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10 Tips To Get Ready Working From Home Successfully

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​Not many people realised that they would be working from home this year, No thanks to the Bl**dy virus that has turned the world upside down.  The covid virus has got hundred and thousands of people sick and has changed our lives in so many ways.

People now have turned to working from home in large numbers due to this calamity. People are self-isolating out of fear and safety.  A lot many have learnt to manage their lives remotely through video conferencing and virtual meetings.  It is essential for you to have a plan if you are going to work from home. In this post, we are going to look at what you need to start working from home ( more like a checklist)

A few things to sort out before you begin to work from home.

  • Make sure you have a proper table and chair that follow appropriate safe, ergonomic standards
  • Get a sit stand up desk if needed
  • Take regular breaks
  • Screen size of your laptop/desktop
  • Lighting in the room
  • Good NBN OR Internet connectivity
"

A proper table and chair set up is very essential if you are going to be working from home. The long hours (5 to 8 hours a day or more) sitting down can be tiresome, and you need to get your posture right, or you can damage your back or neck.  Luckily when you are in office, this is all taken care off by the workplace, so it is wise to take extra care with this while working from home.  This video here might give you a few tips.

A sit stand up desk

Sitting down in front of a laptop for long hours can result in cramped shoulders or back. Why not invest in a sit stand up desk. This should allow you to do work while sitting and also do work while standing half the time.  This method does wonders for many.

Take Regular breaks

Take breaks as if you would do so at your office.  If you took a morning break and an afternoon break with a walk around your block while at the office – do the same when you work from home.

Exercise keeps you healthy and more productive. Don’t forget when in office you do take some time to have a chat with fellow colleagues as well, so make sure you break up your continuous work time.

Getting Ready to Work from home

Gadgets, Settings and Adjustments you will need to make.

Work Monitors/ Docking stations

​WORK MONITORS: Turn your laptop into a Desktop. Your workplace monitors may be huge or dual monitors, so it enables you to see screens easily for long hours. Make sure you get a laptop which is easy to do work for long hours without strain on your eyes. Eye health is important too.

Get your laptop attached to your home desktop monitor or get your office laptop docking station to your home. Maybe get a laptop glare protector if you need one.

Proper lighting in room

LIGHTS: ​If there isn’t suitable or sufficient light in the room, it can lead to a strain on your eyes affecting your work, so it is essential to have enough light while working and lights that are not reflecting too much on your work area. Adjust as needed.

Hydrate

HYDRATION: If you don’t have a water bottle on your desk at work, you should get one. Office aircon are known to get the air dry around you, and you need to hydrate, so don’t forget to do the same when you are working from home. Get your regular dose of hydration.

​

Using your own mobile for work

​COMMUNICATION: Enquire with your office how you would make calls to clients. If they provide an office mobile or if you can use your own mobile or home phone and claim deductions or claim expenses back from office.

If you use your own mobile, for Samsung mobile you can block caller id or hide your number for a single call by entering #31# before the number you wish to dial. If you are a iPhone user The quickest way to block your iPhone’s caller ID is to use the *67 trick, which is referred to as “star six seven”

Headset with mic

You might need a good headset or headphones with mic to take part in video conferencing and training from home or then listen to training packages, without disturbing people at home or keeping conversations confidential.

Most laptops have a built-in camera nowadays, but if your doesn’t then just get one from your office or a  portable webcam from the tech shop or online.

Record Keeping of Expenses

Keep records of your expenses incurred due to working from home so that you can claim it from your office or then claim deductions if allowed. It is easy not to get all the expenses claimed back, which is due if you don’t keep detailed records and receipts.

Plan your lunch or brekky in advance

It is wise to plan your brekky and lunch in advance even though you are working from home to stop unnecessary interruptions at work, just like you would do so regularly. However, make sure you take your breaks.

Kids at home

​Set the rules. If you have kids at home while working, it can be difficult.  Have a sit-down conversation with your kids? Make them understand that you need minimal interruptions. Plan a daily routine for them as well, Learning time (online learning time), TV time and outdoor play time. Pre-plan activities for them to do.

Good Internet connection

​A good stress-free work time can be achieved with good internet connections and good connectivity. Make sure you test your laptop if set up to work from home first from your office before you bring it to home.

To avoid disconnections and lag while working – your office will need good virtual network set up, and also you will need a good internet connection. A good idea would be for your kids to not watch Netflix, YouTube videos or stream audio via internet during when you work – if this is possible.

Work Start /End Timing

All companies or workplaces have different rules, though you can expect quite a few to be the same when it comes to work start and end times. You need to plan your start and finish times.

If you are working from home, you save the travel time. So, with that bonus, you could possibly start a bit early and finish early.  Some offices don’t allow you to accrue flex time, and some do, so if its allowed maybe you can work an extra half hour every day and accumulate some flex with an early start. If its not allowed, then you can still start early and finish early and get more time to your day.

Psychology of working from home

Many people will jump at the idea of working from home, not knowing what it entails or how they will cope. Some will succeed it doing it well, and some will fail miserably and not get much done affecting their productivity.

It is essential to know hat kind of work person you are to succeed, if you can get along just fine without an office formal atmosphere and work in your pyjamas that’s okay. But if you will find it hard to work in a casual home setting, maybe you will still need to dress (formals) and act the part to work from home. It’s all about getting your mind into the right frame of work.

