You’ve analyzed your great idea from top to bottom, worked through your business plan and are finally ready to take the leap and launch your new business.  Then the inevitable happens– you go to register your domain and find out your desired name is already taken.   Nothing short of taking the wind out of your sails, right?

Our advice?  Breathe and reboot… it’s not the end of the world.

You just have to move to plan B, and keep in mind these
helpful tips for alternate domain name selection:

1) Rethink your name.  Chances are there’s a pretty good alternative that will work with only a slight variation.

2) Register with an organization that tracks domain names that are about to expire. Oftentimes, you can request an alert when a  domain relevant to your business was not renewed.   Patience is certainly a virtue and you may have some luck and get the domain name you really want.

3) If you’re really stuck, you can always put in an offer for your “must have” domain name.  Just remember it’s going to cost you more depending on its popularity and how much the current owner is willing to budge.

4)  Tight on money?  Consider a .net, .biz or .org.   These are widely growing in popularity, and may hold you over until your .com becomes available or you allocate enough budget to buy it from another owner.

5) Relax… your domain name isn’t going to make or break your budding business.  People will evitably be drawn to the products and services you offer and how well you market them, not just where they sit on the internet.

Do you have other tips for alternate domain name selection? Leave them in the comments!

A cable/DSL router or dialup access point can cost hundreds of dollars and still be extremely difficult to configure.  The last thing you need is denied server access when you need it most.  Instead of paying a large sum of cash for a hassle-in-a-box, take control by transforming one of your computers into a router with DDNS.

How, you ask?  By following these simple steps with No-IP.

Using DDNS will allow the updater to seamlessly report IP changes to No-IP as they occur, rather than having downtime waiting for the next time your updater reports the new IP. This eliminates server access issues.   The best part?  It’s completely affordable.  For the cost of only an additional Ethernet card and a bit of your spare time, you can have a cable/DSL/dialup router set up for your network with the ability to run servers that are completely accessible from both the internet and the internal network.

Questions on how to get started?  Please share them in the comments below or feel free to contact us.

Whether your sales team is working 2 or 2,000 miles away, the last thing you need to worry about is accessing your point of sale system.  Information is critical to making better business decisions and when you need it- you need it.  Yet all too often, the majority of point of sale devices that use a dynamic or non-static IP address run into access issues because users simply don’t know the IP address; causing inconvenient headaches during peak business hours.

A simple fix to address this problem is to implement Dynamic DNS.   A DDNS service will allow you to access your POS device without having to remember a lengthy IP address.  You specify your own device name and use the same name every time you access the device.  This allows you to quickly call  results from your sales device that allow you to make better decisions that impact your bottom line.  The best part?  It’s completely affordable and easy to set up.

Next time your sales team hits the road, trade show or sales floor, prepare ahead of time by setting up Dynamic DNS.

A static IP address has many advantages, yet can be difficult or expensive to obtain and configure.  Dynamic DNS is a more affordable option and works regardless if you have a dynamic or static IP address.

Dynamic DNS provides the capability for a networked device to notify a DNS server to change, in real time, the active DNS configuration of its configured hostnames, addresses or other information.   It has a number of benefits, including:

• Ease & Efficiency - There’s no need to go from PC to PC setting up static addresses every time your network infrastructure changes.
• Accessibility - You can access your system using a consistent name in the URL even though the IP address changes.
• Savings - You only need as many addresses as will be in use at any one time, rather than having one for every possible user of IP.

If you’re a business user working remotely with VPN, requiring remote access for devices, or just hosting a website or personal blog, Dynamic DNS is a clear choice.

Have you switched to Dynamic DNS yet? Find out more about No-IP’s service here.

Due to our increasingly virtual world, the use of a Remote Desktop Connection to access other computers over the internet has been steadily growing in popularity.  The problem, however, is that many individuals and businesses alike are not well equipped to use them.  Most locations that you want to connect to will only have a Dynamic IP address that changes over time, which can create a huge barrier that limits access to your remote connection.  By using a static IP address this problem can be easily overcome.

Typically, when you want to access your remote computer over the internet, you enter the IP address of that computer into the remote access software. This create a remote desktop connection. With a Dynamic IP address, the IP will be constantly changing and getting into your remote computer from off site will be impossible.   Assigning a fully qualified domain name to your Dynamic IP address will save you the burden of remembering the numeric address each time and allow you to access your information more quickly and with ease.  With our software client running on the same network as the remote computer, we will know any time your IP address changes and be able to direct you to that remote machine regardless of what IP address it’s currently assigned.

Learn more.