The Domain Name System (DNS) is a website’s primary identification scheme.

Other identification schemes include the IP address and the autonomous system number. All these identification schemes can be viewed by using the WHOIS protocol, which accesses a website’s WHOIS record.

The Domain Name

Users remember a website because of its domain name. Unlike the IP address and the autonomous system number, both of which are made up of a series of numbers, the domain name can be made up of both numbers and letters. This leads to interesting combinations such as Ninetynine99.com, norestfortheweary.com, and buydomainnamesfor70.com. Domain names are usually sold by domain sellers on the world wide web such as DomainName.com (http://www.domainname.com), Domain Name International (http://www.domainint.com) and Yahoo! Domains (http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/domains).

Aside from the domain name, sometimes these domain sellers also provide buyers with additional features such as 24-hour phone and online support, e-mails accounts, and data transfer and storage options. Domain names come in different prices depending on the domain name seller and the predicted popularity value of the domain name itself.

Buyers of domain names usually choose the catchiest names for sale, unaware that buying just about any domain name comes with a serious legal risk: trademark infringement.

Trademark Infringement via the Domain Name

Trademark infringement occurs when a domain name contains letters, words, or symbols of another company’s registered trademark.

A company trademark, like the domain name, is a primary identification scheme.

A domain name which bears a similarity to a company’s trademark may give users the impression that the domain name owner is connected to the company.

This misrepresentation of the company’s trademark, whether intentional or unintentional, entitles the company to send a “cease and desist” letter against the domain name owner, requesting him to relinquish his domain name address because it infringes on the company trademark.

If the domain name owner refuses to comply, the company may pursue the case via WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation). This serious charge is automatically escalated to a legal body within WIPO. The outcome of this scenario is all too predictable: the domain name owner loses the case, because the aggrieved company is supported by solid legal provisions regarding trademark infringement. The domain is usually transferred to the complainent and the domain owner loses the domain.

Avoiding Trademark Infringement

Being charged with trademark infringement can easily render any domain name owner, from online companies to casual Internet users, of being blacklisted on the internet because all WIPO decisions are made public.

So, the long and short of it is, if you think a domain name is possibly infringing a trademark, then usually it is.

To avoid this legal nightmare, if you plan to purchase a domain name, try visiting the United States Patent and Trademark Office website (http://www.uspto.gov) to search for trademarks similar to the planned domain name you wish to register.

If the search yields results similar to their planned domain name, you should settle for another domain name rather than risk being charged with trademark infringement.

Is Your Domain Name a Trademark Infringement? is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

I am currently working on a project for a client which involves a piece of software which can be downloaded over the internet and installed on a mobile phone.

The software does three functions:

1) Performs a backup of the contacts, videos and photos from the phone
2) Can restore contacts, videos and photos back to the phone
3) Can lock the phone in the case of theft.

At the time of writing the software is still in testing phase but looks real promising.

Little Compatibility between Manufacturers

However, seeing there are over 700 different phone manufacturers and 8000 + models of mobile phone in the market and add to that there is no real unified platform between them to ensure compatibility between all of them, the backup and restore software is not 100% compatible with all makes and models and because of that, in some cases, users encounter difficulties installing or configuring the app the first time.

Supporting UK Clients from Spain

This week I was asked by my client to give some technical support to a couple of their own sales guys in the UK and was pondering about how to ensure that I can give them the best possible support seeing that I am based in Spain and they are in the UK.

After all, if the sales people can see the backup software works, they have faith and will sell it more, but I envisioned it was going to be difficult support session as I would not have access to their phone and people usually don’t know much about how to use their phones therefore making the situation more than likely uncomfortable for both myself and the sales people in the UK.

Enter Log Me In Rescue

This is where “Log Me In Rescue” comes in. I have been using this remote support system for years to give support to clients when they have issues with their email, it allow me to login to their PC or MAC and use their machine as if I was on site.

The beauty of it is that it saves me having to visit a client, hence saves money and the issue is fixed immediately. The client can be anywhere in the world and I can give them immediate and personal support. The client is usually quite impressed with the way I handle things so quickly and that of course is always good for business.

But what about mobile phone users?

More and more people these days are using mobile devices to check their emails, update twitter or facebook. In the past I have had clients contact me about how to configure their email on their blackberry or nokia and the best I have been able to do is advise them to check their user manual. I always felt a little bad about not being able to help them a little more.

Now though, its possible to give those users the same support as the MAC and PC users. Yes, the same way I can connect to a clients computer, its now possible to connect to a clients mobile phone, with the minimum of hassle.