Conclusion:

Just finished counting the points, so in total there was “14 tips to get you started working from home successfully”

There are other things you might need – if you suddenly have had to start working from home like printers, printing paper, envelopes, office mobile, paper shredder, filing box or files, stationery and your help desk and support contact numbers ready.  

Enquire with your office if they allow you to take equipment home for working from home- You might be surprised. Good luck and please do comment below if you have any additional tips you can add to my article.

tp link modem router

WAVLINK WiFi Range Extender AC1200 Wireless Router/AP Access Point/WiFi Extenders Signal Booster/Range Extender with Dual Band 5Ghz 2.4Ghz 1200Mbps Works Any Route

This is something you might need  to get proper wifi coverage to get  your work done at home.  You will only need this if your modem/router is not good enough in distributing the  wifi signal around your house.

 Network extender mode boosts wireless signal to previously unreachable or hard-to-wire areas flawlessly Miniature size and wall-mounted design make it easy to deploy and move flexibly
 
Features

Eliminates Dead Spots and Extends the Existing Wireless-AC Coverage

    1. Using the Wavlink 575A3 Range Extender, you can easily extend the range of your existing wireless router to create a strong Wi-Fi signal for all the devices in and around your home, including smartphones, tablets, ultra-books, and more.
    2. Greater coverage allows you to enjoy fast Wi-Fi speeds on your laptop or tablet .
    3. It can Creates Wi-Fi speeds that are up to three times faster than wireless-N. With this extra speed, you can stream HD-quality videos and play online games seamlessly without interruptions or lag.
 

pro plus 36 white desk sit stand up desk

Featured Pro plus 36 Varidesk model

The sit stand up desk is becoming a popular alternative today to improve more healthy computer use and prevent your body from bad posture health risks. It helps reduces incidents at the workplace.

Features:

· Best selling model

· Risk-free for 30 days

· Two-tier design: upper display surface, lower keyboard/mouse deck

· 5 year warranty

· Shipped fully assembled and best-in-class materials used

 

Prices and more over here

 

You can get a cheapo PC headset at officeworks  for between $10 to $20 that will do the job  for video and audio conferencing or then you can purchase a fancy noise cancelling headphones with mic  that will do the job and allow you to listen to music at high quality.

 

This is the COWIN E7 Active Noise Cancelling Headphones Bluetooth Headphones with Mic Deep Bass Wireless Headphones Over Ear with inbuilt mic. It has active noise cancelling technology

Link here: https://www.amazon.com.au/Cancelling-Headphones-Bluetooth-Comfortable-Cellphone/dp/B07RW8DT4S/

 

 

 

If you  got a monitor or need to jack up the height of your laptop then you need this.

 

KENSINGTON(R) 52785 Monitor Stand, SMARTFIT Standard

Stand positions monitor in line with your eyes to help reduce eye strain.

Price: $39.00 & FREE Delivery.

Check updated prices here 

If this is not your thing, you might want to check laptop stand on Amazon.com.au.

Acer ET322QR 31.5" Curved Flat Panel Monitor

If you are game enough to get a fancy new curved monitor then this is the one you need to pick up from Harvey Norman. It’s the Acer ET322QR 31.5″ Curved Flat Panel Monitor.

This Curved Flat Panel Monitor delivers clear and vibrant images at ideal viewing angles, while also adding a stylish touch to your entertainment setup.

Key Features
  • The Acer ET322QR 31.5″ Curved Flat Panel Monitor has a 1920 x 1080 resolution (60Hz refresh rate and 4ms response time) for sharp and detailed visuals.
  • Made with an 1800R curvature, the ET322QR monitor’s screen has a wrapping effect at optimal viewing distances to provide an immersive viewing experience.
  • Integrating Acer Flicker-less, BlueLight Shield, and Low dimming technologies, the monitor’s visual output is easy on the viewer’s eyes.
  • This Acer curved monitor has one VGA port and two HDMI ports to suit a variety of input sources.
  • For added convenience, this curved flat panel monitor supports a 100 x 100mm VESA wall mount.

Price Range: From $300 to $450

https://www.harveynorman.com.au/acer-et322qr-31-5-curved-flat-panel-monitor.html

If you want something more cheap and traditional looking, this is what you need below from Jb hi fi

HP 3WL44AA 21.5\" FHD IPS Monitor

 

HP
Price: $169 to $200

HP 3WL44AA 21.5″ FHD IPS Monitor

Key Features

21.5″ IPS LED Display

FHD (1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz)

1 HDMI 1.4 (with HDCP support); 1 VGA

Contrast ratio: 1000:1 static

14ms grey to grey response time

Anti-glare

On screen controls

Tilt: -5 to +20°

178° horizontal and vertical viewing angles

If you are going to work from a laptop then  a docking station might come handy. A docking station allows you to connect to devices that you could not use in the past. Devices like flat-panel monitors and digital cameras are not always compatible with laptops.  It provides a single connection point that allows a laptop to use a connected monitor, printer, keyboard, and mouse.

This allows a laptop to function like a desktop computer.

