Tradebooster Blog

The .IN registry has changed Renew Grace Period for all .IN Domain Names from 40 days to 15 days. This implies that if you own a .IN domain name, you will now get only 15 days grace to renew the domain name after its date of expiry. The domain shall thereafter be placed in Redemption Period and the cost of restoring the domain name during Redemption shall be 10X the price of 1 year renewal.

Please note that this new policy of 15 days applies only to .IN Domain Names expiring on or after the 14th of January, 2010. All .IN Domain Names that have expired before this date will continue to have a Renew Grace Period of 40 days.

So, if you own a .IN domain name and would like to renew the same, please do get in touch with our support staff at support@tradebooster.com or call us at +91-9310052735 or visit our online hosting portal at http://www.tradebooster.com/hosting to renew your domain online.

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Purchasing an existing domain which is profitable can give a huge boost to your online business as a prized domain name has the potential to draw huge traffic to your website. However, the purchase of an existing domain name is not always lucrative and hence it is best to indulge in thorough research before determining on an existing domain name.

The best way to prevent frustrations and disappointments associated with buying an inferior existing domain name is to research the subject thoroughly. Alternatively, you can also avoid these issues by hiring the services of a reputed firm as such as Tradebooster. You need to establish that the determined existing domain name is valuable and has the potential to fetch you good returns in the long term.

There are a number of things you should check for in a good existing domain name.

• Top level domains such as .com, .biz and .info are the best ones to look for when you are looking for a profitable domain name. They have a lot of commercial value, are easy to remember and are amongst the most preferred of domains. The inherent commercial value of a domain that has a high page rank (the value assigned by Google to your website or webpage) will raise its value among prospective buyers, so the page rank is the most important factor you should look for.
• Research the domain you are going to buy. You can get a lot of information on this from Google. Try the Google search engine. To quickly determine whether your site is still in our index, just perform a Google site search for its entire URL eg. site:preferreddomainname.com.You can also learn about the ranking of the existing domain from this tool. Find out about its ranking as well whether it still exists in the Google index.
• One of the most important aspects of domain name relate to the quality of the incoming links. Organic links are better for this purpose, compared to those that do not come to the domain directly. If you are wondering what an organic link is, it is a link that comes in from another website that has a good page rank on the search engine.
• Another factor you should consider is the age of the existing domain. Find out who created the domain and when. The commercial value of the domain will increase with the life span of the domain, so make this a key ingredient in your searches. You can use the WHOIS service at Tradebooster Domains to look for information on this factor.

An existing domain that has all the qualities above is a great deal, so make sure you invest the time required to check these out.

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As discussed in our previous post, domain thefts are very often the result of the ignorance and neglect of the owner of the domain name. It is good to know that domain theft can be avoided to a great extent by exercising some caution and diligence. Here are some additional tips on avoiding domain name theft:

Safeguard your admin email

It is highly recommended that you limit the access to your admin to yourself. However, in unavoidable circumstances, it is best to share the access with individuals whom you trust completely. You should also minimize the possibility of email hijacking by securing a personal domain as your email, as personal domain emails are comparatively less susceptible to theft and hijacking.

Acquire the rights to your domain name in all the popular domain extensions such as .biz, .com, .info and .net. This can avoid domain theft to a large extent as it becomes difficult for the cyber squatter to deflect traffic from your domains. It also makes it difficult for them to offer products and services similar to yours on similar domain names. You can also go one step ahead by acquiring the rights to all misspellings of your domain name.

Register a trademark

Registering a trademark is undoubtedly one of the best ways to safeguard your brand identity and domain name. You can check www.uspto.gov to find authentic information on registering trademarks and copyrights.

Register domain names for multiple years

Expiration is a major cause of domain theft and that is one reason why registering a domain name for multiple years can minimize the probability of losing a domain name.

Seek the Services of a reputed firm which deals with the sales, registration and appraisals of domains. A reputed firm such as Tradebooster would ensure that:

• Your domain is locked at the registrar as well as the registry.
• Your domain account is set to high security, which in turn would require email verification for crucial changes such as registrant changes, DNS and transfers.
• All the requests are denied unless they are initiated and authorized by the registrant.
• You are contacted personally to check the authenticity of the request even in the instance of slight doubt on the legitimacy of the request.

By following the safety measures listed above, you can be assured of a secure domain name, which in turn would inadvertently result in a very strong online presence.

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Fabulous.com partnered with NameJet in August 2008 to put up all the expiring domain names owned by the company for sale. Very recently in August 2009, the company has opened this service to the public. One of the representatives of Fabulous.com said,

“You may remember that in 2008 Fabulous.com partnered with NameJet to sell our expiring domains. After thorough testing on our own portfolio we are pleased to announce that this program is now available to you. As an additional revenue opportunity, the Fabulous.com Expiring Domains Service has delivered fantastic results for our own portfolio and those customers that were selected for our beta testing program. With the minimum sale price being US$69, it is a great way to squeeze out some final revenue before letting your domains expire.”

