Itกs Raining ccTLDกs

Itกs Raining ccTLDกs

by: Jennifer Chiera

By now youกve probably noticed the onslaught of unfamiliar domain name extensions popping up here and there. Like most domain name professionals, youกve probably sat at your computer pondering whether or not you should kick out the extra cash to register some of these domain names… why?
Keywords! While droves of individuals place an extreme value on the domain names extension, I firmly believe that the extension has nothing to do with the success or failure of the domain name. While certain ccTLDกs (Country Code Top Level Domains) gain popularity, others leave little to be desired. Mostly because of certain restrictions placed on the domain extension by itกs sponsoring organization.
Those ccTLDกs made available nationwide, or at least with no registration restrictions are, of course, going to be more popular than ones limited to corporations of the country for which it stands.
What determines popularity. People do. How do we increase the popularity of these alternative domain names? Marketing, and education. The best thing to do is make people aware that they do, in fact, have other options.
Just because .cc is technically the country code for the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, or .ad is for Andorra doesn’t mean you have to market it that way. Use some creativity in choosing the best name possible. People remember creative names.
Again, I cannot stress the importance of keywords. The part of the domain name before the extension is, and always will be the most important aspect of the domain name. So, if your question is, should I buy or invest in ccTLDs, the answer is yes. Though the present return on these alternative domain names is minimal in comparison to the .com, the future looks promising for certain ccTLDs, for example, Beauty.cc sold for $1,000,000; setting a record for the highest amount paid for a non .com! Iกd say the proof is in the pudding, not to beat an old cliché to death.

About The Author

Jennifer Chiera

Webmaster/Investor

DomainBash.com http://www.domainbash.com

DotTown.com http://www.dottown.com

DomainAppeal.com http://www.domainappeal.com

webmaster@domainbash.com

This article was posted on July 07, 2004

by Jennifer Chiera

7 Reasons to Switch to FireFox

7 Reasons to Switch to FireFox

by: John Gergye

The Firefox browser has exploded on the scene. At the time of this writing there have been 23 million downloads of this innovative competitor to Internet Explorer. Minor drawbacks aside, most who use it love it – myself included.

One stand out feature is the customizable search bar that’s built into the Firefox menu bar. As a long time AOL user I had 10 hot keys set up for sites I visited all the time. With Firefox all I did was set the search bar up with those very same links. Suddenly what seemed like a reason to mourn the loss of AOL vanished.

Then there’s tabbed browsing. This is a new way to use a browser as you can access more than one page in a single browser window. Which makes it easy to switch back and forth among multiple web pages. Makes for a great time saver.

But a big benefit is the ability to install little applications that perform specific tasks. In the FireFox world these are called ขextensionsข. If you’re like me you’ll find extension are sorta like potato chips – you just can’t have just one.

So let me share my 7 favorites. I believe they will save you time or effort while enhancing your FireFox experience.

Favorite Extension #1: Auto copy

Auto copy is a killer keystroke saver. You’ll never CtrlC again. Simply highlight the desired text on the web page with your mouse and it’s instantly copied to the clipboard. Jump over to whatever application you want to paste that text into, paste it and you’re done.

Favorite Extension #2: ScrapBook

How many times have you book marked a site only to return and find it changed? Or worse it’s vanished? That makes the ScrapBook extension the web researcher’s indispensable friend. It lets you take a snapshot of any page. Or you can grab just a chunk it. ScrapeBook keeps such snapshots organized and even lets you add comments if you like.

Favorite Extension #3: TinyURL Creator

How often do you want to sent a friend a URL only to discover it’s a mile long? Like this one for instance?

http://www.google.com/search?as_q=&num=50&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=%22john+gergye%22&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&safe=images

Wouldn’t it be easier to send something like this: http://tinyurl.com/427gg?

Good news. There’s a handy extension that will cut any unwieldy URL it down to size using TinyURL. Even better it will also inventory those you’ve created in case you want to use any of them again.

Favorite Extension #4: Popup Blocking

Okay so this technically isn’t an extension. It’s more of a killer built in feature that will stop pop ups dead in their tracks. I mean there’s nothing like seeing this message ขFirefox prevented this site from opening a pop up windowข to give you a warm glow inside

Favorite Extension #5: Google Pagerank

Want to know the Google PageRank of a page? Sadly the Google Toolbar only runs in Internet Explorer. But never fear. If you like to eyeball PR, say to check out potential link partners, the Google Pagerank Status extension displays pagerank. Even better it’s also in numeric form so you don’t have to mouse over to see the PR. .

Favorite Extension #6 LoremIpsum Content Generator

Whenever you need some quick content to check a web page layout this is your tool. You can tell it to create so many characters, words or paragraphs. Giving you a variety of ขLatinlikeข content like this in the blink of an eye:

Favorite Extension #7: Copy URL

Instead of copying a snippet from a page and then going back and grabbing the URL you can do it all with one tool. Copy URL. Another addictive research tool.

All of these tiny apps can be downloaded from here:

https://addons.update.mozilla.org/extensions

Or if these 7 have whet you appetite for more, you can nose around there for other extensions to enhance your FireFox experience.

One other tip

To check your extensions go to Tools>Extensions

There you’ll see all extensions you’ve installed. Newly downloaded ones will typically display this message:

ขThis item will be installed after you RESTART Firefox ข

Do so and you’re set.

Anyway, these extensions alone are seven reasons to love FireFox. At the risk of sounding like a shill, I can’t urge you strongly enough to try it. I’m sure you’ll like it.