UPTab USB-C Docking Station with Ethernet, DisplayPort 4K, HDMI 4K, VGA, 3 Port USB 3.0, USB C PD and SD/TF Card Reader

Pic above is from https://au.uptab.com/uptab-usb-c-docking-station/

UPTab

USB-C Docking Station

$192.62 $129.41

Some more docking station gadgets

  1. StarTech Thunderbolt 3 Dual-4K Docking Station. …
  2. Targus USB 3.0 Dual Video Docking Station with Power. …
  3. AmazonBasics USB 3.0 Universal Laptop Docking Station. …
  4. Kensington USB 3.0 Docking Station. …
  5. Toshiba Dynadock V3. …
  6. Microsoft Surface Dock. …
  7. J5Create JUD500 USB 3.0 Ultra Station. …
  8. Dell USB 3.0 UHD Triple Video Docking Station.

or just get one from officeworks 

https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/kensington-universal-usb-c-powered-laptop-dock-sd4600p-kensd4600p

If you are going to do video conferencing or use zoom you will need a webcam 
 
LifeCam Cinema
 
This simple yet high quality webcam will do the job and last you a long time.

Lifecam Cinema

https://www.microsoft.com/accessories/en-us/products/webcams/lifecam-cinema/h5d-00013

Part #: H5D-00013

MSRP

$69.95

 

Enjoy high-quality 720p HD widescreen video together with crystal clear audio, with the LifeCam Cinema

You dont need a high end camera with ridiculous price, this will do the job

"Ref

Provide guidance on what is a safe home office environment, including what a good work station set up looks like and how to keep physically –  https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/covid-19-information-workplaces/working-home

Fairwork Australia – https://www.fairwork.gov.au/employee-entitlements/flexibility-in-the-workplace/flexible-working-arrangements

Find out which employees can request flexible working arrangements, how to work..

Is Online Learning Part of a New Educational Evolution

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love to learn (1)

Inked feathers, pens, typewriters, computers, and now online learning. Each had its own place in the evolution of modern education. The COVID global lockdown spurred a new appreciation for studying at home rather than slogging down to a college or university. With that in mind, the question is, is online learning now a component of educational evolution.

I Had to Go to a Library

Here is a line from the great comedian Ron White, “Back when I was in school, if we wanted to know something, we had to go to a library, which was a building. We would walk down there seeking knowledge, and sometimes, they would tell us that the knowledge we seek isn’t there, and to come back next week.”

Most millennials have a vague recollection of those days of visiting a library and hoping the book you need is there. When you look back, it is frightening to think that we had to go through all of that just to learn whatever our teachers had set out. Yet, education evolved, and online learning is no doubt a component in the next step of education evolution.

I Filled My Head with Garbage

While quoting popular culture, here is a snippet from the Simpsons. A new teacher asks a question, Martin Prince answers, and the teacher says, “Why have you learned that fact off by heart when anybody with a smartphone can look it up in seconds, To which Martin replies dramatically, “I’ve crammed my head full of garbage.”

We are leaving the era where you have to memorise a bunch of facts and figures in order to pass a test. In fact, the few places where such learning is still relevant is chemistry and physics. Other than those two, we are seeing exams rely less and less on the regurgitation of facts and figures from memory. This ties in very well with online learning because it is almost devoid of such memorising. You may need to memorise concepts and/or scenarios, but the verbatim recital of facts and figures are not as heavily relied upon, which is in line with the current evolution of the education system.

More Sit-at-a-Computer Vocations

Perhaps online learning courses are becoming more popular because they are also becoming more relevant. For example, twenty years ago there were far fewer jobs that could be done at a computer, and even fewer that could be (or learned) from home. For example, you cannot learn how to change a tyre from home, but you can learn logistics, programming, digital marketing, graphic design, bookkeeping, video editing, audio editing, and so forth from home.

You can then go out and get a job working in an office using those skills, or perhaps get remote work using those skills. The COVID lockdown has perhaps proven that many in-classroom courses need not take place in a classroom, which spurs on the changes that make digital learning a larger part of the mainstream education system.

Will the Human Factor Change?

There are some people who learn better when they are told by a teacher rather than reading it from a screen. A teacher can adapt and change the lesson based on the comprehension of the group, and in-classroom learning creates a sense of urgency, whereas many online courses can be failed through simple procrastination or lack of the sort of motivation that a teacher gives.

Conclusion – Digital Learning Should be a Facet of Modern Education

One could argue that online digital learning (from home) just doesn’t work for some people, but the same can be said for classroom learning and on-the-job learning. Nobody is saying that digital learning should become the one and only method of learning. It should simply factor into what makes up the modern education system.

Perhaps modern learning should be more adaptive. There are some students who will never learn chemistry through reading alone, who will need practical lessons, teachers, and so forth. There are some people who will never learn engineering correctly without on-the-job learning, self-teaching, and so forth. With any hope, modern education will one day lean towards teaching students the way they learn the best, be that in classrooms, digitally, on the job, or some mixture that works for the student in hand.

The Ultimate Guide for Blog SEO in 2020

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Ranking no # 1 in google search is the ultimate dream for many website owners and SEO agencies. Getting among the top 10 ranking in search engines can be very satisfying and lucrative for many webmasters. Ranking right at the top in Google search will always remain a mystery to most people trying to crack open that secret ranking formula. Google has carefully hidden their ranking secrets behind their thousands of patents and algorithms and AI machine learning.

The webmasters and gurus will manage to crack some rank clues, but not all the factors combined together. That “secret sauce” that helps you rank to no#1 will always be  a highly guarded secret by Google and co.

seo to rank 2020

 

Yet, there are enough clues available to get your website ranking to the top for your chosen keywords be it  WordPress CMS or a Wix website. If you follow some of these “Ranking tips” revealed below by me in this blog post, you will definitely get closer to ranking  at the coveted top position.

