Poor Richard 4
#004/27-Mar-98
POOR RICHARD'S WEB SITE NEWS
Geek-Free, Commonsense Advice on Building a Low-Cost Web Site
Editor: Peter Kent
Top Floor Publishing
IN THIS ISSUE
- Beginner's Column:
- Keyword Domain Searches
- Where Do You Check Domain Names?
- Cheaper Domain Names Next Week
- Be Careful -- Avoid www.internic.com! (Here's Where To Go Instead)
- Shopping Carts -- The Final Chapter
- Working Efficiently
- Poor Richard's Web Site Available in the UK
- Reading Back Issues
Beginner's Column: Keyword Domain Searches
I've said, on many occasions, that it's important to get your own domain name if you're serious about doing business on the Internet. I figured I'd pretty much finished with that subject, but just before I wrote this edition of the newsletter someone in an Internet mailing list mentioned something that jogged my memory, reminding me of yet another reason to get a domain name.
A member of the PMA-L (Publisher's Marketing Association) mailing list mentioned a publisher called Nu-Way Products, that sells a book called " Getting Started Sports Book: T- Ball." (For subscribers to this newsletter who are not American, T-Ball is a form of baseball used by young kids, in which a tee is used to hold the ball while a kid hits it.)
This publisher managed to register the domain name, t- ball.com. Not only is this domain easy to remember, but it has another advantage, one that I haven't discussed before. It captures keyword searches.
Now, I'm not just talking about when someone enters a keyword into a search engine, though clearly there's an advantage there. I'm talking about when people type a keyword into their browser's Location box. I've often done this. If I'm looking for something on the Web, I think, "I wonder what I'll get if I go to that domain?" Both the major browsers allow you to type a single word into the Location bar, to go to that domain (type "word" and it goes to "word.com"). Try typing football (football.com), skydiving (skydiving.com), or scuba (scuba.com), for instance.
Many Web users have figured out this trick, and many more will in the future, so having a distinctive domain, a "keyword domain," can be a huge advantage ... as the owner of t- ball.com has probably discovered.
It's not easy to get these special domains anymore. But with a bit of luck and imagination, you may be lucky. T-ball.com was registered less than four months ago, and I'm sure there are many other such domains just waiting to be discovered.
But remember, this works only with .com domains; the browsers are set up to add .com to the end of a word typed into the Location bar.
Where Do You Check Domain Names?
If you want to find out if a .com, .net, or .org domain has been registered, use the Whois system at Internic:
http://rs.internic.net/cgi-bin/whois
Type the name you want into the text box (remember to include the .com, .net, or .org bit at the end) and press Enter, and Whois will search to see if the name has been registered.
Some browsers don't work well at this page; earlier versions of Internet Explorer, for instance, don't display the text box; if you don't see a text box to type the domain name, click on the "ITTS Whois" link on that page to go to a different form.
Cheaper Domain Names Next Week
Talking of domain names, there's a pleasing new change in rates coming next week.
When I do radio interviews and talk about domain names, I usually tell people how cheap it is to register one: "It's just a buck a week," I say. (In fact it's actually slightly less, US$100 for the first 104 weeks.) I'm going to have to change my spiel, because prices are dropping. Starting this April 1st I'll be saying, "it's just 70 cents a week"; the first two years of your .com, .net, or .org domain will now cost just $70; after that you'll pay $35 a year.
Be careful when registering your domain names, though ... read on ...
Be Careful -- Avoid www.internic.com! (Here's Where To Go Instead)
If you want to register a .com, .net, or .org domain, go to:
Be careful ... _don't_ go to www.internic.com! Internic.com and internic.net are very different organizations, and I believe many people are confusing the two. On a single day last week I heard from two people who had visited internic.com by accident.
The first person was a radio host, who'd told me that domain- name registration charges had increased to $250 (they haven't, of course; as you just learned, they're actually about to drop to just $70). The other person was a writer who'd accidentally registered a new domain at internic.com, only to discover that she was paying $150 more than necessary.