One of the most striking features of this service is that the domain owners would receive as high as 60% of the total sales value. The renewal fee is deducted from this amount for all the domains traded through this service. Once the parties come to a consensus on Expiring Domain Sales Agreement as well as Domain Inventory Management Agreement, the expiring domain names of your account which are not listed as ‘never sell’, inadvertently fall in the category of domain list for sale at NameJet.

The best part is that one can still renew the domain name within 30 days of the expiry date. Conversely, once the 30 day period lapses, the domain owners suffer the loss of ownership of the domain with this service.

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Innumerable popular domain names are getting stolen every year. More often than, the domain name theft is a result of the inability of the organization to safeguard its domain name against potential thieves. This article aims at providing the you with some amazing tips that will protect your domain name from potential thieves such as hackers, third parties, cyber squatters, own employees, scam artists,  add-site squatters, porn squatters and several other domain thieves.

Do not entrust third parties to register your domain name

To ensure the security of your domain name, it is quintessential that you are in charge of any and all information associated with your domain. It is highly recommended that you seek the services of a reputed company such as Tradebooster to secure domain names for you. You should also ensure that your domain registrar has your accurate contact information. This is especially crucial as all changes to your domain account and registration can be controlled only through the registrant email address.

I feel it mandatory to stress here that you should not hire third parties such as freelancers and companies without repute. While it can seem to be an easier option, it can lead to greater problems in the long run.

Secure your domain account information

Keep all the crucial domain account information such as domain account number, password and login name secret at all times.  Do not divulge this information to any third party. It is also a possibility that hackers can change your registrant information. This is one reason why, you should set a password which contains characters of both cases as well as numbers.

Lock your domain name

All reputed domain registrars encourage domain locking and they do this to ensure that your domain name is secure. Domain locking initiates an automatic email as soon as your domain registrar receives a transfer request from a third party.  Domain lock plays a crucial role in such a situation, as there is a huge possibility that the transfer request is automatically approved if you fail to respond to the email, provided you do not have a domain lock.

Verify your domain registrant information regularly

Access the Whois database frequently to ensure that all your domain account information and contact details are correct. Whois information is generally listed through your registrar..

It is good to understand that the above list is not exhaustive and there are several other tips which can help you secure your domain name and avoid its theft. I would discuss those points in detail in the coming posts.

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This is a question that we have been asked time and again by our customers for the last 10 years. So we thought it would be nice to address this on our blog where not only our customers, but the public in general can obtain information about this.

Each new domain name has something called an extension like .com, .net, .org, .in, .us, .co.uk, .biz, .info and the like. The database for each domain extension is maintained by a company called Registry. Now different registries handle information about domain names differently. There are certain registries like the .com and .net registry which maintain only limited data about the domain name in its database eg. the domain name, the registration and expiry dates, the name server information. Other information about the registrant is maintained by the registrar who registered your domain name. We refer to such registries as thin registries. Other registries like .org, .biz and .info maintain complete information about the domain name in its database. Such registries are referred to as thick registries.

Typically from the time the information about your new domain is added to the registry’s database, it takes about 12-24 hours for your domain to become active and start receiving emails / web traffic. However, most providers try to play safe and still commit time frames of 24-72 hours for a complete propagation over the Internet. Our practical experience however shows that domain names for thick registries start resolving faster as compared to domain names for thin registries. This time frame of how soon the domain becomes active actually depends on the DNS policies of the ISP which is sending traffic to your domain name. ISPs in the remote locations usually cache DNS entries for longer periods to speed up Internet access for their customers. However, decent ISPs usually either do not cache DNS entries at all or refresh their DNS server once every 1-2 hours. So you can actually start receiving traffic on your new domain name practically within 1-2 hours from the time the registration is completed. However, please allow around 24-48 hours for a full propagation.

And by the way, we forgot to mention. All the discussion above is valid only when the hosting account for your domain is setup at the same time when your domain name is registered.

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You can transfer your domain to Tradebooster by contacting us directly to make your transfer request. Please be certain that you meet the following requirements:

Your current Admin Contact email address is valid, and you can respond to a confirmation message sent to that address.

Your domain registration is at least 60 days old, or has been with the current Registrar for at least the same period.

Atleast 15 days are left for the domain to expire. You can verify any aspect of your current domain record, including expiry date at http://domains.tradebooster.com.

You need to provide us with a transfer key that can be obtained from your previous registrar / reseller.

Please be aware that this process will normally take about a week to complete, and there is a fee equal to 1 year of domain registration for the transfer of domain name. The fee will add an additional “domain year” to your registration in the transfer process. Again, you will be able to view this newly extended expiry date at http://domains.tradebooster.com.

For any assistance on transferring your domain you may email us on support@tradebooster.com or call us on +91-9310052735.

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We have been writing some articles in the past giving tips on choosing the right domain name, what happens if the domain expires and so on. However, we have missed a VERY VERY IMPORTANT ADVICE for our customers and for people in general.

