Domains

Should Your Small Business Use A Domain Network?

October 25, 2016

Luke Gruden is a help desk technician for Tech Experts.

If you have 5 or more computers that are sharing files and are constantly being worked with, a domain network would be in your best interest.

A domain network using a server has many benefits to a work area, a work building, or even multiple buildings using VPN. The flexibility, security, and convenience of a domain is, in most companies, invaluable. Sign into your account from any computer that is a part of the domain and you no longer need to use only your personal computer to access files.

If something were to happen to your computer, you could just use another computer to sign into your account and continue working without much downtime. This is also a far more secure way for users to access other computers as they have to use their credentials and only have the permissions that their credentials provide, not those of the computer itself. As long as users are not sharing passwords, you can have every user accounted for, policies implemented, and control what they can and cannot access when it comes to Internet, files, and programs.

Secure file-sharing is an easy and basic function of a domain server with Active Directory, which all the computers connected to the domain have access to. If you wanted only certain users to have access to certain files, you can have folders set up that prevent unauthorized editing, but still could be read — or even not be seen at all.

Having 5+ workers able to access the same set of files to edit as needed is an amazing way to save time and improve project efficiency. Everyone can see the file as it is saved or changed and they can continue to edit records as necessary without ever having to go on the Internet or transfer the file. Just get on any computer on the domain and you have instant access to the files that you need without a second thought.

Active Directory is your IT department’s best friend when it comes to handling large or small groups of computers as IT can access the domain server to make adjustments to other computers without ever stopping the work flow.

Forgot your password? Your IT can very easily use the server and reset your password for you without having to go to your computer. Setting up a new computer that needs certain printers and drivers installed? IT can set up the server to push those standard programs and drivers without having to install each individual program. Need to set up a new user account? It’s created on the server and the user can be accessed on all computers. There are so many possibilities that open up when you have a server domain available for your workstations.

We have only scratched the surface of what’s possible with a domain server and the amount of time and effort it can save for everyone in the company. I believe every business that is looking to grow should have a domain server early on as it will be easier to set up and can evolve to your needs as your company grows.

If your company needs help setting up a domain network, you can count on Tech Experts to take care of it.

Taking Your Business Online Can Increase Profits

June 22, 2012

by Jeremy Miller, Technician
Most if not all businesses can benefit from having an online-presence. Going on-line for a business can be a low-cost marketing solution.

Your online presence can help give customer’s quick access to information about you and your business, all the way to having automated inventory alerts that let clients know about new products and stock levels.

When getting started online, you’ll want to get a domain that represents your business. You’ll want to pick something that’s easy to remember, and easy to spell and type.

You don’t want a domain name that you have to spell out for clients – that makes it very hard to use in advertising.

There are many domain registrars to choose from, including Tech Experts.

After you have your domain name, you’ll need website hosting services. Most web hosts, including Tech Experts, include company email with the service.

Most hosting plans are very affordable. Our basic hosting plan starts at $9.99 per month.

If you want to take it a step further, you can set up an online store. There are a lot of options, depending on how involved you want the store to be.

Accepting credit cards online can be a hassle, especially with the new security and compliance regulations. If you expect to do a large volume of business in your store, it makes sense to set up a secure site and contract for the credit card processing services.

For smaller web stores, PayPal offers a checkout service that is fully PCI DSS compliant. Their basic service is free (less the processing costs).

Setting up a website is not enough to make your business drastically improve. You have to find a way to get customers to your website.

There are many ways to do this. An inexpensive and effective way to get your website noticed is to start a blog.

Blogs will show a human side to the business and search engines crawl blogs easily. Easy places to do this are popular websites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus.

This helps improve your ranking in a search on search engines. There are other ways to improve your ranking as well. In fact there is a periodic table guide to Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

By looking at the periodic table, you can see exactly on a point scale what increases and decreases your SEO ranking.

There are companies that specialize in SEO Optimization. The fees range from very reasonable to exorbitant. SEO is as much black art as science, and it pays to have professional help.

There are tools that track how users are using your website. Google Analytics tracks how much time is spent on your website, and where visitors are going.

This can be useful for you to optimize your site for ease-of-use. You want to make it easy for your users to find what they are looking for and browse easily as well.

Another tool that can be useful is Google AdSense, which places targeted ads on your site – and everytime someone clicks on ad, Google will pay you a small amount.

The last thing to think about is the mobile version of your site. More users browse the Internet than ever before with their smart phones and tablets, so you’ll want to have a mobile site for these visitors.

This can be a little more tedious due to the fact that this technology is still emerging.

A lot of web sites require a mouse for them to function; an example of this would be a site with a menu bar at the top with a “mouse over” function to see the drop-down menu.

So having a site that detects the type of device and browser that the user is using and directs them to the correct site is important.

