• Newbie Basics – The HTML Layout

    Date: 2011.02.23 | Category: WebDesign | Response: 0

    In this article we will look at some HTML tags that you will be using in every HTML document that you create. They are the base for every web page and are the essential pieces of HTML coding to ensure that your pages display correctly.

    The Structure Tags.

    Here is a look at the main structure tags. You will have to get used to these since you will be using them for all your pages.

    We would suggest that you start by copy and pasting the structure into your document then creating my page once they’re in place.

    Make it a habit to ensure that all surfers (regardless of their browsers) will be able to identify your creations. Each of these HTML tags are used in pairs with a start and ending tag in the same way as we mentioned in the previous chapter.

    <HTML> </HTML>

    The HTML tag tells the browser that your page is a valid HTML page.

    The first and last tag on all your HTML documents will be this tag.

    The complete HTML coding for the remainder of your document will be placed between these two HTML tags.

    <HEAD> </HEAD>

    This tag is used to reference your document.

    <TITLE> </TITLE>

    This tag enables you to give your HTML document a title.

    It’s best to insert descriptive text about your page between these tags we will go into this in more detail in the later chapters.

    This will also be the name that is displayed in a web browser’s system tray when someone bookmarks or adds your HTML document to their favorites list.

    <BODY> </BODY>

    The entire coding for your page goes in between these two tags.

    Basically, they mark the beginning and end of your web page’s body. They are the essence of your HTML.

    All your HTML tags in your document will be resting in between these two HTML tags.

    Putting It All Together.

    Now that the main tags have been outlined, it’s time to put them all together. Here is an example of what your HTML documents should look like.

    <HTML>
    <HEAD>
    <TITLE>The Title Of Your Html Document Goes Here</TITLE>
    </HEAD>

    <BODY>

    All your other HTML tags and text goes here.
    This Is the main body of your HTML document.
    At the end of this text you will also see where the closing Body and HTML tags go.

    </BODY>

    </HTML>

    This is the basic structure for any HTML document. Once these tags are in place, the rest is down to you. These Tags are not case sensitive. In other words, you don’t have to use all capital letters like we have in our Chapters. It won’t make a difference to the overall outcome of your tags. However we would recommend using Caps for your tags. It makes them a lot easier to distinguish from all the other sections of your HTML document coding, as you can see in the example above.

    Article written by Lee

  • Pay Per Click Traffic – More Than One Use

    Date: 2011.02.24 | Category: Paid Traffic | Response: 0

    We all know the stigma surrounding getting traffic to our sites and, this is no different with that of the PPC traffic sources. We have all heard varying stories of success and failure when it comes to this type of traffic whether it be from Googles Adwords program, Overture PPC engine listings or in fact, highly targeted Sex.com adult traffic.

    But how much do we all actually know about maintaining this level of traffic once we actually get it and at a minimal cost to our bank balance?

    First of all there seems to be a belief that PPC traffic should be sent to a sponsor or one of our existing sites, this is all good and proper but, what happens when the sites we own or the sponsors we use don’t convert on this traffic do we just give up? For the most part, yes webmasters do tend to give up and mark this source of unrivalled traffic as a flop.

    Enter the world of traffic manipulation.

    We all know about a variety of programs that are available to drive traffic to our existing sites from banner exchanges like Pornclient to text link exchanges like TextPop even to top lists.

    So why don’t we utilize these when we buy PPC traffic? Quite simply many webmasters forget that traffic can be manipulated regardless of where it comes from initially.

    Lets take a simple listing on sex.com, you fund your account and traffic starts to flow, you get 1000 hits per day for as long as you have funds in your account. Were you aware that this 1000 hits could in fact, become 10,000 hits if we actually thought about our pay per click listings.

    How you may be asking especially with so many rules being levied upon us by the PPC traffic sources? Simple, set up a filter page, on this page you should place a single text link which would be your entry link however, you should also place a few other items on the page this is what i will explain next.

    Ideally you want to be able to use the traffic you are paying for in order to build up a larger traffic base this is where the use of such programs as banner exchanges and the likes come in handy.

