Registrar Connections

June 2009

In this issue

Streamlining .jobs Registration Process: .jobs Rules Change

It is now easier and simpler to have your .jobs domain name registration requests verified.

VeriSign is pleased to announce that the .jobs Business Rule Modifications are scheduled to be deployed in the Name Store Operational Test & Evaluation (OT&E) Environment on July 23, 2009 and in the Production Environment on August 13, 2009.

Effective August 13, Registrars will be submitting the applicant information only through the EPP create command when registering a .jobs domain name (instead of the current process of requiring a separate submission to Employ Media). This simplified .jobs validation process has been an optional feature for a year now and many registrars have been testing it successfully. For the few registrars who have not taken advantage of this simplified process, it is recommended that they use the VeriSign EPP Tool (located at https://epptool-ctld.verisign-grs.com/epptool/) to test functionality and syntax when submitting .jobs create commands.

Additional information about this change can be found in our Knowledge Center at https://knowledge.verisign.com/support/registrar-jobs/index?page (log-in required). Or please contact the VeriSign Customer Support at info@verisign-grs.com or +1 703-925-6999.

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How to Be Found on Today’s Internet

Improve your Web site search ranking

Registrars: please share this article with your customers or reprint it in your own newsletter.

The Internet is changing people’s behaviors and continuing to gain importance. Consumers do almost everything online these days: buy books, clothing, groceries, even cars, make product and information searches, meet new friends, read the news, plan their next vacation destination, track their personal finances and indulge in online entertainment. Businesses all over the world know that and fight for these consumers’ attention online. That’s why search ranking is of vital importance. Search ranking is the organic placement of your site on search engines like Google, Yahoo or MSN.

But learning how to improve search ranking is a challenge for the majority of website owners. Did you know that a few simple measures can significantly improve your website positioning in search results? Here are some key points for you to consider:

Avoid using hidden texts or links --- Each one of your Web pages must be accessed by at least one link of static text: trackers do not recognize texts embedded in images;
Indexing users’ search texts --- Investigate and research which are the terms visitors would use to search for information and products that match your offer and confirm that all these keywords appear in your Web site;
Good looking site --- Build a useful and attractive Web site with clear and updated content that will attract visitors to your Web site first. Review the structure, look if your site map makes sense and guide visitors to a logical and sequential process;
Implement Off page optimization --- It is the process of building links to your website from third part websites. One way to implement it is by activating links in prominent portals. Indexing from these portals will help leverage your online search ranking;
Think of the visitors --- Build your Web site for the visitors. Don’t modify it thinking only in terms of search engines. Plan which key messages you want to communicate and make your visitors go directly to them;
SEO Plan --- Focus on a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plan for your website. Follow this plan closely, track it, and improve on it. When you have achieved the desired outcome, put a maintenance plan into place so you will guarantee to hold that search ranking position;
Key sentences --- Once you have gained experience, start converting keywords to key sentences. Users are becoming more experienced when searching online, and are also searching for full sentences instead of isolated words.

Before making all the changes to your Web site, ask yourself this important question: "Would I do this if the search engines didn’t exist?" This question is indispensable to preserve the quality of your Web site. Be attentive to the keywords and select the ones that really match your business. This way, you will not only attract the search engine mechanisms but also the audience that is the primary reason that your business exists.

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VeriSign’s Webinar Series

The fifth of the 2009 webinar series, "Manage Your Account," took place on May 28 and was conducted by PJ Bolanos, Vice President of Technical Operations Support, and Ladan Abdi, Senior Technical Representative. It was a much-needed refresher topic for a registrar employee to understand the VeriSign Registry-Registrar process, and a helpful reminder for registrars to take advantage of existing tools that VeriSign provides such as the Name Store Manager features, monthly Invoices and Statements, the Emergency Credit Policy and other technical support services. The archived presentation is available in the Knowledge Center (login and password required). Or you may email namingmarketing@verisign.com with any questions about this webinar.

And the sixth of the 2009 webinar series, "Domain Name Industry Update (with a sneak peek of the new Naming Web site)" was held on June 18 and conducted by Jill McNabb, Vice President of Marketing and Kelli Audibert, Senior Manager of Global Web Properties. The session provided meaningful statistical and analytical intelligence on the first quarter of 2009, including key trends in the industry, key performance indicators and growth opportunities; and the new redesigned Web site. The presentation documents and the recorded session may also be accessed in the Knowledge Center. (login and password required). Or you may email namingmarketing@verisign.com for additional information on this webinar.

Upcoming: The next session in our monthly webinar series will be on Thursday, July 23 and it will be on Registrar Reports and Archives. A separate email from Naming Marketing will be sent out with dial-in and log-in details. We look forward to having you join us then. If you have any issues logging into the archive or have questions feel free to contact Naming Marketing: namingmarketing@verisign.com.