Generally customers get their domains registered through intermediaries who normally handle their IT work. This intermediary may be your office staff or an external outsourced solutions provider. In the haste of things the business owner normally just specifies the domain name to be booked. This intermediary goes ahead with the domain registration by registering the domain name with either his own credentials or with some dummy credentials. Everything seems fine TILL

1. Either this staff leaves your organisation
2. The outsourced company goes out of business
3. You plan to switch your provider.

It is at this juncture the new vendor requires information about your domain account with the registrar. Under normal circumstances the domain registrar will entertain requests from the Administrative Contact specified for the domain name which in this case would have been your staff who has already quit or the outsourced company which is either out of business or would normally be non-supportive since you plan to switch providers.

We have in our experience seen 100s of such cases and hence would like to advise all our customers to provide the correct contact details while registering your domain name. This is VERY VERY IMPORTANT as in most of such cases we have had either a very difficult time in obtaining this information or the customer has had to change his domain name.

Your domain is your business. So please do not jeopardise your own business in the hands of either your staff or your vendor. Give complete and correct registration details.

If the registration details require a change during the tenure of domain validity, then please advise your staff / vendor to make the requisite changes to the domain record and ensure this is done. The process of verification is very simple. Just go to any WHOIS service like http://domains.tradebooster.com/domain.php?action=whois and check the details of your domain record.

Please safeguard your business. Do not lose your domain due to this small issue.

In case you require any assistance from us on the same, please feel free to contact us on +91-9213943166 or support@tradebooster.com or http://www.tradebooster.com/contact-us.

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Your domain name is the center of your Internet identity. So what type of things should you take into consideration when choosing the name that will represent you on the Web?

1. Keep the name short.

Long domain names are hard to remember and type. If your company is called Total Internet Solutions Private Limited, do not choose your domain as totalinternetsolutionsprivatelimited.com. This name is gigantic and very hard for people to remember. Keep the name short like tispl.com.

2. Choose the right domain extension.

When the World Wide Web started .com represented commercial establishments, .org represented non-profit organisations and .net represented companies in the technical / IT field. However with the sudden boom in the late 90s and early 2000, companies found it difficult to obtain names with the correct extension. To overcome this issue various other domain registries were started like .biz and .info. Then came the country specific extensions like .in, co.in, .org.in, .net.in, .ac.in, .co.uk, .us and others. The most recent geographic extension is .asia. As far as possible try to obtain the name that most closely represents your business, is short and choose the right extension. If you are primarily operating in the Indian sub-continent, go for a .in or .co.in domain name. Since this extensions are relatively new and there is not so much craze for it, there is a very high chance that you would be able to obtain your preferred domain in these extensions.

3. Avoid Trademarked Names

There are two reasons for this. One, its not ethical. Two, if you are wanting to make a quick buck by selling a trademarked name, companies are no longer opening their pocketbooks to get their names back. They are calling their lawyers. So why get into this hassle at all.

4. Allowed Characters

Domain names can only use letters, numbers, and dashes. Spaces and symbols are not allowed. Also, domain names are not case sensitive.

5. Avoid Names with confusing spellings

Avoid using confusing names specially the ones that have the same character twice in the name like justtimepass.com. Or if it is mandatory for you to register such a domain, then register both the names, i.e. justtimepass.com and justimepass.com and set up the hosting account in such a way that Internet traffic for both the domains is routed to the same place.

6. Ask your friends and relatives about the name

When you have settled on several available name choices, see what your friends and clients have to say. A name that may make perfect sense to you may be too hard for other people to remember.

7. Register it NOW

Once you have done all the ground work, register the preferred names immediately, before you get stuck with ‘i-did-not-want-this.net’ .

Call us or email us NOW or just go to Tradebooster Domains to register your domain in real time.

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We had explained the domain process in one of our previous posts. Assume that you waited for the domain to be publicly available and before you could register it, somebody else booked it. Now what?

Step 1. Don’t panic
Step 2. Go to a whois service and check who has registered the domain.
Step 3. If you see that the domain registrant is a genuine company, then there is very little likelihood that you would get the domain back. Try contacting them to see if they can give it you.
Step 4. If you see, the domain has been grabbed by a fake company or a domain grabber, then DO NOT EVER CONTACT THE COMPANY. If you contact them they would know that you need the domain desperately and quote obnoxious prices for it.
Step 5. As per new ICANN policy, there is a surrender period of 5 days i.e. a person can surrender the domain within 5 days from its registration date. Most domain grabbers just grab the domain and if somebody contacts them in this period, they DO NOT surrender the domain to the registry in order to make a quick buck on the deal. SO PLS. DO NOT EVER CONTACT A DOMAIN GRABBER IN THIS PERIOD.
Step 6. If you do not contact them in this surrender period, most likely they will surrender this domain and you can then register it afresh. All you need to do is
- NOT contact them in this period
- keep an alert eye on the status of the domain. Register it immediately on availability.

Contact us now, if you need to register a new domain or an expired domain name.

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