A name can make of break a web site. I am of course talking
about a Domain name.
You may think there is nothing to it. Pick a catchy domain
name that rolls off the tongue, check that it is available
and if it is go ahead and buy it. It couldn't be any harder
that that can it?
Well, yes it can. Just stop and think for a minute. You
have bought the domain name, designed and built a great looking
website, and launched it out onto that great world wide web.
You have got a great Reciprocal Link Exchange on your site
and you have reached a reasonable Google Page Rank.
Then you decide to get an Auto responder to have a mailing
list, and that is when your troubles start! Let me tell you
my story…
I don't know if you have heard of Stone Evans - the Home
Biz Guy? He runs the Plug in Profit Site. Well I bought into
his business. I had to decide on a domain name before he
built my website. I chose the name martinsoffers.com. I though
that was quite cool as my name is Martin and my site would
be advertising offers.
Part of the Plug in Profit Site is you get your own Auto
Responder, filled with a 360 day newsletter ready for when
you sign up subscribers. I went ahead and bought a good quality
leads package and loaded them into my auto responder.
All was going well. Or so I thought.
After a while, I noticed I was not getting any response
from my good quality leads (on average you should expect
around 1% sign up at the very least). I did some searching
around, mainly in the Warrior Forum which is part of the
membership package of the Plug in Profit Site. There I saw
a series of posts on the American Anti Spam Laws and the
effects it was having on the newsletters.
With the Auto responder, there was a spam check program.
I'd never used that before, but I ran a few sample newsletters
through the spam check. Boy, was I in for a shock. Every
single one failed to pass the test. My auto responder is
probably like most others, it has a scoring system and once
it passes 5 it flags up that your newsletter would trigger
the spam filters.
What I found most disturbing was that it was my domain name
of martinsoffers.com that was scoring the most, 4.3 points
each time it was mentioned. And 2.3 points because my email
address was @martinsoffers.com.
Even a single word newsletter with just www.martinsoffers.com
scored 6.6. Way above the threshold.
The cost to me, as a result of this has not just been to
register a new domain name. I have had to completely redesign
my website with my new name on it. Cancel and reopen a new
account with my auto responder. And start again with my Reciprocal
Links Exchange.
I have also had to start again from scratch with the Google
Ranking. And I have a domain name that is next to useless
to me or to anyone for that matter. I only use it now to
direct traffic meant for martinsoffers.com to my new website.
So, that's my story, and my warning to you.
Before you go and register a new domain name, run it through
a spam check. If you are going to use your web site for marketing
the last thing you want is for the spam filters to stop your
email getting through.
Martin Wood
Martin Wood is one of a growing number of people who have
found working at home on the Internet a rewarding experience.
http://martin-wood.pluginprofithome.com
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