I was so impressed with the logmeinrescue mobile support system, below, I have put together a demo session connecting from my pc to my Nokia Phone to demonstrate how it works.

As you can see, its all quite straightforward. Iphone is not currently supported but most blackberries are as well as any mobile with Symbian.

Whats in store for the future?

Everyday I am amazed at the technology that comes out and I am wondering, with the advent of Internet TV’s, will there be a support system to connect to a users TV and show them how to use it? How about microwaves? I would love nothing better than to contact a support agent so they can sow me how to use one.

Connecting to a Mobile Phone Over the Internet is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

There is no doubt that the internet is big business and is an attractive prospect for the majority of companies worldwide.

Your web site is more than likely the first stop for potential customers in the local and global market place replacing the days of old when the yellow pages directory was dominant.

And how do customers find your web site?
They type the domain name into their web browser after seeing it on a business card or printed medium or they will click on a search engine listing and click through to your web site.

Like a telephone number, your domain name is your unique identifying address on the internet so that people can find out about your business and communicate with you directly. Email is an extremely central part of your business, its the lifeline of modern communication, more often replacing the phone.

So what happens when you forget to renew your domain name?
Quite often I will have clients (those who I don’t manage their domains and they manage them themselves) calling or emailing me with one or all of the following issues:

1. I have not received any emails the last few days. Is there something wrong with the email server?

2. My web site does not seem to work. Is there something wrong with the web site?

3. There is a weird page with ads on it in place of my web site. What is going on?

Of course, to eliminate any technical issues I have a check list of items to perform a process of elimination and included on that list is to check the expiry date of the domain name.

More often than not, during these checks, I find that the client has let the domain name expire. The client has probably not intentionally let the domain expire but not renewing your domain name can run a few risks:

1. You will stop receiving emails
2. Your web site will probably stop working
3. Your registrar will probably put a holding page up in place of your web site
4. Someone else can register your domain name.

Most notably though the repercussion on your business is quite drastic. All of a sudden your current clients cant contact you, new customers wont see your web site or be able to email you and you run the risk of damaging your reputation.

Most people give their domain name second thought, but in essence its the most important part of your business because like a phone number, if people cant type your name in their web browser to contact you or email you, you WILL lose business which means you lose money.

If you lose your domain to someone else you run the risk of them selling it back to you at an extortionate amount and you have very little protection in the short term.

So how do I avoid these problems?
There are some simple things you can do to avoid the pain of allowing your domain to expire or losing your domain.

1. Most registrars will have an auto renew function in their billing system. Make sure your domain is set to auto renew on the anniversary of renewal.

2. Register your domain for many years in advance. Its possible to register your domain up to 10 years in advance.

3. Make sure the billing contact on the domain records is up to date, especially the email address. if you have spam filtering, ensure that you whitelist the company that bills you. You do not want to miss those notifications.

4. If you depend on a company to manage your domain portfolio, make sure that they have systems in place to avoid domain expiring.

Like backup solutions or anti virus software, people do not realise the importance of the domain name until the worst happens. Alot of focus is put into the web site design or the logo and seo, but all of that wont matter if you lose control of your domain.

Some Examples of Big Companies failing to Renew their domain names
A famous example of a BIG company not renewing a domain can be found at the link below where even Microsoft forgot to renew the hotmail.co.uk domain!
More about the Microsoft case here

See also the case of MP3.com who nerly lost their main domain for their 370 million dollar company.
More about the MP3.com case here

The Importance of Auto Renewing your Domain Name is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

Cybersquatting affects millions of businesses and individuals every year costing unaccountable financial losses and more importantly losses in terms of online reputation.

Nearly all the people I speak to have never really thought much about cybersquatting and its consequences as they have never experienced it, but you only have to experience it once to understand what a big problem it really is and the effect it has.

The dictionary definition of cybersquatting is:

The registration of a well-known brand or company name as an Internet domain name in the hope of selling it at a later date

With the current advent and popularity of social media and personal web sites however, I believe you can add to that definition the following:

The registration of someone’s personal name in the form of an Internet domain in order to cause that person grief and angst or for the purpose of blackmailing for financial gain or otherwise

Being “Googled” – Cybersquatter Interference

You may or may not have heard the term “being Googled”. I am hearing this term being bandied about more and more often on TV shows and around the Internet where someone will say “we Googled him” or “I Googled you” or “just Google them for their info”.

Because the internet is rapidly replacing the phone book and information libraries, more and more information about ourselves and our companies is appearing on the internet in the public domain, being “Googled” is becoming the norm for companies, employers or clients wanting to find out more information about you.

