WhoIsHostingThis.com is a tool that will indicate the hosting provider for any website. They claim to provide more accurate results than similar sites such as DomainTools. It’s one of the more straight-forward tools available. Simply type the desired domain name in the text box on the home page, then click ‘Find Host’. The data provided is a very simple display of the name of the hosting provider (as opposed to vague nameservers or IP Addresses).

Why is this important

1. Learn where popular websites are hosted. Although the tool doesn’t provide the hosting plan (shared vs. dedicated) used by the site owner, it does provide some insight on the hosting provider and their capability for hosting large/popular sites.
2. Report malicious activity such as Denial of Service attackers and website thieves.
3. Learn additional data on your competitors.
4. Perform research on popular hosting providers before transferring your hosting service.

Kishau Rogers

Kishau Rogers is the President and Founder of Websmith Group, a web application development company. Her mission is to connect businesses with the information and technologies necessary to meet their goals EFFECTIVELY. Kishau Rogers holds a Computer Science Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and has over sixteen years of experience, which includes web, application and database development. Kishau also speaks, blogs, and writes articles to educate organizations and entrepreneurs on resources and best practices for ensuring effective, dynamic and innovation web solutions.

Website - Twitter - More Posts

Many companies have begun to incorporate social media into their marketing strategy.  Regarding online brand protection, prior to the rapid evolution of social media networks, businesses were mostly concerned with claiming their preferred domain name.  Currently, one of the concerns that business owners face is how to protect and claim their brand across the hundreds (if not thousands) of social media services.   In April, I had an opportunity to speak with Sara Czyzewicz from Claim.io. Sara is the Co-Founder of Olive Interactive, LLC. Claim.io, an Olive Interactive product, allows you to claim your name and protect your brand on 300 social media networks.  Here is the transcript & audio of our conversation.

Audio/Podcast

Transcript

Kishau: I’m really pleased that you were available to give us more information about your product. Tell us more about ClaimIO? Is it a service? Is it a product?

Sara: Absolutely. Claim.io is a service of Olive Interactive, which basically secures your brand or your name across 300 of the top social media and social networking sites. So basically, we register your vanity URL and username as well as upload initial content for your brand.

Kishau:  You’ve said that this is a product of Olive Interactive. Could you tell us more about your company?

Sara: Sure Olive Interactive is an LLC formed in 2008. Myself and Aaron Calenburg are the two current core co-founders. We initially meet and formed this business in Bolder, CO and we have since moved it to headquarter in Providence, RI.

Kishau: Regarding the service Claim.io, many businesses are trimming their budgets and most business owners have two questions when approaching new services: “How much does it cost” and “How does this help me meet my business goals”. Can you provide more information regarding the value for using Claim.io.

Sara: Sure Absolutely, Claim.io is like the social media of domain registration. 10+ years ago it was important to get your name.com, now it’s really important to get your socialmediaURL/yourname; that’s in the URL and claim that username and especially important because if someone claims it before you its really difficult to get it back, if you can even do so. So the prices, you can claim 100, 150, or 300 social networking sites and those go for $129, $179, and $329 respectively.

Kishau:  This is a fixed price point? So those are your packages 100, 150, 300 (social networks)?

Sara: Exactly.

Kishau:  How exactly does the process work? How do you sign up?

Sara: You go to Claim.io and you enter your basic personal or business/company information as well as a profile bio. There’s a short bio and a long bio. Depending on what the social media site allows, we’ll use one or the other, as well as a link to your main website, and a photo of yourself or a logo of your business.

Kishau: What’s your turnaround time?

Sara: Takes about 5-7 business days for the 300 services; so for the 150 or 100 [packages], a little less.

Kishau: When businesses sign up, what do they need to have completed and available in order for you to get this done for them?

Sara: Essentially their profile information which is basically your name and birthday. We will only use that personal information if it’s absolutely necessary for sign up for those sites.  Also, the link back to your website, and the logo of your business, as well as a short and long bio of what your business is or who you are personally will be uploaded on these sites.

Kishau: You mentioned an extended bio, do you simply register the username for the price you quoted, are you actually creating a profile on each service?

Sara:   Many of these sites allow a photo and a link to your website which is great for SEO, and not only are we claiming that vanity URL and that username but we are establishing you on that site so once they go to socialmediasite.com/yourcompanyname they can actually get a brief overview of who you are, your logo and link back to your site.