If you just want to rank quickly then you can skip  this tutorial  and just copy what top rankers are doing to reach no #1 in google with help from seo tools.

It is not hard to see what they are doing  based on onpage and offpage SEO on their sites and even analyse their backlink structure. Some tools that may help you find out what top bloogers or competitors are doing are software like Ahrefs ( paid membership) , Semrush (paid monthly membership) and SEO PowerSuite  that is standalone Desktop software(NO monthly membership – one off payment)

 

Yes I have listed on my blog profile  about me writing about SEO and technology, but I really never written in detail about SEO, in spite of ranking for some big keywords. So I hope this  post does some justice to my laziness in SEO content publishing – and you benefit from this article.

 

Yes, you can definitely rank for some keywords and get more traffic and earn some money as well if you are selling some products from your website/blog. Getting top ranking in google-search has made many a webmaster successful in the online world and let them quit their full-time jobs.

 

Black hatters today as well manage to “rank no #1 on google” with shady and blackhat tactics, however, It is no secret that content length of your article, content quality of your article and authority links ( good backlinks) pointing to it will always boost your website ranking. I break it down to you below:

 

The Ultimate SEO Guide for websites – Rank in 2020

The basics of ranking however,  will always be these 4 main factors as given below:

very important tips

 

1. Content-Length (Should be minimum 1200 + Words)

2. Content quality (should be well written, good grammar, no spelling mistakes, structured right and useful to the reader)

3. Backlinks ( should come from good websites with high authority and be relevant to your niche)

4. UI  & UX or Post/Article structure and design layout (your theme/template)

 

These four above factors will help you rank and is essentially the backbone for ranking in 2020, however, there are many more factors that add to this and which will help you shoot up your article popularity and rankings and they are given below. Continued…

 

But before that here is the “Freshest SEO TIPS section”

 SEO SIGNALS that matter right now- Google May updatefresh seo 2018

  • Backlinks to  inner pages has gained more relevancy in addition to  homepage with google may update. Keep a good balanced ratio.
  • Font size is important – It should be easily readable on smart devices.
  • Youtube video or video backlinks  gives your site ranking boosts
  • Social media votes make a difference. Facebook and pinterest sharing counts
  • Optimum spacing between your content/paragraphs or within your articles

 

I will be updating this post on a regular basis to keep up with the latest SEO trends and updates happening so that you can also update your SEO game accordingly to keep your top ranking on the top. And so I would like to call this post “The Ultimate Guide to SEO”. Anyway Moving on..

 

To make it easier to read and digest this mega post, I will arrange my tips neatly into tips that you can take action with, or informational tips which you can digest and then decide to take some action with them or then label the tips as black Grey white Hat.

 

take notes ultimate

· (Action) = Tip that you can start implementing today on your blog/website

· (Info) = Tips that informs you about SEO as it is today or in 2020 and you can decide how you want to act on this information

· (BL/GR Tip) = Tips that borders on black hat grey hat methods and you should use at your own risk

 

I will put these items in brackets after every tip so that you can know what kind of tip it is and take action accordingly. SEO changes very rapidly and it is essential to stay on top of things – SO I will be updating these tips on a regular basis and the most recent tips will always be on the top (* that’s the reason why I have not numbered the tips)

 

Below i have also included some Bonus SEO FREE PDF’s  that will further help you optimise your website to rank well with latest ranking factors

 

 

Let me explain the first 4 most important SEO tips I have given above

 

Content-Length (Action) – The label on this topic is (Action) and so it will benefit you if you immediately put this tip into action. Start making posts at least 1200 + words (2000 to 5,000 words also rank well today). Most blog posts and articles have a better chance of ranking no#1 to 10 if they are at least 1200 words at the minimum and have the other ranking factors listed above supporting it.

2020 Google May 4th update suggests that 700 word content does not cut it anymore in a lot of niches.

If you got blog posts or articles that are ranking well and are short of this figure, consider increasing the word count of your post after doing a quick review of a top ranking article in search engines -in your niche.

 

Content Quality (Action) – This is a no-brainer, if you have bad spelling and grammar you are already losing a lot of traffic due to looking unprofessional and giving the impression that your website is of low standard. Google search and Bing search have also become smarter and can detect low-quality articles. Make sure you check your article for grammatical mistakes and spelling mistakes after you write it.

A good structure or flow in the article also means that the flow of the article should be smooth, giving an overview, pros and cons, in-depth review and summary in the proper structure as per the needs of each article and subject.

This structure and flow can differ depending on the topic you are writing about. When you a read the article, it should read seamless and flow well as per the keywords or topic it is supposed to be ranking for. It should also cater to the user intent of the viewer.

 

Backlinks (Action) – This is one of the most important factor that all search engines count on to rank their top pages or websites, including Google. How does a successful website rank to the top?

backlinks 2018

It gets more and more links over a period of time as it churns out content and then more awesome content and gain more backlinks. If backlinks are dropping then your popularity is going to dip and Google thinks the same.

Make sure that you consistently have an awesome blog/website which is gaining links on a regular basis and at a steady pace.

referring domains index

[A healthy looking referring domain backlink profile]

Google is really a popularity engine (ref roger monti). The pages that satisfy the most users are what Google will rank at the top. That’s called matching web pages to user intent. User intent means what the person typing the search query means when they type any particular query and what they expect to see.

DOES BACKLINKS MATTER ?

