Last year, we encountered a great innovative Kickstarter project called Pebble. Because we do like our toys, and this project seemed to be the ultimate toy, we decided to back this project. In return for our backing, the nice guys from Pebble gave us a brand new, fresh of the production line, shiny black Pebble watch! This watch is not yet on sale!

This watch can now be yours to WIN. In order to make a chance to win this great watch, do the following:

1) LIKE FXDomains com:

2) SHARE this page

— AND/OR —

1) Tweet this:
 
Tweet

2) Follow us (if not already):
 
Follow @fxdomains

That’s it! We will pick a winner on the first of Juli 2013 from all people who Liked and Shared or tweeted / retweeted!

Read more about the pebble e-paper watch here!

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For a limited time only, register your .IN domains for only $4.09/year at FXDomains.com!
Offer is also valid for .CO.IN, .NET.IN, .FIRM.IN, .GEN.IN and .IND.IN domain extensions.

Register you .IN domain name now.

FXDomains.com offers cheap domain registration and cheap hosting. We strive to always offers the lowest price domain names to our customers. Why pay more for your domain name? FXDomains.com – a name for everyone!

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MARCOM36

This promotion has now ended, please check back for more great discount codes soon!

The following conditions apply to this great offer:

The post Cheap, cheaper, unbelievably cheap – $1.59 .COM Registration appeared first on FXDomains.com.

Preparations in 2012

ICANN allowed businesses worldwide to apply for unique domain name extensions pertaining to their businesses early in 2012. This was done in order to increase the choice for new domain registers over the internet. As a result, businesses offered thousands of dollars to bid for gTLDs of their choice. Over the course of the year, ICANN received about 1,900 applications exceeding their expectations greatly. The authorities at ICANN decided to draw a priority lottery late in December 2012 to determine the domains that would be released into the market through a priority order.

What new domains can be expected?

With over 1900 applications, a good number of new domain extensions are likely to be released in the months to come. The priority lottery leaders include .catholic in Chinese which was the first to be drawn. The coveted second spot was won by Amazon for its .store written in Japanese. Google was slightly out of luck during the lottery as despite applying for about 100 domains. Google’s first slot broke through at #34 with .everyone written in Japanese. The highly sought-after .play domain was won by Amazon. Other notable extensions include .lol and .irish owned by Google and an Irish real estate agency respectively.

So can I register one of those new gTLD extensions?

That depends. These domain extensions will basically (not all) be held by private commercial companies that have to power to decide for themselves if they open up the extension for general registration. There are companies that applied for many new extensions, just to keep them for themselves (or use them soley for their own services), while others are hoping to make a lot of money by opening up the extensions (if they get them) for the general public to register. For example, one of those companies is DONUT.CO which applied for hundreds of extensions.

What does this hold in store for SME’s?

As a result of the newly available domain extensions, businesses now need to be extra-cautious about the domains and grab those relevant to their businesses before a competitor may have an opportunity to exploit the same. However, a mass migration to these new domains is highly unlikely and it is yet to be determined as to how the search engines would be treating the newer domains. This has also opened up space for a large number of new domain registers as they would have a large number of short and highly relevant domain names to choose from.

Also many small businesses get access to a great number of domains that were previously unavailable for use. This can be the much-needed boost for many of the small businesses that are suffering heavily from the slow economy. On the other hand, there is also concern being raised about the internet closing its doors to small businesses as many of the newly available domains may get locked and may be controlled only by the super brands, leaving little for the small businesses. We will keep a close eye on the developments and will surely attempt to offer our customers these new gTLD’s domains as soon as they become available – and of course – as cheap as possible!

The post Change is Coming – The New Wave of gTLD Domain Extensions appeared first on FXDomains.com.

Finding premium domain names

Any given domain name is only as much valuable as the money a person would pay to buy it. While this is the most obvious part of buying and selling domain names, it is very important to understand the true factors that render this value to the domain names.

The world of domain names is governed by SEO keywords. People often use these generic keywords for domain names in order to optimize their site and services to the search engines. As a result, keywords play an important role in determining the value of a domain name. One of the most essential things that you need to consider while buying domain names is that it should be matching any generic keyword exactly. There are also several other related factors such as the keyword ranking, extension, domain name length and keyword mix that can further elevate the value of the domain names. So make sure that you consider all such factors before buying one.

