Blog Moderator | May 16, 2013
The key for any business to be found online is to establish an online presence with a website. But that’s not all it takes. Many well-meaning businesses operate on an “if you build it they will come” philosophy when it comes to their website, but it takes much more than a snazzy website to get customers interested in your business. Luckily, there are a few simple techniques that can help your website rise to the top of search rankings and give your small business a significant competitive advantage if done properly. Below are five of the most important ways to help customers find your small business. If you don't yet have a website, the first step to getting one is to search for and register a domain name. We've made it easy for you on our website here.
1. Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is one of the most important things you can do to help increase traffic to your website. SEO is the practice of strategically using keywords in your website content to help make sure your website can be found by people trying searching for things through Google, Bing and other search engines. Keywords are the descriptions, words and phrases people type into search engines to find what they are looking for. It is important for your site to include the right keywords and phrases so search engines can identify your site as a destination for people interested in what your brand is about. For example, if you own a pizza shop in Boise, ID, it would be wise to include phrases such as “best pizza in Boise” on your home page as that is a commonly searched for phrase by Boise locals who want to know where to get the best pizza. It is also important, however, that these keywords not be overused or underused. It may sound complex, but implementing even a
basic SEO program can greatly increase your chances of finding new customers online.
According to a recent
survey conducted by SearchEngineLand.com, 85% of consumers used the Internet to find local businesses in the past 12 months and one in six consumers use the Internet every week to find local businesses. The proliferation of smartphones and tablets in the consumer marketplace has made mobile search one of the fastest growing ways people find small businesses like yours. Mobile traffic among consumers is exploding and folks aren’t just using their phones to search, but also to make purchases.
According to Forrester Research, by 2016, mobile commerce will reach $31 billion. If your website isn’t already mobile-friendly, meaning easy to use and navigate by mobile users, you may be missing out on business and losing customers and sales. Another thing to consider is that mobile search, because it is routed through telephone company networks, weighs local results more heavily, making mobile search the 21st century replacement for the old Yellow Pages.
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Blog Moderator | Mar 15, 2013
It is no secret that there is a rush to register relevant domain names after any highly publicized event. We saw it with the Royal Wedding, the death of Whitney Houston, and Hurricane Sandy. There are few events so widely publicized as the election of a new Pope, and as expected there was an enormous rush to register domains moments after the names “Jorge Mario Bergoglio” and “Pope Francis I” became known around the world. It has been estimated that well over 600 domains related to the Papacy were registered in the hours following the announcement.
Given that a majority of these registrations are happening on Top Level Domain names powered by Verisign, such as .com and .net, we are able to provide some tools that let you drill down into the details of these surges. For example, Verisign DomainView is a Web and iOS app which shows a real time tag cloud of domains being registered at any given point in time. A look at this app in the hours following the Papal announcement would have shown keywords like “Francis” dominating the cloud.
DomainView also has a handy sub-tool called RZU-Grapher. We did some checking and pulled out a couple of interesting results regarding the news.
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Scott Schnell | Mar 08, 2013
Today, people often turn to the Internet first for information about businesses and products – whether they are shopping online, or simply looking for a business’ address or phone number – making an online presence one of the most important assets for business. No matter the size or the industry, a Web presence is vital for businesses to help ensure customers can access the information they want.
The most important decision a business owner can make when establishing an online identity is choosing the right domain name. In this digital age, domain names are central to all online activity and businesses should take careful consideration when making their choice.
Which Top Level Domains Best Serve Small Businesses?
First, business owners need to ask themselves which Top-Level Domain (TLD) best serves their business. TLDs appear to the right of the dot, like .com, .net, .tv. The domain name industry is a competitive marketplace and there are many TLDs to choose from. When deciding where to build your online identity, a TLD can be as important to your business as your second-level domain (what’s to the left of the dot, i.e., your name, brand or product) for many reasons, including security, credibility and search – which will be how most customers find your site.
For more than two decades, .com and .net have been the TLDs of choice for businesses seeking to establish their online presence because they have global recognition and consistent records of security, availability and stability. They are also the TLDs of choice for many search experts because search engines give more weight to websites on .com and .net, making it easier for them to be found.
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Sean Leach | Feb 28, 2013
As businesses continue to move critical operations online, distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are increasing in frequency, sophistication and range of targets. In a 2011 Verisign study, 63% of respondents reported experiencing at least one attack that year, while 51% reported revenue loss as a result of downtime from the attack. Those numbers are undoubtedly higher today as the size, frequency and complexity of DDoS attacks continue to grow. Mitigation against these types of attacks is challenging and generally requires layered solutions across data centers and the cloud management. The success of these attacks and their ability to damage a company’s infrastructure, revenue and reputation is indicative that many IT managers still haven’t found the right protection formula to proactively mitigate them.
A DDoS attack occurs when a “botnet” (a group of compromised computers) is used to send an overwhelming amount of "bad traffic" to an intended target, such as a company’s website. Computers can become “bots” when they're infected with a virus or other malware through a compromised website or malicious email. This usually happens completely behind the scenes with the user having no idea their PC is part of a botnet. The botnet is directed by a botnet command and control that tells all of the bots who/what/when/where and how to attack. The target of the attack usually spends so much time trying to handle the bad traffic that legitimate visitors, or customers, are crowded out and unable to get to the site.
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Blog Moderator | Dec 23, 2012
We have created this infographic to visualize findings from the latest issue of our quarterly
Domain Name Industry Brief.
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