Your Domain Can be Stolen

Believe it or not, even thieves are already high-tech these days. Browsing the net and reading through online forums, I came across a startling story about how thieves have found their way to infiltrate the world wide web. I read about a lady who was planning to put up a web page of her own. As the normal process dictates, she first thought of a domain name for her website. She chose her own name and had it checked in CNet Domain Search page for domain registrations and found out that it is very much available. A couple of days later, she checked it again and was shocked to discover that her name is already taken. She found out that her name is already a domain name registered to a firm with the name Chesterton Holdings.
The helpless lady brought the matter to the attention of Larry Seltzer, a columnist of eweek.com and a staunch critic of cyber crimes. Larry Seltzer investigated the matter himself. He checked the website whose domain name is that of the lady's. He immediately came to a conclusion that firm who "owns" the website and its domain name is a domain squatter, one among many domain squatters scattered all over cyberspace. Seltzer saw that the website is full of advertisements all domain squatters are associated with. He even claimed that the advertisements were syndicated through information.com. In Seltzer's column in eweek.com, he followed the next events regarding the theft of the lady's domain name. He reported that after a number of days, Chesterton, the bogus owner, has already let go of the stolen domain. He said this could have been prompted by the low hits or very few visits the site had. Apparently, silly domain squatters do not stay long in a domain, which is not lucrative for them. Squatters are somehow wise, at least in that sense.
The question that was immediately formed in my mind that Mr. Seltzer also posted, is how in the world was Chesterton able to register someone else's name to be its domain name? Moreover, why was the squatter allowed or given the permission to have ownership of a domain that is obviously not theirs? Anyway, I think my questions are unanswerable as of the moment. Even big companies and other established domain owners cannot exactly explain how domain theft is being successfully done. I bet you have also heard of the stealing of panex.com's domain. Well, if you have not, the bottom line is that even the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), whose mandate is to police the world wide web, failed to fully account the culprit behind the theft.
Curious about how rampant domain theft is, I made a little cyber investigation and probed on my own. I logged on to search.com, a property of CNet domain, and searched for the availability of my own name. I guess you've already guessed the result. Yes, my own name is already a registered domain name. With whom is it registered? Bingo! It is with Chesterton Holdings. My possible domain is already stolen. But I am confident the squatter will leave sooner than I think. My name is unpopular nor does it sound good to generate thousands of hits and visits. There is no way that notorious domain thief can make profit out of my unpopular name.
Though my stolen (domain) name is not much of a big fuss for me or for others, domain theft is an issue of great concern for other web owners. It is alarming that theft incidence can happen so easily and victims cannot do anything to account for the theft done.
Who is behind this syndicated theft? I do not think we can answer right now. Who is to be blamed for the proliferation of cyber thieves? We can go on pointing fingers but still not quell domain theft. I guess the only question we can answer as of now is who is already registered in a particular domain and who is not -- thanks to whois, a *querying database*. Whois is a transmission control protocol(TCP)-based query or a response protocol. It is utilized to identify the owner of a domain name, an IP address, or an autonomous system number on the internet. But then, it is also very probable that domain squatters are using whois to know which domain, in the form of people's real names, can they squat in.
Domain theft and squatting is really a complex and alarming matter. This issue is a concern for current domain owners but more so to those planning to put up a website. This issue is most especially pertinent to those who are planning to put up an online business and use a website for marketing. I guess the best that people can do is to seek only the services of trusted web servers and hosts for domain registrations to ensure the security of their domain.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Patrick_Connor

