Category Archives: DIY TipsNTricks

20May/18

What is a vanity URL and why you need one

What is a Vanity URL and why you need one

What is a vanity URL

photo credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vanity,_price_10_cents_-_for_sale_here._LCCN2014646772.jpg

Just what is a Vanity URL or Vanity Domain and why would you ever want one?

First a note for our techie critics. Technically a URL and a domain name are not the same thing. A domain name is a URL. But not all URLs are domain names. But for the layman’s purposes, in this article, we will use the terms interchangeably.

A vanity URL or vanity domain name is simply a domain name or URL that points to another domain name or URL. A Vanity URL can point to another website or even to s specific page within a website making it easier for you to brand, and easier for your customers to find. Looking at the second question is the best way to explain. Let’s say you have a business with one of those replicated websites with a long, cryptic name, such as www.BigAffiliateSales.com/affiliates/?=affiliateid=10101010102. Not too cool, is it? Hard to tell someone, impossible to remember, and it would never fit in a readable type size onto a business card. So you do the wise thing and buy a vanity domain name that is shorter, more memorable, and helps you brand yourself, your company name, or gives you some “SEO Juice”, or some “get me found on Google” superpower.

Here are some examples. Note, none of these have been checked for availability, and are not intended to be anything other than examples.

Your name is Jane Smith and you want to brand yourself or make it easy for people who know you to find your site online so you buy JaneSmith-dot-something or and redirect or forward  it (point it) to your affiliate URL. When someone types in or clicks on your vanity URL they go directly to your actual, long, forgettable affiliate URL. You could do the same thing with your company name. The third possibility given above is where you try to squeeze a little SEO juice out of your vanity domain. So you buy the domain name AFewWordsJammedTogether-dot-something. Having used words someone might search on will help you get found easier on Google.

Here are some tips on choosing a vanity domain name.

  1. Shorter is usually better than longer. The best exceptions are short phrases with SEO juice
  2. Make it memorable if you can
  3. Acronyms that mean nothing to the layman or shortened words that may be hard to guess for the common person not familiar with your company or organization, though short, are probably not the best choices
  4. If the dot-com version is not available, you may want to choose one of the new Top-Level-Domains or TLD’s. A Top-Level-Domain is simply the ending – the part after the last dot, such as dot-com, dot-net, etc. There are many newer Top-Level-Domains to consider, like dot-club and others that may be perfect for your vanity domain name.
22Feb/15

WordPress Vulnerability found in Video Gallery

One of the drawbacks of being a do-in-yourself web person is having to keep up with hackers who create mayhem. Even if a web professional maintains your site it does not a guarantee your site is hacker safe. But having great partners, whether you choose to go the professional route or DIY, helps ensure you are getting the best protection.

If you use WordPress software on your site, and if you do not keep it and all plugins and themes up to date, you may be allowing a WordPress vulnerability. 30fold Domains recommends Wordfence to help you

  • fend of would be hackers
  • and get early warning when there is a potential threat.

Not only can their plugin help keep your site safe, they also publish regular up-to-the-minute information. Wordfence gave such a warning today. According to their blog post, if you use the WordPress Video Gallery you should remove it from your blog. Even the very latest version **as of this writing makes your WordPress site’s database vulnerable to Zero Day SQL Injection.

If you use a web professional, there’s nothing wrong with helping keep them up to date by letting them know about things you hear, and even logging into your WordPress dashboard occasionally to take a look around. If your dashboard indicates updates are required to the WordPress core, to plugins, or themes, find out what your webmaster’s schedule is for updating your site. A good webmaster will keep you informed or at least make the information available to you and make it easy for you to check in. If such documentation or access is not provided, you may need to find a new webmaster. It is your site, and your reputation on the line.

** Programmers are constantly updating their code as new threat’s emerge or are discovered. This article does not suggest any software vendor is unreliable. It is based on the latest information available at the time of posting. If you use a software mentioned in this article we recommend you also contact the source for additional information on update and patch release schedules.