YOU SNOOZE -- YOU LOSE!

YOU SNOOZE -- YOU LOSE!

The word is out... for the past two weeks the experts have been

taking advantage of a change in Domain Name regulations that

allows up to 67 characters in domain names.

Since 1993, Network Solutions has registered more than 3.4

million domain names -- all limited to 26 characters. Now that

their exclusive government contract is ending, competitors have

tossed this artificial limit and are allowing longer names.

I did some digging into the original name space RFC to assure

myself that the longer names were valid. To quote the RFC, "The

labels must follow the rules for ARPANET host names. They must

start with a letter, end with a letter or digit, and have as

interior characters only letters, digits, and hyphen. There are

also some restrictions on the length. Labels must be 63

characters or less." ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc1035.txt

With this in mind, my advice is to keep your domain name to 63

characters for maximum compatibility. Here is the registrar

recommended by Michael Campbell, Declan Dunn and Corey Rudl:

http://www.activemarketplace.com/domain

Why are longer domain names important?

As Michael Campbell points out, in Nothing But 'Net, "The reason

we want keywords in the domain name is that search engines often

get 'tuned' to find, and give better positioning to, domains

with keywords in them."

He goes on to mention examples like phone-phones.com and

mobile-cellular.com, then notes that "After some experimentation

the hyphenated domains did slightly better in search results

than the non hyphenated ones. The hyphen seems to act as a

delimiter." http://www.activemarketplace.com/net

Declan Dunn, author of Winning the Affiliate Game, sent out a

memo to his affiliates advising "To get on top of the search

engines, one of the critical keys is a good domain name LOADED

with keywords." Declan gives several examples such as:

CellPhone-CellularAccessories-CellularBatteries.com and

Internet-Hosting-Services-Email-Marketing-Search-Engines.com

Declan goes on to say "this news is spreading among WebMasters,

SearchEngine Meisters, Internet marketers, and big corporations.

Don't wait." http://www.activemarketplace.com/winning

Corey Rudl, President of Internet Marketing Center, also told

his readers of the news, saying "When I say this is time

sensitive, I AM VERY SERIOUS. If you do not jump on the

bandwagon now, and if you even wait a few weeks... you are going

to lose out. All of the ".com" domain names that are in demand

over 26 characters are going to be registered. (And trust me,

there are a lot!)" http://www.marketingtips.com

John Audette's I-Search Discussion List, included a new post by

the search engine expert, Webmaster T, who explained "Having a

domain name with keywords in it is very important as it seems

almost all engines are parsing URLs. Not only is the domain name

important but also the directory and file names are definitely

important." http://www.audettemedia.com/i-search

I have been registering hyphenated domains for our clients over

the past year. It works. The past two weeks we have been quietly

grabbing several VERY HOT, very long, hyphenated domain names.

If you don't want to get left behind, get your keyword-stuffed-long-

domain-name right away! Check here to see if the names you want

are still available:

http://www.activemarketplace.com/domain

NOTE: This is the lowest priced accredited registrar I've found,

at only $30 per year, with a two year minimum.

Patrick Anderson, COO, ADNet International Author of "Right On The

Money", Senior Editor of "Hits To Sales" FREE book excerpt at http:/

/www.activemarketplace.com/righton