Kishau: And what happens if your first choice username is not available?

Sara: We actually check up to four usernames. So we check your 1^st and if that’s not available we’ll check your 2^nd; if that’s not available, we’ll check your 3^rd and then your 4^th choice. And then once your order is complete, you get a report saying ‘such-n-such’ usernames were registered on these sites, <usernames> on those sites etc. So if any of them were unavailable, then you’ll see that in your report. If you have any brand name that you want to try to get on another social site which is already registered then you know which ones to go after.

Kishau: How does your company ensure the usernames requested does not violate an existing trademark and how do you protect businesses from identity theft and squatters?

Sara: We do a sufficient amount of research on our clients as they come in to ensure that they actually represent or own the brand that they are claiming. Additionally, it’s very clear in our Terms Of Use that identity squanders will not be accepted or tolerated at all.

Kishau: There are so many social media services available; you’ve mentioned 300 that your company offers.  How did you decide which social media services to include and what are your plans in the future for including new services as they launch?

Sara: So our list of 300 is actually changing on weekly basis almost because it uses social media usage statistics collected from Olive Interactive’s initial product VanityID which basically tracks which social networks are being utilized and which ones are the most popular currently.

Kishau: My last question, just to give our readers a better sense of how they can use your service in their businesses, can you provide some examples of some of the industries that you’ve served?

Sara: Absolutely, we’ve registered friends and usernames for DJ’s and sports teams and individual marketing professionals and lawyers who are representing a company that’s protecting their trademark and it’s all over the board.  Anybody who really has a name or a company name worth protecting.

Kishau: I appreciate you providing this information.  This does seem like a very valuable service for businesses. I would like you to indicate again how exactly they can get started with your service by providing the domain name, spelling it out, and how to sign up.

Sara:  To sign-up, you can go to Claim.io and if you have any questions or just want to say hi, my email is sara@claim.io

Kishau: Thanks a lot Sara! We really appreciate your time and thank you for providing more information.

Many thanks to Sara Czyzewicz, co-founder of Claim.io, for the opportunity to learn more about the service. Visit http://www.claim.io to learn more about their current packages. Also, please note in the comments section if you have used Claim.io or plan to use the service in the near future. ~Kishau Rogers

Kishau Rogers

Kishau Rogers is the President and Founder of Websmith Group, a web application development company. Her mission is to connect businesses with the information and technologies necessary to meet their goals EFFECTIVELY. Kishau Rogers holds a Computer Science Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and has over sixteen years of experience, which includes web, application and database development. Kishau also speaks, blogs, and writes articles to educate organizations and entrepreneurs on resources and best practices for ensuring effective, dynamic and innovation web solutions.

Website - Twitter - More Posts

Keyword research is an important step in optimizing your website for search engine placement.  The first step to keyword identification is to develop a listing of the keywords and phrases that your target customers will likely use to search for your product or service.   Then, you will need to research those keywords to determine:

1. The average search volume – how often are people searching on these keywords/phrases?
2. How competitive is the keyword – how difficult is it to obtain top listing?
3. Does the keyword/phrase provide a high probability of driving well qualified leads to your site – is the keyword/phrase specific enough to reach your target audience?

The following are a few free tools that will provide data to assist you in identifying the most effective keywords/phrases.

Google Insights

URL:  http://www.google.com/insights/search/#

Keyword Data Provided:    Search volume, search trends by regions, categories, time frames and other properties.

Wordtracker Keyword Suggestion Tool (Free Version)

URL:  http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/

Keyword Data Provided:   Average daily search volume and up to 100 related keywords/phrases to consider.

Trellian Keyword Discovery (Free Trial Version)

URL:  http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/keyword-plans.html

Keyword Data Provided:  Searches per day, Keyword Effectiveness Indicator, Access to Regional data and more (see plans)

Kishau Rogers

Kishau Rogers is the President and Founder of Websmith Group, a web application development company. Her mission is to connect businesses with the information and technologies necessary to meet their goals EFFECTIVELY. Kishau Rogers holds a Computer Science Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and has over sixteen years of experience, which includes web, application and database development. Kishau also speaks, blogs, and writes articles to educate organizations and entrepreneurs on resources and best practices for ensuring effective, dynamic and innovation web solutions.

Website - Twitter - More Posts