    As well as your entry link you should also place a banner exchange (or a text exchange) code on your filter page this will mean that for every visit your page gets from the PPC Engine you are accruing credits towards additional visitors.

    In addition to the link exchange you might also like to consider placing a counter on this page specifically, a toplist counter such as Outster or sextracker so, for every page view you receive you get rated further on their toplist.

    Also, as we are on the subject of top lists why not place a text link to one on this page? Even though you are sending your traffic out you are actually getting sometimes in excess of twice that back depending on the toplist you choose to use.

    Now we have the basics set up we need to look at what else we can do to maximize this traffic, i would suggest having a single console (preferably a blur console) load on this page if the PPC SE allows again, this should contain a link exchange of some description however, you will need to make sure that the account you are using is separate to the one on your filter page.

    Finally, remember the entry link, that shouldn’t go directly to your sponsor instead, send it to an FPA (Full Page Ad) first and, on this FPA place a table ad which is pure text at the bottom again, sending this traffic to a variety of other niche filter pages all set up in the same method as the one we have just made above.

    Hopefully by using these methods your ventures into the Pay Per Click search engine world will be more fruitful than the webmasters not using the above method.

    Article written by Lee

  • Golden Rules For Finding A New Domain Name

    Date: 2011.02.22 | Category: Domain Names | Response: 0

    We all know by now that domain names are being registered at an unbelievable rate and, whilst the vast majority of ‘decent’ domain names have already been registered there are still some god domains to be registered and, this article will give you some insight into how you can choose an effective domain for your business purposes – regardless of what they are.

    Avoid Play On Words.

    Whilst sitting at a bar you come up with an idea for a domain www.4play.com and, at the time this might seem like a great domain name to buy however, before you head to your favorite register and purchase the domain stop to think about the long term implications.

    Let me explain this a little more using the example www.4play.com lets think about this, every time you mention the domain in a conversation people are more likely to head across to www.foreplay.com or www.fourplay.com first as a type-in. This is also true of the other abbreviation styles of ‘internet slang’ remember the days of the ‘dot com’ registrations, you know domains such as www.dotsex.com looking back now, these seem ridiculous to have been registered however, at the time they were popular but they died their death years ago.

    Think Investment.

    A good ‘commercial’ domain must be able to distinguish itself from the competition, there are several ways to achieve this for example:

    Consider Your Target Audience.

    Aim your domain at a specific, yet broad market audience. use tools to narrow down what your customers (surfers) are looking for, narrow this list down to a select few domains and then, narrow the list down some more.

    Follow Trends Or… Create Them.

    If you are serious about picking a good domain name or two then be prepared to invest the time required to get a good domain name. Research the latest trends on the internet, see what products or services are ‘hot’ and will be around long term and also see which domains are just a flash in the pan.

    A good example of ‘long term’ domains would be www.europeanwebmasters.com which i registered several years ago when, in all honesty, the foreign markets were not even thought about however, you cant go to any forum nowadays without someone asking about the international marketplace.

    Act On A Whim.

    In complete contrast to my opening statement in this article, if you think you have a solid business idea, act on it, the chances are someone else will also think of the same idea as you and, if you don’t get the domain name first, they will.

    Alternative Buying.

    So you have decided that you do want to buy www.4play.com before you make your purchase have a look at what other variants of this domain are available, for example, you might like to check registrations of www.4-play.com, www.for-play.com, www.forplay.com, etc etc.

    If you have a great business idea, make sure you have all of your bases covered, just because you are starting a new craze, that doesn’t mean the domains will be available for registration tomorrow or next week.

    By purchasing all the variants of the high quality domain you have thought of you are, in effect, eliminating all of the competition you could face long term.

    Don’t Cyber-Squat.

    If you are a serious domain buyer, avoid tailgating on other peoples domain names unless of course, it has enormous potential for example, if someone has registered a generic domain such as www.123456.com but failed to register www.123-456.com why not register the available domain? You are not impeding on anyone’s property rights and, you might benefit from some mis-typed traffic at the same time. As with any type of mis-typed domain, before you register it, seek legal advice, a few dollars spent before registering the domain could save you thousands afterwards.

