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The value of a domain name is something that many individual or corporate domain owners puzzles over and over again. Many forums are full of the question “What is my domain worth?” and the most astounding appraisals in answer thereof.

Basically, a domain is just as much worth as a potential buyer is willing to pay for it for one reason or another. Yet there are certain points of reference based on general experience and a number of other factors that can apply in a domain name appraisal. Therefore Hosting Direct 24 offers domain name appraisals as a service for its customers. You can either get a quick assessment or a certified appraisal based on an in-depth review of critical industry standards, including the history of your domain, market trends, demand for your domain and additional qualitative factors that may affect your domain market value.

While a quick appraisal gives you a good idea about the value of your domain stock a certified appraisal is an essential point of reference in the domain sale process for both buyer and seller and will certainly underpin the asking price for a given domain. Furthermore, sellers are protected from fake potential buyers requiring an appraisal prior to the deal at a company of their choice with excessive pricing.

Virtual dedicated servers from Hosting Direct 24 offer many of the capabilities and features of dedicated servers, including admin (root) access and dedicated IP addresses, but at a much lower price. However, as a virtual dedicated server is, indeed, virtually dedicated, the customer in fact shares the server space with a small number of other customers. But because each virtual dedicated server is effectively isolated from other accounts on the server, the user has full control over the server space. As well, our virtual dedicated server plans feature very high performance and available disk space and bandwidth.

Virtual private servers, which enable hosting providers to offer virtual dedicated servers, are based on the concept of partitions on mainframes that allow each division to function as a virtual standalone server dedicated to a single customer. To ensure high and reliable performance for all accounts, Hosting Direct 24 server boxes are partitioned in such a way that each virtual dedicated server operates almost entirely independently of the other accounts that share the server space. This means that with a virtual dedicated server, you will enjoy consistent, high performance, even when usage peaks on the main server.

Virtual dedicated servers are particularly useful for companies and individuals that run higher-traffic Web sites or complex applications and thus need the bandwidth, consistent performance, and flexibility of a virtual dedicated server.

Verisign has just released a report about the development of the domain name industry. Here is what they write:

Domain names continue to show growth across the Internet, according to the second quarter 2009 Domain Name Industry Brief published by VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services for the networked world.

The second quarter of 2009 ended with a total base of 184 million domain name registrations across all of the Top Level Domains (TLDs). This represents a one percent increase over the first quarter of 2009 and growth of nine percent over the same quarter of last year.

During the second quarter, Country Code TLDs (ccTLDs) rose by 14 percent year over year to 74.4 million domain names — a total that represents a one percent rise from the first quarter of 2009. The base of ccTLDs domain names was impacted by a loss in base for .cn and .eu. In terms of total registrations, .com remains the most popular TLD category, followed by .cn (China), .de (Germany) and .net. This mix remains unchanged from last quarter.

The overall base of .com and .net domain names grew to 93.5 million domain names during the second quarter of 2009. This represents a one percent increase over the first quarter of 2009, a seven percent increase over the same quarter of the previous year, and a 28 percent increase over the second quarter of 2007.

VeriSign’s average daily Domain Name System (DNS) query load during the second quarter increased from 38 billion to 49 billion per day, resulting in hundreds of millions of Internet users accessing Web sites or sending email. This is a 29 percent increase from the 38 billion daily queries average in first quarter 2009. Managing the increasing traffic on the Internet reflects VeriSign’s continued investments in its DNS infrastructure, which have enabled the company to maintain a record 100 percent uptime of its network over the past 11 years. That track record has earned VeriSign the reputation of being one of the most reliable and trusted networks in the world.

VeriSign publishes the Domain Name Industry Brief to provide Internet users throughout the world with significant statistical and analytical research and data on the domain name industry and the Internet as a whole. Copies of the 2009 second quarter Domain Name Industry Brief, as well as previous reports, can be obtained at www.verisign.com/domainbrief.