Selecting A Quality Domain Name For Your Business

March 23, 2010

As easy as it might sound, depending on your business, choosing the right domain name for your business can be a very difficult task.

There are many factors that you need to consider when choosing a proper domain name for your business.

Related to your business
First off you should have a domain name that reflects what your business is, does, or is about.

What I mean is, if you own a business related to toys have the word toys in the domain name or let’s say computers maybe incorporate the word pc or computer in to the domain name like… www.qualitypcrepair.com.

Keep it simple
This is one of the most important factors of choosing a domain name. For example www.pcrepair.com. This way when people either see it on the side of the road or just coming across it on the Internet they will lock it in their heads very quickly.

It also makes things easier when people try to refer you to another person. They can just say something along the lines like “Hey I found this website called www.virusremovalexperts.com that can remove some of the toughest and nastiest infections that you can catch around.”

Stick with letters and “.com”
Try not to set your business domain up with any numbers, if possible. Many people like to add numbers in their domain name. This can be a very bad idea since when people are being told the web address to go to, they tend to spell everything out.

For example www.july4th.com many people would think www.julyfourth.com. Avoid using dashes or underscores, too.

Yes it is very easy to say “check out my website pc dash repair.com” but it is also even simpler to tell them to go to pcrepair.com.

You’ll also find there are a number of top-level domains. The top-level domain is the part after the period in the domain name, such as “.com.”

There are hundreds of top-level domains, such as “.net,” “.org,” “.biz” and so on. None of those have the staying power or the ability to be memorized that “.com” does. Having a “.com” domain name also adds credibility to your business.

Keywords
Keywords are very important and every search engine uses words that the owner specifies from their website and allows the search engine to have the public use that to find your business.

Some search engines will use the words in the domain name as a keyword so that if you are a business that does computer repair you might want to use www.apluscomputerrepair.com which has a keyword computer and repair right in the domain.

Trademark
Another thing people do not look in to when choosing a good domain name is that if you’re infringing on a trademark of someone else’s business. This could lead to you losing your business.

Be sure to take a look at http://www.uspto.gov/main/trademarks.htm to make sure you are not infringing.

The best things you can do when looking for a great domain name for your business is to make a list of about ten to twenty domain names and organize them from the best to the worst that you can think of. Start from the best and check them for availability. You will be surprised that fifty percent of them will be taken. This helps so that you actually sit down and think about what is best for your business.

WARNING! Domain Scammers Are Out To Rip You Off!

September 14, 2008

We’ve received a number of calls from our clients over the past few weeks concerning domain renewal notices from companies such as Domain Registry of America and Liberty Names.

The renewal notices look like invoice, but in small print indicate they’re not. Be careful, because these notices are a scam to try and get you to switch your domain registration service to these companies, usually at much higher fees than are normal for domain registration.

One of our clients received two letters from them on the same day, urging them to transfer domains from my current registrar to their bogus service. If you receive one of their letters or emails, our advice is to throw it away – and let everyone that handles the mail at your company to throw them away as well.

If you read the notice VERY carefully, these companies are trying to convince you to transfer your domain to them by using threatening language and misleading information. If you use magnifying glass to read all the fine print on the back of their letters, the alarm bells will ring. Here’s an extract:

“You agree that you may not transfer your domain name registration to another domain name registrar during the first sixty (60) days from the effective date of your initial domain name registration with DRoA. You agree to provide written, signed authorization to DRoA for the transfer of the domain name to another registrar and agree to pay any and all fees that may be charged by DRoA to effect the transfer. Your request to transfer to another registrar may be denied in situations described in the Dispute Policy…”

“You agree, during the period of this Agreement, that we may (1) revise the terms and conditions of this Agreement; and (2) change the services provided under this Agreement. Any such revision or change will be binding and effective immediately on posting of the revised Agreement or change to the service(s) on DRoA’s web site, or on notification to you by e-mail or Canadian mail. You agree to review DRoA’s web site, including the Agreement, periodically to be aware of any such revisions.”

We interpret this to mean that if you mistakenly fall for their letter and sign up for their service, you are stuck with it for 60 days, must pay any transfer costs back to your own registrar and could end up paying for expensive services you didn’t agree to.

Domain Registry of America has been taken to court and rapped over the knuckles several times by the Federal Trade Commission for misleading consumers, but they’re still at it, trying to get people to switch their domain name registrar and usually pay a higher price in the process.

Our advice: If you haven’t already, move your domain registrations to our service. We charge a very reasonable $15/year per domain name, and as a courtesy, provide Domain Privacy Service to you at no charge. This means that domain scammers like Domain Registry of America and Liberty names won’t have access to your mailing and personal information.

That way, the only renewal notices you’ll receive for your domains will come directly from Tech Experts. For more information about our domain registration services, call (734) 457-5000.