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Customer Service FAQs: What You Should Know

Q: What are the format restrictions for second level domain names?

A: The following listed guidelines should be considered when creating a new domain name:

A domain name can have up to 67 characters (numbers, letters, and hyphens). Please note that hyphens may not exist in the 3rd and 4th characters and may not begin/end a domain name.
A domain name can be registered with 0 nameservers, but cannot have more than 13 nameservers. If nameservers are not added, then the domain will not be released into the zone.
If a domain is deleted in the 5 day add grace period, it is deleted immediately from the Registry and the Registrar’s account is refunded for the amount of years the domain was registered for.
A domain can only be registered for 10 years into the future.
A domain must be registered with a valid authorization code. The code can be from 1 to 32 characters long and can be comprised of letters and numbers.
1 and 2 character domain names are reserved and cannot be registered.

Q: DO you support the ROID attribute on a domain transfer or an INFO command?

A: After our production Maintenance on April 25, 2009, the ROID attribute is not supported for domain transfers and INFO commands. If you use the ROID attribute, you will receive the error 2102 - Unimplemented option with the reason "Roid attribute not supported". You can just submit the same commands without the ROID attributes to process your request.

Q: Where can I find the VeriSign root CA?

A: You can visit the link below or visit the VeriSign SSL support Knowledge base. Here you will find the VeriSign Root CA. Please make sure to add the Root CA in your keystore. If you do not have this root CA in your Keystore and you try to connect to the SRS, you would receive a bad certificate error.

https://knowledge.verisign.com/support/ssl-certificates-support/index?page=content&id=SO4785

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Moms Online: More Influential Than Ever

June 5, 2009, eMarketer Special Report

Online moms—a population that is 34 million strong in 2009—wield far more influence than their numbers suggest. Keeping up with their children puts them on the leading edge of new technologies and online activities. They are among the most savvy of all Internet users.

Moms visit parenting and family Websites, but they also regularly view news, weather and political content online. They shop for their kids—and themselves. And when they find something great for their family, they talk about it, not only with their family and friends, but often with a much broader online audience. Social media channels such as blogs, social networks and Twitter give moms ever-bigger platforms to extend their influence

To read the full report, please contact Jennifer Moore at 212.763.6046 or send an email to jmoore@emarketer.com.

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In the News

This section contains a selection of articles pertaining to the Domain Name Industry compiled by Information, Inc.

"Web Security Will Become Overwhelmed by an Increase in Top Level Domain Names"
SC Magazine (06/05/09)

Email and Web filtering products that use reputation blacklists of so-called "bad" domain names will be virtually useless when new top-level domain names are introduced, according to consultant Ed Rowley. Rowley notes that businesses that use such products will need to move to a secure Web gateway approach that uses products capable of filtering and analyzing the behavior of email and Web mail in real time. Rowley says this approach will help businesses protect their networks by making freshly-poisoned Web sites inaccessible. He adds that Marshal8e6 TRACE lab teams have found that more than 1.5 million Web sites have been compromised by hackers and spammers during the past year. Cybercriminals also have tried to drive traffic to these sites by using techniques such as search engine optimization or blended threat email attacks, Rowley says. (Web Link)

"Rome Aims for a Dot Roma"
DomainesInfo (06/05/09) Boutmy, Nicolas

Italian company Roma TLD confirmed Rome's interest in the creation of a .roma top-level domain (TLD). The .roma domain aims to promote Rome, its companies, its identity, and its residents on the Internet. The city of Rome should publicize its support of .roma in the next few weeks. Roma TLD also plans to join the group dotCities, an informal group that also includes .paris, .berlin, .bcn, .hamburg, and .nyc. The five city TLD initiatives have submitted a request to ICANN to create a new City TLD constituency under the GNSO's restructuring process. Roma TLD CEO Massimo Ralli also is involved in the .nyc TLD initiative. (Web Link)

"Facebook Starts Digital Turf Rush"
USA Today (06/15/09) P. 3B; Swartz, Jon

On June 12, the social networking site Facebook began allowing its users to register personalized URLs for their profile pages. The company said that 15 minutes after it opened registration on the new domains, 500,000 users had laid claim to a name. Facebook says the change will allow users to find profile pages through Web search engines more easily. However, legal experts say the plan could result in trademark rights disputes between Facebook users and companies. "It could be a quagmire," says trademark attorney Howard Weller. "We could have another case of cybersquatting." But Facebook says those concerns are unfounded, since tens of thousands of names—including those of well-known companies and brands—will not be available for users to register. In addition, Facebook users will not be able to transfer their domain names to other users. (Web Link)

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