Irish domain names – Ireland’s domain name
General overview – IEDR
The country code top level domain (ccTLD) for Ireland is .ie. This ccTLD is managed by a not for profit organization in Dublin, Ireland know as the “Irish Domain Registry” or IEDR. The IEDR is not a regulatory body and provides the service to the public and internet community. The registry is responsible for the provision of IE names and the rules relating to their registration. The IEDR implements a dispute resolution policy for domains through the WIPO and unlike other registries operates Monday to Friday during business hours.
Requirements to register
The IE domain itself is a restricted domain in that only applicants who meet certain criteria may register this name. The two main requirements are: Being based in Ireland or having a strong link to Ireland (both northern and southern Ireland). Where the applicant is not based in Ireland information showing this connection must be provided. Secondly the entity registering the domain must have a connection to the name and where this connection is not obvious, must provide evidence of this connection.
Resellers and registration process
Domains are registered through approved domain resellers and are passed to the domain registry directly for approval. The approval process is carried out by a team of people known as IEDR Hostmasters. It is their responsibility to ensure the registration requirements are adhered to. Communication is passed to the approved reseller in the case where more information is required. This thorough process of vetting has led to both positive and negative effects on the domain name’s reputation.
Positive and negative aspects to the domain
On the positive side the domain was recently voted the second safest domain in the world after the Finnish ccTLD. Generally speaking IE domains are held in high regard by Irish based internet surfers. It is seen as a mark of quality or authenticity when doing business online and as a result .ie based websites are trusted over their .com cousins. Very rarely are large spam attacks initiated through an IE domain and the rate of hacks and other internet attacks from IE hostnames is quite low.
The price of .ie domain names are higher than the average TLD or ccTLD, but this price has been significantly reduced over the past 2 years, from an average of around €65 to as low as €19 today. This is due to the traditionally large human input required to approve and manage a domain portfolio. Recently the domain registry themselves have implemented an API mechanism to fast track registration, billing and modifications of domain names. This was carried out by liaising with the reseller community to assess their needs on a day to day basis. Because of the successful implementation of this API amongst the community the price of registering IE domains has fallen with some suppliers leading the way in the price reduction.
Future of the domain
The future of the .ie is bright. New technical advancements in the API as well as the continued reduction in the Irish domain price mean the number of registrations is increasing constantly. Increased promotion of the domain brand by the domain registry and reseller community alike has also led to increased registrations.
Mention TV market developments, and digital television is sure to dominate the conversation in no time. Digital is undeniably the new wave of innovation in the realm of television. But what’s all the hype about, and is it worth making the switch from analog television? There are various reasons as to why so many UK TV consumers are opting for digital television. For starters, digital TV channels take up less bandwidth – which, in turn, means that broadcasters can offer consumers a greater number of digital channels in the same space. Moreover, those who opt for digital TV are usually given the option to utilise various other services, including digital interactivity, multimedia, electronic programme guides, language and subtitle options, or multiplexing – where more than one programme is allowed on the same channel. This, of course, is all in addition to the high-definition quality offered with digital television. Digital television offers images made up of smaller pixels – and more of them – compared to analog TV. So images are crisper, cleaner and more detailed. Digital TV is also advantageous in that its signals react less fiercely to interference than analog signals. For instance, interference with analog signals might result in the ghosting of images and disruptive noises. However, digitised signals won’t experience problems like these because digital TV tuners and converter boxes receive numeric information by the antenna. The decoder only requires enough information to assemble a picture – and the only way the process can fail is if the tuner or converter box doesn’t receive substantial information from the antenna. Even then, the interference is minimal. With so many advantages to digital TV, it makes sense that so many UK TV viewers are making the switch from analog television. But with all the digital TV options available on the market, it could be difficult to choose a service that’s right for you. If you’re considering switching from analog to digital, keep in mind that there are various methods to effectively narrow your options to fit your needs. To start, keep in mind that many digital television offers might include various other services as part of a package – so explore all package offerings, keeping an eye out for services that might benefit you most. For example, you can find digital TV packages which give you the option of choosing the types of channels you receive – so you’ll gain access to the programmes you love the most. And finally, you’ll want to pay close attention to pricing. Make sure you take note of any minimum contract requirements or pre-planned changes in monthly charges, so you know exactly how much you’ll be paying for your digital TV service. It may take time to find the right service that you are happy with; therefore, it is important to take your time to fully understand the benefits that digital TV can offer you before you make the switch.