Good news for all our e-commerce clients and those willing to open their own virtual storefront. Now it will even be easier to increase your sales and customer base by helping new shoppers find your store!

With the latest update to our Quick Shopping Cart Hosting Direct 24 adds exciting new features designed to help you improve your results on top search engines like Google®, Yahoo!® and even Bing™, the new search engine from Microsoft.

With this latest version of Quick Shopping Cart, you can optimize your product pages for search engines by adding meta tags to every product page. Plus, two new storefront preferences help you instantly convert your URLs so search engines can index your site more effectively. You can even add a search-friendly static sitemap for increased exposure of your store.

Play Quick Shopping Cart Video

New Tool to Optimize Your Internet Presence and to Get Your Web Site Noticed

According to analyst firm Netcraft, there are more than 238 million Web sites online. Getting a Web site noticed online can be daunting, which is why we decided to offer Search Engine Visibility.

Search Engine Visibility walks users through a step-by-step process to make their Web site search engine friendly. This not only makes a search engine more likely to index the entire site, but to help get the Web site higher in search engine rankings.

Search Engine Visibility lets users optimize their site by defining keywords, analyzing content and tracking keyword performance. Search Engine Visibility also provides a “Top 10 SEO Checklist,” which helps identify commonly made mistakes and techniques on how to make a Web site stronger.

Search Engine Visibility also provides a video tutorial and other educational materials which help users understand the search engine optimization process. Once a Web site is optimized, users can submit their Web site to the most commonly used search engines on the Internet.

Users can call our 24/7 customer care representatives if they have any questions during the optimization process.

WordPress 2.8.1 has recently been released as stable version. This release fixes some errors in version 2.8 released just over a month ago. The changes and improvements are detailed in the Wordpress development blog.

Here are some of the changes made in WordPress 2.8.1. The focus was on fixing a number of bugs and correcting some security issues with the plugin administration:

• Certain themes were calling get_categories() in such a way that it would fail in 2.8. 2.8.1 works around this so these themes won’t have to change.
• Dashboard memory usage is reduced.  Some people were running out of memory when loading the dashboard, resulting in an incomplete page.
• The automatic upgrade no longer accidentally deletes files when cleaning up from a failed upgrade.
• A problem where the rich text editor wasn’t being loaded due to compression issues has been worked around.
• Extra security has been put in place to better protect you from plugins that do not do explicit permission checks.
• Translation of role names fixed.
• wp_page_menu() defaults to sorting by the user specified menu order rather than the page title.
• Upload error messages are now correctly reported.
• Autosave error experienced by some IE users is fixed.
• Styling glitch in the plugin editor fixed.
• SSH2 filesystem requirements updated.
• Switched back to curl as the default transport.
• Updated the translation library to avoid a problem with mbstring.func_overload.
• Stricter inline style sanitization.
• Stricter menu security.
• Disabled code highlighting due to browser incompatibilities.
• RTL layout fixes.

For the full list of changes made since version 2.8. click here.

Do you think you have a good Domain name in mind for your site?

WAIT!
Before you rush out register it there are a several things you need to consider.

• How many people are searching for your main keywords?
• What other words describe your site?
• How competitive is your market?
• Does the domain name describe your sites contents?
• How easy is the url to remember?

Existing Businesses

If you have an existing business you already have brand name recognition so its important to include your business name.

i.e. www.shopname.com

If that domain is taken then consider how people will search for your site. Most people will google something like (shop name) + (city) so  why not name it www.shopnamecity.com or www.shopname-city.com these domain names will almost certainly be available.

Online Businesses

Very Important – Do people want what you’re selling?

Before you rush ahead & spend hours developing a site with no value think of 6 or more words that best describe your idea.

Go to Wordtracker (it’s free) & see how many people are searching those exact words. List the words according to the # of searches.

