Improving "Early Life" -- What's Your Take?

So we've got some shocking news here at IPOWERWEB.

We've been informed that some of our customers get confused when landing in the control panel for the first time. Yeah, apparently it's not intuitive that when you click on "POP Mail," it's the same as clicking on "MailCentral." And who knew that it wasn't obvious that the "Set Site Editor" page doesn't actually let you start creating your website.

These nuances, which we tech geeks at IPOWERWEB have come to know and love (okay, not really), present a bit of a problem for new customers coming on board. Our site essentially says, "Our hosting plans include great website building tools, unlimited email boxes and a free domain name! Go after it!" And I guess the process of signing up and logging into the control panel for the first time doesn't mean customers instantly know that clicking on the "WebSiteCreator by CM4all" icon is probably their best bet for starting a new site if they don't know any HTML.

So where does that leave us? With a bunch of somewhat confused customers calling our support team within their first 48 hours on IPOWERWEB. Our bad.

But, before you throw in the towel, let me say this: we are looking to make a change. We get it now. We realize it's not fun for you to employ the "hunt and peck" method to figure out just which of those little icons will actually be the key to creating your first mailbox. We want you to be happy with your IPOWERWEB account, not feel like you've just stepped into a 2 sq. mile corn maze with no iPhone serving Google Satellite View.

And without further ado, let me present the first step to our solution. Our support, product management and development teams have designed and developed a QuickStart Wizard to walk customers through the first three steps to setting up a hosting account (which, coincidentally, are the top three reasons customers call us): adding a domain to your account; setting up mailboxes; and getting a site started and learning what the heck your FTP settings are.

But the greatness doesn't stop there. After you've run through the QuickStart Wizard for the first time (and completed all the tasks), it turns into a QuickStart Manager, which will always be accessible from the top of the control panel (next to the "Preferences" icon), should you want to go back and manage your domains, email and website from the wizard. Same goes for existing customers: even if you've already set up your account, just click the icon and try the wizard on for size the next time you want to create another email box, etc.

Okay, so bottom line? We want your feedback. When this product launches next week (fingers crossed), we want to know -- is it intuitive? Does it make setting up a domain, email address and website easier? What do you like? What don't you like? Tell us by leaving a comment! With your input, we'll be able to improve the next release, and ultimately use this tool as a model off which to base revamps of other tools in our control panel.

$7.75 Domain Names

You may have noticed the image above on the left-hand side of every IPOWERWEB page. For only $7.75 (less than two gallons of gas) you can register your own domain name with IPOWERWEB. This is a great deal and one of the lowest prices in the domain name industry. To learn more either visit our web site www.IPOWERWEB.com or call us at 888-511-HOST(4678).

.Com Domain Names Below the VeriSign Price

VeriSign recently announced that it will increase the price to register .com domain names to $6.86 per year.
IPOWERWEB domain names currently cost $6.85 per year, making IPOWERWEB one of the world's most affordable domain name registration providers.

Register a New Domain Name for only $6.85

If you are looking to purchase domain names, IPOWERWEB is the right company to go with. For just $6.85 per year you can register a .com, .net, .org, as well as many other domain name extensions. You are not required to host your web site with IPOWERWEB if you register your domain name with us. So if you are looking to just register a domain name without creating a site, you can do that.
IPOWERWEB domain name registration services are not only affordable (we offer some of the lowest prices in the industry) but every new domain name registered with IPOWERWEB comes with free WHOIS privacy protection.

$1.1 Million Domain Name

Domain names are essential and have grown in terms of importance in recent years. Having a good domain name can go a long way in making your web site a success. Cruise.co.uk recently purchased the domain name Cruises.co.uk for $1.1 million. This may seem outrageous when you already own Cruise.co.uk but regardless of our personal beliefs it is clear that the value of domain names will continue to rise. If you see a domain name that has value and is currently available, do not hesitate before registering it. For only $6.50 per year you can register any available domain name and not have to go through purchasing your desired domain name off an auction where you might find it selling for $1.1 million.

Internet Real Estate

Domain names are and should be regarded as valuable online real estate. Many domain names can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars and this trend will continue for a VERY long time. It is great to have the best domain name possible for your web site, but you should also consider having the best domain names available on the Internet as well. Having one domain name for your business is great and this is fine, but as the Internet continues to grow, domain names are like real estate - just cheaper. You won't need a mortgage in order to pay for your domain names and if you are lucky, your domain names can pay themselves off quite quickly. At IPOWERWEB you can register a brand new domain name for only $6.50 for one year. YES that's true, only $6.50 per year for one domain name. So domain names can actually be very cheap real estate - but the profits can be greater than the actual profits of land real estate if done right. Hundreds of people register new domain names with IPOWERWEB and setup web hosting accounts. But please remember that you are not required to have a web hosting account in order to properly register domain names. You can simply park a domain name and maintain ownership of a domain name for as long as you wish.

