Reduce the Risk of Getting Burnt When You Buy a Used URL By Doing Your Research Beforehand

Search engine visibility relies heavily on two key ingredients - your Website's Google PageRank and the power and applicability and of your Website's domain name or URL.

To promote a boost in Website traffic, some companies will purchase used URLs that had previously belonged to other companies. These companies are hoping to garner search engine traffic and branding benefits by purchasing these used URLs.

This might seem like a sure-fire, easy strategy for a company to gain more traffic, however there is substantial risk involved when choosing to buy a used URL. Purchasing a used URL is similar to buying a used car or truck - you take on any problems associated with the URL just as you do with a used car or truck. If you buy a used car or truck and a week later it needs a new alternator, it's your responsibility to pay to get it fixed. In comparison, if you purchased a used URL that has marks against it - or even worse it's been blacklisted by Google for violating its policies - those negative marks are now your problem.

The best way to avoid getting burnt by buying a used URL is to do your research in advance. Used URLs don't come with CarFax, but there are several free tools available for you to check out a URL's history and to keep you from purchasing a lemon. Some very basic research you should do include the following:

First check the WHOIS database. Here you can verify the registration history of the URL to see its original creation date. URLs that are several years old generally gain favor with Google.
Once you've checked the WHOIS database, you'll next want to verify if any of the URLs pages have been cached by Google. Verifying cache is a very simple procedure. Simply type in "cache:yourwebsite.com" into the Google search and hit return. If the search query returns no results, that could be a red flag that Google has blacklisted the URL you're looking to buy.
Lastly, you'll want to see what type of websites have backlinks to the URL. Make sure that any backlinks are related to the URLs content and purpose and aren't spammy or of adult content. To check backlinks to the URL, go back to Google and type in "link:yourwebsite.com" and run a search query. If the search returns less than ideal results and the URL has backlinks that look spammy or unrelated, you should probably avoid that used URL.

When it comes to used URLs, there isn't a guaranteed way to know if you're purchasing a dud, but you can decrease the likelihood getting burnt by doing your research before you buy.

Chris J Everett is the Owner of the Webvolution Designs Atlanta Web Design & SEO Company. An SEO/PPC enthusiast, he leads the development of custom web development and internet marketing projects for small and medium sized businesses. For more information, he can be contacted via his company website at http://www.webvolutiondesigns.com/

Getting Help With DNS Services

When you are looking into DNS services, you need to make sure that they come with a help program to give you assistance with anything that you do not yet understand. If you have never considered DNS hosted services before, there are probably a lot of things that are going to be brand new to you. Do not just make assumptions or guesses. Do not feel overwhelmed, like you can never figure anything out. With the right help, you can figure everything out. You just need to make sure that you are in touch with people who can give you the kind of help that you need, when you need it.

You probably want to get help with DNS services from many different directions. For example, you want to be able contact people online and on the phone. This way, you can get assistance with DNS load balancing, DNS security, or the use of DNS management tools no matter where you are. You do not have to be at your computer to ask all of the question that you have. If you are on your computer anyway, though, you can use an online chat function to keep you from having to use up all of your cell phone minutes on your plan. Having multiple options will reduce the amount of times that you are stuck, unable to get the help that you need.

Before getting any sort of DNS services, you need to make sure that the helpline will be prompt and efficient. Some companies put you on hold for hours at a time so that you cannot ask the questions that you have about the DNS server. Other companies will not answer you for days even though sending an email message should really just take them a few seconds. The DNS services that you use should not give you this kind of treatment. Contact them to see how fast they get on the phone and answer any questions that you have before you spend any of your money working with them.

As you can see, working with DNS services that provide you with help can change the whole experience. The company can tell you about DNS solutions that you have never considered before. They can give you statistics on DNS uptime so that you can better understand how that works. You will feel overwhelmed right at first if you do not have experience in this field, as it is highly technical. This is a natural feeling. However, you should not let it rule over all of the things that you do. You need to get assistance so that you can increase your knowledge and conquer any apprehension that you have.

For more information on DNS Services, Please visit http://www.nominum.com/