of traffic like magnets just to redirect people somewhere else.
Ever heard of msnbc.com - tdnam.com - tucows.com (is that really 2cows?).
There are no crappy domains - It's all in between the ears.
Sellers must try to figure out what potential buyers could be interested in.
Type in Google: "lorem ipsum" and see how successful dummy text can be.
The domain industry will boom again when domainers start again thinking about what potential customers may need or just want, instead of trying to set value standards based upon third party opinions.
Different people have usually different opinions and may very well read in totally different dictionaries.

 

[DarrinMalone]

WildChild: Answer: According to pagesGarden.com, you must renew your domain first and then transfer it.


Question: What is currently the longest single word Domain name that serves a purpose?

Answer: According to the guiness book of world records the town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwll-Llantysiliogogogoch

owns the domain

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwll-Llantysiliogogogoch.com

pagesgarden.com is down. Just figured id give you all the heads up.

It needs to be real "enough" to contact you, at least.
Otherwise,
http://wdprs.internic.net/cgi/rpt.cgi
Also, if you want to sell the domain name, it'd be good for people to have a way to get in contact with you.
-Allan

Hey there you say "real enough to contact". If I pay the extra fee to make my domain "private" then what kind of info can someone find about me?

 

[Sara Vanessa]

How do I protect my domain name from unauthorized updates or domain hijacking?

"Lock it up! Most registratrs allow you to a put a "lock" on your domain. While a domain is in locked state, name server changes, doman transfers, ownership changes, etc. are disabled. Check with your domain registration services provider (rsp) or domain registrar for details." Perfect answer!

awesome site

 

[mis_chiff]

Lots of great questions and answers in this thread.

If you are just learning and have some questions...
the answers will probably be here, if not - just ask

 

[bamaboy]

I think namefaqs dot com is down right now :o

Anyhow, i have a question.
do appearance of domain name affect its value ?
I have a domain name qab dot in
it looks good, i mean q(inverse of b) - a - b(inverse of q)

is it add any value to domain ?

 

[ran_doank]

namefaqs still down?

 

[talicry]

Hi everyone,

My question is: if I want to develop a domain, how legal is it to use content from other sites (ie, youtube) in order to generate traffic and therefore revenue for my domain? Thanks!