Bring those visitors back for more, applauding you and saying
BRAVO! They will create a buzz about your great site, and send
you many more visitors through word of mouth. These visitors
are your personal marketing force.

If you are a non-techie like me, you may not have heard of what
a “sticky” Web site is (it is the stuff that lures visitors back again
and again). But we do know we want that!

Forget getting to the top of the search engines. Let your
Webmaster do that. Instead, try out some of these low-
maintenance ways to bring ‘em back to your Web site for more.

1. Upload new, original, and useful content often. Do not think
of your Web site as a virtual brochure. Avoid blatant ads such
as banners, which turn visitors off. Give them information only
they can’t find anywhere elseand give it free. People want
and need how to’s, especially.

Always think benefits when you post some new article. Helping
your visitors get what they want will bring their trust and respect
as an expert, and eventually, bring you profit from your book,
other products, or service.

2. Update your Web site content regularly and often, perhaps
daily or weekly. If someone visits your site and finds nothing
new, they will disappear into cyberspace and spend their time
on other sites.

If you don’t want to write articles, copy and paste other people’s
articles or tips from their ezines or Web sites with their
permission, of course. Keep the pieces under 1200 words.
Common lengths are anywhere from 75-1000 words. You can
include a tip list, past feature articles from your ezine, an excerpt
from your book, poetry, a heart-felt story, or a character sketch
from your fiction book.

3. Publish your own ezine. Make it short and sweet. Start with
a monthly, then see if you can do it bi-weekly. If you don’t stay
in regular touch with your possible buyers, they will forget you
and your book’s message.

People want to know you better, so they can trust you and think
of you as an expert in your field. Your free information, tips and
resources will keep them as subscribers. If they like your ezine,
they will recommend it to others. The opt-in eNewsletter tops all
other ways to drive traffic to your site, and it can be mass mailed
free, too. Check out www.topica.com.

4. Include a recommending service on your site. Your repeat
visitors create new traffic. Check out www.Recommend-
It.com. It’s free, fast, and versatile. Each time someone
recommends your site, they are entered in a contest to win a
Palm V reading device and a chance to win $10,000.

5. Host a forum on your site where people can interact fully and
you can share your knowledge and offer suggestions. It’s a
great way to help others and get these people visiting your site
often because they want to know you as a real person. Without
a chance to interact with you people lose interest.

Allow your visitors to post a message or reply to other
messages. They will check back every few days for new
messages or replies. To find these services, do a search on “free
webmaster resources.” Two specific ones:
http://www.delphi.com and http://www.evryone.net. Check out
this discussion group http://www.ablake.net/forum/

6. Remind your visitors to bookmark your site. Tell them you
update material every day or week. If you omit this, you pass
up a great opportunity to lure repeat, loyal visitors. You want
more visitors, and you want them to spend a lot of time on your
site. The more time they spend on your site, the more likely
they will check out your products or services pages.

The biggest complaint from clients is that they get hits, but not
enough sales. When you follow the above tips, you’ll be much
more likely to succeed at increased sales.

7. Serialize some of your content. If visitors get it all in one visit,
what’s to keep them coming back?Put one part of an article,
special report, or excerpt from your book on your site each
week or so. Let people know this through your ezine.

8. Post a monthly special only for your Web visitors. Call it
“Discount of the month,” or”Freebie of the month.” Without
incentives your audience will go elsewhere. Go to your files
now, and see what you can use. This fabulous technique has
worked well for the author.

9. Enjoy the journey. Each day, you can learn something that
will make your Web site more real, more YOU. Let your
passion show! Add some personal information such as the
personal column. ‘The Coach’s Corner” is a new column in the
ezine, “The Book Coach Says.” It mentions personal writing
and marketing set backs, boo boos, along with a tip or so. Put
personal messages on your site too.

10. Allow everything you do on the Net to be easy and fun. If
you don’t love to create ad copy, or if you don’t like the technical
side, delegate it to someone who loves it. Do what you do best
and hire the rest. It’s far smarter to eliminate all struggle from
your adventure, so you will shine at what you do.

The biggest complaint from clients is that they get hits, but not
enough sales. When you follow the above tips, you’ll be much
more likely to succeed at increased sales.

Judy Cullins ©2005 All Rights Reserved.

Judy Cullins, 20-year Book and Internet Marketing Coach works with small business people who want to make a difference in people’s lives, build their credibility and clients, and make a consistent life-long income. Judy is author of 10 eBooks including Write your eBook or Other Short Book Fast, Ten Non-Techie Ways to Market Your Book Online, The Fast and Cheap Way to Explode Your Targeted Web Traffic, and Power Writing for Web Sites That Sell. She offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, “The BookCoach Says…,” “Business Tip of the Month,” blog Q & A at http://www.bookcoaching.com and over 185 free articles.

===============
Email her at Judy@bookcoaching.com or Cullinsbks@aol.com
Phone: 619/466-0622 — Orders: 866/200-9743

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It begins as an idea — a company name, a business venture, a personal project. You research available domain name options, choose the one you want, and finally register it. Or perhaps the perfect domain was in use before, and you register it after it completes the domain deletion cycle.