Anyone can just open google and type your name in the search box  and when they do more than likely, if a cybersquatter is using your domain then its possible that those searchers will land on a squatted site which can contain any type of information out of your control.

Cybersquatters are essentially causing interference in your being googled because if they have registered your domain name, any person typing your name, 9 times out of 10 will jump to the squatted site, not your own.

Effects of Cybersquatting and Why they do it.

Its difficult almost impossible to put a price on what damage a cybersquatter can do but here is a short list of possible effects a cybersquatter can have on your business or personal profile:

- can post negative information about you, therefore reducing your reputation
- can redirect visitors/customers looking for your product, to their own product
- can hold you to ransom by owning the domain attempting to extort money
- can profit from the popularity of your name by selling it on

There are many other examples on the internet of cybersquatters registering domain names of famous celebrities, companies and individuals in order to attempt to profit.

Reasons for Cybersquatting – why?

The reason for cybersquatting can be many but for the most part cybersquatters do it to intentionally harm someone’s reputation or business or unlawfully profit off someone.

Here are two of the many examples of cybersquatting and the possible reason they cybersquat.

- you may have had a fallout with a disgruntled employee or partner and they have gone off and registered your domain name (which you may have unwittingly allow to expire) behind your back and have attempted to extort thousands of euros or dollars from you to give it back (see craigedmonds.co.uk)

- you may have a company whose name is similar just by making a typo. For example the following names when typing are very similar and people can very often confuse the two when typing them into their browser.

take note of the following typo example.

Example 1 is the real company web site
Example 2 “was” the cybersquatted web site (since resolved I believe)

The result is of course any one typing in the wrong domain thinking they are typing the right one, called a typo, would have landed on the cybersquatters web site in example 2, the result being that the real company in example 1 loses out on possible revenue.

But is Cybersquatting not Illegal?

Please bear in mind, I am not a lawyer but some will say its illegal but the facts I have discovered  is that its not actually a  crime to cybersquat, not in the criminal sense anyway. Logic says that yes its an illegal act and should be punishable by criminal court but cybersquatting is still a very grey area and its a relatively new phenomenon, less than 15 years old, so its a very tricky area.  Laws differ from country to country and the reach of domains is global not local.

However, if you feel someone has unlawfully cybersquatted your domain and its a top level domain such as a .com, .net, .org  etc you can take your case to the World Intellectual Property Organisation, WIPO for short, but you have to prove a solid case and its not cheap to do.

The prices start at around $5,000 and you are not guaranteed to win and when you do, all you get is the domain name transferred to you and the cybersqautter just walks away without even getting their knuckles rapped or paying a penny in costs If you lose the case, then the cybersquatter walks off laughing and you are out of pocket for 5 large ones.

Depending on which country you are based, it “may” be possible to sue the cybersquatter for damages, but suing for lost income is very difficult to prove which is why any lawyer will just tell you to forget it and move on especially if its a flaky case.

In all cases, approach a lawyer who specialises in domain law, don’t approach your conveyancing lawyer or family lawyer, they wont know a thing about it or they will give you incorrect advice, the same way you would not go to a Brain Surgeon to ask about Heart Surgery.

So How Can I Prevent Cybersquatters?

You need to be vigilant and spend a small amount of money to protect your domain interests.

Here are some pointers:

1. Register Your Own Personal Name as a .com Domain.
2. Register the other main TLD versions such as .net, .co.uk, .name, .org, .info
3. Register any possible typos of the domain in the .com versions
4. If you are a company, register all TLD’s and any misspellings
5. If the domains are important, register them a  few years in advance
6. Make sure the domains are set to auto renew so they dont accidentally expire

Domains can cost as low as $7.95 per year so for an individual to register the main domain extensions, around 5 domains, the annual cost for a small personal portfolio can be more or less $40.00 per year.

Companies can get away by just registering the main 5 but as mentioned they should also be registering any variations of extensions they feel they can afford. An average portfolio for a small, medium sized company would be appx $250 per year which in the scheme of things is no large amount.

Unless you have real deep pockets you cannot register all the domain extensions as there are hundreds of top level domains and country level domains, but if you use common sense you can protect your company or yourself from the evil cybersquatters out there just waiting to take advantage of your good name.

Beware of Cybersquatters – Your Domain is Important Now More than Ever. is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

The other day I wrote a post about privacy whois on domain name records and mentioned one of the upsides of privacy whois, and that is that you benefit from the protection of scammers not being able to find out your details to contact you directly.

Well here is an example of one of the many scams . Its called the “domain appraisal scam”.

