"Just the FAQs" Blog Tour

Toady the New Author is the stop for author MaAnna Stephenson's Blog Tour. Enjoy the excert from her book series "Just the FAQs."

Join nationally acclaimed author, MaAnna Stephenson, on her blog book tour July 6-31. Two decades of technical writing, web design and marketing for countless private clients and community groups have led her to produce a new instructional series titled Just the FAQs, the ultimate user-friendly guides to the technical aspects of internet marketing and promotions.

Each time a blog visitor comments on any or all of the blog stops, they will be entered in a random drawing for two free Just the FAQs classes. Not only that, but every commenter is a winner and will receive a copy of MaAnna Stephenson's e-book the Quick Step Guide. If you haven't already read her books, be sure to pick up the series right here.

Acquiring a Domain Name

There are several ways for you to acquire a domain name. They are held by registrars, which are the agencies who register your domain name. These can be stand-alone registrars, who only sell domain names, or hosting companies that offer an integrated solution for domain name registration and hosting of your Web site pages. Following are a few scenarios for you to consider. (These are not the only situations you may encounter, but they will give you ideas for how you may want to proceed.)

- If you are hiring a designer, you may want to secure your own domain name with a stand-alone registrar.
- If you are hiring a designer, you may want to secure both your domain name and hosting yourself. Some hosts offer an integrated solution for both. In other words, it’s one-stop-shopping. (After consulting with your designer, you may find that you need to change the type of server, such as a Windows server or a Linux server. You may also find that you need more or less hosting space. All of these changes are simple to do and should not deter you from making the purchase yourself. If you feel more comfortable consulting with a designer first, by all means, do so.)
- If you wish to use templates to create the site yourself, you may want to find a provider that has integrated services of domain name registration and site creation templates.

If you wish to acquire a domain name before signing up with a hosting company, you can. Instead of your domain name pointing to a specific server where your files are located, it will simply be “parked.” In other words, it will be registered but not active. This is recommended if you want to secure a domain name before it gets taken by others. It is also a low-cost solution if you are sure of the domain name you want to
use but will not be launching your Web site for some time. Doing it this way secures the domain but keeps you from paying for hosting service you are not yet using.

If you simply want to acquire a domain name for future use, there are several stand-alone domain registrars. You can simply do a search on “domain name” to find them. Most folks doing business still prefer a .com extension. There are a multitude of new extensions and more being created all the time. The public is quite comfortable using these new extensions, so don’t be hesitant to try them. With most registrars, you can search for the domain name and extension you prefer, to see if it is available. If it isn’t, some registrars will provide suggestions for other names or extensions you may want to consider.

Multiple Domain Names

There are several good reasons to acquire multiple domain names. For instance, you can have multiple domain names all point to the same Web page. These additional domains are called “domain pointers”. If you decide to use this feature, be aware that regardless of what domain name the user types in, your main domain name will appear in their browser. The domain pointers will simply redirect them to the main URL, which is conjoined to the main domain name through the DNS. Why does all of this matter? It means that if you decide to use another domain name in the future, you can still have it point to the same home page without disturbing users who already have your site bookmarked under the old domain name.

It also means that when a user bookmarks your site, it will be under the main domain name address. So, if they type in one thing and bookmark another, it could be confusing for them. On the other hand, if you are using a main domain that could be misspelled, having multiple domain pointers with those other spellings could bring you traffic that you might have missed otherwise.

Many folks acquire domains on their personal name. Some business owners acquire domain pointers that use their personal names. So, if a user types in the owner’s name instead of the business name, they will be redirected to the home page of the business. You do not have to point additional domain names. You can simply park them. Often, celebrities will acquire domains with their personal name and park them just to keep others from exploiting the use of it.

For more information about MaAnna Stephenson and her virtual tour, check the schedule HERE.