When deciding to give your company an online presence, don’t make the mistake of acquiring only a single domain name.

Purchasing only one single domain name can, over time, prove costly. Obtain a variety of domain names for your online business and you will never regret that decision.

Here are the key benefits for having more than one domain name for your business:

1. Expansion: Should your business go global and branch into international markets then it is important to have country specific domains, eg, .au, co.nz, or co.uk. Country specific domains readily inform your audience of your presence in those countries where the domain name resides.

2. Misspellings: It is important that users can find your site. If your business name can be spelled in different ways or is susceptible to misspelling, then it is good business decision to register misspelled domain names. Allowing for misspellings or variants of the name will mean you can direct users who misspell your business name to the right destination instead of sending visitors to an error page or worst to a competition.

3. Competition: Acquiring more than one domain name for your business can protect you from parasitic competitors from registering a similar domain name and thus grabbing a share of your market.

4. Search: A website which has many associated domain names is easier to find. Customers have different ways of finding a website in the internet. Give customers as many options as you can to find you by using different domain names.

5. Brand: Protecting your brand and online identity is essential for any online business. Securing a variety of names will inevitably boost your brand presence.

6. Traffic: Purchasing keyword rich domains is a traffic-generator strategy. The traffic attracted by these search engine discoverable domains can be directed to your main domain.

Emanila.com Pty Ltd, an Australian company, is an example of an internet company that uses various domain names.

In addition to emanila brand series like emanilapoetry.com, emanilaclassifieds.com, emanilavideos.com, etc., the following domain names are associated with emanila: emanila.com, emanila.net, emanila.org, emanila.info, emanila.asia, emanila.biz, emanila.mobi, emanila.tv, emanila.ws, emanila.us, e-manila.com, e-manila.biz, e-manila.info, e-manila.net, e-manila.org, and emanila.com.au.

With these domain names, emanila has been able to establish a dominant presence in its own market and has been able to protect its brand by registering for itself variations of its own domain name.

We have recently set up a discussion group focused on New Media for those in the community (business persons, journalists, students, community leaders) wishing to get their hands on blogging, Facebook, Twitter and other SNS or to simply exchange notes.

The New Media group will meet at 6.30pm onwards every last Monday of the month starting February 28 at the Blacktown Workers Club, Campbell Street, Blacktown City.

The discussion group is a joint project with the Filipino Press Group of Sydney.

For more information, please leave us a message or call 1300 631 663.

Home networks are becoming more complex and dynamic as emerging technologies enable multiple services to be delivered to multiple users and devices in the home, according to a new report by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

The report, Developments in Home Networks, looks at trends in technology and product developments over the past year for homeowners, service providers and those delivering communications and media services to the home.

“These new dynamics present both opportunities and challenges for consumers, industry and regulators,” said ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman.

Home networks are evolving from simple dedicated services delivered by a single provider to a more complex shared network that can be integrated and customised to deliver a range of services from multiple providers.

Emerging IP-based services such as health monitoring, security, home automation, entertainment and social networking accessible via home networks will reshape the user experience.

For example, a home network could be configured to have all devices store digital media content to a centralised server that could be conveniently accessed by any device within the home, or remotely via the internet.

The home network of the future will require more configuration and ongoing support and will also require more co-ordination between the consumer and service providers.

The customer is increasingly responsible for the home network infrastructure with more emphasis on the service provider to cater for the end-to-end service requirements including some home network equipment.

This is an area where information and skills may be needed to allow consumers to achieve a reliable and secure home networking experience.

The report provides an interesting snapshot of the converging services and of some of the associated challenges for customers grappling with networking basics.

Source: Australian Communications and Media Authority

Australia’s annual population growth rate slowed to 1.7% in the year ending June 2010, according to preliminary figures released recently by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). This is down from its peak growth rate of 2.2% in the year ending June 2009 and is the lowest since the year ending March 2007.

Western Australia continued to record the fastest population growth rate at 2.2%, followed by Queensland (2.0%), Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory (both 1.8%), New South Wales and the Northern Territory (both 1.5%), South Australia (1.2%) and Tasmania (0.9%).

Australia’s population reached 22,342,000 by the end of June 2010, growing by 377,100 people over the year. Net overseas migration accounted for 57% of this growth, with the remaining 43% due to natural increase (births minus deaths).

Net overseas migration continued to decline to the end of June 2010. The preliminary net overseas migration estimate for the June quarter 2010 (32,300 people) was 44.3% lower than the June quarter 2009 (58,100 people).

Based on preliminary figures, there were 302,200 births registered in the year ending June 2010, 1.7% more than the previous year. The number of deaths registered over the same period was 140,600, 2.2% fewer than the previous year.

