Nowadays, most websites are built using a content management system, but not all. Content management systems are wonderfully convenient in that they allow a person who has no HTML knowledge to be able to make edits to their website easily and properly. Of course there are times when the system does not work perfectly, as I discussed last week (link to WYSIWYG blog), but for the most part, having your website in a content management system will not only save you time in making the edits yourself, but will also save you money if you are hiring a developer to make the edits for you.

If a site is not hosted in a content management system, in order to make edits, an FTP program (such as Fetch, CuteFTP or Dreamweaver) must be used. It takes a lot of additional time making edits through an FTP program rather than a content management system. To make edits via an FTP program, you have to:

1. Open this program
2. Download all of the files from your website (which can sometimes take 5-10 minutes depending on the file), open them
3. Find the part that you want to edit
4. Find where any images might exist that you want to use
5. Make the edits
6. Upload the edited files

On top of this process, edits do not always look the same when you make them in an FTP program as they do once they have been uploaded to a site, so very often tweaks need to be made, and the whole process must be repeated several times to finish the page updates.

If the same website was hosted in a content management system, the editing process would be much for efficient. To edit website in a content management system all you need to do is:

1. Log into the cms
2. Go to the page via the directory of pages
3. Make the edits and click “update”

This is a far simpler process even for those who know HTML code. Some CMS systems even allow you to save previous page versions.

If you are looking to build a new website, make sure to inquire about having it built in a content management system. It will save you time and money whether you are doing it yourself of hiring someone else to do it for you.

Whether you are an individual looking to make a website for your business or a company making another website for a new brand or product, you have the choice to register your domain name publicly or privately.

The main factor to consider in this decision is the results of the “Who Is Lookup.” A “Who Is Lookup” is like a domain name search engine: you type in a domain name and it tells you if the domain name is registered, who it is registered to and when it will expire.

When registering a domain name you need to enter contact information such as a phone number, email address and street address. If you are a company, you should use the company’s information to do this and therefore when the “look up” is done, only the company information will be visible.

However, if you are an individual, you will need to use your personal contact information to register the domain. This is when you might want to consider a private registration. While it is an additional cost, registering a domain privately ensures that your personal information isn’t visible to anyone simply looking up your domain.

As a company, we don’t use private registration when buying domain names, but if you are concerned about your personal information being available for all to see, then you might want to consider paying the extra fee to keep your privacy more secure.

Selecting your domain name in today’s online marketplace can sometimes prove to be more challenging than you’d initially expect.  The reality is that with all the websites out there today, there is fierce competition among domain name selection.  This means that the domain name you want may not be available, or it may be too similar to another larger site’s name to really make for a logical choice.

In reaction to the short supply of domain names, many organizations have developed domain locations beyond the traditional “dot com.”  You may have seen some of these new additions recently:

• .biz
• .net
• .info
• .home

But should you choose one of these domain locations just to ensure you get the domain name you want?  It may seem like a harmless decision, and some might even argue that it can differentiate your business name, but in reality, these dot com alternatives don’t hold up to the power of the original dot com.

Top Reasons Why Dot Com is King:

Searchability.

Search engines give more value to .com’s than any other domain locations.  The power of a .com is still unrivaled by any other domain location by consumers and search engines alike.

Familiarity.

People know and trust .com’s.  They remember them and connect with them.  Asking your customer to remember your company’s URL can be a challenge in itself, but changing it to a .biz or .net can make your site hard to find or forgetful, both of which decrease your traffic rates.

Staying Power.

As with a lot of tech fads, these domain names may prove to be here today and gone tomorrow. We know that .com’s will be around for at least somewhat longer, making them a worthy investment.

And here’s something interesting to consider: some online forms that ask for your website URL may not recognize those other domain extensions unless specifically programmed to do so.

Default Settings.

When you can’t remember an exact domain name what do you do?  I know I simply type the name of the company into the address bar at the top of my favorite browser. And whether it’s Google’s Chrome or Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, today’s smart and intuitive browsers simply redirect you to the company’s .com.

Your domain is one of the single most differentiating elements to your website, but even if you just can’t get the URL of your dreams, it’s still important to understand your options and choose the domain name that works for your website (your business investment) in the long run.

To get more tips and advice on choosing the right domain name, click here and watch a video by the Technology Therapist!