Here's what's going on. Internic.net is the site that handles all domain registrations for .com, .net, and .org. This site is the InterNIC site, run by Network Solutions, Inc. Early in 1993 an agreement between the National Science Foundation, AT&T, General Atomics, and Network Solutions, Inc., set up InterNIC, which administers Internet domain names. Since that time the role of Network Solutions, Inc. has increased, and they now handle most of the job.
Internic.com, however, is owned by another company, Internic Software, which has nothing at all to do with InterNIC or the National Science Foundation. They're simply a private company that decided to go into the business of registering domain names.
If you register your domain with Internic Software, they simply forward your information to internic.net, and then more than double the price! Admittedly they also register the domain to their name servers. When you register a domain name you must give internic.net the addresses of two name servers - - two computers -- that will administer your domain (these computers will know where your Web site is, and will be able to route traffic to and from). If you use Internic Software they register the domains to their name servers, then, they say, transfer them to wherever you want when you're ready.
So for all this you'll pay $250, $100 to InterNIC for your first two years of domain use, and $150 to Internic software for their time and trouble. (These are current prices; I don't know if Internic Software plan to reduce their prices when InterNIC cuts registration to $75 next week.)
When you go to www.internic.com, you may, if you scroll down the page far enough, see this:
------------------------------------------------------------
Internic Software provides domain name registration services.
Internic Software is not affiliated with, or part of Network
Solutions, Inc.., or its InterNIC operation which can be found
at http://www.internic.net
------------------------------------------------------------Now, if you know what InterNIC is, and if you see this message, you'll leave right away. Of course many people don't know anything about InterNIC, and don't see the message anyway. They just see the big sign at the top of the page saying Domain Names, and the button that says Register Your Domain Name.
I suggest you avoid www.internic.com. If you want to register a domain name, the first thing you should do is find a Web- hosting company you want to work with (see the free article, "20 Questions to Ask a Web Hosting Company," at http://www.poorrichard.com/freeinfo/special_reports.htm , which also explains how to track down low-cost hosting companies).
Once you've set up an account, you can then register your domain name. In fact the hosting company will do it for you, though I'd recommend you do it yourself so you can keep full control of the domain name. (I'll be talking about this in a later newsletter.) And, of course, register at http://rs.internic.net!
What if you want to register a domain name, but don't want to use it yet? You have to provide InterNIC with those name- server addresses, remember, so you have a couple of options. Find a hosting company that will let you borrow theirs; some companies will let you use their name-server addresses (it really doesn't cost them anything, anyway), if they know you plan to set up an account with them when you're ready. Or you can use a registration service which will register the domain name for you and hold it until you're ready. Internic Software is a registration service, of course, but they're very expensive. Here's a list of registration services with much lower rates (instead of paying $150 to Internic Software you can pay just $40 or $50 to one of these companies):
1 2 3 Domain Me! ($39.95)
http://www.123domainme.com/
Alldomains.com ($39.95)
http://www.alldomains.com/
TABNet ($49)
http://www.tabnet.com/
Yahoo's list of domain-registration companies (a huge list): http://www.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Companies/Internet_Services/Domain_Registration/
By the way, Alldomains.com will register just about any domain you can imagine, from .af (Afghanistan) to .zw (Zimbabwe), and everything in between. Turkmenistani domains are popular these days, for example, because they look like a trademark sign: .tm
Apparently the .nu domain from Niue is popular also. I'll admit I had to look up Niue in an atlas ... it's an island dependency of New Zealand, near Tonga. In fact Niue may have got the idea of selling domains from Tonga, which has been selling off its .to domains for a while.
Shopping Carts -- The Final Chapter
If you've been reading this newsletter for several issues, you'll know that I've written a lot about shopping-cart software -- the systems that take online orders at your Web site.
I don't want to write much more about the subject; I've come to the end of my research, at least for now. In fact last week I installed a system called Hazel at my site.