    Fools Rush In.

    Don’t automatically buy the first domain name you think of, think on it some more, sleep on it if you have to, ask your family and friends on their opinions. Although the really good domain names have virtually almost all gone, its better to carefully think out each and every domain name purchase you make and save yourself some money long term than to rush in and buy a domain that wont be any use and have to register a new domain to take the place of the first.

    In addition to the above don’t sit on a really good domain name idea forever because, forever comes a lot sooner than you may think.

    Hopefully this article has given you some useful information in respect of registering new domain names and you can put this information to good practice when buying domains. Article written by Lee

  • Robots.txt – Control The Robots That Crawl Your Sites

    Date: 2011.02.24 | Category: Search Engine Optimization, WebDesign | Response: 0

    By writing a structured text file you can indicate to robots that certain parts of your server are off-limits to some or all robots. It is best explained with an example:

    # robots.txt file for general use on web servers.

    User-agent: webcrawler
    Disallow:

    User-agent: googlebot
    Disallow: /

    User-agent: *
    Disallow: /cgi-bin
    Disallow: /logs
    The first line, starting with ‘#’, specifies a comment.

    The first paragraph specifies that the robot called ‘webcrawler’ has nothing disallowed: it may go anywhere.

    The second paragraph indicates that the robot called ‘googlebot’ has all relative URLs starting with ‘/’ disallowed. Because all relative URL’s on a server start with ‘/’, this means the entire site is closed off.

    The third paragraph indicates that all other robots should not visit URLs starting with /cgi-bin or /log. Note the ‘*’ is a special token, meaning “any other User-agent”; you cannot use wildcard patterns or regular expressions in either User-agent or Disallow lines.

    Two common errors:

    Wildcards are not supported: instead of ‘Disallow: /tmp/*’ just say ‘Disallow: /tmp’.
    You shouldn’t put more than one path on a Disallow line (this may change in a future version of the spec)
    Ultimately, without the use of robots.txt files on your servers/domains, you are risking a variety of potential problems including, unauthorized access to your cgi directory, unauthorized viewing of your site stats, possible spamming of the search engines by accidental crawling of doorway pages.

    One distinct advantage however of having a robots.txt file on your server is that, quite simply, you will be able to tell when and where your site has been indexed or potentially indexed as, all robots will automatically call for the robots.txt file BEFORE any other page on your server so, as long as you keep an eye open for any calls of this file, you can see who is knocking at your site for indexing purposes.

    Below is a robots.txt example that you can copy and paste into a text document to use on your own server:

    <!–Start Copy Below This Line–>

    User-agent: *
    Disallow: /cgi-bin
    Disallow: /logs

    <!–End Copy Above This Line–>

    The above will allow all spiders to crawl all of your site except the subdirectory’s ‘cgi-bin’ and ‘logs’ which, may be altered to suit any subdirectory’s you do not wish the spiders to crawl on your server.

    Article written by Lee

  • The Web Safe Color Palette

    Date: 2011.02.24 | Category: WebDesign | Response: 0

    The “Web Safe” palette is a bit controversial. It is a set of 216 colors that are, supposedly, guaranteed to appear as intended on all graphical displays when used in HTML, CSS, and images embedded in Web pages. Many Web developers believe that sticking to these colors is one of the holiest commandments in the Web design scripture.

    This was mostly a concern when most computers had 8-bit color displays; these days, most people run at 16-bit or 24-bit color. Although these bit-depths render the Web Safe palette pointless, dithering and quantification bugs in browsers and operating systems still cause problems in 16-bit displays (16-bit display, also known as “High Color” mode or “Thousands of Colors,” is generally problematic). Extensive testing has led to a new palette, called “Really Safe,” whose colors are guaranteed to appear correctly on all displays and all browsers.

    If you use different colors than these, you might see images and backgrounds of the same color appear at a slightly different tint, so that a “box” will be visible around them if the background extends beyond the image’s edges.

