Segmenting the New gTLDs

With hundreds of new gTLDs coming to the Internet within the next two years, the choices in domain registration will be astounding. For the first time in history, businesses and individuals will have the opportunity to register domains using extensions that are directly related to their line of business or interest.

The options can be overwhelming, but we've made it easy for customers to view specific new gTLDs that will complement their online presence. Check out our TLD segmentation feature in our new gTLD WatchList service. It’s easy to use: Just login to your online WatchList, click on the "Build a WatchList" tab, and select one or more TLD segments from the left menu. This will automatically list all the new gTLDs within the selected segment(s).

One of the 17 TLD segments you might find interesting is "Arts and Entertainment," where we list .art, .film, .music, .photo, and many more. Another segment called "Geographic" includes .africa, .berlin, .london, .nyc, .paris, and over 50 other geographic new gTLDs. Our "Real Estate" segment includes popular choices such as .condos, .homes, .mls, .realtor, and .rent. If your selling products online, you should look into our "Shopping" segment where you'll find catchy new gTLDs like .bargains, .buy, .coupon, .deals, .sale, and lots more.

These are rich and memorable domain name extensions that will give you a unique online identity. The Internet namespace is revolutionizing – log in to your WatchList and become part of the change.

For more info on these new gTLDs, and to stay informed on their releases, we invite you to log in to your new gTLD WatchList Portal.

The Importance and Value of Auto-Renewing Your Domains

What's worse than forgetting to renew your domain name registration? Getting your domain deleted as a result of not renewing and having it registered by someone else. They may demand an exorbitant price to sell it back, or worse, sell it to one of your competitors, who takes all your customer traffic and email.

Many people fail to appreciate that domain name registration is for a set period of time. Most domains can be registered for 1 to 10 years. Once your registration term expires – or better yet, before it expires – you must renew it or risk losing it.

Although we send expiry notices multiple times prior to the domain expiry date, many customers leave the process of domain renewal to the last minute. This is not recommended, as other priorities can distract you from completing this simple and necessary process. Next thing you know, you've forgotten about renewing your domain altogether.

There are other factors that can also result in a losing a domain due to non-renewal. You might assume someone else in the organization will take care of the renewal. The registration contact person might have left the company, leaving the expiry notices unread. Unfortunately, many people don't realize the true value of their domain name until they lose their registration.

The results of losing a valuable domain are costly, ranging from a relatively low cost of around $125 to redeem the domain at the registry (if it can be redeemed), to fees in the thousands of dollars charged by domain auction houses. Those vendors will price the domain based on a number of factors, including the amount of traffic coming into the domain, the number of years the domain was previously registered for, and the type of company that previously registered the domain. That last one opens the market to your competitors to secure the registration from you.

There is one simple and free solution to keep this nightmare from happening: Set up your domain to auto-renew. Our auto-renewal feature ensures your domain name will always be renewed before it expires as long as the billing info in your account is up to date. This feature adds another layer of protection not only to your domain, but also other services associated with your domain, such as web hosting and email, by preventing service interruptions that can cost you money.

Setting up auto-renewal is easy: simply log into your SiteControl account, select your domain(s), and enable the auto-renewal service. You have complete control over this feature and can opt out at any time.

Cloud Hosting Demystified

You've probably been hearing about the cloud for quite some time now since the term gets thrown around all the time. But do you really know what it means to have your website in the cloud?

The most basic answer for defining a public cloud service – DomainPeople's Cloudhost Sites are an example – is that your website and associated media reside on virtual servers in a clustered environment.

A virtual server or virtual machine (VM) is a software component that mimics the hardware needed to run your website. Your platform or storage will act like a single machine, but it is not tied to a single machine's resources.

When we talk about clustered environments, we're referring to a set of VMs that all share information. If one VM fails, your website continues to run uninterrupted on the remaining servers in the cluster.

The cloud offers some significant basic advantages due to this virtualized setup.

Ability to grow: As your business grows, you may need additional memory, disk space or processing power to adequately run your website. Virtualized resources open the door to expanding resources with the click of a button. Don't worry about diminishing resources due to traffic and data fluctuations, as your online presence grows, so will the resources needed to support it.

Worry-free: The cluster of virtual servers that support your website are redundant; if one server goes down, the other virtual machines in that cluster will continue to make sure your website and associated media are up, running and available to visitors. Not every cloud is created equal; redundancy isn't always standard.

Access: In addition to running your website, you can access your website’s directory via FTP or SSH to manage your site content and supporting media with anytime, anywhere access. Working from home, the office, or on the go using your mobile device, you’ll see just how easy and versatile Cloudhosting can be.

Hosting your website in the cloud is about a lot of things: Cost-efficiency, reliability, flexibility and peace of mind. Hopefully, you better understand why the cloud is revolutionizing the shared hosting and website industry. To learn more about our website hosting plans, visit our website.

Contact us to answer any questions you may have.

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