Below is a screenshot of my inbox this morning showing 3 emails from the same company, a company calling themselves “Domain Sale LLC”.

The body of their obviously automated email is as follows:

“Dear sir,

we are interested to purchase your domain name CHELSEAPROPERTIES.NET and offer between 50% and 65% of the appraised value.
We accept appraisals from companies such as

http://www.sedo.com/

http://pddomains.com/

http://max-apprais.com/

Should you already have a valuation please send it to us.

Please let us know whether you are interested. Upon review of your valuation and in case of an agreement we send payments via PayPal for amounts less than $2,000 and via Escrow.com for amounts above $2,000, as well as further instructions on how to complete the transfer of the domain name.

Thank you,

Domain Sale LLC”

As you can see they want to buy the domain names as long as you send them an appraisal from one of the above sites they have chosen for you.

You are probbaly now saying to yourself  “well that seems pretty logical, they simply want to make sure the domain is worth it” but I can tell you its not as simple as that and the scammers are very cunning, modern day snakeoil salesmen disguising themselves as potential buyers.

I say “cunning” because saying it was “smart” or “clever” would be an insult to all those people who have been drawn in by the scam.

What they don’t tell you is that they own 2 out of three of the domain appraisal web sites (pddomains.com and max-apprais.com) listed in the email and to give the “offer” some additional level of  credibility they mention sedo.com, which is in fact  a credible domain broker who do provide an expert appraisal service.

They also pepper the email with mentions of escrow.com and paypal, two solid reputable companies.

The scammers hope is that by preying on peoples need to make money or rather the want of making a quick buck, such an offer for a domain name, a domain you may just have sitting there doing nothing may seem quite attractive and by placing trust words in the sales pitch suchs as escrow.com, paypal.com and sedo.com you will purchase a domain appraisal report from one of the three mentioned appraisal companies and send in the appraisal to Domain Sales LLC.

As they already own two out of the three appraisal companies, then Domain Sales LLC have a 66.6% chance of you choosing one of their domain appraisal services.

So you see, all is not what it seems. What appears to be a legitimate offer to purchase your domain is in fact a cunning  ploy to part you with a few dollars for one of their worthless and unexpert appraisals.

Domain Appraisal Scams is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

So what exactly is domain name privacy and why would you need it?

Domain name records more commonly known as the “WhoIs” record are stored online in the public domain, which means like land registry details, the details of the registrant is available online for anyone to see and lookup.

Of course this means that anyone looking to contact you or find where you are, they simply look up your WhoIs record and take the information. It should be noted that ICANN regulations state that you are not permitted to falsify WhoIs information, so putting false information is not allowed and is risky because you can lose your domain by doing so.

The WhoIs details generally contain the full name, physical address, email address and contact phone number and fax number for you or your organisation.

However, if you want to keep your personal or company details from prying eyes, then there is a legal way of preventing people from accessing these details and that is done by requesting a “private whois” record.

A private whois basically means you voluntarily opt out of the public whois system and your public details are replaced by the details of your corresponding registrar or private whois agent. Most registrars offer this private whois service for a small fee or there are a number of third party agencies who will substitute your details with theirs.

So when someone is looking up the details of your domain, they will not see any contact details related to yourself or your company.

Why Does WhoIs exist?
ICANN, the international non-profit organization that regulates and organizes the Internet’s naming system, requires domain registrants like you to make information publicly available to help the public verify domain ownership and transfers.

The WhoIs registry also plays an important role in helping law enforcement agencies all over the world investigate illegal online activities. It also helps individuals detect if a particular domain violates any intellectual property rights.

So What Does the WhoIs System do for me?
ICANN seeks to protect both Internet users and domain owners. Making your WhoIs information publicly accessible helps your visitors confirm that you are a legitimate company, and it makes them feel safe to explore your website and give you their information.

If you belong to an industry plagued by fakes, it would be better for you to make your WhoIs record accessible by the public, on top of making sure that your website content is well-written and credible.

What if I choose to limit public access to my WhoIs information?
Limiting public access to your WhoIs registry protects you from online threats like hackers, spammers, and shady email solicitors.

If you choose to completely prevent public access to your WhoIs, make sure that you dedicate space in your website for your business’ full contact information to assure your market that you’re the real deal. By doing so, you won’t have to share technical details about your domain that hackers might abuse.

On the other hand, you can usually choose to limit what the public sees on your WhoIs record. You can make your contact details available while hiding technical information about your domain.

How do I keep my domain registration details private?
Privacy protection is a requested function. The process to limit public access to WhoIs registries varies from one domain registrar to the next. The company that registered your domain should be able to tell you how to proceed.