After going through the selection and registration process and then using the domain to brand your business, do you want to risk losing your domain?

Of course not.

THE LIFE CYCLE OF A DOMAIN NAME

To avoid losing a domain after you’ve registered it, let’s look at the stages that each domain goes through.

It’s available

When you look up the domain in Whois records, it’s available for registration. It may never have been registered before, or it may have already been through one or more domain name cycles.

It’s active

Someone has registered the domain for the current time period. Domains can be registered for a minimum of one year and up to 10 years at a time. Some country-specific domain name extensions (e.g., domains ending in .uk and .au) can be registered for only shorter time periods. When a domain is nearing the end of its active period, an email notification is sent to the address in the record for the domain name registrant.

If the registrant renews the domain before it expires, it stays active. Otherwise, the cycle moves to the next stage.

It’s expired (on hold)

A registrant had the domain name registered but didn’t renew it before the expiry date. The domain name registrar may hold the domain to allow the registrant to re-register it, which would return the domain to active status. This time period is typically 45 days, but it may be longer, shorter, or non-existent, depending on the registrar.

The website and email for the domain might still work for a few days after a domain enters this stage. The domain cannot be transferred to another registrar at this stage, however.

It’s in the Redemption Grace Period (RGP)

The domain is held in a 30-day redemption period, during which the registrant can still re-register it, perhaps with an additional service fee at this point. The website and email for the domain no longer work. However, the domain is not yet available to the public.

It’s pending delete

This registry hold period, the last stage of the cycle, is five days.

It’s available

Anyone can now register the domain name. The cycle can begin again.

THE BENEFITS OF LONG-TERM DOMAIN REGISTRATION

It’s more convenient

When your domain is registered for several years, you only have to renew it once every several years. You also avoid the inconvenience of possibly having your site and email go down if you miss an annual renewal deadline.

It’s less expensive

Some domain name registrars offer a discount when you register a domain for multiple years. In addition, you reduce the number of occasions when you might have to pay a service fee for renewing your domain late.

It’s more secure

The chances of your losing your domain because you were away, busy, or didn’t receive the email notification about its due date are reduced.

It’s more legitimate

It’s believed that Google weighs the length of the domain registration when ranking a website. A site with a domain that’s registered for several years would benefit from the long registration time over a site with a domain that expires in less than a year.

Savvy customers will also notice how long a domain is registered for. A company with a domain that’s registered for a few years is more likely to be around in a few years than one with a domain that’s registered for only one year.

THE MANAGEMENT OF A DOMAIN NAME

To keep your treasured domain name from going through the above cycle after you register it, take these preventive steps:

Register it for several years at a time.
Register it with an email address that doesn’t go with the domain name — you need to be able to send and receive email about the domain if you accidentally let it expire.
Keep the address in your Whois records current so that you can receive renewal notices from your domain name registrar.
Set up a reminder in your calendar to renew your domain at least two months before its expiry date.

These security steps will help protect your domain name:

Use a complex password with a combination of letters and numbers for your domain name account.
Turn on the “lock” feature if the extension allows locking. When a domain name is locked, no changes can be made to it. Some domains (depending on the registrar or extension) can’t be locked, but other security measures are usually in place to prevent unauthorized transfers or other changes.

Lois S. is a Technical Executive Writer for http://www.websitesource.com and http://www.lowpricedomains.com with experience in the website hosting industry.

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When seeking domain names most people get confused over whether to settle for a dot com address or a dot net one. More so in recent times when dot net addresses have risen in popularity and usage on the net.

There are a few important facts that one needs to realize before they opt for a dot net address. Quite often when people need to commit the address of a website to memory, they will not remember the dot net and the first place they will check is the given address with a dot com ending. Many times when they do not find it there, they will hardly ever think of using dot net to repeat the search. That is a lost visitor and maybe even potential client.

What is even more worrying is that there is increasing evidence to suggest that an increasing number of people end up at a website after hearing about it either from a friend or acquaintance, or by seeing an advertisement on Television or hearing about it on radio or reading something about the site. When committing the website address to memory very few will distinctly remember the dot net address if that is the domain name that you have chosen.

Having said that, let us also appreciate the fact it is becoming increasingly difficult for anybody to land a decent dot com address. After years of use, there is hardly any short catchy name that you can think of that will not have been already taken up. Do not even mention search-engine key word friendly domain names which will be virtually impossible to get. This is the reason why folks often settle for a dot net address. Others do not even bother to start their search with dot com domains. This is a big mistake despite the unavailability of good dot com domains, which we have already acknowledged.

Exhaustive efforts should be made to try and secure a dot com domain before you give up and move to dot net. For example you can try and search for abandoned domain names. In fact by making an effort to be really creative and not hurrying the process, it is quite possible to secure a reasonably good dot com domain. You can be sure that it will be well worth the extra effort and time you put into it which will result in better success when you begin to seek traffic. Of course if you just cannot get a dot com domain, a dot net one is a good second choice.

About the author: Lois S. is a Technical Executive Writer for Website Source, Inc. http://www.websitesource.com. Her established writing skills coupled with experience in the website hosting industry have provided internet professionals with marketing, product and service ideas for many years.

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