Australia’s median age (the age at which half the population is older and half is younger) increased by 4.8 years over the past 20 years, from 32.1 years at 30 June 1990 to 36.9 years in 2010. Of all the states and territories, Tasmania recorded the highest median age (39.9 years) and the Northern Territory the lowest (31.3 years) at 30 June 2010.

During the same period, the proportion of children aged 0-14 years decreased by 3.1 percentage points. The proportion of people aged 15-64 years increased by 0.7 percentage points and the proportion of people aged 65 years and over by 2.4 percentage points.

Sometime last year, we saw those letters from “Domain Name Group” (domainnamegroup.com.au) inviting us to register the .net.au version of our domain names at A$245 for two years.

We did not even bother to give those invitation letters a second look as (a) the prices quoted are way out of this world (5 times higher than what others are charging), (b) we did not find the need to register the .net.au version of our domains, and (c) we are no great fan of the “free iPod shuffle” which according to the invitation comes with the two year registration.

Now after almost two years, we are still receiving those letters in our mailbox. Quickly checking what others think about these invitation letters, Google spilled out hundreds of thousands of pages on our search keyphrase “domainnamegroup.com.au.”

Their verdict? The operation of “Domain Name Group” is a scam.

Here are some comments written about this scam:

The letter is made to look very much like an invoice with a tear off tab below for easy payment and all.

It has your company name up the top as if you are a client of theirs and also a reference number too so you think you are on their books.

They make it sound as if you need to register this domain name which is, for instance a .net.au variation of your existing domain (.com.au). The price is $245 for 2 years!!! A real bargain. Source:

I take pity on the general public. How would the average Joe Blow realise that this letter is not what it first looks like? The more I look the more obvious it is; but in an office environment I’m certain a quick glance and processing by a non-technical person will pay out most times. Source:

This group is sending out invoices for payment of domain registration for a .net.au version of their .com.au domains. The invoice appears as a renewal invoice for the original domain name, and is misleading customers with a call to action to pay for the domain registration by offering an iPod if paid by a particular date.

This group harvested postal address information belonging to ACN/ABN owners of the .com.au domain equivalents. The way the group acquired the addresses was simply by searching public Whois database for .au domains, and then used the ACN/ABN details to search for the postal address details via other available online resources. Source:

Our advice: If you receive this type of invitation letter from Domain Name Group, chuck it in the bin.

The total number of mobile services in operation (voice and data services) in Australia increased by seven per cent during 2009–10 to reach 25.99 million services at June 2010, according to the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s Communications Report 2009-10, tabled by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy in Parliament today.

The net growth in mobile services was fuelled by a very significant surge in the numbers of mobile wireless broadband services (datacard/dongle connected to a computer) which increased by 71 per cent over the period to reach 3.46 million at June 2010.

As DSL services only increased marginally (two per cent), this suggests that mobile broadband is very much developing as a complement to existing fixed broadband services.

‘New content and services are driving demand for broadband. Fixed line remains the dominant technology for broadband delivery. However, this is being complemented by the take-up of mobile broadband. Australians’ appetite for more broadband is clear, whether they are at home or on the move,’ said ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman.

During 2009–10, the number of fixed-line telephone services in operation, declined from 10.67 million to 10.59 million. At the same time, more consumers continued to access VoIP services from home, from 2.5 million at June 2009 to 2.9 million at June 2010.

‘Increasing investment in mobile and fixed communications infrastructure and innovation in handset and other wireless consumer technology is testimony to the evolution of digital communications in Australia. New technologies are increasingly able to support voice, data and content services, complementing existing fixed-networks. This will continue to enable Australians to more fully participate in the digital economy and benefit from new service innovation,’ Mr Chapman said.

During 2009–10 there has also been significant developments relating to the digital economy in the Australian broadcasting sector in terms of the contining transition to digital broadcasting and the growth of digital television and digital radio services. At June 2010, 74 per cent of Australian households had converted their main set to digital television (up from 53 per cent at 30 June 2009).

Source: Australian Communications and Media Authority

Research from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) shows that Australians are embracing the digital economy, with big increases in the volume of data downloaded, time spent online and activities undertaken online.

“Most Australians today have access to the internet at multiple locations, whether at home, work or elsewhere. Increasingly mobile internet is emerging as a complement to traditional fixed-line internet, allowing increased flexibility in terms of where and how the internet is accessed,” said ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman.

At June 2010, approximately 77 per cent of the population 14 years and over were connected to the internet at home and 66 per cent had a broadband connection. Nearly 2.4 million people used the internet via their handheld mobile during June 2010, up from 1.6 million during June 2009.