    Below is the table of ‘Web Safe’ and ‘Really Safe’ colors, you will see some of the color hex codes are in red, these are ‘Really Safe’ colors.

    Code Color Code Color Code Color Code Color Code Color Code Color
    000000 000033 000066 000099 0000cc 0000FF
    003300 003333 003366 003399 0033cc 0033ff
    006600 006633 006666 006699 0066cc 0066ff
    009900 009933 009966 009999 0099cc 0099ff
    00cc00 00cc33 00cc66 00cc99 00cccc 00ccff
    00FF00 00ff33 00FF66 00ff99 00FFCC 00FFFF
    330000 330033 330066 330099 3300cc 3300ff
    333300 333333 333366 333399 3333cc 3333ff
    336600 336633 336666 336699 3366cc 3366ff
    339900 339933 339966 339999 3399cc 3399ff
    33cc00 33cc33 33cc66 33cc99 33cccc 33ccff
    33ff00 33FF33 33FF66 33ff99 33FFCC 33FFFF
    660000 660033 660066 660099 6600cc 6600ff
    663300 663333 663366 663399 6633cc 6633ff
    666600 666633 666666 666699 6666cc 6666ff
    669900 669933 669966 669999 6699cc 6699ff
    66cc00 66cc33 66cc66 66cc99 66cccc 66ccff
    66FF00 66FF33 66ff66 66ff99 66ffcc 66FFFF
    990000 990033 990066 990099 9900cc 9900ff
    993300 993333 993366 993399 9933cc 9933ff
    996600 996633 996666 996699 9966cc 9966ff
    999900 999933 999966 999999 9999cc 9999ff
    99cc00 99cc33 99cc66 99cc99 99cccc 99ccff
    99ff00 99ff33 99ff66 99ff99 99ffcc 99ffff
    cc0000 cc0033 cc0066 cc0099 cc00cc cc00ff
    cc3300 cc3333 cc3366 cc3399 cc33cc cc33ff
    cc6600 cc6633 cc6666 cc6699 cc66cc cc66ff
    cc9900 cc9933 cc9966 cc9999 cc99cc cc99ff
    cccc00 cccc33 cccc66 cccc99 cccccc ccccff
    ccff00 ccff33 CCFF66 ccff99 ccffcc ccffff
    FF0000 FF0033 ff0066 ff0099 ff00cc FF00FF
    ff3300 ff3333 ff3366 ff3399 ff33cc ff33ff
    ff6600 ff6633 ff6666 ff6699 ff66cc ff66ff
    ff9900 ff9933 ff9966 ff9999 ff99cc ff99ff
    ffcc00 ffcc33 ffcc66 ffcc99 ffcccc ffccff
    FFFF00 FFFF33 FFFF66 ffff99 ffffcc FFFFFF

    Hopefully, you will find a use for the two different color palettes that are now available and, you can begin designing for your surfers, regardless of which browser they use.

    Article written by Lee

  • Billing Solutions For International Surfers

    Date: 2011.02.21 | Category: Billing Solutions | Response: 0

    We all know the lifeblood of the webmaster is to be able to accept credit cards for site access however, with the global markets emerging more and more, many webmasters still do not realize that they can accept credit cards from international countries at little or no extra cost to themselves or, their business.

    Presuming you already have your sites translated into a selection of global formats you need to make sure you can process foreign transactions and, these should be handled differently than regular US based credit card users however. This is what we will approach upon in this article.

    The main reason we own our businesses is to turn a profit and, from a profit making point of view is just how the details below will enable you to benefit your long term global business.

    The first step you need to take in order to correctly ‘charge’ your international customers is to ensure that you are sending them to the right language, after all, over 70% of internet users can not speak English, let alone read it. This is where having some geo-scripting comes in handy on your join page, the second the surfer hits this page he (or she) will be directed to a localized version of your join page.

    Now that you have the surfer on your join page you also need to ensure they have a variety of options available to them to actually finalize the purchase however, you should also ensure that, if they want to view your join page in another language, that they have this as an option too.

