I'm glad that's over

Dan Worley · Post by **Dan Worley** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 1:25 am

If you ever want to be pushed to the brink of suicide (and hopefully not over), transfer your domains and websites from one host to another. I just finished moving seven sites.

Never again. Next time I'll hire someone to do it and I'll stick to mixing. A little trouble with a plug-in or two (or even a crazy producer) is nothing compared to that SH--!

And if anyone comes on here and says, "Oh, it's easy! You just..." I will hunt you down and make you use PT on windows. Believe me, I'm that far over the edge.

c-ya,

Dan Worley

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 3:12 am

I'll tell you one thing I learned long ago. Register your domain name with someone different than your hosting company. I use GoDaddy as my registrar. I host with someone else. If I don't like a hosting company's service, I can sign up somewhere else, upload files to my new space, and update the nameservers at GoDaddy and in 24 hours max, I'm moved. Usually faster. That way you can never be held hostage by a hosting company.

Years ago a friend registered his domain with the same company that hosted his site. The company went out of business. Servers down. He couldn't update the domain info. It was a nightmare to transfer over.

Also never, ever let your domain lapse. It will get snatched up immediately by companies that try to sell it back to you. That happened to our friend Andy Selby, which is why his site is now ampguimods.NET instead of .COM.

mrbillet · Post by **mrbillet** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 9:19 am

You guys might be interested to know about Constantine Roussos http://musicmusic.com/constantine-roussos-2.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What exactly does his website offer? Why does it really exist? Because he wants to be the sole owner of the domain name ".music" when January comes around and domains open up beyond .com, .net, org.

This domain name business is sleazy. But that's an opinion not to be interpreted as a presentation of fact!

-Ian

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 10:29 am

Interesting. Well if it happens in January, I'd better be at my computer when the new year starts to grab my .music domain before someone else does. I was extraordinarily fortunate to grab my .com since I have a rather common name. I have won out sometimes having secured myspace/jamessteele only to see MySpace fall on hard times and have to settle for facebook/jamessteelemusicpage which pretty much blows. One way around this has been for me to use subdomains which then redirect: for example facebook.jamessteele.com sends people to the music player "tab" of my Facebook musician page. Ugh.

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 3:55 pm

To some it would seem that the .whatever frenzy to grab the best name ever has become more important that the service, product, or content you have to offer. Easy to remember URLs are great, true, but great product (whether it be music, widgets, or information) is really what people want and if you want to drive traffic, do something that people find value in.

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

~ Shakespeare

Classic example of wasted effort:

http://shakespeare.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and another:

http://musicman.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And what has it gotten them?

And then there's this useless name, yet if offers a valuable service and is now worth Brazillions.

http://www.google.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's all in the content. Just sayin...

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 4:52 pm

MLC, it's a balancing act. Of course one has to have the content. Nowhere did I suggest one can be devoid of that. Still, if one has a URL that is obscure or convoluted it can be just one more obstacle to overcome. Years ago when I was putting together a band, I checked on domain availability for names, and any name had to have a decent URL available. I'm not talking about as a substitute for content, but it can be quite helpful.

Guitarist, Michael Schenker used to play gigs with a banner on his amps that said "michaelschenkerhimself.com" just because some turd had registered his name and I can only assume Michael couldn't or wouldn't pay the ransom.

Geez-- here I go again having to qualify this. YES you must have content, but if you're trying to build a "brand" that stuff can matter. And yes, it gets little competitive if your out competing for domains or vanity URLs when you have a relatively common name. That isn't something you'd probably face that often. Still, you can bet I'll be grabbing up that .music URL the day it is available because someone else is guaranteed to if I don't.

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 5:03 pm

Oh, one "new" thing that's starting to catch on is QR codes. That can lessen the hassle of someone having to type in a URL. I have one on the back of my business cards and any promo copies/demos. Can't hurt and it demonstrates some technological savvy.

Everything is moving to smart phones anyway, so ideally a QR code should direct one to a mobile site or point of purchase.

BTW, MLC, I'm updating this post from a computer now, but I originally made this post and created the QR code on my iPhone. The new Tapatalk app also will host images automatically on Taptalk's server which is kind of cool. I'm sorry to hear you were having issues with it.

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 5:31 pm

I didn't mean to direct any comments at anyone, James. Please take no offense. Fact is, so many people think my URL is MIdLifeCrisis.com LOL! I have a few others I use, but people in the biz "get it."

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 9:09 pm

MIDI Life Crisis wrote:I didn't mean to direct any comments at anyone, James. Please take no offense. Fact is, so many people think my URL is MIdLifeCrisis.com LOL! I have a few others I use, but people in the biz "get it."

No I hear ya, brother. Your point was well taken. Obviously there's no way that anybody with well-marketed crappy music could ever succeed.

MIDI Life Crisis · Post by **MIDI Life Crisis** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 9:23 pm

James Steele wrote:...there's no way that anybody with well-marketed crappy music could ever succeed.

That's funny right thar. I don't care where ya come from, that's funny right thar...

Dan Worley · Post by **Dan Worley** » Tue Sep 06, 2011 11:58 am

James Steele wrote:I'll tell you one thing I learned long ago. Register your domain name with someone different than your hosting company. I use GoDaddy as my registrar. I host with someone else. If I don't like a hosting company's service, I can sign up somewhere else, upload files to my new space, and update the nameservers at GoDaddy and in 24 hours max, I'm moved. Usually faster. That way you can never be held hostage by a hosting company.

Years ago a friend registered his domain with the same company that hosted his site. The company went out of business. Servers down. He couldn't update the domain info. It was a nightmare to transfer over.

Also never, ever let your domain lapse. It will get snatched up immediately by companies that try to sell it back to you. That happened to our friend Andy Selby, which is why his site is now ampguimods.NET instead of .COM.

I appreciate the advice and warnings, James.

c-ya,

Dan Worley

Prime Mover · Post by **Prime Mover** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 10:22 am

I've had more problems with domains than you can shake a stick at. Remember the whole Registerfly scandal? (domain company got busted for tax fraud, shut it's doors, and ICANN had to sue to get the domains back)... I was with Registerfly at the time, and they locked down my domain for 4 months, email and all! When that was over, they randomly transferred my to GoDaddy, which was pretty terrible, until I transferred it myself to Server Logistics, where I've remained ever since.

THEN, GoDaddy, who my father was using for his photography business site, decided to up and SELL his domain, mid-year, without warning, at auction. He had to pay $80 to get it back, and jump through all kinds of hoops, had no website for 5 month. Someone should have gone to jail for that one. But we were too broke at the time to take them to court.

I'll never use GoDaddy again. I •••• you not: THEY SOLD MY FATHER'S DOMAIN HALFWAY THROUGH THE PAY PERIOD. They also went to great lengths to cover it up. They're going to end up like Registerfly, I know it. James, you need to get the •••• out.

Now I've got everyone I know over at Server Logistics, a small little California outfit who answers their phones directly and emails back 5 minutes after you send them something. Never seen a better host/domain registrar.

MOTUnation.com