Question: Do you have a beginners guide to domain registration?
Answer: Yes! Click here for help.

Question: Why should I trust you?
Answer: On the internet, information spreads very fast. Anyone can put up a site detailing their problems with a merchant in minutes. Email flashes around the net almost instantly. We've registered thousands of domains. We protect our integrity by honoring our committments. While it's true the internet has more than it's share of frauds, it also has honest hard working people forging into the new frontier. We list a page of references. You are encouraged to contact these people. Ask them if we've done what we promised. Look over their sites. Make up your own mind. You can also call me during normal business hours at 520 888 0110. (Hands down, the best way to contact us is email us.)

Here are just a few comments from our clients

Thank you for your help. I feel real good about your company, as I didn't expect a "personal" response. Kimberly H. I thought it would be days before I heard from you (it is most places) and I was very thankful to see your email in my inbox. Michael L. After checking out the many register services out there, I'm glad to have found the easiest and user friendly sites I've ever been too. I did my homework and what you offer at your price, heck you have them beat. Plus their sites are so double talked hard to figure out what the heck they offer, how much, and whats the catch. LOL. Send me a banner to your site, if ya have one laying around or I could make one up. Catch ya around. Daniel K. Thanks, I LOVE working with you guys...you are so fast! Signa P. Our client found themselves in a difficult situation with a domain name registered through your service. Your professional concern and personal assistance as a liasion has helped us to resolve the issues in a beneficial manner. It is a pleasure to work with a company that has the client's best interest in mind. Debbie H.

Question: If I use your registration service, can I choose anyone for my hosting service?
Answer: Sure! We hope you'll give our webhosting plans a look, but you are free to pick anyone you want for your hosting. In fact, depending on the nature of your site, we can even direct you to a free hosting company and you can use the free URL forwarding feature to send your visitors directly there.

Question: What is "Domain Tracking?"
Answer: Our domain tracking service is called the Domain-O-Meter. This service counts the number of times someone tried to find your domain. It then displays that information publicly. (You have the option to make your domain hit information private, Contact us if you require this service.) Your domain must be parked at the WebWormHole for domain tracking to work.

Question: What is "URL Forwarding?"
Answer: When you reserve a domain name, that entitles you to use the domain to point to a website. If you actually want to use the domain for a website, you need a hosting company and someone to make the pages for the site. Some people choose one of the "free" services available or their ISP for their hosting company. For non-business applications and light use websites, this can be a acceptable solution. However, your URL will be something like: http://www.freehostingsite.com/~user/y/yourname/index.html. That's rather long to remember. So if you choose the optional URL forwarding, when people type in yourdomain.com, it'll automatically take them to http://www.freehostingsite.com/~user/y/yourname/index.html.

Please note: Domain Tracking and URL Forwarding are mutually exclusive. Ie, you can have one or the other, but not both at the same time. You are free to switch between them as needed.

Question: If I use "URL Forwarding" what will show in the address bar?
Answer: That's up to you. It can show your domain name, or it can show the actual address of your website. You decide which is right for you.

Question: I read that you can reserve domain names for US$ 25/year. (old price, currently less!) Can you confirm that this includes Internic fees, and that you don't apply outgoing fees if I later choose to host it somewhere else?
Answer: Yes, that's the grand total. There are no other fees. You can park it at our place for as long as you like free, and when you select a host, you just go to your control panel and update the information.

Question: Are there really any good domains left?
Answer: Yes! GreatBody.com was just registered last December. We just registered HandKey.com when the original company went out of business. There are also many foreign language one word domains still available. Robohits.com, ToyRides.com, and Netscare.com were all registered in the month of Febuary 2000. You can also use the DomainWormHole to find other cool word combinations to find untaken domains.

Question: Can you help me sell my domain?
Answer: Yes! Join our email list. Create an account at the Domain-O-Meter and list your names.

Question: How can I increase the value of my domain?
Answer: With our WebWormHole.com service you can now promote your domain to gain name awareness and track it's effectiveness. You can take out banner ads, put your domain at the end of your email signature, you can even list it on Link pages and some search engines to bring traffic to your domain! You should register every possible combination. For instance, if you register gongadomain.com, you should also register gongadomains.com, gonga-domain.com, and gonga-domains.com. Don't forget the plural or singular variations! If the domain is oriented towards the net, online sales, or e-commerce, you should also register the .net variations. If the domain is oriented towards a niche group or organization, you might register the .org variations. If it's geographical, you might register it in it's country code as well, for instance, .us, .eu, .fr, etc. (Note: country code domains are priced by each country and rates vary greatly. Contact us for more information. Also note, the .eu is not yet available. Sign up for our list and we'll notify everyone when they are available and the price.