    Some alternate payment methods for your international customs could include one or more of the following, PayPal, JCB, Mastercard, Discover, Maestro, EuroDebit, Checks and, of course, a dialer.

    I would however use the dialer as a last minute option should their chosen method of payment not be accepted.

    Even though you may run a ‘recurring’ based site, you might not want to have your foreign surfers recur and risk having their card declined when it comes to authorizing your charge next, for this reason you may like to add the option of a 3 month membership or perhaps a 6 month membership however, make sure you lower the cost of this membership in relation to buying a monthly membership, this might just be the clincher you need to close the international sale.

    As with any purchase the after sales support is also needed, especially if you are wanting your international customer to rebill for several months and, trust me, they WILL rebill, often for in excess of 6 months. They pulled their credit or debit card out for a reason and, they will stay if you can give them more reason too.

    With any type of sale a follow up is always good, many sponsors and processors send out an email automatically upon sign up, however, how many of these emails are written in the surfers native tongue?

    In conclusion, when dealing with international customers you should cater to them NOT make them cater to YOU by doing this you will ensure the longevity of your international business.

    Finally, if you have any type of online business you should carefully consider the global market place as it is growing a rapid rate with millions of new international surfers coming online each year this would be a bad business choice on your part if you were not to cater for them.

    Article written by Lee.

  • Direct Debit Payment Explained

    Date: 2011.02.22 | Category: Billing Solutions | Response: 0

    Something that is very rarely spoken about as a means of payment is Direct Debit, this is a popular payment method across Europe and, especially in the United Kingdom. Direct Debit can offer your surfers a cost effective, easy way to pay for products and services from your site especially, if they have a ‘recurring’ cost associated with them.

    Direct Debit – What Is It?

    Direct Debit is quite possibly one of the simplest ways to collect funds from your surfers basically, a form is filled out by the surfer, where they enter their bank payment details, account number, name, sort code. Then, the form is signed either electronically or, in person by the customer, in this case, electronically by the surfer.

    Once you have the direct form filled in by your surfer, you may continue to deduct funds from the bank account on the Direct Debit form until such a time whereas the surfer cancels the Direct Debit agreement.

    At the present time, around 45% of the population in the UK currently choose to pay their utility bills online by Direct Debit and, around 75% of the total population in the UK have used Direct Debit at least once in addition Direct Debit is also an alternative method of payment in the vast majority of European countries and, it is also used (although not as much) in Australia.

    Direct Debit – What Are The Cost?

    Direct Debit payments cost around $0.5 for you as a merchant to process, however, this charge, rather than happening on the processors side of the transaction, happens when the Direct Debit request hits your banking account.

    This in itself is god news after all, you now ensure that if a membership or product costs $35 per month, you will get virtually the full cost of that membership until such a time when the surfer cancels the direct debit at their bank.

    Direct Debit – An Overview.

    All in all, Direct Debit is probably one of the only payment solutions that allow you to collect the full price from your surfer at the point of sale and, furthermore, because the Direct Debit method of payment is trusted, this offers your surfers something that no other form of payment can – Peace of mind. There is however one major drawback to this method of payment, it is very hard to find processors that will allow you to utilize Direct Debit on your sites in fact, to date, the main use for the Direct Debit payment method has been payments of utility bills, Gas, Electricity, Water Supply, etc however, many financial institutes will let you pay for goods and services using Direct Debit on ‘credit’ terms which can vary from 1 day to a year interest free or, not as the case so often is.

    I strongly feel that within the next 12 months this method of payment could become advantageous to the adult webmaster however, the current online payment processors need to be pushed in order for this to become as widespread as credit and debit card processing is. That said, there are a few online adult companies already accepting Direct Debit as a form of payment so, at least the ‘DD’ revolution has already started.

    Article written by Lee

  • Article Writing For Publicity And Credibility

    Date: 2011.02.21 | Category: Writing | Response: 0

    If you’re looking for a powerful way to get free publicity and build your credibility at the same time, then writing articles may be your answer.