You can see this system at work at this demo page:
http://www.poorrichard.com/examples/hazeldemo.htm
Better still, you can use it for real by ordering "Poor Richard's Web Site," at:
http://www.poorrichard.com/order/
Now, this is a system I installed myself. It's a CGI (Common Gateway Interface) system, so it's not for everyone. How can you tell if you can install something like this? Well, take a look at the following coding from one of the pages used by the shopping-cart system:
<HAZEL_TRUE TOKEN="%HZE_SHIP_STREET">
<PRE>
Name: %HZE_SHIP_FNAME %HZE_SHIP_LNAME
Company: %HZE_SHIP_COMPANY
Street: %HZE_SHIP_STREET
%HZE_SHIP_STREET2
City: %HZE_SHIP_CITY
US State: %HZE_SHIP_STATE
State/Prov: %HZE_SHIP_PROV
Zip/Post: %HZE_SHIP_POSTAL_CODE
Country: %HZE_SHIP_COUNTRY
</HAZEL_TRUE>
<HAZEL_FALSE TOKEN="%HZE_SHIP_STREET">
<p>The order will be shipped to the Billing address.<p>
</HAZEL_FALSE>This tells the program to display the shipping information if the buyer entered any (it checks to see if there's anything in the SHIP_STREET variable). If the buyer doesn't enter anything, then it displays the message at the bottom, saying that the order will be shipped to the Billing address.
If this looks intimidating, don't try to install Hazel, or any of the other CGI programs for that matter. If it looks like something you could handle, then you might want to take a look at Hazel. It's not free -- it's $195 -- and there are free shopping-cart programs available. But it does have these advantages:
- It has very good documentation, far better than most CGI programs (especially the free ones).
- If you buy the program you'll get access to the Hazel mailing-list discussion group, where you can ask questions about installing the program. The response from Netsville, the publisher of Hazel, seems to be pretty quick, sometimes even within a few minutes.
- Hazel seems to allow for a great deal of flexibility and customization, once you've learned how to work with it. You can use discounts, calculate taxes in various different ways, store information in many ways, and so on.
If you'd like to learn more, see:
If you need a shopping-cart system for your Web site, but don't have the skills to install a CGI program, you should find a hosting company with a ready-to-go shopping-cart system, or link to a shopping-cart service. See the "Shopping- Cart Software & Services Directory" (which lists around 65 systems and services), and the two earlier issues of this newsletter discussing shopping-carts (002 and 003), at:
http://www.poorrichard.com/newsltr/archive.htm
Working Efficiently
If you're marketing a product or service on the Internet, you'll probably find yourself writing an awful lot of e-mail, and filling in an awful lot of forms at Web sites. Often much of what you are writing you've written before, perhaps many times ... which brings me to the subject of efficiency.
Most people use their computers in an incredibly inefficient manner. The problem with computer programs is that they're dumb. If you have to repeat a process over and over again, the computer doesn't know nor care. Chances are you'll end up doing it the long way, repeating each step The program makes you open this menu, select that option, make certain settings within a dialog box, and finally click on a particular button. Have to do that process 50 times? Most people bite the bullet, and do it over and over.
Surely there must be a way to automate processes that you use often? Actually there are a number of ways. I have a programmable keyboard. If I have to repeat a process I can quickly record the process and assign it to a key, then press that key whenever I want to repeat the process. I got this keyboard when I bought a Gateway computer a few years ago, and it must have saved me many hundreds of hours since then. I use it pretty much every day to automate some kind of process.
Unfortunately, unless you buy a Gateway you probably won't be able to find a programmable keyboard; I've never seen any others (if anyone knows of a company that sells programmable keyboards -- without making you buy a computer with each keyboard! -- please let me know.)
There are other things that can automate tasks, though; there are programmable mice, for instance. Timesavers such as programmable input devices and software utilities that provide shortcuts can pay for themselves many times over; not just in saved money, but in avoided tedium and aggravation.
