What is a domain name?

You've almost certainly encountered a domain name while you have been using the Internet.  A domain name is the text that you type into a web browser in order to take you to a web site, and it looks like this:

 

To understand how to utilize your domain name with the KW agent or Market Center web sites, there are few things that it is helpful to understand prior to connecting your custom domain name to your website. Every website on the Internet is hosted on at least one computer. Each computer on the Internet has a unique, numerical address, called an "IP address".  "IP" stands for "Internet Protocol", and an IP address consists of four sets of numbers separated by periods, such as "66.45.126.164" . An IP address is a lot like a telephone number, except that the number is associated with a computer instead of a telephone.

The following diagram shows the relationship between a domain name, an Internet Protocol address, and your website.

 

Domain names are translated from alphabetical names to numeric IP addresses by the Internet's domain name system.  When you register your domain name with an Internet registrar like godaddy.com, directnic.com, or register.com, you are registering with part of the Internet's domain name system.

Domain names are separate from websites.  You can have multiple domain names and point them at the same website.  You can also forward a domain name to a different Internet website address, such as forwarding www.yourdomainname.com to yourkwwebsitetemplate.mykwagent.com.

 

The content of a domain name typically reflects how you market yourself and should be carefully considered.  Example: CondoHomesInAustin.com, LakesideLuxuryEstates.com, etc.

There is no harm in registering multiple domain names as long as the costs are appropriate for your marketing budget and you have a marketing use for the domain name.  Look for a future article on picking a really great domain name for your business!

Now that we've established what a domain is and how it works in conjunction with a website, the rest of this article describes two ways of connecting your domain name to a website.

What is Domain Forwarding?

When a domain is forwarded, it causes a specific action to happen when a website user types the domain name in their Internet browser.  In this example, an Internet user types in "www.jackmillerconsulting.net" into the browser:


Once the website user hits return after typing in the addess, they will be forwarded to a different Internet address and the new domain name will show in the address bar of their Internet browser.  In this example, the domain www.jackmillerconsulting.net forwards to jackmiller.yourkwagent.com.


This method is also called domain redirection without frames.

Pros:

This way of connecting a domain name to a website is very simple and reliable.
Since it is simple, search engines that are collecting and indexing Internet websites are able to easily follow a link to your domain name to your website.

Another advantage is that bookmarking pages on your website works reliably in all browsers.

Cons:

Domain forwarding does not keep the original domain name in the address bar of the web browser.  Some agents prefer to keep the domain name in the address bar to reinforce their branding.  If you do forward your domain to your KW website, there are ways to include your domain name text in the address. See the notes in the general recommendations section of this article for ways to include your domain name text in your kw agent template website address!

What is Domain Masking?

Domain masking is a more sophisticated way of connecting your domain name to your website.  It utilizes a technology called "frames".  A frame is a way of bringing a web site or web page onto a page on another website. 

In this case, a client or user would type in your domain name:


The user would be taken to your website, and your domain name would stay in the address bar of the browser.



This method is sometimes called domain redirection using frames.

Pros:

This method preserves your branding by keeping your domain name in the address bar.

Cons:

Since this technology is a bit more complicated than forwarding, your site may not be indexed properly by all search engines.

Your KW website utilizes framing technology to bring your IDX search into the website, and some older browsers may not function properly since you will have a frame-within-a-frame on your website if you use domain masking.

It may be more difficult for people to bookmark specific pages on your website, since the entire website is contained inside a "frame".  A bookmark to a specific page on your website may actually take the website user to the home page of your site when they access the bookmark.

Special Instructions for domain masking

If you do utilize domain masking to connect your domain name to your website, be sure and set your meta description and meta keywords tags for your domain so that the domain will be indexed properly  by search engines.  Your domain registrar (godaddy.com, directnic.com, and others) should have a way to do this when you mask your domain.  These meta tags should be the same meta description and meta keywords that you set up for your website in the KW agent website wizard.  The topic of writing good meta tags will be discussed fully in a later article.

General Recommendations

1) If you use either method for connecting your domain name to your KW agent website, I recommend that you set your website "site name" in your KW template settings to the same text as your domain name. 


For example, if your domain name is "www.jackmillerconsulting.com", I would set the site name to "jackmillerconsulting.yourkwagent.com".  This will allow a search engine to properly index your site and make it easier to find in web searches.  Also, when people bookmark your website, the link in the address bar will show your web site domain branding in at least the first part of the web site address.

2) I prefer domain forwarding to domain masking, since it is less complex and will work in all situations.  There is some risk with domain masking that the browser will act strangely or bookmarks will not work properly, and I would rather lose the website domain name in the address bar than have the site act strangely.

Even though you may not have your domain name in the address bar, you can brand your website name in the site itself so that people will remember to come back to it.  This is a common technique on popular Internet sites like Amazon and Yahoo.


Whether you use domain forwarding or masking, get a great domain name and utilize it in your marketing and with your KW agent template!

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Look for the next article with step by step instructions on how to do domain forwarding or masking with popular domain registrars!

Comments or feedback?  Send it to Jack!

Copyright © 2005 Jack Miller