Now you now know 2 things:

1. Is this an idea worth pursuing?
2. What words generated the most searches.

Obviously, if  very few people are searching for your main keywords then this idea is not worth pursuing as an e-commerce business. Save your money & register for a free blog at www.blogger.com if you are really dedicated to the idea.

If your keywords have significant Google search volume you can move on. Don’t worry about competition at this stage, it is more important that there are a lot of searches.

Armed with your keywords you are now ready to find the perfect domain name for your new business.

Write down some options using the most popular keyword or a mixture of your keywords. It helps if your domain name is descriptive of the site’s content.

A person searching the internet for  E-Commerce will click www.E-CommerceNewbie.com before  www.mywebsite.com.

TIP – Hyphens as in E-Commerce are not generally a good idea however using Wordtracker you will find that more people search for E-Commerce than eCommerce.

Web hosting has become more of a commodity these days. The main elements of any web hosting plan are disk space and bandwidth. Disk space is the space you have allotted on the web server to store your website. Bandwidth is an amount you have available to transfer web pages from the web server to the browsers of visitors to your site. Web pages and graphics consume bandwidth or capacity on the web. Bandwidth and disk space cost money.

The network lines that carry data around the web (optic fiber, cable, copper wire etc) have a finite capacity. There is a limit to the amount of data that can be transferred at any point in time. Likewise, the hard drive of a web server has a limited amount of space determined by the physical size of the hard drive.

Many hosting companies claim to offer “unlimited” plans (both disk space and bandwidth), but be aware that there are physical limitations to both disk space and bandwidth. Before you buy an “unlimited” plan, know what you’re getting into.

The Attraction to Unlimited
When consumers decide they want to place a website on the internet, they are often unaware of the fact that there are limitations. Unlimited is attractive because it requires no further thought. If it’s unlimited then I never need to worry about running out right? Although this is understandable, there are risks with purchasing unlimited plans.

The Unlimited Myth
Many web hosting companies offer “unlimited” as a plan feature. It is impossible for any provider to actually provide an unlimited amount of bandwidth or disk space. It’s just not possible.

So Why Do Unlimited Plans Exist?
Most websites only consume a very small amount of bandwidth and disk space. Web hosting companies that provide unlimited anything as a plan feature are banking on the fact that you won’t use very much. Unlimited is a marketing trick to get your business. The web hosting market is very competitive. Although selling plans that pretend to be unlimited can seem dishonest, it does not mean that the hosting company will not provide good service. Check in the hosting company’s Terms of Service: there will probably be a note about what “unlimited” really means.

When Are Unlimited Plans Ok?
If you have a small website and know that it will not consume too much space or bandwidth, then unlimited plans make your choices a bit easier to understand. Most plans that offer unlimited will have some restrictions such as no audio or video downloads. The reason audio or video downloads are typically not allowed in unlimited hosting plans is because these types of files consume significant bandwidth and disk space which exposes the host to the risk of having to add more hard drive space and bandwidth, which costs them more money. If you choose an unlimited plan and you know your needs won’t be very intensive then you won’t run into any problems.

So What Is The Best Thing To Do?
The best course of action is to plan ahead. Calculate what type of bandwidth and disk space you will need for your site then multiply it by 2 just to allow for expansion. Remember, you can always buy more bandwidth or disk space if you need – often for only a few dollars a month extra.

Microsoft Outlook earned its place as the world’s most popular email software by making it easier for users to stay connected, manage their schedules, increase their productivity and more. Powered by Microsoft’s Hosted Exchange service, here are the top 10 ways Outlook can work for you.
1. Instantly search all your information.
Having problems finding the information you need? Use Office Outlook 2007 to search for keywords, dates or other flexible criteria to locate items in your e-mail, calendar, contacts, or tasks.
2. Easily manage your daily priorities and information.
Check your priorities for the day by looking at the To-Do Bar where your flagged mails and tasks are clearly laid out.
3. Get better results faster with the redesigned Microsoft Office Fluent™ user interface.
Office Outlook 2007 has redesigned the look and feel so you now have all of the rich features and capabilities of Outlook in an accessible and streamlined location.
4. Connect with people easily and effectively.
New Office Outlook 2007 calendaring functionalities provide easy ways to share your calendar with anyone within or outside of your organization, giving your important contacts immediate access to your information.
5. Enjoy increased collaboration and functionality with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.
Office Outlook 2007, used in conjunction with Exchange Server 2007, offers a rich and complete Outlook experience. Users benefit from a new scheduling assistant that automates time-consuming calendaring tasks, the ability to schedule and customize out-of-office communications, and managed folders that facilitate compliance needs.
6. Manage your shared information and content in one interface.
Office Outlook 2007 provides rich interaction with information stored in Windows SharePoint Services technology at any time. You can connect Windows SharePoint Services documents, calendars, contacts, tasks, and other information to Office Outlook 2007, giving you a central place to manage your information.
7. Enjoy new measures that help keep you safe from junk e-mail and malicious sites.
Office Outlook 2007 has taken new measures to help keep you safe from junk mail and phishing Web sites. To help protect you from divulging personal information to a threatening Web site, Office Outlook 2007 has an improved junk e-mail filter and has added new features that disable links and warn you about threatening content within an e-mail message.
8. Send text messages from Outlook with one easy click.
Outlook Mobile Service is a feature of Outlook that enables you to send and receive text and picture messages between Office Outlook 2007 and any mobile phone.
9. Organize your information in new, rich ways.
Using Color Categories in Office Outlook 2007, you can easily personalize and add categories to any type of information—e-mail, calendar items, contacts, or tasks.
10. Manage all your communication in one interface.
With Office Outlook 2007, you can now read and manage your Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds and blogs right from within Office Outlook 2007, so you no longer have to leave Outlook to read the latest world news, catch up on your favorite sports team, or remain up to date on interesting blogs.

The Public Interest Registry is the first open Top-Level Domain (TLD) to be signed with domain name security extensions

.ORG, the Public Interest Registry, the company behind the .ORG domain name, is the first open generic Top-Level Domain to successfully sign the .ORG zone file with Domain Name Security Extensions (DNSSEC).  To date, the .ORG zone is the largest domain registry to implement the security measure.

“We feel that implementing DNSSEC is a fundamental step in the upgrade of Internet security and stability,” says Alexa Raad, CEO of .ORG, The Public Interest Registry.  “With continuing growth of the Internet and the increasing number of applications depending on the DNS, this is a critical step in the evolution of the Internet.    Pioneering technologies which are in the public interest, such as DNSSEC, are core to .ORG’s mission.”

In June 2008, the PIR proposal to implement DNSSEC within the .ORG zone was unanimously approved by the board of Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) after a thorough review by ICANN’s Security and Stability Committee. As the first open generic Top Level Domain authorized to implement DNSSEC, .ORG launched the DNSSEC Industry Coalition in August 2008 to execute an industry wide education and adoption plan within the Internet infrastructure community.

“This is a major step forward in improving security for Internet users and we congratulate PIR on this enormous accomplishment,” said Ram Mohan Executive VP and CTO for Afilias, PIR’s technology provider. “While Afilias’ registry and DNS technology will ensure that the .ORG zone is properly signed with DNSSEC, the additional collaboration with testing partners during the quiet period will provide intelligence for live use scenarios to ensure for the best possible end user experience when .ORG owners add this technology to their domains.”

Signing the .ORG zone is an important step to realizing full DNSSEC implementation across the Chain of Trust.  PIR will initially take a phased approach to full production readiness with DNSSEC for end users.  The registry will be in a DNSSEC quiet period to manually test the signed zone to mitigate any risks to the larger .ORG community.

“While DNSSEC will not solve all the problems associated with DNS, it is an important step towards increased authentication of DNS responses. I hope other Top-Level Domains will follow PIR’s lead,” says Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist, Google.