How to register a website name

Registering your website name

Looking to get on the web but don't know what to name your website or how to register the name? Here are some tips for you:

• Open an account with a Domain Name registratar like GoDaddy, Network Solutions or DirectNIC


• Make sure you keep your login and password in a safe place. You'll need it in the future because without it, you won't be able to edit or renew your listing. Give them an email address you'll most likely keep for a long time as this is the address they will use to send you reminders when your name expires


• Each registrar has a form you can use to see if your name is available. Don't be surprised if your name is already taken as there are companies that buys names in bulk, and then try to sell them to you at exorbitant prices.
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• Keep your name reasonably easy to remember, as your business email will be based on your domain (web site) name. If it's long, full of dashes and tough to spell, it'll create a problem for you later.


• The internet uses extensions to classify a business. Like .com, .net, .biz, .edu (schools), .gov (government), .tv, and .info. If your name is not available as .com, you may want to buy the .net or .biz version. Also, if you can buy the .com, consider purchasing the .net and .biz versions so competitors don't buy them and use the same domain name


• A domain name needs muliple contacts. When you complete the contact fields, make sure it's your information in there so you can access the account later. Important tip: if your web designer registers your site, make sure they put it in your name, not their's, as that could be a real headache later. Whomever's name is in the registration contact information owns the name!


• If you are going to use a web hosting service other than the registrar you selected, make sure to call them and get their "named servers" information. What's this? Simply put, every domain name needs to be associated with a web server (computer) so the internet can find you. Usually they are in the format like this: ns1.servername.net, ns2.servername.net. If you don't know this information when you register your name, you can go back later and change it.


• Buy your names for at least 2 years so you don't have to deal with registering it every year


• Remember, you only "rent" your name and don't own it forever. Be sure to keep your account information and email contact information up-to-date so your registrar can remind you when it's time to renew


• One last thought: you'll get junk email or even junk snail mail telling you it's time to renew and pay some company you never heard of. Delete it or throw it away!

Hope this helps you get your North Carolina business online!

The web gets organized

Have a web site? Here's what made it possible!

Wired magazine notes that 25 years ago today the system of assigning web sites the .com address was tested. This was the significant event that allowed people using the web to type in an actual address instead of a string of numbers.

The impact? Well, trying having your customers remember 201.22.454.99 instead of www.ncwebnews.com. This also opened up the ability to organize the web into .com, .gov, .edu, .org, .biz, etc. These categories allow the physical number of addresses to grow as the internet explodes.

So happy birthday! Read more about this at wired.com.

Free list of internet directories

Get your North Carolina business listed in directories to increase your web traffic

Receiving visitors from Google, Yahoo, MSN and the rest of the search engine pack is certainly the predominant way we get traffic for our websites. But, referrals also come from directories and many of them have free listings. These directory links to your site not only will bring visitors, but help your Google Page Rank.

You'll need to invest some "sweat equity" into building your directory listings by logging onto the sites and first determining if they are appropriate for your website. Next, complete the registration forms and follow their instructions. For example, you may need to activate your registration by clicking a link in an email the directory send to you.

Carefully evaluate any directory that requires a fee for a link. Google may consider this a "link farm" and actually penalize your site. Look at the directory's content first to make sure it's not just a massive link listing with little or no content.

So, feel free to use the list of links below and we hope this pull visitors to your online North Carolina business:

Download the list

Can pay-per-click work for real estate web sites?

Crowded real estate web market may call for pay-per-click advertising

Usually the author is a bit dubious about pay-per-click advertising, what with all the click fraud out there and lack of accountability by the companies that bill you for the services.

However, there are times when a limited pay-per-click campaign can jump start a web marketing plan and even get you out front of the competition.

Case in point, Trudy Gulley is an RE/MAX realtor in Greenville, NC and her website, www.trudygulley.com was revamped in 2008 but suffered from sluggish traffic. Greenville, in Eastern North Carolina, has managed to stay ahead of the housing slump and the real estate agents there are pretty web savvy, so getting top search engine rankings takes a bit of work.

After analyzing housing sales data, we determined the real "hot" market was houses and condominiums within certain price ranges. We decided to dedicate a page on her site for just that price range and set it as our "landing page" (where a visitor is taken to after they click a sponsored link) for our pay-per-click campaign. This approach focused on houses as a product, not on all the "bells and whistles" real estate agents love to put on their sites, turning them into chamber of commerce puffballs rather than direct marketing tools.

Two months into the campaign, her traffic is up 37%, with the landing page doing its job in bringing new visitors.

Trudy needed a quick shot in the arm for her small North Carolina market campaign and a pay-per-click campaign was just the ticket!

Let us know if you have had a similar experience.

Don't take chances with your web site

Know your registrar info and run backups often

People are the same all over. We have web accounts in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona and North Carolina, to name a few. Ask most of these folks for their domain name registration information or ask "when did you last backup your web site" and you get the same answer : "I dunno."

It's common for a web site owner not to understand the process of purchasing a domain name (that's www.yourwebsitename.com). Often, the web developer buys the name, registers it in his or her name and doesn't inform the client. Time goes by, the business gets a new web site designer, and guess what, no one can get into the registrar account! And with tight security these days, the registering company like GoDaddy, DirectNIC or Network Solutions, won't give out any information unless you have the correct credentials. Now, they're stuck.