More about domain extensions

There is no doubt about it, .COM domains are the most populair domains and fetch the highest prices in the domain name aftermarket. However, getting your hands on a good, sellable .COM domain name is very difficult, simply because most (good) .COM domain names are already registered so picking up a bargain is usually not an option.

So how about other extensions?

.CO domains are rapidly increasing in popularity amongst domain buyers and sellers. There are still some good names available for registration. Recent .CO aftermarket sales include XE.CO that sold for $37,500 on GoDaddy Auctions and PAY.CO that sold for over $46K.

Other more valuable extensions are:

• .NET
• .DE – extension for Germany. This is actually a very popular country extension and has seen some big sales recently like HOST.de (around $20,000) and Bankenvergleich.de that sold for over $25K.
• .CO.UK (United Kingdom) Wholesale.co.uk went for $30,000 on SEDO.com

Selling premium domain names

After identifying and registering or purchasing a premium domain name, your next goal will be to make a profit by selling the domain name at a profit. This can be done using several different methods. While there is no standard procedure as such that could help you extract maximum profit from your domain name. You will have to use different strategies based on different methods to optimize profits. Here are a few of the most commonly used methods to sell premium domain names.

• Domain auction

One of the most popular and easiest methods to extract profit from your domain name would be to auction it. There are several different portals that you could use to list your domain name for auction. Such domain auctions usually attract a large audience and people in such auctions will be very eager to get hold of fresh and competitive domain names. You must also make sure to price the bidding competitively to attract a larger audience and you might even see that your domain name gets sold rather quickly. Reputable auction sites also provide you with the tools to safely sell your domain name by providing escrow services. Examples of domain name aftermarket auction sites are GoDaddy Auctions or Sedo.com.

• Direct marketing to end users

Through this method, you will be directly seeking out end users who might find your domain names useful. This can include people, companies and organizations that provide a service or have a product in a niche that is related to your domain. One of the easiest methods to market domain names to end users is when you possess geographic domain names. These domains usually comprise of a geographic indicator called a ‘geoterm’ that precedes any generic keyword. You can then target businesses or individuals that provide related service in the geographic location as described by the geoterm.

• Listing in a private portfolio

This is the third and comparatively a little less efficient method of selling a domain name. It is usually followed by some of the reputed domain sellers. In this method, you list all the domain names along with their prices privately on a site owned by you as your portfolio. Interested parties can then look at your portfolio and contact you with offers to buy the domains.

So what is the most important thing?

Patience… patience and patience. There are no fixed prices for domain name – the price is what someone is willing to pay for it. So the trick is to wait (and wait) for the correct someone. The price of domain registrations is low, especially with FXDomains.com – so at least, waiting for the right buyer is affordable ….

The post Making Money Buying and Selling Premium Domain Names appeared first on FXDomains.com.

Shared hosting and virtual private server (VPS) hosting have emerged as two popular solutions for businesses. But which should you choose as an individual, small business or larger business? The choice depends on your overall requirements and available hosting budget. Before we compare the two, let’s take a look at the common features of VPS and shared hosting.

In both types of hosting, one server provides services across multiple users. They offer some degree of compartmentalization to separate users’ files and services. In comparison to dedicated hosting, they are cost-effective alternatives.

Who typically opts for shared hosting?

Small and medium-sized websites requiring a straight forward, usually Content Management System driven website, a simple blog or a (small scale) forum go for shared hosting packages. The websites in this case are mostly template based or developed using SiteBuilder or CMS tools like WordPress. Shared hosting does not usually offer a lot of scalability, so it is targeted mainly at the smaller, more-price conscious webmasters. A lot of hosting companies are now available that offer unlimited hosting plans, meaning that storage and bandwidth are not limited to fixed amounts. Unlimited hosting can be interesting, especially if it is offered in combination with (unlimited) multi domain hosting. This means you could (if required) run multiple websites on one single hosting account. If huge amounts of storage are not needed – and your expected traffic also does not require a lot of bandwidth, unlimited hosting account do not have to be considered.

