A domain name is an identification label that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet. Domain names are also hostnames that identify Internet Protocol (IP) resources such as web sites. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System (DNS).

Domain names are used in various networking contexts and application-specific naming and addressing purposes. They are organized in subordinate levels (subdomains) of the DNS root domain, which is nameless. The first-level set of domain names are the top-level domains (TLDs), including the generic top-level domains (gTLDs), such as the prominent domains com, net and org, and the country code top-level domains (ccTLDs). Below these top-level domains in the DNS hierarchy are the second-level and third-level domain names that are typically open for reservation by end-users that wish to connect local area networks to the Internet, run web sites, or create other publicly accessible Internet resources. The registration of these domain names is usually administered by domain name registrars who sell their services to the public.

Individual Internet host computers use domain names as host identifiers, or hostnames. Hostnames are the leaf labels in the domain name system usually without further subordinate domain name space. Hostnames appear as a component in Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) for Internet resources such as web sites (e.g., en.wikipedia.org).

Domain names are also used as simple identification labels to indicate ownership or control of a resource. Such examples are the realm identifiers used in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), the DomainKeys used to verify DNS domains in e-mail systems, and in many other Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs).

An important purpose of domain names is to provide easily recognizable and memorizable names to numerically addressed Internet resources. This abstraction allows any resource (e.g., website) to be moved to a different physical location in the address topology of the network, globally or locally in an intranet. Such a move usually requires changing the IP address of a resource and the corresponding translation of this IP address to and from its domain name.
Domain names are often referred to simply as domains and domain name registrants are frequently referred to as domain owners, although domain name registration with a registrar does not confer any legal ownership of the domain name, only an exclusive right of use.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) manages the top-level development and architecture of the Internet domain name space. It authorizes domain name registrars, through which domain names may be registered and reassigned. The use of domain names in commerce may subject strings in them to trademark law. In 2010, the number of active domains reached 196 million.

Search Engine Ranking

SEO is short for “search engine optimisation.” To have your site optimised for the search engines means to attempt to have top placement in the results pages whenever a specific keyword is typed into the query box. There are many search engine optimisation services to choose from, so here are some things to keep in mind when seeking SEO services or developing an SEO strategy of your own.

Search engines have two types of listings: those that are paid for, which are usually distinguished as “sponsored links” and those that are organic.

To the right is a screen shot of a Google® search results page. The listings in red are paid ads, and the listings in the green area are organic results.

Organic Listings

Organic search engine listings are those that appear down the middle of the page. Search engine optimisation services are devoted to optimizing sites to appear in the organic listings space. See the diagram above to see where organic listings and paid listings appear in the Google search engine results page.

Spider-driven search engines such as Google®, Yahoo!® and MSN® use “robots” or “crawlers” to score websites across the Internet. Robots “spider/crawl” each site and “score” pages based on how relevant they are. A website’s score or placement within a spider driven search engine is derived from hundreds of variables such as link popularity, density and frequency of keywords in page content, HTML code, site themes and more. You will want to focus many criteria in your SEO strategy to position yourself well among the major search engines. Here are two of the most influential factors:

Link Popularity

Spider-driven search engines use robots to spider websites across the Internet by traveling through links from web page to web page. A website’s score or placement within a spider driven search engine is derived from hundreds of variables such as, link popularity, click popularity, keyword density, website themes and more.

Google is the most popular spider-driven search engine. Its database currently has about 4 billion pages indexed and is known for finding the most relevant information. When Google spiders the Web, it finds sites by traveling through links. The more sites that link to you, the more important the engines believe your content to be. You should focus on getting many important sites to link to your site. You can do this in many ways: submit to online directories, exchange links with business partners and industry-related sites, or participate in Link Building.

Page Content

Search engine spiders can only spider through text. They will use the content on your site to determine what your site is about, which in turn will help to decide how highly your site will be ranked for specific keyword phrases when visitors type them into the search engines. For this reason, keyword research is critical to obtaining natural search engine placement and should be at the top of your list when mapping out your SEO strategy.

You will need to know how many people are searching for your keyword phrases and what kind of competition you are facing when attempting to obtain a top spot in the search results. Keyword research, text writing, submissions and site analysis are all included with our search engine optimisation packages.

Why Search Engine optimisation?

Studies have proven that top placement in search engines generally provide a more favorable return on investment compared to traditional forms of advertising such as, snail mail, radio commercials and television. Search engine optimisation is the primary method to earning top 10 search engine placement. Learn more about the search engine optimisation process and discuss an SEO strategy for your site when you contact a search engine specialist today.

Paid Listings

Yahoo!’s Pay-Per-Plick (PPC) Program shows paid ads at the top and right of the results pages. websites that show up here bid on keyword phrases and pay Yahoo!® a small fee each time the ad is clicked on. The more you bid per phrase the higher your ad will appear on the results page. Yahoo! PPC is a great way to help drive traffic quickly to your website. You can set a daily budget. When you max out your budget, Yahoo! will pull your ad for the remainder of the day.

A comprehensive search engine marketing campaign may encompass both organic optimisation for long-term success and a pay per click campaign for immediate results. Feel free to contact a search engine marketing consultant at 1-877-438-8599. We can help put together a marketing strategy for your site’s needs.

Each organic search engine ranking places emphasis on variable factors such as the design and layout, keyword density and the number of relevant sites linking to it. Search engines constantly update and refine their ranking algorithms in order to index the most relevant sites. Other variables that have an impact on search engine placement include the following:

SEO Keyword Research:

Choosing the right keywords is critical to SEO success.

301 Redirect: The primary search engine friendly way to redirect your domain name.

Link Popularity: Work to increase traffic by exchanging or achieving links from many high-ranking sites.

The central idea of DbC is a metaphor on how elements of a software system collaborate with each other, on the basis of mutual obligations and benefits. The metaphor comes from business life, where a “client” and a “supplier” agree on a “contract” which defines for example that:

The supplier must provide a certain product (obligation) and is entitled to expect that the client has paid its fee (benefit).

The client must pay the fee (obligation) and is entitled to get the product (benefit).

Both parties must satisfy certain obligations, such as laws and regulations, applying to all contracts.

Similarly, if a routine from a class in object-oriented programming provides a certain functionality, it may:

Expect a certain condition to be guaranteed on entry by any client module that calls it: the routine’s precondition—an obligation for the client, and a benefit for the supplier (the routine itself), as it frees it from having to handle cases outside of the precondition.

Guarantee a certain property on exit: the routine’s postcondition—an obligation for the supplier, and obviously a benefit (the main benefit of calling the routine) for the client.
Maintain a certain property, assumed on entry and guaranteed on exit: the class invariant.
The contract is the formalization of these obligations and benefits. One could summarize design by contract by the “three questions” that the designer must repeatedly ask:

What does it expect?