Quick Tips and Hints: Domain Aliases, Domain Forwards, and Subdirectory Domain Names Explained
What is the difference between a domain name alias, a domain name forward, and a subdirectory domain name?
A domain name alias is where many different domain names are created and yet all point to one main Web site home page.
To create a domain name alias, you must first purchase the right to the names, as an example, our provider, Hostway, charges $6.95 per year per name. You do not purchase hosting, just a name and an alias service with a hosting agent.
The alias service costs about $49.99 per year with an affordably discounted fee for additional domain names. Your hosting agent will point the domain names you have purchase to the front page of your existing Web site account, using domain forwarding.
You must have a Web hosting account with an agent for at least one of the domain names that you have purchased to use a domain alias.
Domain name forwards acts just like call forwarding on a telephone. The domain name is pointed to another address, so that when a viewer logs on to the selected address, they are then taken to the front page of the Web site address that you have chosen.
A sub directory domain name example might be newsletters.mccordweb.com, where the address points directly to a directory within the main Web site address, but is a stand alone domain address. Note that it will not start with www. rather http://newsletters.mccordweb.com. Our agent, Hostway charges $1 per month for a sub directory domain name, as a point of reference. A subdirectory domain name can also be done conjunction with a domain name alias. This allows you to point clients to pages other than the home page of your Web site.
Why would I want or need domain name aliases or subdirectory domain names? If you have multiple business names or want to target certain keywords it becomes helpful to cover all bases without incurring additional expenses of having to set up a Web hosting account for each name. Not all businesses can benefit from these options, but some may want to consider these choices as additional ways to allow clients to reach them from search engines.
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The Norton AntiSpam Filter May Be Right For You
We had hoped to bring you a great no holds barred review on this highly touted software, but there are still some bugs! The product works great in Outlook and Eudora, but has a serious crashing problem when used with Outlook Express.
Both Norton and McAfee offer anti spam software utilizing a new Bayesian filter that weighs a formula of words and characters that appear more frequently in spam and determines a mathematically based spam-probability factor. The filter works by learning from the messages that you send out, so it can be highly personalized and highly effective. In the Norton program there seems to an unknown incompatibility problem with Outlook Express 6.0 that causes the system to crash when the "this is spam button" is used to train the filter for your personal needs.
We have installed Norton AntiSpam to solve our spam problem at McCord Web Services. We found that message rules were simply not doing the job with the volume of spam we routinely receive. We used to receive over 1200 e-mail messages a day.
We first started using the program with Outlook Express, but found that Norton has a documented issue with Outlook Express 6.0. They do not understand the cause or have a solution for the problem. View the Tech Support bulletin Document ID: 2003902416011236. We have since migrated to Microsoft Outlook and have not had any problems since.
With Outlook Express, the glitch is so severe that when you try to use the "this is spam tool" to train the Bayesian filter, the mail program locks up and requires a restart of your computer. The problem is so severe that each time we tried to use the tool, not just the times as mentioned in the Norton Tech Bulletin, our Outlook Express program crashed.
On the flip side, the Bayesian filter really does work! The filter has intercepted over 97.47% of our spam and identified 99.16% of our real mail correctly. How do we know this? The program even provides statistics for you based on the filter and your use of the "this is spam" and "this is not spam" buttons". We have literally stopped our spam problem!
The control buttons for Norton AntiSpam are nicely integrated into the main Outlook or Eudora tool bar. In Outlook Express the four button menu is condensed to one and accessed with a drop down arrow.
Norton has also combined AntiSpam with a pop up blocker and banner ad blocker. We have found the banner ad and pop up blocker too difficult to configure to view Web sites properly. We recommend that you use the Google Tool Bar or other programs to stop pop ups.
We will review the McAfee AntiSpam software next month in our newsletter, and will keep you apprised of any changes made in Norton AntiSpam that may improve their product for Outlook Express users.
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Ocular Illusions Hair Replacement and Weaves
We have just completed a Web site for Ocular Illusions Non-Surgical Hair Replacement and Weaves. This local Maryland business has two locations one in Waldorf and one in Clinton, Maryland.
The site features a liquid layout that resizes to fit any browser screen and a flash-style gallery viewer that shows before and after pictures of clients using a fade-in effect.
Check it out at www.ocularhairdesigns.com or at their domain aliases www.ocularhair.com and www.ocularillusions.com.
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Check Out The Free Google Tool Bar
Google is offering a great free tool bar that we would not want to be without now that we have tried it!
This easy to use and easy to install tool bar is free and comes with a handy pop up window blocker, an auto fill button for completing online forms with one click, a page importance rank indicator, a tool to search the site you are viewing for a particular keyword or topic, and of course a Google search the Web box.
One word of caution though, installing the tool bar and enabling the page ranking feature, allows Google to track your Web surfing history. For some persons concerned about security, you may have an issue with this and will want to review more information on this topic on the Google Web site before downloading the tool bar.
Download the free Google tool bar today.