As of today, Google is still giving importance to backlinks with these three criteria in order

· AUTHORITATIVE BACKLINKS

· BACKLINKS THAT GIVE YOUR BLOG TRAFFIC

· BACKLINKS WITH HIGH DOMAIN AND PAGE AUTHORITY AND TRUST

. RELEVANT BACKLINKS –  Content on the page that is linking  to you which means relevancy of the content on the page matters today.

 

Many webmasters use a (BL/GR Tip) version to back linking to reach the top of the ranking in search quickly in some easy niches. Many a time  these do not last for very long  and very rarely these rankings stick.

 

Blog Post/Article UX, Design or Structure (Action + Info) – This factor has become more important in several niches mid-2018 and into 2020. If you have a well-designed blog page or article with the proper structure on it then it will rank well.

 

Good sized visible fonts for viewers, structure,responsive and design to make the article look good on computers as well as tablets and Phones, well laid out content on page with relevant images and graphs and dot points and tables – they all contribute to a well-designed blog post or article and help your blog post rank better.

I suggest if you want to make  your job easier for ranking on search engines, then go with a good  wordpress theme provider that is responsive, html5 ready, has robust inbuilt SEO basics and speedy theme loading. I would recommend Genesis studiopress wordpress themes for this, you can read my review over here.

 

Does organic traffic help my blog rank?(info)

This is a trend that could change, but right now direct traffic definitely helps your rankings jump up and down when combined with constant organic traffic and already good rankings.

 

Yes, organic traffic does help rank better, but it does this – with other supporting factors like low bounce rate and direct traffic gained and supported by some social media traffic.

 

Below are some more factors that will help you rank apart from what I already mentioned above. These should also be implemented on your website and blog.

 

Placement of keyword

If you are looking to optimize for a “keyword”, you need to put it in the first 50 to 100 words of the article. If it’s a key phrase (two to three words) then break up the keywords and use it in the first 100 words on the page.

 

placementBut I would say do research before adjusting this, as some niches rank without keyword placement as well, but it is safe to just do this at the start and then re-optimize later if you not getting the results you need.

 

I suggest also comparing the top 10 competitors ranking for that keyword and re-optimizing your keyword density and placement. You can check my copy at seo post(https://www.digitalgrog.com.au/make-money-blogging/why-seo-copycat-can-save-you-time/ ) that talks about this in much more detail.

 

Snippets or featured results

This is big right now (Featured snippets) – You know those results that show up right on top of Google search when you search for some keywords.

 

image

 

Featured snippets, also known as the quick answer or knowledge graph is an area at the top of page 1 in Google search where the searcher’s query is answered right then and there (like above pic). You can get more on how to rank with this in diggitys post referenced below.

 

Summarize with lists and link to sections in your blog post

If you are making an article like a step by step guide – Summarise the steps at the beginning of the article in point form and then link back from every point in the list to the description of the steps below.

 

Creating lists also help with featured snippets being taken from your article to be displayed on search if your article starts to rank in top 20.

 

Use synonyms/ LSI in your articles(info – BL/GR)

 

[You can easily use Microsoft word to research for synonyms by highlighting/right-clicking the word in the document and clicking synonyms to give you additional keywords]

 

image

Google’s algorithm is smart and getting smarter, but we do know for sure from many tests done by SEO’s that the search engine does detect synonyms for your keyword in your article to find out what the article is about which is also a relevance factor in ranking the article.

You need to help Google find what your article is about so synonyms help the search engine know what your article is about. Use them.

 

Freshness factor in ranking

Freshness is a new factor in the new search algorithm. Every time you update your website you get an instant brownie point from the search engine and your recent content gets a new life and attention. I’ve seen leads and traffic increase when I publish a new post.

 

Creating authority with authority (External linking)

Linking to established resources websites like Wikipedia and websites with good authority in the niche you are writing about/publishing on your blog will give your article some extra boost to your content. You could also mention Like a CEO or founder of a company you are writing about and link to their profile to gain some extra boost to your article. It’s like referencing authority (eg.in journals) and gaining some authority in exchange for your article.

Image Seo

image optimisation alt atributesI’ve tested a lot of image seo to see what works and surrounding your images with keywords and synonyms of the keywords you are focussing on will make it more prominent in the search engines.

Sometimes a top-ranked image in image search can pull a lot of traffic to your blog. And traffic helps your blog rank too. You could also align proper Keywords in your image name and post it right on the top of your page making it relevant to your blog post.

 

Monitor and Diversify links(BL/GR)

Often when you have good ranking articles and blog posts, you cannot control your backlinks as you automatically get links to your good articles. It is best to monitor what links you get as if you get too many links with a particular keyword, you could get penalized.

 

Very important – Diversify links to all pages in blogs – possibly backlink to main page 50 to 55% rest to other pages, Domains linking to main page 70% and to other pages 30 %. I’ve checked this with a $45 affiliate commission website I have been running successfully.

 

Backlinks Boost

You have written an awesome article that ticks all the boxes, but it’s no use if nobody sees it. You have to promote it via doing outreach and getting guest posts and backlinks or other means. Social media promotion would also help get a boost to your new article.

Whenever you post a new post, start trying to gain back links to it for at least a month to give that initial boost. Once it’s got some solid boost/substance behind it with shares, backlinks etc the article will continue to grow and rank.