Baidu Domain Name Registration Services

Baidu, a popular search engine in China (some even regard Baidu as the Google of China), has recently become an accredited domain name registrar through the China Internet Network Information Center also known as the CNNIC. Is this important in terms of your search engine ranking? There is no proof at this moment, although there is belief that the search engines do use whois information as part of their ranking algorithms. But at the same time a search engine like Baidu may have become a registrar in order to register domain names internally. The reasons for why Baidu and other search engines are registrars are not known to the general public and in most cases it does not effect many people directly. Just continue optimizing your web site and practice search engine optimization within the terms and conditions set by the major search engines.

If you wish to have a new domain name registered or transferred to IPOWERWEB, don't forget that we provide domain name registration services for only $6.50 per year. Yes only $6.50 per year. In most states you can't even purchase two gallons of gas for $6.50, so if you are considering registering some new domain names check out IPOWERWEB and our line of domain name and web hosting products and services.

Domain Name Misspellings

IPOWERWEB offers domain names at an extremely affordable price. For only $6.50 per year, anyone can register a domain name. This is a great price for domain names, therefore if you are yet to register your own name, your company name, or your next big idea - do it as soon as possible. 

One of the biggest mistakes a person can make when setting up a new web site is misspelling their domain name. Thankfully IPOWERWEB's domain name registration service is so affordable that it would not hurt you to even misspell the same domain name 10 times. In most cases you may not even use the registered misspelled domain names,  therefore before you go to register your domain name - make sure you know what domain name you want and you know how to spell it. This can save you some time and decrease stress.

Again, IPOWERWEB domain names are very affordable so it won't hurt you to misspell your domain name. In fact it may even help you, for your competitors won't be able to get a hold of domain names similar to yours.

$50,000 NBA Domain Name

The Charlotte Bobcats of the National Basketball Association have recently purchased the domain name www.bobcats.com from Barbara Roe, a bobcat breeder who lives in Montana. For its first three seasons in the NBA, the Bobcats used the domain name www.bobcatsbasketball.com because the domain name belonged to Barbara Roe. The Charlotte Bobcats have been pursuing the domain name since 2004, according to ESPN Roe has agreed to sell the www.Bobcats.com domain name for $50,000.
We have talked about domain names in relation to property in the past. This case is a great example of a person (Barbara Roe) who most likely had no idea that an NBA team was going to share the same name as her domain name and because she owned the domain name, Roe was able to sell the name for $50,000 and easily pickup another domain name. Roe now uses the domain name www.bobcatsmt.com and the domain name switch seems to be completed.

Register Your Name

Domain names should be viewed as real estate over the Internet. We can only have one www.AOL.com and one www.iPowerWeb.com. The same principle should be used with regards to your name. For example if your name is Jeremiah Trolly, the Internet will have only one www.JeremiahTrolly.com. Do not let others register your name, if your name is available register it as soon as possible. This includes the name of your children. If you have kids, do your children a favor and register their name for them. It only costs $6.50 per year to do this and it is a very easy process. All you have to do is visit our domain name registration page at, http://www.ipowerweb.com/products/domain-names/index.html and register your new domain names. If you wish to do this with the assistance of an IPOWERWEB representative, please call us at 888-511-HOST. We look forward to seeing your name registered as a domain name.

How To Park a Domain Name

We hope that you are aware that every iPowerWeb shared web hosting account comes with a free domain name. YES, you do not have to pay for your domain name if you purchase iPowerWeb shared web hosting for at least one year. In fact you will never have to pay for your domain name as long as your web hosting account is in good standing and paid for. If you are not in need of a web hosting account and just want to have your domain name registered and parked, we could do that for you as well. At iPowerWeb we provide domain name registration services for only $6.50 per year.
So for the price of about 2 gallons of gas you could register a domain name for an entire year! Most companies will charge you over $20/year for simply registering a domain name, although at iPowerWeb we do our best to provide you with the best service and lowest prices possible.
If you are interested in parking a domain name without having a web hosting account, we could do this for. All you have to do is visit our Domain Name Registration page at http://www.ipowerweb.com/products/domain-names/ and purchase as many domain names as you wish. Once you complete the purchase form please submit your information and your domain name(s) will be registered as soon as your payment has been accepted. If you do not wish to purchase your domain names over the web, you may purchase your desired domain names over the phone by calling us at 888-511-HOST.