    If you’ve been on the Internet for a while, you’ve probably subscribed to a few ezines including this one, hopefully. Many ezine publishers will include an article written by a guest author. At the end of the article are a few lines of text about the author referred to as bylines or resource box. These lines of text are basically just an advertisement for the writer. They usually contain a couple of lines about the author and a web address.

    The writer gives the publisher permission to publish their article, free of charge, in exchange for the publisher including the author’s bylines.

    By writing articles and allowing them to be published, your articles will have the potential to be viewed by millions of Internet users. They may be published by several ezines with subscriber bases of a few hundred to several thousand. In addition, they may be displayed in ezine archives or on high traffic websites.

    Most ezine publishers prefer short articles between 500 and 750 words. Short “tip” articles of just a couple of paragraphs are also very popular. Articles should be formatted to 65 characters per line or less, including spaces, and written in short paragraph sections.

    When you begin writing your article, avoid using your standard word processing programs, as they do not allow for proper formatting. Instead, use a text editor such as Notepad. It should already be installed on your desktop.

    When you begin typing your article, use a hard carriage return (hit enter) when your text reaches 65 characters, including spaces, and leave a space between your paragraphs. This will enable publishers to easily copy and paste your article into their publication. By taking the time to properly format your article, you will increase your chance of being published significantly.

    Most publishers receive many article submissions each week and only select a few to be published. Here are some basic guidelines to assist you in getting published:

    (1) Make sure you follow the publishers’ submission guidelines. Articles submitted to publishers that don’t follow the submission guidelines will most likely be deleted.

    (2) Make sure your article is properly formatted.
    Publishers won’t take the time to format your article.
    They’ll simply delete it and move on to the next article submission.

    (3) Keep your bylines down to 6 lines or less.
    Publishers will not publish articles that contain excessively long bylines.

    (4) Select a descriptive title to intrigue your readers.
    Use a powerful headline that demands attention and try to keep it all on one line.

    (5) Use proper grammar and spelling.
    Publishers will not take the time to edit your article. Make sure you read your article several times and use spell check.

    (6) Avoid articles that are nothing more than a sales letter.
    Publishers want quality content and will simply delete an article that is written like a sales letter.

    (7) Avoid referring readers to an affiliate URL.
    Articles containing affiliate links may make your article appear to be biased and untrustworthy.

    (8) Write your articles with a sincere desire to teach and inform. Talk to your readers and share your expertise.

    Once you’ve written your article, you’ll need to develop a list of publishers that may be interested in publishing it. The best way to accomplish this is to display your articles on your website. Place a subscription box on each of your article pages to enable your visitors to subscribe. This list should be used to send your new articles to your list of publishers.

    Of course, you are already in one of the right places to start, we are always looking for industry related articles so, if you been given the motivation by reading this article to give it a try why not submit one to us for publication?

    Writing and distributing free articles on the Internet will be one of the best promotional decisions you’ll ever make. Not only will it provide you with free publicity, but if your articles are good, you’ll become a trusted professional in your area of expertise.

    Article written by Lee

  • Adult Employment Vacancies

    Date: 2011.02.21 | Category: Employment | Response: 0

    For some the prospect of being able to work for another company online is something that they may ultimately want to pursue however, just how do you go about finding work for one of the many adult companies and, more importantly, how can you ensure that you have a better chance of being hired for the job once you find the position you would like to have at the company?

    Online Adult Employment – Job Types.

    Working in the adult industry can take many forms however, the most commonly perceived adult industry job is that of a model but, what about other online job vacancies such as graphics designer, marketing manager, sales director, and webmaster support representative, just how do you find out what companies are hiring and more importantly, what adult employment vacancies they have.

    Adult Employment Agencies.

    For many webmasters the chances of finding employment in the adult industry at a ‘regular’ online employment agency such as monster.com may seem impossible however, that said, many of the larger companies have realized the value of the mainstream employment agencies and, as such are now advertising on these sites for their staff but where else can you look? Well there are actually several adult industry employment sites that adult webmasters can look at to find their ideal job for example Adult Staffing, Sexy Jobs and, Adult Help Wanted in addition to several smaller sites operated by companies such as Cybererotica.