 

Content and Article length

How much is too much with article length. Well some lucky chaps getaway with ranking 500-word contents in the top 10, but they are only lucky and not forever. tired writing words

The new article post length is 2000 + words blog post if you want a decent chance to compete against top rankers with huge authority.

But saying that, I have got a lot of traction and leads from many 1200 word posts that I have written as well. So it’s not only the length of the article but a mix of everything backlinks, shares etc mixed with a length that makes it rank well.

 

https or secure sites

Well, Google is the king of search, so they can announce whatever they want to and they have said that they will show all websites that are not secure (without https) as not secure in Google Chrome browser. So obviously you get brownie points for having https in your domain name and it helps to rank as well, so they say.

 

AMP for ranking and SEO

The full form of AMP in Seo terms is “Accelerated Mobile Pages”, In simple terms when you implement amp on your website, your pages will render faster to your viewer and this benefits viewers on mobiles, tablets which is a growing audience. Google says 40% of users will abandon any website that takes more than 3 seconds to load. Mobile pages often take at least 8 seconds to load.

How to implement AMP – If you got your website hosted with WordPress, it’s as simple as getting a WP plugin supporting amp. This is also a factor that is taken into account for ranking in the search engines. We just don’t know how much weight it carries.

 

Viral bait + Social Media sharing

While this topic sounds more like an alternative SEO method, it still can have a big impact on traffic and also impact seo.

These two are big for one main reason “traffic”. These both when implemented nicely could give a steady and regular traffic to your blog on facebook, twitter, Pinterest and Instagram and other social media platforms.

Relevant traffic to and from your niche helps you rank better as it also improves engagement and lowers bounce rate. But you need to be careful when using viral bait, so as not to affect your bounce rate in a bad way.

Technical factors for Search Engine Optimisation

getting technical data

Broken links:

Broken links on your blog internally or externally are not good for SEO and need to be fixed or redirected.

Slow plugins:

If you’re using wordpress and use a lot of plugins, do check all your plugins to see if they are slowing down your blog or then affecting your SEO in a bad way.

Page speed:

The loading speed of your website and its pages if slow can be bad SEO. Make sure you have a good speedy hosting company serving your website. Make use of CDNS and cache plugins if necessary. Do not use large images.

Responsiveness:

A website design or theme should be able to be seen seamlessly on all modern devices. A responsive design will improve search engine ranking. Your wordpress theme or website design should be responsive

 

Important Sub factors that improve your website visibility on search engines

Internal and inbound links:

  • There should be topic relevance between the page linking and the page linked with internal links
  • It’s good to have IPs from different IP classes (preferably us but some AU UK Etc.) linking to you
  • Language match between linked page and linking page
  • Context relevance of the text around your backlink pointing to your website will enhance your topic. Try to get niche relevant links
  • Link to your website with full URL as anchor text (diversify this)
  • Interlinking from your author bio to good posts on your blog

 

 

External Backlinks (to do  – Action):

  • Do not have too many links on the homepage. Try to keep it a minimum
  • Avoid links to external spammy sites, link to only authority and niche relevant sites if possible.
  • Get affiliate links to open in new window and pass no link juice.
  • Use Majestic SEO, Ahrefs and …smallseotools.com

 

GrapeVINE: + affiliate website SEO

seo news grape vineHere I will add and update information that I source from online SEO groups and general chatter on SEO online. I am connected to many good SEO consultants and so will add here what makes sense with the latest SEO trends and is buzzing in the SEO grapevine. This will also seo suggestions that you can apply  to affiliate comission websites/blogs ( amazon websites) to rank and bank.

The grapevine content that I agree with, will also feature above on the – “Freshest SEO TIPS section” on the top of this article.

 

 

 

Currently on the GRAPEVINE:

Build naked and branded links to rank

Building anchors from and to  internal pages and blog posts works for ranking

2000 + words for affiliate sites has better chances of ranking.

Page speed is important for affiliate sites (optimise images and load times)

Relevancy of content linking back to you page niche matters more and helps ranking.

(NEW)Build a table of content for blog, works for some affiliate websites too ( pic below)

September SEO

Its best to place the table of contents at the top anywhere between 1 to 3 rd paragraphs

Position wise using a table of contents, might impact your new content in a positive way and bloggers have reported that it give  your post a bit of a boost.

Past couple weeks its been noticed – Internal linking seems to have been given a bit of boost in recent updates.   01/06/2020

Some Online Resources for updated SEO News

  1. www.searchengineland.com
  2. www.blackhatworld.com

 

Some Interesting posts by people I follow on SEO

OLD SEO METHODS THAT YOU Should Not DO ANYMORE

Anchor ratio breakdown: (do not do this – anchor ratios change according to keyword and niche)

  • Naked URL’s (domain.com) – 15%
  • Branded Anchors (brand name) – 75%
  • Generic Anchors (any generic word) – 5%
  • Partial Match/LSI Anchors (different variations of my main keywords – KeywordShitter is a great tool for this) – 3%
  • Exact Anchors (main money keywords) – approx 2%

 

New tools for SEO  – Keyword  everywhere, LSI , SerpLab, SEO Hero

WordPress plugins for SEO – Auto Optimise, AAWP ( for amazon comission websites), WP word count

SEO research websites – Reddit, Quora, Answer the public

WordPress themes for SEO – Genesis -Studiopress, Astra theme, Generate press

 

More Advanced COPYKAT tips

FINDING COMPETITORS’ BACKLINK SOURCES Rapido:

rapido find links

Here’s a small tip which you can use to get the same links your competition have. Credit to Ahrefs. For this, you’ll need an Ahrefs account. If you don’t want to pay for one, you sometimes can get it for $5 (1-month use) on Fiverr.