Protect Your Privacy When You Register Your Domain is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

I was privileged to be invited by the newly formed Samsung Test Lab team to the IFA Show in Berlin on 6th and 7th of September.

It really looks like companies, even the really big companies like Samsung are starting to take social media seriously by integrating new ways of digitising social media than just through a web browser.

On display at the show there were some new products like the 3D TV, a dual screen didgital camera, laptops that have battery life for up to 9 hours, but one of the things that caught my eye was the “Internet TV”.

Basically, its a normal LCD/LED Tv with the exception that its connected to the internet and you can use your twitter account, do the stocks and shares thing, see the weather but most interestingly was the You Tube widget.

Below you will find a few snippets of video I have taken at the show with my video camera and I have tried my best to stitch them together to show you some of the products I thought were most interesting.

I look forward to attending CES in Las Vegas in January next year to see some more fantastic and life changing products.

IFA Tech Show Berlin 2009 – Samsung Booth is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

You upload your site onto the internet and then wait for things to happen. “Build it and they will come”…..Yeah okay….not!! It’s expecting a bit too much if you have not made thorough preparations and research beforehand.

Imagine it this way.

There are millions of sites, billions of pages floating around on the internet and the chances that the top search engines pick your site at random and list you on the first page is like choosing the winning numbers on the national lottery the first time you have every played. It just does not happen.

Search Engines are a Business
The search engines are themselves a business, big business and their clients are the users looking for products, services and information. The search engines job is to present their client with the most informative and relevant sites and pages.

This is why companies hire seo professionals to do the best possible keyword analysis and on-site optimisation done in advance. Their aim is to optimise your site through an array of specially chosen keywords and coding so that a search engine like Google, Yahoo or Bing can lap it up and present your information to their client.

This advance preparation will then help to generate increased traffic over time and as a result pave the way for better revenues.

So let us try and understand what the basic mistakes a site (or site owner) makes.

Excessive Keywords Stuffing
One mistake is that they cram their site with excessive use of keywords. This according to Google is an unhealthy trait and they can penalise the site thus affecting its Google ranking. Another word for it is keyword spamming.

Flash Intros
Another bad move is the placement of a flash intro or splash page. It may look real nice and seem cool but this results in the index page being obstructed because there is nothing there for the search engine to index, so the search engine will see there is of nothing of interest there and your index page wont be listed.

Keyword Analysis
Out of all the boo boo’s you can make, this is the biggest one. Sites commonly make the mistake of either putting in high competition, high traffic keywords or they choose low competition, zero traffic keywords.

High competition, High traffic keywords – If you are just launching a web site then you are already 5 years too late in terms of getting onto the first page for, well, pretty much any of the high competition key phrases because there are already thousands of sites vying for that position.

Low competition, Zero traffic keywords - So if you are late in joining the race to compete in the competition, then surely it makes sense to target low competition keywords right? Of course! But you have to be careful that you dont target a keyword that is so irrelevant that it has no traffic.

There is no point in ranking on the first page of Google for phrase “best business services in the world” when that phrase only gets 5 visitors per year. You are only kidding yourself. Sure, it’s pretty impressive when you are with your mates at the pub and you say “hey guess what, I am number 1 on google for the phrase best business services in the world”, they will applaud you and buy you drinks, but only a true seo will know the truth.

So what do you do?

At this point I am not saying don’t chase down high competition high traffic keywords, however at the same time you need to be looking at more niche phrases in order to pick up the slack.

Relevance of Keywords
A niche phrase is a phrase with Low Competition, Low Traffic. Again, I think I should mention the relevancy of keywords to your site. You need to be relevant. There is no point in ranking number 1 for “Airport Guide Dogs” when you sell real estate. Visitors to your site are looking for guide dogs, so they will vote with their mouse and click off your site in an instant if your site is not relevant. Your bounce rate will go through the roof.

What you need to be doing is asking your seo what keyword analysis tool he uses and to present you with the phrases and explanation of why he is using those phrases. Dont just accept any old phrase from them as more often than not, Seo’s want their job to be nice and easy too.

There are many tools out there but here are the two main ones I use with great success.

1. Wordtracker – paid subscription!
2. Google Search Keyword Tool – free!

A little keyword research done in advance can be the difference between boom or bust for your web site or its ongoing success or failure.

This list of boo boo’s is by no means definitive but if you can avoid a couple of them and work out a good keyword strategy, then you will be miles ahead of most.

SEO Boo Boo’s that could cost you rankings before you even start is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas