Dear Mr. Internet: I purchased several domain names but have only one Web site. Currently they are just parked at the registrar not doing anything because my ISP wants to charge me to point each one to my site. What do you suggest I do? Linda Valaika - Broker/Owner RE/MAX of Taos Taos, NM

Dear Linda:

Having the right set of domain names pointing to your primary Web site can definitely boost the number of visitors (and hence, potential prospects) to your site. We'll assume for the moment that the other domains you already have will actually generate additional traffic if pointed to your primary Web site (see "Tip O' The Month" below to discover how special "Power Domains" will drive tons of traffic to your site). The issue then is: how do you easily and inexpensively manage the pointing of all your other domains to effectively boost your site's performance?

Point With Panache!

Many ISPs still charge a small fee for each additional domain name pointed to your site. Also, by depending upon them to handle the details, it is easy to lose track of which domains are pointing where. Both of these issues go away with an amazing free service called MyDomain.com.

With MyDomain.com you can point as many domains as you want to any sites you please and at no cost —all controlled from your Web browser. Now anytime someone types in one of your other domains they are immediately taken to your primary Web site.

MyDomain.com offers two versions of domain name pointing / redirection. The "standard" mode will take a visitor to the pointed site, but then show the actual URL of the site. For example, if you click on http://www.mrinternet.info (a recently acquired domain name of mine) it will immediately take you to my primary www.russer.com site showing the "russer.com" domain in the address bar.

However if you use MyDomain.com's "stealth" mode option, the URL never changes in the address bar —which will blow your mind when you first see it. For example, clicking on http://www.epowersuccess.com (another of my domains) will take you to a very recognizable site that is definitely not mine, yet "epowersuccess.com" will always show in the address bar.

Okay very cool, but why would you ever use the "stealth" mode you might ask? Well, if you are using a neighborhood Web site provided by a third-party vendor (i.e. ConnectingNeighbors.com) as an online "farm", using "stealth" mode to have one of your own domain names point to it is one way to never lose the goodwill and market awareness you put into your neighborhood sites.

You see, some of these neighborhood site services that create exclusive neighborhood Web sites for REALTORS insist on keeping the domain name. As a result, all the market awareness you built around the site domain name goes away if you decide to switch vendors. This won't happen however if you purchase your own neighborhood domain name and point it (in stealth mode) to the actual URL of the neighborhood site. That is because visitors to that site will only see the domain name you control, not the site vendor's. This way, if for some reason you want to switch vendors, you don't have to worry about changing the domain name to your neighborhood site, no matter who hosts it. (NOTE: Framing around third-party content in this way is legally murky at best. Check with an attorney who is familiar with online intellectual property rights before doing so. I'll be talking more about neighborhood sites as powerful marketing tools in a future issue of Ask Mr. Internet!)

Unlimited E-mail Addresses

Easy, no-cost pointing of parked domain names is just part of what you get with your free MyDomain account. You also have the ability to create an unlimited number of different e-mail addresses for each domain you point through MyDomain.com. Each of these addresses can be forwarded to any other real e-mail address you may have. Just CLICK HERE to see the entire extent of this powerful feature. This capability is especially useful to maintain your online branding when working with some autoresponder services that insist on using their domain name within the autoresponder address.

With MyDomain.com there is no longer any reason why you can't put your other business-generating domain names to work for you immediately. Do it now, before it becomes yet another great idea that turns into a lost opportunity.

Now that you know how to point them, let's make sure the domain names you choose will actually generate additional business for you. A good domain name is like having a great address that everyone recognizes. Figure 1 below illustrates how you can quickly come up with "Power Domains" that, once pointed to your primary Web site, will drive additional business to it without fail! (Figure 1 reprinted with permission from ePOWER! PRO) One sales associate I know used her city name in conjunction with "listings" to point to her primary Web site (i.e. "citylistings.com"). She determined that thousands of additional people each month were finding her site simply by typing in that particular Web address to look for listings —very smart! You will be surprised how many of these domain name combinations are still available for your area. You can easily check out the availability of a whole list of domain names by going to the "Bulk Registration" section of Godaddy.com. This particular registrar happens to be one of the least expensive registrars as well (as of this writing you can register a .com, .net, or .org domain name through them for $8.95/yr). Also, they will park your domains for free and give you full control of the DNS settings. Think about it. You can quickly and easily supercharge your Web marketing by simply choosing the right domains as described above, and then pointing them to your primary Web site with MyDomain.com. This is a high-leverage way to generate additional online business with very little effort, time, or money!