Now as we all probably know already – the “traditional” way of finding the links your competition is using is by doing a manual reverse engineering campaign.

With this technique, everything/majority of the process takes place inside Ahrefs. Once you’re logged in, you can use the “Link Intersect Tool” directly to find out all your competitors’ links. For example:

 

image

 

Once you have all your backlink data, either yourself (or your VA) now need to note down the “type” of anchor each one is. For example exact/partial-LSI/naked URL/generic/brand/other/etc.. you get the idea. And then calculate the % that type of anchor accounts for each site you’ve gathered data on.

 

Again, this strategy isn’t necessarily “quick” but this is often the first job I give my VA when once I’ve created my churn/burn sites.

 

You’ll then see something like this:

image

You can dig deeper and try to find their PBN links. Just because it’s blocked by Ahrefs/Majestic, doesn’t mean it’s blocked by every single crawler/bot. A method I use involves using newer/fresh backlink checker sites such as this. These are probably not going to be blocked by some PBN sites.

One other software that is just a one off price (not ongoing  subscription) and does give you good data  like above is Link Assistant Software

 

If you click on the “arrow” icon underneath each site, you’ll be given more information on the site, backlinks, anchor text used, etc.

 

image

These ranking signals and seo tips given above is mainly taking into account wordpress websites, but will surely also help many other platforms like Wix, Weebly , Squarespace & Blogpsot as well as they apply to all websites.

 

 

Mini Guide Tutorial  – for Hypertext links or Html to refer to text or section within page

You dont really need an extra wordpress plugin to create a table of contents for your blog or website. You can create it with html code, all you need is  to know how to link to text or sections within your page. Below is the html code you will use.

Text that has an anchor associated with it must be marked in the following way:

eg.1

example from my blog (visit my eg. post here)

Mark the area where you want the table of content link to go –  with this example code below

<span id=”australianwebsitename”></span>

Use your own unique word instead of “australianwebsitename”. Place that just above the area you want the table of content link to point to

Your Table of content area text links – should be linked like this

<a href=”#australianwebsitename”> Your table of content anchor text</a>

Linking example on this page

eg.2
<a href="anchor type text">
This must be typed at the beginning of the link text. Note: there is a space after the a. The "anchor type text" takes different forms depending upon whether the link’s reference is within the current document or  referencing another document on the same system
</a>
Is typed after the link text.

To reference an anchor point/section/text  within the same document the link description takes the following form:

<a href="#ref1">This is a reference to the section/text/bottom of this document/page </a>

Eg.3
With Html5 :

If you want  to mark a top of the page content - code below 
<h2 id="top">Top of page!</h2>
Link code - to go to top of the page(which would be placed at bottom of page)
<a href="#top">Go to top</a>

While the title says so “20 tips” I haven’t really numbered them, but they are more than 20tips.

 

To summarize all the tips  i have given above, always monitor the top results in Google search for the keywords or topic your targeting and observe and analyse  the  top results  for design , structure, backlinks content  quality , content length and other factors mentioned above  and you should then this  should give you an idea how to start you ranking strategy for 2020.

 

If you think I have missed out on something, then do let me know about it in the comments, would appreciate your input.

 

Update Log:

I published this BLOG SEO GUIDE on  31 March 2018, below is the update log

Updated: 01/09/2018 – Table of contents image added  to grapevine

Updated :15/10/2018 – Tutorial for linking to text or section in your webpage ( for creating table of  contents without a WP plugin )

Updated : 01/06/2020 – Google May update additions

3 Technologies That Need To Become Mainstream To Save The Earth

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tech computer australia 2020

With so many natural disasters and changes to the ecosystem, the evidence of rapidly escalating climate change is unavoidable. Scientists are panicked by the dramatically faster rates of decline than anticipated while much of the public was, at least up until recently, somewhat resistant to even accepting climate change as the reality.

After experiencing inexplicably extreme weathers, people are starting to believe that this is a problem that is only getting worse. According to one scientific report, 40 % of the world’s insects will be extinct over the next few decades. That will be an unprecedented level of disruption in our environment and will likely lead to extinction or endangerment of many other species including humans.

While some claim gloomily that we are beyond point of no return, many have not given up. Global Waves of climate change protests drew six million people out to the street. One of the main sources of this ecological crisis is waste. We dump 2.12 billion tons of waste each year into whichever landfill we can find.

So what are the technologies that need to be developed quickly to combat this massive (literally) issue? How do we save the earth?

Internet of Things (IoT) in Waste Management

Many cities are attempting to use IoT and sensors to better auto-manage waste to keep the cities clean. In Songdo, South Korea, they do not use garbage trucks. They have smart waste bins through which the waste is sucked into pneumatic pipes and transported to a facility where they are automatically sorted and recycled or burned or buried.

new 2020 tech

The lack of landfills is not only economical but also the only environmentally responsible option to tackle the waste crisis. One of the most difficult items to recycle or bury properly is a mattress. In the U.S., 18.2 million mattresses are disposed of each year but there are only 56 facilities available to recycle them. Mattress recycling in Brisbane, Australia, one of the more environmentally conscious cities, is handled by the government with more oversight and care.