What are iPowerWeb's Name Servers

The title is of this page is a highly common question our support department receives. If you have a domain name with iPowerWeb or a web hosting account, it is important that you know our name server information. So here it is....

Primary: NS1.IPOWERWEB.NET
Secondary: NS1.IPOWERDNS.COM
Tertiary: NS2.IPOWERWEB.NET
Quaternary: NS2.IPOWERDNS.COM

If your domain name is registered with another registrar or you know that your domain name is not pointing to our name servers, it is very important that you point your domain name to our name servers. If you need help with this, please contact your domain names registrar or call us at 888-511-HOST.

What is Domain Name Resolution

iPowerWeb is not only a great web hosting provider, we also provide many other products and services to help bring your small business to the next level. For example, we also provide domain name registration services. Domain names can be viewed as Internet real estate. Only one person can have a certain domain name with a specific extension. This means that there will only be one www.iPowerWeb.com. If you have a registered domain name and or a web hosting account you may have come across the term "domain name resolution". Nameservers are used in order for domain names to point to specific web servers. When the domain points to these name servers across all (or most) servers on the net, the domain is said to have resolved (or propagated). Most Internet Service Providers update their DNS tables with the latest routing information at least once each day. When an ISP has not updated their DNS tables, it is said that the domain has not resolved. It should not take more than 24 to 48 hours for your domain name to resolve to its new web server. If you wish to learn more about your domain name(s) and web hosting account, please contact our Customer Support Dept. at 888-511-HOST.

Authorization Code

"What is an authorization code?" Many of our web hosting and domain name registration users ask us this question, a transfer authorization code is required when you are trying to transfer your domain name from one registrar to another. This is for any domain name with a .com, .net, .org, .biz, .us, .info, .name, and .cn extension. Your transfer authorization code is created at the time of registration and can be obtained from the current registrar of the domain name. If you want to receive more information about your transfer authorization code or have any other questions regarding your domain name, please contact our customer support department at 888-511-HOST.

Register Lock

iPowerWeb hosts over 700,000 websites and we are growing at a rapid pace on a daily basis. All domain names are free with every annual shared web hosting account. If you wish to receive additional domain names are just want to park a domain name, we charge only $6.50 each year per domain name. This means that you can register a domain name, any available domain name you wish, for a very low price.
We will also try to explain what the "Register Lock" status is. When a domain name is set to this status, it cannot be transferred to a different registrar. In most cases where the domain name is in the "Register Lock" status the name servers are locked as well and cannot be changed. If you wish to receive more information on the status of your domain name with iPowerWeb, please call our Support Department at 888-511-HOST.

Adding a Subdomain Name

A benefit of hosting your website with iPowerWeb is that you could receive a free domain name for life, meaning that you would never have to pay domain name fees again - including renewals. But even if you wish to register a new domain name you could do so at our very low price of $6.50 per year. As we said in an earlier post, you will also receive free WHOIS Privacy Protection with every single domain name you purchase through iPowerWeb. A typical domain name looks like, www.your-domain-name.com an example of a subdomain is blog.your-domain-name.com. A great example of a subdomain is the page you are currently on. http://www.iPowerWeb.com is iPowerWeb's homepage and our blog is located on a subdomain, http://blog.iPowerWeb.com. If you have a hosting account with iPowerWeb you will be able to setup as many subdomains as you wish. In order to do so, please visit our online HelpCenter or use our subdomain form.
Please note that this subdomain form should only be used if your hosting account is on a Windows or cPanel server. If you have a web hosting account which uses a vDeck control panel you may setup up to 100 subdomains for FREE. Every subdomain can be setup through your vDeck control panel, therefore you do not have to worry about any forms or contacting us. In order to setup a subdomain through your vDeck control panel please visit subdomain manager located in the Domain Admin section. Adding a subdomain to your current domain could be a great thing, especially if you are looking to expand your website.

How To Change your WHOIS Information

Every registered domain name requires certain contact information, such as your name, address, phone number and email address. This holds true for domain names that wish to receive WHOIS Privacy Protection as well. If you wish to update your domain name's contact information, we could do it for you at no additional cost. In order to update the WHOIS information please send an email to Transfer@iPowerWeb.com and provide us with your domain name along with the last four digits of the credit card on file for user verification. Please do not forget to explain what you would like to have updated. Also remember that every new domain name registered with iPowerWeb comes with free WHOIS Privacy Protection.
Every time you register a domain name, your name, address and phone number are entered into a public database that can be viewed and used by anyone. This exposes your personal information to spammers, telemarketers and other undesired third parties.

