What is a domain name and how do I get one?

A domain name is basically your visible Internet address (eg. spacemanxpress.com). There are two parts of a domain name—the top domain and the sub-domain. The top domain—also called the domain extension—is the .com, .net, .org, or .tv, etc. There are quite a few top domains out there to choose from. When selecting a top domain, it’s best to use something that you can remember and that other people can remember. Probably the most common is .com (pronounced “dot com”).

The sub-domain is more fun. It’s the name you come up with that precedes the top domain. A lot of people use their company names when looking for a domain name. Some people use a commonly searched for term or product as part of their domain name (i.e. shoes.com). It’s really up to you. Many of the popular words are already taken for domain names, so to get something that’s simple, you may have to be pretty creative.

Soon you will be able to search and register your domain name through Spaceman Xpress. Until then, you may find a domain name provider online.

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How do I get an email account set up at my domain name?

All websites hosted by Spaceman Xpress automatically come with 20 email accounts for their domain name.

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Why do I need website hosting?

Website hosting is basically storage space on a computer where all your website content files are stored. You need hosting because you need to be able to store your files in a place that can be accessed when a user types in your domain name. What happens is that when someone types in your domain name in a browser, the domain name points the browser to the computer on which your website files are stored and they show up in the windows. That’s why you need to make sure your domain name servers are pointed to your website hosting servers. If you’ve purchased your domain name with Spaceman Xpress, your primary and secondary domain name servers are programmed in when you purchase the domain.

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When someone types in my domain name, how does it show my website?

When someone types in your domain name, your domain name servers, or computers, are pointed to particular web hosting servers. If those servers have your website files on them, they will appear when the domain name is typed in. To maximize services for you, all of our Xpress Websites are hosted by Spaceman Xpress for the first year free of charge. As such, your domain name servers must be pointed to our hosting servers so that when someone types in your domain name, your Xpress website will appear. You are in charge of making sure that your name servers are pointed to our hosting servers. It generally takes up to 24 hours for that change to be effective. Until this is complete, Spaceman Xpress cannot guarantee any timeframe for your website to be viewable.

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How do I switch my domain name servers to my new hosting servers?

If you have purchased your domain name through a company other than Spaceman Xpress, you will need to switch your domain name servers to Spaceman Xpress hosting servers in order for your site to be viewable.

To do this:

Log in to your Domain Name Registrar’s site. (Your domain name registrar is the company from which you purchased your domain name. Eg. Network Solutions or Godaddy, for example.)

You will need your Username and Password for that account. Once you’ve logged in, look for a link to “modify name servers,” “change domain name servers,” “edit dns” or something similar. When you find that, click on it. There should be settings for Primary and Secondary name servers.

Your Primary Name Server should be: ns61.websitewelcome.com. Your Secondary Name Server should be: ns62.websitewelcome.com.

Once you have made those changes, confirm and log out of your account. Your job is complete. Now, when people type in your domain name, the servers will know they need to grab the website information from our hosting servers instead of the prior hosting servers.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 800-890-0877. Our office hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., M-F, CST

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How does my website show up on the search engine or search directory?

There are various ways to get your site listed in the search engines. The search engines have “spiders” or “crawlers” that scour the web and find new sites and information to incorporate into their database. One way they do this is through links from other sites. For this reason, it is a good idea to have other websites link to your site. There are no guarantees with this option and it could take many weeks or months until you are listed. Examples of popular search engines are Google and AltaVista.

You can also manually submit your website to search directories like Yahoo! or Open Directory Project, (www.dmoz.org). Some of the manual submission options are free and others have one-time or recurring fees.

Either of these methods may get you listed in the search engines or directories, but neither of them guarantee any type of ranking or number of visits to your site.

If you would like primary placement in the search engines or directories, you should consider having a web marketing firm optimize your site for relevancy searches in the search engines, or using a pay per click service, where you bid a maximum cost per click for certain keywords and the engine or directory drives traffic to your site pursuant to your bid ranking.

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What is the difference between a search engine and a directory?

Search engines and directories are often used interchangeably, but if you want to get technical, there is a difference. Search engines use computer programs that send out “spiders” to scour the web and come up with new information to be added to their database. Search directories accept manual submissions and are reviewed by humans to determine whether or not the website will be included in directory. Because they are reviewed by humans, there is often a fee attached to being listed in the directory.

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What is Search Engine Optimization?

Search engine optimization is the act of making a website come up higher in the search results of a particular search engine. Each major search engine looks at any combination of the following information to determine a given site’s ranking: meta tags, site content, link popularity, and longevity. With the right combination of each of these items, your website can receive primary placement in the search engines. Because the search algorithms for the search engines are constantly changing, it is a good idea to consult with a Search Engine Optimization firm to assist with your optimization.

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What is a Pay Per Click Search Engine Service?

With a pay per click search engine service, you select what keyword(s) you would like bid on and you select a maximum cost per click. The search engine or directory then prioritizes your placement in the search engine based on a variety of factors, including where your maximum cost per click and budget falls based on everyone else’s bids. The pay per click clients are often found under a “sponsored results” category that stands out separately from the relevancy search results that show up in the main body of the search engine. The nice thing about this type of advertising is that you’re only paying for those who actually “click through” to your site. You’re only paying for what you get and the search engines have an incentive to drive people to your site. There are companies that specialize in helping you to figure out what is the best way to market through a pay per click service. However, if you would like to try it on your own, www.google.com has a nice program with Google Adwords, that is very user friendly and can provide you with a lot of information without being an expert yourself. You will find the information under “advertising programs” on the Google home page.

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What are Meta Tags?

Meta tags are information inserted into the “back end” of your website to tell to other computers, browsers, etc., how to handle certain information in your website. Meta tags, for example, can tell a browser what "character set" to use or whether a web page has self-rated itself in terms of adult content. In a few instances, certain tags such as Keyword and Description tags, if used correctly, can assist increasing search engine rankings, though a majority of the most popular Search Engines and Directories do not reference them anymore. Repeating a word too often or jamming your site with meta tags can actually hurt your placement in the search engines. We recommend that you consult a search engine optimization expert to help you to best market your site.

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What are Keywords?

Keywords are the words or phrases you anticipate people will be using to search for your products or services. You can put keywords into Meta Tags or you can bid on certain keywords in a pay per click service.

What are the Most Popular Search Engines or Directories?

Based on a compilation of NielsenNet Ratings for Search Engine Usage in January of 2004 of over 4 billion web searches, people at home and at work used the following search engines:

Google 47.1%
Yahoo! 21.2%
MSN 12.8%
AOL 4.7%
Netscape 1.8%
Ask 1.8%
My Way 1.4%
IWon 1.0%
Earthlink .9%
My Search .8%
Others 6.3%

For more information about these statistics, please visit http://searchenginewatch.com/reports/article.php/2156451

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