I recently ran into a program that's a real time saver. It won't automate all processes, but it will automate typing, which is especially helpful for those of use promoting something on the Internet. Need to type your address several times a day, or your Web site URL? Are you using several different "pitches" when promoting your products, and have to use them several times a day?
Of course you can always type these into a word processor, then copy them from the word processor into, say, your e-mail program as needed. But ShortKeys provides a much quicker system.
For instance, when I want to type my mailing address, phone number, and e-mail address, all I need to do is type adr, press the Spacebar, and ShortKeys types it for me. I've got a little tired of typing "Poor Richard's Web Site: Geek-Free, Commonsense Advice on Building a Low-Cost Web Site" recently, but now all I need to do is type prr and press the Spacebar, and ShorkKeys does the rest for me.
This program is shareware ($19.95 registration fee), and can be found here:
The publisher has several other "automation" products that look like they may provide serious time savings, too, though I haven't used them yet.
ShortKeys is a Windows product; it's available for Windows 3.1, 95, and NT. If you're a Macintosh user, though, there's at least one similar product you could use, TypeIt4Me ($27 registration), which you can find here:
http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~r-ettore/
Poor Richard's Web Site Available in the UK
Poor Richard's Web Site is now available in the United Kingdom. A British distributor, Computer Bookshops, Ltd., took delivery of a shipment last week. Bookstores can order the book from the distributor (0121-778-3333), or readers can order from the Computer Manuals online bookstore by calling 0121 706 6000 or going to their Web site:
(As I write this, "Poor Richard's Web Site" is Computer Manuals' Book of the Day.)
Poor Richard's Web Site in the Press
In the last edition of this newsletter I mentioned a few of the nice things the press were saying about "Poor Richard's Web Site: Geek-Free, Commonsense Advice on Building a Low-Cost Web Site." The reviews are continuing to roll in:
- Jim Cox, writing in "The Midwest Book Review" (a publication widely distributed to libraries and on the Internet) said that "Poor Richard's Web Site offers everything needed to build an efficient, attractive, practical website and does so in a jargon-free, user-friendly manner that is rarely so well done."
- The Internet Writing Journal called it "an easy to read book that will give readers a solid grasp of how and where to start building their own websites and, just as importantly, an idea of why they need to in the first place."
- And Publishers Weekly mentioned the book just a day or two ago, in an article about setting up publisher's Web sites, calling it a "good source [of information] with easy step-by-step directions."
For more reviews, and many readers' testimonials, visit ...
Poor Richard's Web Site is in many bookstores, and can be ordered by others; it can also be ordered online, through the mail, by fax, or by phone.
See ...
http://www.poorrichard.com/order/
Order direct from the publisher, and you'll get a 100%, 1-Year Guarantee. If the book doesn't help you set up a low-cost yet effective Web site, send it back for a refund!
We're currently selling the book at a 15% discount, though the price will go up in the next couple of weeks.
Reading Back Issues
If you need to refer to back issues of this newsletter, you can find then at the following location:
http://www.poorrichard.com/newsltr/
In Future Issues ...
I've been testing a few e-mail promotions recently, with mixed results. Some failed completely, but some really did work. I'll be talking about these in the next edition!of this newsletter.
Another subject I'll look at next week: 7 New Domain Names on Their Way? Perhaps Not!
Here are just a few of the subjects we'll look at in future issues of Poor Richard's Web Site News:
- Keeping Your Domain Name Safe
- Taking checks and electronic funds transfers on your Web site (and the difference between them)
- Web-page Templates for the Design Challenged!
- "Push" Technology That Really Works
- Putting Your Web Site Near the Top of the Search Engines
- Managing Your List Directory using Bookmark Programs and Offline Browsers
- E-mail Merge Programs
- Electronic Press Releases -- Do They Really Work? (Yes! ...We'll Explain How)
- Getting People to Visit Your Web Site by Using the Announcement Lists
- Distributing Electronic Newsletters
- Animated-GIF Archives
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