 .. and how about VPS Hosting?

VPS hosting is also a popular choice among many small and medium-sized websites looking for scalable application, email and web hosting solutions. If you want a highly configurable system or a reseller hosting platform that is completely white labeled, VPS is a good choice. It is also a more economical solution compared to a dedicated hosting service. A few notches above shared hosting, VPS is an option leveraged by businesses when they feel the need to support bulky custom applications and more flexibility in terms of what the applications that run on the hosting space need to support. Most VPS plans offer the possibility to host multiple (if not unlimited) websites – all managed from an easy to use control panel like Plesk or cPanel. FXDomains also offers ‘Simple Control Panel ‘ which allows for unlimited websites to be created and hosted (while other control panels usually charge additional fees for more than X domains hosted). VPS hosting plans also (mostly) support shell access to the operating system to allow for the installation of custom packages and tools.

A comparison of features – Shared hosting and VPS hosting can be compared on the basis of some core features.

Hosting resources

Shared hosting: User-level management (Windows or Linux) offers basic file system levels and process compartmentalization. All the hardware resources are shared within certain limits enforced by monitoring software.

Virtual Private Server: Offers more advanced virtualization options. Memory and disk space are allotted to virtual private servers independently, with hard limits and strict monitoring ensuring that a user’s activities do not pose an interference to others within each virtual environment.

Scalability

Shared hosting: From fixed bandwidth and memory allocations to ‘unlimited’ packages, the sharing hosting account lives on the same hardware with several different accounts across different allocations.

Virtual Private Hosting: A VPS plan is scalable – you can opt for a minimal allocation or choose a solution that has enough resources to handle large traffic and many database applications. It is a good option for fast-growing businesses.

Security

Shared hosting: Complete security is not possible in shared hosting. This is because multiple users can download and upload files running under the same OS that supports other user accounts. As a result, there is always a risk of unscrupulous elements exploiting the vulnerability of the OS to access users’ data.

VPS: Much more secure than shared hosting, VPS offers a virtual environment with independent file systems and secure configurations managed by administrators.

Making the choice

Opt for VPS if you either need more control of the underlying operating system, if you need custom processes (i.e. cron jobs) to run and If enhanced security, semi/fully managed hosting support and advanced performance management are priorities, VPS is a good choice. You should also consider a VPS if you need to run a secure (SSL/HTTPS) website that needs a dedicated IP address to function.

If you simply want to run a simple, single website (either with or without a CMS like WordPress or Drupal), do not have the requirement to run custom processes and are fine with the standard additional features offered by the plans available (like number of email inboxes included and so on) – Shared hosting is probably a good choice. Running a secure website (with SSL certificate) on shared hosting is not always a possibility with all shared hosting providers – as usually, an SSL certificate needs a dedicated IP address which is not always offered for shared hosting (FXDomains.com DOES offer a dedicated IP for shared hosting accounts by the way).

At FXDomains, Shared Hosting Plans start at $3.99/month (with additional discount if you order for longer periods). Virtual Private Servers start at $29.99/month (also discounts available).

There are NO long term contracts for hosting with FXDomains.com. You can cancel your hosting account at any time.

The post Shared Hosting vs VPS Hosting – How to choose? appeared first on FXDomains.com.

Before you can sell products and do business online, you need an up-and-running website. This is a step-by-step process, and doesn’t have to be complicated if you have the right tools and know-how. That’s exactly what we want to take you through – think smart, start right and enjoy a profitable web presence over time.

Get a domain name

The very first thing you need when setting up shop online is a domain name, i.e. a ‘nameofyourbusiness.com’. Zeroing in on a good domain name is an auspicious start – do some research and first ensure that the names you have in mind are not already registered. Brainstorm to come up with word-combinations that accurately represent your brand and can be easily recollected.

Using domain lookup tools that are offered by every domain registrar, check if your desired domain name, or variation of the domain name is available for registration. You can also verify if the name(s) you’re interested in are available under different extensions like .biz or .net. If you want to target different locations online, it is a good idea to invest in domain names with multiple extensions. On an average, a small business can expect to spend anywhere from $5 to $35 per year on a domain name registration (depending on the domain extension).