“Australians are using the internet more intensively, going online more often for a much wider range of reasons,” said Mr Chapman.

Over the past five years, the frequency of internet use in Australia has steadily increased to the point where 28 per cent of people 14 years and over were estimated to be ‘heavy’ users (online more than 15 hours a week) in June 2010. A further 27 per cent were considered medium users (between 7 and 15 hours a week) and 23 per cent light users (up to 7 hours a week). Only 14 per cent were deemed to be heavy users during June 2005.

“To the majority of Australians the internet is not just an entertainment tool but increasingly an essential part of their everyday lives, providing access to critical information and services. Australians now use the internet for a wide range of activities with communications, research, information, banking and finance and general browsing being most popular,” said Mr Chapman.

Facilitated by increased internet speeds, the volume of information and content accessed by Australians via the internet is growing significantly, with 155,503 terabytes of data downloaded in Australia during the June quarter of 2010, compared to 99,249 terabytes during the June quarter of 2009, a year on year increase of almost 57 per cent and again consistent with exponential trend witnessed over the last several years.

Online social networking continues to be a major driving force in the increasing intensity of online participation. During June 2010 alone, 8.7 million Australians accessed mainstream social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube from home, spending in total more than 41.5 million hours on these sites.

For many Australians the internet is also becoming an important source of news and information with over 6 million persons accessing the mainstream online news sites from home during June 2010.

Source: Australian Communications and Media Authority

The Australian unemployment rate increased 0.2 percentage points to 5.4 per cent in October, the Australian Bureau of Statistics announced today.

The ABS reported the number of people employed increased by 29,700 people to 11.356 million, seasonally adjusted, in October. The rise in employment was driven by an increase in part-time employment, up 43,800 people to 3.385 million, that was partially offset by a decrease in full-time employment, down 14,100 people to 7.971 million.

The number of people unemployed increased by 32,100 people, to 646,500 in October, the ABS said.

The ABS seasonally adjusted monthly aggregate hours worked series showed a rise in October, up 7.9 million hours to 1,602.6 million hours.

The ABS reported a record high for the labour force participation in October of 65.9 per cent, a rise of 0.3 percentage points from September.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics

For those who have been following our posts at Working and WordPress-ing, thanks very much for your regular visits. We also sincerely appreciate your kind words and compliments.

You may be pleased to know we have recently started a series of basic lessons for self-hosted WordPress blogs. The new series will be focused mainly on self-hosted WordPress blogs.

For details, please visit our new site at

The whole idea of On-page SEO is based on keywords and keyphrases. “Keywords” is the name usually given to the words or phrases that best describe your page content/purpose and best match the words people use when searching for your content. Keeping this idea in mind, what you need to do to get your website optimized for search engines is to pick one of the most searched words or phrases which best match the content of your page.

For example, if you have a web design company, a good keyphrase would be “Web design”, because hey! it’s the most searched keyphrase all over the Internet related to your content (5.000.000 searches a month). So anyone would think that this is the best idea, but actually it isn’t. A very often searched keyword is more likely to have a very large amount of competitors (everybody wants the jackpot), which means that you will need to work harder and spend more money in the rest of the optimization (which is sometimes virtually impossible).

Now, you may be wondering, how can I know how many searches a month does a keyword get? This kind of information is provided freely by some ad systems like Google Adwords and Yahoo Overture (among others). In this article I’ll use Google Adwords keywords tool which I believe is the best to work with.

The URL for Google’s tool is https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal. There’s no need for registration, once you enter the page you can start searching for keywords. The tool usage is very simple, you just need to enter a term, for example “web design”, and fill the security code field. Once you submit the form, a list with searches related to your keywords shows up.

The resulting list will not only tell you how many searches a keyword gets on a monthly basis, but will also give you an idea of how many people may be targeting their optimization to that keyword (the more searches a keyword gets, the more optimized pages you will find). This is why you may not want to look at the top of the list. My advice is to pick up something with 1.000.000 searches a month or less (for the previous example, it could be “web design company”).

Besides, you can also use this list as a suggestion tool to pick up a more accurate keyword. For example, if you were looking for something like “web design” you may find that a more accurate keyword for your company would be “web design services”, just because “web design” is a very extensive topic that could go from tutorials to templates.

Lastly, take into account that search engines get cleverer everyday, so keywords shouldn’t look artificial anymore. This means that you shouldn’t repeat your keywords constantly all over the page. Instead you should make slight changes to the keywords so they keep saying the same thing but with different words. In the previous example, the variations could be: “website design”, “designing a website”, “design of websites”, etc.

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