Question: How much is a domain worth?
Answer: Whatever the buyer is willing to pay for it. :-) Seriously, a domain can be worth $25 to $7.5Million. (Business.com, the record-holder so far.) One thing is for sure, a domain is worth more if it is memorable, easy to spell, does not conflict with a trademark, does not have variations in spelling that could confuse people and is descriptive of a product or service. Do the "radio test." If you were driving in traffic and heard the domain on the radio, would you remember it, and remember it accurately so that you could come home and type it in your browser's address window and get to the intended site? If yes, that's a valuable domain. Domain names will be worth more next year than they are today. Developed sites are worth more than none-developed sites. Domains that have a large, common market are worth more than most 'niche' domains. Domains ending in .com are worth more than those ending in .net or .org. There are some speciality TLDs, .md, .tv, .fm, and .am that might have value too. Ultimately, what a domain is worth, is based on how many visitors it can attract. Some domains like wallstreet.com get their traffic just because it's a well known word with a huge market. Something like internetbank.com (sold for $88,900) is long, but it's very descriptive and easy to remember. Both of those will get their value from people typing them in their browser's address window. No effort on the company is required. Other domains get their value by being descriptive and memorable. moveinspecial.com is one such domain, ForSaleByOwner is another. (The later sold for $853,000) Based on their service, they should recoupe their purchase price in 18 months. The key is to have the domain, and then find the buyer. Sometimes they will contact you. :-) You can also see your domains hit appraisal from the WebWormHole and request an appraisal from one of our member appraisers at the Domain-O-Meter.

Question: What are the restrictions on domains?
Answer: Letters and numbers only, plus the hyphen (-). No domain can begin or end with a hyphen. Up to 63 characters, not including the .com, .net, or .org on the end.

Question: Can I register vulgar domain names?
Answer: Opt2.net is run by a Libertarian. We believe completely in peoples' right to free speech and do not condone censorship in any way. We do not censor domain names. There are some aspects you need to consider when registering vulgar names, (such as marketing your website) so think it through carefully. But if you still want to register a vulgar name, we might not agree with it, but we'll accept it.

Additional Information on Domain Registration

If your domain is taken, you still have other options. You can buy or rent one from our extensive list of domains. You can use an alternate domain, i.e., one that does not end in .com, .net, or org, but one that ends in .cc .md .cx .to or .tc, etc. (Note: The alternate domain registars rates are usually a little higher.) You may also be able to buy a domain listed at the Domain-O-Meter.

Ready to talk about it? Email us with the domain name you are interested in with an offer or your intended application for the domain. To help demonstrate the value of a domain name, let me relate this to you... One Opt2.net customer had registered their business name for their domain. A logical move. After a year, we suggested they also register a common misspelling for their name. Result? Page hits jumped by 80%! We also suggested registering their phone number because it was easy to remember. Result? Another 20% increase in hits.

Here's another way to value a domain.... Some of the "super domains" (single word, "dot com" addresses) have generated up to 40,000 unique visitors on a good day. Figure an average of 10,000 hits a day for a "super domain." What's a visitor worth? Figuring a 1% conversion ratio and a $20 item with 20% gross profit. That's $146,000 an item. So when you look at drugs.com going for $853,000, they got a BARGAIN!

Why buy a domain?

• Large corporations routinely spend 5 and 6 figures for "marketing specialists" to come up with catchy names, logos, tag lines, etc. But the internet has changed this. Now anyone with a creative mind can do the same thing, protect his or her work by registering the domain, and then earning their commission on the sale of the domain.
  
  
• You never know what is around the corner. What is useless today, could skyrocket in value when unforeseen (or foreseen) events bring notoriety to the subject matter tomorrow.
  
  
• Scarcity: Every domain is unique and one of a kind. There is only 1 opt2.net
  
  
• "But it's not a brand name, it'll never be worth anything..." That's the lie of the traditional marketing players. Think about it: companies spend millions of dollars "marketing" a product to create "a brand." What that means is making it familiar with the buying public. With domains of a common word or phrase, you don't have to spend the money to make it familiar, it's already familiar! People remember it because it's part of the public conscience. Just put it in your existing advertising and watch the hits go up! Think about it. Will they remember "CousinErniesPetSupply.com" or "wholesalepetshop.com?"