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Given the news that Chinese web publisher Shilehui.com paid € 56,000 for the domain name 90.com at Great Domains, a domain auction venue, we wanted to review numeric domain trends. A quick look at the top ranked sites in China reveals three numeric domains which rank among the country’s sites: 56.com, 126.com and 163.com are all popular entertainment portals with impressive global traffic numbers.

A closer look at the site 56.com reveals an intuitive basis to the trend: in a region with variations in the Mandarin language, selecting a two-digit numeric domain creates universal branding that transcends regional and local variants, creating a universal brand in a diverse country. 56.com has been called the “You Tube” of China, and consistently ranks as one of the most popular entertainment sites in the country.

Given the growing demand for localized branding, ICANN is at the early stages of opening up complete support for native international domain name (IDN) extensions in a variety of languages. For now, however, many Chinese sites face the dilemma of having a URL partially in native characters but with an English extension (such as .com).

The ability to create an instant brand through a short numeric domain, such as 90.com, makes economic sense as Internet traffic continues to rise rapidly in China. A survey from the China Internet Network Information Center showed that the country had 300 million Internet users at the beginning of the year, representing an adoption rate of only 22%.

The 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Opening Ceremony began on August 8, 2008 at 8 p.m. This schedule ensured that the Games would start at the most opportune time, as the number eight is a symbol of wealth and well-being. Native Chinese pronunciations of the numbers reveal their meanings, leading to expensive auctions for lucky phone numbers, addresses and, of course, domain names with special significance. According to tradition, the number “9” signifies everlasting well-being – add a “0″, € 56,000 for good measure and you have a new universal home on the web.

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DNS (Domain Name System) always seems to be popping up when you want to create or modify a website. But if you’re not familiar with the concept, DNS can be a complicated issue to deal with. This article will explain the role of DNS on the web.

Imagine you posted a letter with the address ‘To Daniel’ written on the envelope. You would have an extremely small chance of that letter actually reaching the person named ‘Daniel’. Obviously this is because the post office would not have a unique address associated with the name ‘Daniel’.

The purpose of DNS is to associate a named address with a website address. We are used to seeing website addresses that we understand, like www.mydomain.com. But underneath the friendly human language lies a series of unfathomable numbers.

These numbers represent an IP address (IP refers to ‘Internet Protocol’). Every computer or device that is connected to the internet has a unique IP address. An IP address is made up of 4 sets of numbers separated with full stops between them, e.g. 194.154.164.90. IP addresses are used by network routers on the internet to send information between computers.

Essentially, a website address masks the IP address with a language that we can understand. So where does DNS come into all of this? The three components of a website address are separated by dots. The components are as follows:

1. Hostname (www)
2. Domain Name (mydomain)
3. Top Level Domain (com)

When you register a domain name it is added to a root database. There is a root database for each Top Level Domain (TLD). When a name is added to this database it is associated with DNS servers that will hold the domain’s detailed information. This information tells computers where to send email and where to locate the websites. To resolve a domain name into a web address, a web browser must locate the domain’s DNS servers by querying the root database.

So if you change your domain information (‘Manage DNS’ on your 123-reg control panel) you are actually updating a database record. This record is called upon whenever someone types your domain name into their browser. The browser will ask the database for the IP address of where your domain lives, and then visit the server where your website resides. This allows the visitor to view a website or send an email.

DNS is a big subject, and can get quite complicated. There are many issues we could talk about. But for the meantime, I hope this post provides an effective overview of DNS and its purpose on the internet.

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In our first Q&A, we asked for your questions about search engine optimisation. And we answered a couple of the most interesting ones – on password protected content and Google PageRank.

This time round, we’re bringing in a search engine advertising expert from Euston Digital to answer your questions on pay per click advertising.

Pay per click (PPC) adverts are the adverts you see displayed alongside search results in search engines like Google. We’ve written about the subject in depth before, so check out our guide if you’re new to PPC.

Send us your questions

Perhaps you already advertise your business using PPC adverts. Maybe you’re thinking of starting. Or it might be that you’re just interested in the subject.

Whatever: if you have a burning question about PPC that you want answered, just leave your question as a comment on this blog post. Like last time, we’ll pick some of the most interesting queries and get them answered.

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Most of us mere mortals don’t have access to a sun bed at work. But given the alarmingly high rate of skin cancer cases in the UK, this is probably a good thing. In reality those of us seeking the artificial sun God are really living in the dark, ‘blister-fully’ ignorant of the harm that excessive sun bed use can cause.

In a bold effort to raise public awareness Nottingham based skin cancer charity SKcin has set up a new website. Computertan.com doesn’t rely on the usual finger-wagging-nanny route to enlightenment. Instead the site cleverly dupes the bronze brigade into believing that a sun-kissed exterior is only a mouse click away.

People are fooled into the belief that they can freely sun themselves 9 to 5, while sat in front of their PC. Computertan.com boasts software which can produce ultraviolet rays right out of your computer screen. However, when the gullible individual eagerly clicks download they are met with a stark warning about the perils of UV radiation.

At first sun bed bars appear glowing on the screen. So-far-so-good thinks the virtual beach dweller. But then suddenly the abrupt message “Don’t be fooled UV rays can kill” springs out. This is then followed by graphic illustrations of skin cancer to truly drive the shock home. Perhaps this process sounds overtly harsh, but we have to remember that skin cancer is the most common form of disease in young people today.

With one million hits in two months, Computertan.com has certainly spread SKcin’s message. So if you have an inventive or novel idea, don’t keep it to yourself. Setting up a website has never been cheaper or easier with 123-reg.

SKcin
Computertan

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