Choosing the Right Online Business

Another main problem than not having any experience or knowledge about developing business website on the Internet would be determining the right goods and/or services to be marketed. Sometimes you become stuck in the middle thinking about this matter. The question always arises in your mind about the right items to be chosen for your business on the Internet.
You must do business based on the aspects listed below.
Interests
A successful internet business is something done based on your interests. Still can't catch this up? You can sell your interests to public and you would be making money and profits, having success for the business. Still you can't understand.?
A business that is done based on interests would not make you boring about it. You would not feel stressful because you are selling the things that you are interested for.
Just take myself an example to explain here. I am interested in teaching, writing and developing websites, and developing web templates. Thus, my business is about doing the workshops for business website development in 1 day. That business arises because of my interests in teaching, developing website and web-templates. I am happily doing it, even though I would not be making any customers, I would keep on developing websites at home because I still could get orders from customers to develop the websites and web-templates, and I am not boring with all these because I am very interested towards them - my interests is there.
When you are having any business that is based on your interests, you're actually can commercialize it easily. This is because you might know the cycles & tricks of the things you are interested for. Implicitly, you will know a little bit about the business that you're going to start. If your interest is on writing, you can make it as a business. You can write as many interesting stories and then compile them to become e-books, and you can start market them inside your internet business. If it does not bring any profit for you, you would still be happy for it because writing is one of your interests. Does that sound interesting?
Ability & Talent
Ability and interest are close terms for each other, they represents something that relates to us. I have ability in developing every single kind of website. Thus my business is focusing on my ability and interest. With the business build based on your ability, you are actually on your way doing it easier. You are having the ability with what you are commercializing. The other example would be, if you like the personal accessories. That would not be a problem for you to promote & sell products of personal accessories because you are interested for it and surely you have the ability to explain about the products without having the need to learn about it.
The strength, knowledge and taste would be grouped into 2 most important things to choose what kind of product that you want to sell through the internet

eBay and Paypal

eBay and Paypal
The Benefits of Using Paypal for Auction Payments
There are many ways you can use your Paypal account with eBay auctions. It is very easy, and offers you a great deal of protection when dealing with eBay sellers. You may mistakenly think that the only sellers who accept paypal are those that display the Paypal logo. This isn't necessarily so. You need to read each individual auction to find out if Paypal will be accepted.
There is more than one way to pay a seller with Paypal.
If you have a Paypal balance, you can opt to use that balance to pay for your item. You can also have the payment processed as an eCheck, where the funds come directly from your checking account. If you have a credit card or debit card attached to your Paypal account, you can also pay that way. Any payment method you choose from your Paypal account will have the funds deposited into the sellers paypal account.
Opening a Paypal account is quite simple.
You simply fill out the information, including information about your banking account. You then verify the account by the two small deposits that Paypal will make into your bank account. At that point, you can add a credit card to your Paypal account if you wish to. You can even add multiple checking accounts, savings accounts, credit cards, and debit cards. Opening a Paypal account is free, and there is very small fee charged when you send or receive payments.
While eBay does have a dispute process, Paypal also has a dispute process.
Although Paypal is owned by eBay, the Paypal dispute process is much simpler, and much faster than that of eBay. If a seller does not deliver, or the item arrives in less than perfect condition, or not as advertised, you can dispute the charge through Paypal, and you will most likely recover your money.
As an eBay seller, failure to accept Paypal as a payment method will hurt the success of your auctions.
Adding the Paypal logo to your auction listing will ensure that you get more bids than you would without it. The majority of buyers on eBay like having the Paypal option. Paypal is the quickest way to get paid for your items as well. You do not have to accept Paypal payments from unverified Paypal members. Simply make this clear in your auction payment details.
Whether you are a buyer or a seller, the benefits of using Paypal are quite simple.
You get your payment automatically. You will have different ways to accept payments through Paypal. By using paypal you don't have to give out your important information to anyone. It is secure and safe to use.
You can easily transfer money to or from your checking account with Paypal; this makes it easy to access your funds for all types of online shopping. Paypal also offers a debit card to members, which can be used anywhere MasterCard debit cards are used, such as ATM machines or POS machines.
For even more convenience, Paypal keeps up with all of your Paypal account history. This will allow you to go back and see what payments were made to whom, and what payments were received, and when money was transferred between your bank account and your Paypal account.
Paypal is a viable payment option that you can employ to make your eBay auctions even more successful. In any business, offering your customers more than one payment method is essential. With Paypal, your customers will have the option of paying with their Paypal balance, with an eCheck, or with their credit or debit card.
Again, this is one of the fastest ways available to send and receive money.

How to Use ClickBank to Decide What is Popular and What to Sell Online

To give you an idea of what others are selling on the internet, the first place you should go is to Clickbank. Clickbank is a huge clearinghouse for internet vendors. Different vendors (just like you want to become on the internet) use Clickbank to process their sales orders. Now, that is not what you are going there now for. You are simply going to their site to search all the various products that are being sold via Clickbank. There are approximately 10,000 different products on the Clickbank network, at the time that I write, so you can assume that it is a pretty good representation of what is available in the overall internet market.
When you first click on the link, you will arrive at a page describing their service that allows you to sell your created product via their system. In the upper right hand corner of the page there should be a clickable link to their home page. When you get to the home page you should see several buttons on the left of the screen. Click on the one that says “Promote Products”.
Once you click there you will see a list of potential products that you could sell if you were promoting Clickbank products. Keep in mind, that is not what you are here for, you are just looking at the available products. Spend some time there, looking at what is available. Is there a product you might be interested in marketing? Or, is there a type of product you might like to sell, and perhaps have the know-how to create one of your own?
Later in this book, I will show you how to create an informational ebook you can sell, just like the affiliates of Clickbank are selling. In fact, once you have followed all the steps in this book, you should have a product and sales page ready to put up at Clickbank so others can sell your products for you.