Once you have hit upon that perfect (and available) domain name, the next step is registration. It makes sense to compare the features of different domain registration and hosting companies to make an informed decision.

How to choose a Domain Registration / Hosting company

Some of the factors to keep in mind when selecting a hosting provider are:

• Pricing: Take a close look at costs of long-term contracts, up-front-payment, discounts and special offers

• 27/7 phone support: Ensure that the hosting company offers 24/7 on-phone assistance at no extra charge

• If you need a static IP address to safeguard sensitive client data, check if the hosting provider offers the same for free or an additional charge

• Based on your requirements, you may want to engage the services of a hosting company offering email routing and email auto-responder solutions.

Set up your website

Creating your website is not an uphill task thanks to the many easy-build tools available online. One of the most popular is WordPress, a simple tool that has helped many small business owners set up blogs and websites for ecommerce and online marketing. WordPress is a content management system that even the less-tech savvy businesses with little or no knowledge of CSS and HTML, can leverage to create unique, custom websites. Many WordPress plug-ins and themes are available for free online.

Website Builder is another simple solution that includes hosting and customer email address as part of the overall package. Some reasons why Website Builder is fast becoming a popular choice are:

• You only need to follow three easy steps to build a fully-customized small business website

• Website Builder offers a mobile site converter that optimizes your site for smartphones.

• You have an advanced design option to use your CSS and HTML knowledge for creating more intricate/complex designs.

Once your site is in place, you can focus your attention on your core business – your customers.

The post What does a small business need to get started on the internet? appeared first on FXDomains.com.

.ASIA is available to individuals, businesses, organizations, and community groups, as long as one of your contacts lives in the Asia-Pacific region.

The post .ASIA Domains – $6.99/y appeared first on FXDomains.com.

Safeguard your brand name/trademark

The simplest way to ensure that there is no domain name on the World Wide Web that matches yours, is to buy all domain extensions of your brand name. By doing this, you don’t have to worry about your competition or other unscrupulous elements from registering alternate extensions to meet their selfish goals. To explain this further, if your brand is fast-becoming well-known and many people search for it online, there is a good chance that the .net or .biz extension of your brand name may come up along with the registered .com extension. For this to happen, someone would have to develop a site around your brand name – they of course cannot do this without your consent, unless the party in question is your affiliate partner to whom you have given explicit permission to sell your offerings under an extension.

Target audiences across different locations

Several ecommerce businesses sell their services/products to a worldwide audience, irrespective of location. By registering a top-level domain name with a country code such as .co.uk, .ca or .us, you can plan your website design in a way that targets various sections of your target audience based on their geographical location. This way, you can generate more targeted traffic to your site and give your conversion efforts a big boost.

Domain forwarding is one option you can try to avoid creating different sites for each of your domain extensions. Instead, you can just forward the multiple domain extensions you have registered to your primary domain extension. When a potential customer visits www.yourcompany.us, and domain forwarding is enabled for your .us domain to your .com domain, the visitor will be redirected to www.yourcompany.com.

Don’t lose customers to your competitors

It is a common tendency for consumers to recollect the name of your brand but not your website URL. To address this issue of customers forgetting or being unsure of the domain extension, you should consider investing in multiple domain extensions. Keep the online identity of your brand secure and keep competitors from buying other extensions of your brand domain name.

How can FXDomains help?

FXDomains.com offers so called multi-extension discounts. If you register a domain name with FXDomains, we will automatically show you additional domain extensions you can register for a discounted price.

Register your brand domain extensions now!

The post Why Register Multiple Extensions for Your Brand Domain Name? appeared first on FXDomains.com.

^One FREE .COM, .CO, .NET or .ORG with purchase of a new 12-, 24- or 36- month website builder, web hosting, or quick shopping cart plan. Plus ICANN fee of 18¢ per domain name per year. If you purchase a domain name for a term longer than the term of the product plan, you will be charged for the additional registration term at the then-current rate. Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer, sale, discount or promotion. Free domain offer applies only to the initial purchase term. After the initial purchase term, domains purchased through this offer will renew at the then-current renewal price.

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