While living in Ukraine, music was Milana Leshinsky’s life. But when she moved to the United States in 1992 and discovered the world of Internet marketing, Milana started singing to a different tune. By launching an Internet-based venture, she reinvented herself as a successful entrepreneur, author, and advisor to life and business coaches.
That is why Milana is featured, along with other successful, self-employed entrepreneurs, in a new book, “The Official Get Rich Guide to Information Marketing on the Internet” by Robert Skrob and Bob Regnerus. The book, out in September 2008, is the sequel to last year’s “The Official Get Rich Guide to Information Marketing.” Milana’s transition from music to an Internet info-marketer began when she started doing web design for an insurance company and a newspaper. But it was only after Milana was hired by coaches to develop their websites that the budding entrepreneur started to hit high notes.
“At first, I didn’t even know what a ‘coach’ was,” Milana admits. “But after a third time a coach came to me for a website, I took notice and started to investigate this industry.” Milana started a membership site for coaches using all the materials she gathered during her research and her business took off. “One of the clients who hired me to do a website was a coach who asked me to be part of her team,” Milana recalls. “Later, I wrote an e-book, “How to Grow your Coaching Practice on the Internet” and she wrote the foreword for it.
Her partnership gave me a lot of credibility.” Milana’s “doorway into the industry,” however, was a website called Tele-Class.com by the late Thomas Leonard, a key player in the field of personal and business coaching. Milana advertised monthly tele-seminars on this site, eventually creating a membership site and a program called “7Habits of Most Successful Coaches.” “I noticed that successful coaches had products, names for themselves, processes and follow-up sequences,” Milana says.
“So I gathered all of these factors into a program and I coached people who had sites that didn’t generate business. I critiqued the site and worked with the clients to create content to rework it.” Milana had clearly found her niche but, she says, she needed a “breakthrough” to get to the next level of her business. She found it during a mastermind session, “Infopreneur’s Think Tank,” with Sterling Valentine, which led her to telephone based, multi-day events called “tele-summits.” This was the win-win solution not only for Milana, who didn’t like to attend live conferences, but also for her clients, because they had an opportunity to participate in training programs without having to spend time and money to travel.
“With Sterling, I created a global event for coaches,” Milana says. “Before, the word ‘tele-summit’ didn’t even exist, so that was my big break.” How big? Milana’s first eight-day tele-summit netted $60,000 – with more to come. “That was huge for me, but the chain reaction happened afterwards,” she reports. However, that chain reaction resulted in Milana’s site being flooded with too many products, so it was hard to market. In fact, websites cluttered with too many graphics and too much useless information are counterproductive, Skrob notes.
“The more choices you put in front of people, the longer it will take them to make a decision and the less likely they are to be happy with the choice they make. When the number of options gets overwhelming, people often respond by making no decision at all.” So Milana hired a consultant who suggested folding all her products into one – a home study course called Coaching Millions, based on her book, “Coaching Millions Business Building System.” The other part of Milana’s venture is her “Coaching Business Mastery,” which includes a home study course and an implementation program. A streamlined landing or opt-in page was essential to Milana’s continued success.
“These pages are the best way to welcome potential customers to your website, and they allow you to establish the right type of relationship with your visitors,” Skrob says. “An effective, well-written landing page builds trust and establishes your credibility. The more visitors you convince to opt in, the more sales you’ll make.”