There is a way to protect your personal information. iPowerWeb's WHOIS Privacy service allows you to retain your domain name without having to expose your personal information to the public.
Some of our competitors charge an additional $15.00 per year for WHOIS Privacy Protection. But if you register your domain name with iPowerWeb, the WHOIS Privacy Protection service comes free. So not only are you registering domain names at wholesale prices with iPowerWeb you are also receiving FREE WHOIS Privacy Protection as well.

Weekend Support

Many businesses which operate in America are typically closed on weekends. Such companies generally operate Monday-Friday with limited hours. But in many cases this is not true for Internet companies. The Internet never sleeps, people are always surfing the web no matter the time of the day - therefore if you have your own online business you may want to consider having customer support available at all times, especially if you provide some sort of service. The Internet connects the entire world together and you must be capable of catering to all people at all times. The beauty of the Internet is that you never have to worry about customers walking in or having to close your doors at the end of the night, you store (your website) should be operational all the time. At iPowerWeb we work hard to make sure that your site is running smoothly and efficiently at all times, so when you decide to take a break...we don't. Your website should be operational all times and if you ever need help you can contact us at any time, our customer support department is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

We Transfer Your Domain Name For Free

Every day hundreds of people join iPowerWeb to receive the best web hosting services in the world. Every iPowerWeb hosting account includes many great features that are solely available to iPowerWeb customers. All plans are priced at extremely low prices and the level of support and reliability is the best in the entire web hosting industry. By visiting www.iPowerWeb.com you may notice that we advertise that every BusinessPro account comes with "Free Transfer" for our clients that have transferred their already existing websites from one hosting provider to us. When we say Free Transfer we are referring to the transfer of your domain name from your existing web hosting provider to iPowerWeb. If you have ever had a website or have a basic understanding of web hosting, you are probably aware that your domain name can be registered with one company while that same domain name could be hosted elsewhere. For example, you could register your domain name with Register.com and at the same time have that domain name hosted by iPowerWeb.
So if your domain name was originally registered with another company and you are now planning on switching service providers and come to iPowerWeb, iPowerWeb will transfer your domain name for absolutely FREE.

Domain Name Pending Delete Status

If you surf the net on a regular basis or ever visit our website, your probably know how important domain names are. We place such a high value on domain names, you could probably figure this our by just visiting the iPowerWeb Homepage, OR by even visiting every other page on the iPowerWeb site. On the top left-hand corner of every single page we have an image with bold text promoting our low priced domain names. At the moment all people, both existing iPowerWeb customers and potential users, can register new domain names through iPowerWeb for only $6.50 per year.
Today we will discuss a status of domain names known as "Pending Delete". The Pending Delete status of a domain name is the final status your domain name will be in prior to becoming deleted. Please note that once a domain name is deleted it will no longer be registered under your name, rather it will become available to the public. This means that any person, organization or business will be able to register the domain name that you once owned and potentially disallow you from ever registering that domain name ever again. If your domain name has not been deleted yet and is in Pending Delete status, you still have a chance to renew the domain name and keep it from being available to the public. But let us warn you that it is VERY expensive to retrieve a domain name once it is in the "Pending Delete" status. Typically it just costs $6.50 to renew your domain name registered with iPowerWeb or even free if it is with your web hosting account. Although if your domain name is in Pending Delete status you may then have to pay a few hundred dollars.
If you decide not to renew your domain name please remember that you will not be the owner of the domain name anymore. This means that any person will have the ability to register your domain name. So lets say your plan is to not register your domain name once it is in the Pending Delete status; rather than pay the hundreds of dollars you may think that it would be best to just wait until the domain name becomes free to the public. Then once your domain name is available to the entire world you will go ahead and register it and save yourself lots of money. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars to renew your domain name because it is in Pending Delete, you now are able to register your domain name for just $6.50 or even free if it is with a new hosting account. OK.....so this is all if your domain name is not registered by another person once it becomes free to the public. That is a very big IF. It is highly possible for your domain name to be registered by others once it becomes free to the public. People register domain names and keep them for a living. Some people register domain names and resell them for a living. You could even have your domain name taken hostage by an individual who registers your domain name once it is available to the public and then offer to sell it back to you for thousands of dollars.
The loss of your domain name is not something you probably want. Domain names are essential for your business. You may have spent years and years building up your reputation and then lose it because you failed to renew your domain name. At iPowerWeb we understand the importance of domain names and therefore do our best to contact you and make sure that you inform us whether or not you wish to renew the name. To renew while in Pending Delete status, contact your registrar ASAP and have them renew the domain name! If your domain name is registered with iPowerWeb, please contact us ASAP at 888-511-4678. We have support representatives available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week ready to help you with your web site and iPowerWeb account.