WhatsTheBuzzAbout.com

Are You Being Left Behind?

It is decision time for many people who have created profiles on social networks or who have been thinking about creating a profile, but who have not been active. Perhaps you are reticent to become involved because you want to “be professional.”  Perhaps you have read about the issue Facebook created by making a small change in its user agreement. This change created such a reverberation that Facebook had to retract the change and revert to the original language. Perhaps you are concerned about the long-term implications of written commitment, or a myriad of other reasons you have for limiting your participation.

The current President of the United States is using technology to spread his message and garner input.  Using a Blackberry (however, restricted) was something that he chose to continue when he assumed the office. Other world leaders follow suit to a more limited extent, and we can expect that more political, organizational, and corporate events and activities will be held through electronic mediums.

It is time that that part of the world population which has the capability and freedom to access the internet be bold and step up and become connected. It is important that they at least create the rudimentary capabilities to read, email, and save material. Secondary steps should include instant messaging, video, file-sharing, oral communications on line, and community access.

Failure to begin this connection process will push these individuals further down the technology chain and result in a lack of information and capacity to participate fully. Failure to have basic computer skills already adversely affects the job seeker, the parents who want to understand what their children are experiencing on the internet, and business through limiting communication.

There are many individuals who will help others get started on an electronic quest. It is time that people who have not experienced the internet and the beauty of “the computer” have the opportunity. Encourage your friends, parents, grandparents, colleagues, and others to join in through participation. It is never too late and there is a joy in being connected. The thrill of immediate electronic access to information and thought is an entirely different experience than capturing information via libraries, magazines, newspapers, television, and radio.

Practice social media evangelizing!

What is your buzz about?

Domain Name Maze

You have made the decision. You created a concept and decided to obtain a domain name. Your idea is to launch a company, service, product, organization, blog, etc. using that domain name.  You design the site, set the parameters, and launch it. Traffic comes, and life continues to be good.

Then, you have your first wake-up call. Someone alerts you that someone else has the same domain name with a different extension. Perhaps you have registered as a dot.com and they have a domain that ends in dot.net.  Perhaps they have launched the domain, perhaps not. Perhaps, they are even offering your same products and services.  Someone could be using your domain name as the first part of an email, such as <domain name>@gmail.com.  Someone could be using your domain name as a group on Facebook or Yahoo. Now you are aware that your branding can be jeopardized, or at a minimum be confused with another effort.

Picking and registering a domain name seems easy, but the repercussions of your choice and actions are significant. Initially, the main stumbling block appears to be in the creative process when you learn whether someone else already has registered your preferred domain name.  However, you need to determine if you have a potential trademark infringement. So how should you approach this task?

The Domain Name Process

1.       Choose the domain name that best represents what you are trying to convey – if mystery is part of your strategy or you are not concerned whether people immediately understand what the name means, then the name itself is less significant. For example, if you did not know what www.whatsthebuzzabout.com was about, the name most likely will not help you decipher that. On the other hand, www.oceanseas.org  or www.linktowallstreet.com will give you some idea of what the organization has or will have as its mission and focus. 

2.       Identify fall-back domain names in order of preference.

3.       Decide whether someone else using the same name or a similar name might cause a problem for you.  For example, if your preferred domain name is oatmealcookiesfreshfromtheoven, will you be concerned if someone else takes chocolatechipcookiesfreshfromtheoven, or oatmeal cookiesfreshfromtheovens, or oatmealcookiesfreshfromthebakery?

4.       Identify any related domains for your preferred domain name and each of the fall-back domain names.

5.       Check out the potential domain names you have decided to registrar and any others that that might cause you concern.  Are they registered, up and running, for sale, trademarked, etc.?

6.       Decide how you want to use the domain.  Is it an organization, European-centric, TV dependent or related, an information portal, etc.?

7.       Do a domain extension study. Learn the choices in extensions, and learn the differences in perception and expectation between .com, .net, .info, .eu, .mobi, .tv. , .org, .edu., etc.

8.       Decide your primary domain extension, and identify any others that you believe are of value to you and that you need to own and protect from any other people obtaining.

9.       Determine where you want to register your domain(s). Remember that you will not be able to transfer them to another registrar in the immediate future.

10.   Decide whether you want to lock the domain(s) auto-renew them, secure them, etc.

11.   Determine your technical and administrative contacts for each domain.

12.   Register your primary domain first, using the extension which is the most important to you, and register all others.

13.   Backorder any nice-to-have domains that you wanted and were not able to secure.

14.   Register related email addresses just to protect the main domain name, for example, oatmealcookiesfreshfromtheoven@gmail.com, @aol.com, @yahoo.com, @googlemail.com, etc.

15.   Copyright your websites.

Then congratulate yourself on a job well-done and appreciate your hard work and fortuitous planning!

What is your buzz about?