Moral of the story, buy your own domain names and make sure you are listed as the contact in all the right places. Some registrars want the name of the administrative, business and technical contacts. So that's 3 places to deal with. Next, write down your login and password to the account and keep it safe. Don't fool yourself with "I'll remember it." You won't.

Chances are you have no clue how to backup your web site. Discuss this with your hosting company or web designer. If you don't know how to do it, pay them to do it. It's a great investment.

Digital Business Services recently faced a major issue with our web clients when a major disaster hit the power center next to the data center housing our web server. This fire and explosion at The Planet put 9,000 web servers in the dark for days. Luckily, all of our customers were back online because we had backups of every site safely stored in a second location.

If you're web site is a valuable part of your business, take the steps to protect both its name and data by retaining your registration information and implementing a sound backup strategy.

Put your web site to work

Just because it's hot here in North Carolina, don't let your web site get lazy!

While North Carolina swelters in an early June heat wave, many businesses close up early and head to one of the beautiful beaches along the NC coast. You may be one of those (I confess I am), but your web site still needs to work hard all day, everyday for your business.

What exactly do you want your web site to do for you, anyway? Here's a list I made and see if sparks any ideas for you:

• Generate leads


• Process and track orders


• Display products/services in a “catalog” format


• Allow visitors to request pricing/information via online forms


• Display animated images


• Provide audio and video feeds


• Provide a staff directory


• Profile the company


• Give directions


• List affiliated organizations, associations


• Show case histories, reference accounts


• Link to similar sites


• Educate the visitor via Frequently Asked Questions or other documents


• Send support requests


• Narrow the audience through the use of logins and passwords


• Compile email addresses for newsletters or promotions


• Present a complete online commerce site from order to payment to shipping


• Conduct online auctions


• Train the visitor


• Something I haven’t thought of yet

If you're web site is just sitting there like a seagull on an Ocracoke Island piling, you're wasting a great opportunity to build your business. Put it to work. Make your own list of what you want your web site to do and do it!

Charlotte does it again!

Charlotte, NC included in CNN Money's Top 100 Cities for Small Business Opportunities

Charlotte is one of the Top 10 cities in America for small business opportunities according to a CNN Money study. Durham came in 12th, and Raleigh, 20th. Asheville and Greensboro also made the list.

Not to say "we told you so," but readers of North Carolina Web News learned June 2 that Charlotte was already on top of our informal study regarding the number of business, government and educational websites in the Tar Heel State.

CNN Money reports "this national financial hub is home to big names like Wachovia and Bank of America, but the oak-tree-lined city is also a great place to launch and grow a small business.


Regional organizations such as the local Small Business and Technology Development Center, the Inventors Network, and the Central Piedmont Community College's Center for Entrepreneurship supply a mix of mentoring, networking and technical assistance to innovative entrepreneurs, especially those in the finance and technology fields. To help develop the city's biotech industry, a research complex sponsored in part by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte is set to open its labs this year to scientists and startups involved in healthcare and nutrition research.


Charlotte's vibrancy and employment opportunities attract young professionals from around the state and help the city retain many of the graduates streaming out of 19 nearby colleges and universities. But as the city's population has increased, so has its cost of living. Some neighborhoods like Ballantyne, Cotswold, and Plaza Midwood offer affordable options.


For sports entertainment, Charlotte residents can snag tickets to Carolina Panthers football games and Nascar races. The city also features a number of premier golf courses including the exclusive Quail Hollow club, where Tiger Woods has played. The Blumenthal Arts Center hosts touring musicians and Broadway shows throughout the year. For those who prefer outdoor recreations, the Great Smokey Mountains offer hiking, rock climbing and white-water rafting, while residents turn to Lake Norman for fishing, sailing and water skiing." -Brandi Stewart



Charlotte ranks 8th on the list of 100, with Bellevue, WA ranked number one.


There's lot of exciting things going on North Carolina, and plenty of web-related business opportunities to boot!

Top 10 Wired North Carolina Cities

Charlotte tops list as most web-centered city in North Carolina

Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina, top Digital Business Services' "most wired" list for number of websites, according to our very informal internet research.

Based on our personal research, statistics gathered through marketing databases and online directories, we can account for 31,760 website throughout the state that include business, commercial, educational and government sites. This doesn't include any personal sites or sites we just couldn't find. So, we'll concede our margin of error is probably pretty big, but at least it's a start.

We could find 4,738 relating to Charlotte, 2,845 for Raleigh, 1,195 for Winston-Salem, 1,055 for Greensboro, 1,012 for Wilmington, 976 for Asheville, 700 for Fayetteville, 643 for Durham, 607 for Cary and 464 for Chapel Hill. We found 497 for Gastonia, 488 for Greenville and 287 for Statesville.

Doesn't take a rocket scientist to note the relationship between the number of business, education, commercial and government web sites to the general population.

Does this mean the small business owner in Knightdale (49) can't survive on the web? Not at all. Fortunately, the web has no geographic limits, so the web-savvy businessperson can do quite well regardless of location.