What is Google Checkout?

PayPal, a global leader in secure online payment solutions with over 100 million account members worldwide has just met their match. Google has just launched their new secure online payment solution called Google Checkout™, which will work very similar to how PayPal operates.
With Google Checkout™ you can quickly and easily buy from stores across the web and track all your orders and shipping in one place. Google Checkout™ is a checkout process that allows sellers to integrate with their website, enabling their customers to buy from them quickly and securely, using a single username and password. And once they do, the sellers can use Checkout to charge their credit cards, process their orders, and receive payment in their bank account.
Every online merchant has two goals: sell more and spend less. Google Checkout™ is a new way to process transactions that helps them achieve both. Checkout works with Google's search advertising program, AdWords, to increase sales and minimize expenses throughout the online sales and marketing process.
Online shoppers often start with a Google search. Google’s search advertising program, AdWords, helps them find a seller through targeted text ads that appear beside Google search results. Now sellers can add the Google Checkout™ badge to their AdWords ads, which highlights their store and tells potential customers that shopping with you will be convenient and secure.
Lengthy checkout processes frustrate online shoppers who then frequently abandon their shopping carts. When a store accepts Google Checkout™, their customers needn't be among them. The purchasing information of every Checkout user is stored in a single account, so they can buy from the seller by simply enter their username and password, rather than providing their credit card information over the Internet.
For every $1 a seller spends on AdWords, they can process $10 in sales for free through Google Checkout™. For example, if a seller spent $1,000 on AdWords last month, this month they can process $10,000 in sales at no cost. The more they spend to promote your business through AdWords, the more they save on transaction processing fees with Google Checkout™.
If a seller exceeds their free transaction processing for the month, or they don't advertise with AdWords at all, they’ll only be charged 2% plus $.20 per transaction.
Google Checkout™ merchants can sell with complete confidence. Checkout proactively identifies and filters out fraudulent transactions, and under their Chargeback Resolution policy, Google evaluates all chargebacks they receive and, whenever possible, fights them on their behalf.
Some transactions are also covered by their Payment Guarantee policy: if a seller gets a chargeback on an eligible transaction and provides Google with all requested documentation and information within 10 days of the request, they will be reimbursed within a week.
Google’s new Google Checkout™ is that new service that makes online shopping faster, more convenient and more secure. Try it out today for free.
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Video Blogging - Is it the Future?

Everywhere you look, more and more people are jumping aboard the video blogging bandwagon. Matt Cutts, Google’s own SEO expert, has done quite a few video blog posts lately. Just this morning, I read a post at Problogger about blogging tutorials - in video format, called Tubetorial. Some are saying that video blogging is the future of blogging, and that one day that will be the only way to read blogs.
I think that video blogging is more of a fad, or perhaps a niche market. Some people do enjoy the personalization that video blogging offers - so I’m fairly certain that video blogging is here to stay. However, I’m not convinced that there’s a big market for these types of blogs. You are probably wondering why I say this. Why would a person rather read paragraphs rather than watch an entertaining video? Don’t more people watch the news rather than read the newspaper?
Video blogging, by it’s very nature, isn’t a very friendly format. For example - I cannot watch video blog posts from my Treo smartphone - that’s a real problem. Often that’s how I access my RSS reader, or individual blogs. You Tube and Google Videos don’t yet work on many mobile devices, and certainly not efficiently. I also cannot view video blog posts at work. Let’s face it - many people spend some of their work day doing personal things - such as reading blogs. Video and sound do not lend themselves to inconspicuousness. ( I think that’s the biggest word I’ve ever used in a sentence. ) For those people not fortunate enough to have internet access at home, video blogs are not very appropriate for places like public libraries, and other public internet access areas.
In closing, video blogging is an interesting trend - but it’s not the future of blogging. Good old fashioned text is - because it works.