Copyright 2005 John Gergye

About The Author

John Gergye is the author of ขStreet Smart Linkingข. To learn more about this 131 page, step by step link building guide visit http://www.highprlinkclub.com/j/ssl_sya.shtml/. Or test your search engine IQ by taking his seo quiz http://www.traffictesttube.com/searchenginequiz.shtml/ and get the free special report กComing Out On Topก.

This article was posted on February 21

by John Gergye

.info Freedom Frenzy

.info Freedom Frenzy

by: Jennifer Chiera

Whether you’re someone that registers domain names on a regular basis, or you’re a person looking to register one domain name for your website or business, then itกs likely that youกve encountered the free .info registrations taking place at several registrars.

Iกve encountered a lot of debate regarding the free .info giveaways. Some think that this free rush will decrease the value of the domain extension, while others insist that no matter what the price, certain domains maintain value due to the high demand of the keywords.

The best thing we could do to maintain the value of the .info is to only register the extension appropriate keywords. Iกve seen a lot of random, and worse, profitless .info domain names being registered for the sake of being free. This doesn’t really help the .info market, especially when Iกve personally come across several hundred domain names that match perfectly with the extension, and are still available for registration.

The .info should be used for exactly the purpose it was designed. For information. Anything else would just be impractical. It’s not difficult to find worthwhile terms to match with the .info extension. Do some research. Visit your favorite directory and browse through for topics. Iกve found hundreds of available extension appropriate terms using this method. Forget the strategy youกve been using to find .comกs, and other such extensions. The .info is a very special extension, and should be treated as such.

This is not to limit you, quite the contrary. This is a great opportunity for many people to register valuable domain names at little to no cost whatsoever. If you spend a little extra time to find better registration choices, then it will pay off in the end. Rushing out to register the first thing that comes to mind for the sake of doing it won’t benefit you, or anyone else in the end, especially come renewal time.

Another tip is to only register names that would be worth registering if you were paying out of your pocket for them. Also only register names that would be worth the renewal cost. Chances are if you avoid these two tips, it won’t even be worth it to you to park your ineffective domains at a revenue bearing parking service. Think before you register. Be sure that there is a way that you can profit from this opportunity, whether it be in reselling, developing, or parking. Quick, thoughtless registrations of the .info are counterproductive, and should be avoided at all costs.

About The Author

Jennifer Chiera

Webmaster/Investor

DomainBash.com http://www.domainbash.com

DotTown.com http://www.dottown.com

DomainAppeal.com http://www.domainappeal.com

webmaster@domainbash.com

This article was posted on September 11, 2004

by Jennifer Chiera

How to Manage Your Extension through Dreamweaver M

How to Manage Your Extension through Dreamweaver MX

by: Kay Zetkin

The latest version of Macromedia Dreamweaver, Dreamweaver MX works with a standalone program that is a wonderful assistant in managing your file extension. Macromedia Dreamweaver MX offers extensions to improve the functionality and scope of Dreamweaver. This program is the extension manager that can be relied upon to install and remove your file extensions. Through this program, you can turn your extensions on and turn them off, as you please. Plus, true to Dreamweaver’s integrated capabilities, the extension manager program works well with Flash and Fireworks to manage their extensions as well.

If you haven’t got any idea on how to manage your extensions through Dreamweaver MX, then, after going over these simple steps, you will find out how reliable and easy it is:

First, open the Extension Manager. Do this by going to the กCommandsก menu and choosing กManage Extensions…ก

Second, if you haven’t gotten around to downloading the extension or extensions you want to install, then start downloading them before we go another step further.

Third, since the Extension Manager handle extensions for several programs, as mentioned above, you must make sure that Dreamweaver MX is displayed in the dropdown menu.

After checking out the dropdown menu, go to the กFileก menu and choose กInstall extensionก. This command will open a standard file selector box. Once opened, browse to the file you downloaded and click กInstallก. A disclaimer announcement will appear before you. Be sure to read it and that there are no unexpected requirements for use of the extension, since some extensions happen to have these. After reading, click กAcceptก. And lastly, click กOKก and close and restart Dreamweaver.

If you don’t like to go through all these process we gave you above, you can skip them and install the extension by double clicking on it after you download. You can also import extensions from Dreamweaver 4 into Dreamweaver MX, but not all Dreamweaver 4 extensions will work in MX. There are important points to remember in installing your extension, though, whenever you install quite a large number of extensions, optimal function of Dreamweaver can slow down. Thus, always make sure that you disable extensions you don’t necessarily need.

It’s very easy to disable your extension: first, open the Extension Manager by going to the กCommandsก menu and choosing กManage Extensions…ก Then highlight the extension you want to disable and uncheck them by clicking on the check box next to the extension. Always remember that you may need to restart Dreamweaver to fully disable extensions. If you want to reenable the extensions, just go to the same process. Make sure that the กOn/Offก check box is checked. 30

About The Author

Kay Zetkin discovered the pleasure of writing through her daily journals as a teenager. Writing in it helped sort out her thoughts, relieve her feelings and record what she observes of the world.

For her, writing is an effective tool to express your viewpoints… To write is already to choose, thus, writing should be done along with a critical mind and a caring soul. She hopes to become more professional, skilled and mature in her craft.

Aside from writing Kay likes to spend her time reading. Reading lets her travel to faroff imagined places and situations. She also learns a lot from books, especially from the sociopolitical and historical ones.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit http://www.ucreative.com

kzetkin02@gmail.com

This article was posted on April 25

by Kay Zetkin