    Improving Your Employment Chances.

    So now you know where to look for adult employment opportunities what can you do to ensure you have a greater chance of being hired? Well as with the mainstream bricks and mortar job market having a good curriculum vitae (CV) can be a good start, ensure you keep your CV regularly updated and that it contains pertinent information for the type of job vacancy you are looking for in addition, often the first method of contact you will make with these potential employers will be via email or cover letter, make sure that you spend some time to write a letter that is not only noticeable but, interesting and, more importantly, grammatically correct. Demonstrate in this first stage of contact with your potential future adult employer that you take pride in your work and, you might just get bumped to the top of the ‘must see’ applicants.

    Adult Jobs – Overview.

    Many webmasters forget that there is more to the online adult industry than being able to party with the best of us and, whilst this does form a chunk of the industry overall it is not conducive of you further enhancing your online career, take the time to investigate all of the avenues available to you and, most importantly, make sure you choose a job that you not only want to do but one that you will enjoy, your reputation is the one thing that a potential adult employer will take into consideration, if you have had several previous jobs all lasting for short periods of time, it wont look as good to them as if you have only had a couple of jobs for a lengthier time frame. Most of all remember that whenever you contact a company looking for employers, make sure you are prepared and professional even if it is just sending them a quick email asking for further information.

    Article written by Lee.

  • Domain Name Extensions + SEO

    Date: 2011.02.22 | Category: Search Engine Optimization, WebDesign | Response: 0

    With a slew of new TLD (Top Level Domain) extensions being launched in the first quarter of 2004 in addition to the hundreds already available how many of us actually take time to consider that when we register a .com, .net or, .org domain how will these sites help or hinder us with our search engine work? This is what we will take a closer look at in this article.

    Domain Name Extensions – What Are They?

    First of all, before we look at how the extensions of our domain names can assist us in running our search engine optimization methods we need to understand what the TLD’s themselves are actually for. Domain name extensions are essentially a way to recognize specific locales via the usage of domain names so for example, the domain name extension .com were primarily set up as commercial domain names however, with the commercial use of this extension it has also become, without a doubt the most popular extension for individuals or companies registering new domain names. In addition to the TLD extensions there are also a selection of domains extensions ranging from industry specific extensions such as .aero to country specific extensions such as .co.uk.

    Domain Name Extensions And Search Engines.

    Now we understand what the domain name extensions were put in place for we can now start to look at how they may benefit us in terms of SEO (search engine optimization) for example, head across to http://www.google.com and do a search on something such as ‘penis pills’ you can see from the results shown (01/01/04) that the first 10 results are evenly spread across a range of domain name extensions ranging from .com to .net and also some smaller .go.ro domain extensions. This would lead us to assume that at the current time, Google specifically is not paying to much attention to the extensions of the domain names we are using however, given the recent updates of the last month or two across Google this has also cleaned up a lot of the results that were present 2 months prior to this search in which the .biz extension was highly populated in the rankings.

    Domain Name Extension Abuse + Spam.

    With this slew of new domain name extensions being launched what seems like yearly this also opens up a whole lot of new problems for the webmaster primarily that of the domain name spam. Because domain names can be registered for as little as $5 per year many webmasters have taken to purchasing them, using them to spam the search engines and then, once the search engines discover the spam and remove the offending domains, the webmaster then moves on to new domains in effect, making domain names a disposable commodity to them. Whilst this method will certainly garner traffic for the search engine spammer it will also in turn mean that the traffic that honest webmasters receive from the search engines will be lower.

    Domain Name Extensions And Optimization.

    Hopefully this brief article has given you a little insight into how domain name extensions can both benefit and also detriment your business, by choosing your domain name extensions carefully and, making sure you do your best not to spam the search engines you can make some serious income from pure search engine traffic however, once you start to buy domain names with lesser known extensions to purely spam the search engines you are not only wasting your own money but, are also potentially wasting other hard working webmasters money too.

    Article written by Lee

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