There’s also food waste, clothes waste, plastic waste, and many more. We need a more holistic approach to managing waste and real-time waste processing enabled by IoT needs further attention at a wider scale.

Smart Grids to Reduce CO2 Levels

Similar to the smart waste bins enabled by IoT, smart grid enables better communication among the players in the energy production pipelines to better manage and recycle the output. These grids are being tested in the US and various other countries.

These grids can utilise renewable energy to pump the energy into the grid and auto-predict and auto-manage possible outages. When combined with better battery technology, this could mean that we will be able to store energy generated by renewable sources and thus rendering our current environmentally harmful energy production methodology obsolete.

Smart grids, if properly implemented, are expected to reduce carbon emissions by 58% compared to where it was a decade ago. The wider adoption of smart grids is closer than you may think. In 2016, the Brooklyn Microgrid project was initiated using blockchain technology to generate a ‘microgrid’ of neighborhoods to generate solar-powered energy and share P2P. New York, as one of the cities that have frequently experienced storms and hurricanes in the past 10 years, has welcomed this experiment with wide arms as the elimination of their dependence on fuel-based electricity power allows them to have access to energy even if those hurricanes were to make their way back.

While there will be challenges and kinks to work out before we can implement across bigger grids, it is worth the investment and experiments as it is one of the few solutions that could actually move the needle in reversing the current trends.

(Not-so-)Fake Meat

Due to the desire to maximise profit per animal, farmers and food processors started manipulating the animals’ genetics to make them bigger. To put things in perspective, it is said that producing one burger equates to how much fuel a small car uses to drive for 20 miles.

It is absolutely killing the environment.

Many meat lovers will roll their eyes at the anticipated “meat is murder” rhetoric, but the fake meat industry has progressed at an impressive rate to win over the dedicated carnivores. Companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods have conducted countless experiments to ensure the fake burger not only tastes but smells like a real one. So the meat-fans do not have to sacrifice their addictions while trying to save the environment. What do you have to lose?

What google trends tells us about Corona and Toilet rolls

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Google trends! is a good tool  to do some research on what’s the buzz around in Australia,  however there is no prizes to guessing right now what is buzzing  right now – should be pretty evident shouldn’t it

Yes – so let’s see what’s trending on google, one word we know for sure that’s trending around all the world for all the wrong reasons is “corona virus”. But how does it stack up against the beer “corona” – why -just because I can!

Toilet Rolls, Corona Virus & Beer

corona graph edit

As we can see on 12th March the “coronavirus” (BLUE LINE) search is beating the socks out of “Beer” (RED LINE) at *100 Vs 2 . On Feb 15th/16th there was a bit of an anomaly where beer suddenly jumped and came close to the results for the virus search. Don’t know why- but my only thoughts are that it’s the weekend and people have beer on their mind here in Australia.

Comparison above is from last month 15/02/2020 to 15/03/2020

*100 vs 2 *Numbers represent search interest relative to the highest point on the chart for the given region and time. A value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term. A value of 50 means that the term is half as popular. A score of 0 means there was not enough data for this term.

Our next graph – Interest in coronavirus  in Australian states

corona virus vs beer state search

 

This state search trend does tell us that state by state we are not so much different even though we could literally be different countries. The trend lines and stats show everyone sitting at 95% vs 5% coronavirus to Beer.

However, there was one state different from all the other who had beer on their mind more than the corona virus and it was ( butt I will explain that below)

SOUTH AUSTRALIA – They scored 91%(coronavirus) vs 9% (Beer) where other states “beer”searches were just 5%

racism and beer not corona

Now that was a bit of a surprise!

We could possibly get different results with corona virus as two words, but just decided to do the comparison with Corona as one word.

Well one thing I could not escape, while doing this research was this one thing – “TOILET PAPER”.

i could not escape toilet paper

It just had to pop up on my trending screen in between beer and corona virus and it did, just like it kept popping up on my facebook feed, twitter and Instagram account for the past month.

I’m not going to elaborate on this toilet paper topic anymore (as its sh*t), ands so I will just instead give you  this Arnie meme below instead

arnie i will be back toilet rolls

Surprisingly with the toilet paper results also popped up “Italy” and “Tom Hanks” which also tells us that we do care a sh*t if celebrity’s get the flu and if Italians too.

I will rest my toilet paper spiel with that one.

Back to the beer and coronavirus

beer by state

The beer search trend got myself into a puzzle and also scratching my head, why was south Australia leading the search for beer. Good old “Maggie Beer” managed to get into the google trends beer results.! And so was the name ‘Saskia Beer’. This puzzled me!

Now I do know Maggie Beer  due to flicking through telly and watching her cook, but didn’t know who or what Saskia + beer  was  and why she was appearing in search.

Saskia, Maggie and Ellie Beer

Image from abc.net.au

I had to look further into this and found out that her daughter Saskia just passed away in her sleep (RIP), that also explained why Saskia beer death was showing up in google search so much.

That’s all for now. until later

I could not resist!

I had to do a toilet paper search to see if it is beating corona virus, this is what I got from google trends. There are more people searching for corona virus on google in comparison to toilet paper. It would really worry me if it was the other way around.

corona virus vs toilet paper

Apparently according to those graphs for comparison for searches for toilet paper NSW and VICTORIA are doing a very good job of searching online for toilet paper at 7%, while the rest of the states are behind at 6% and lower.

Adios Again Smile

Best 10 picks for website name registration in Australia

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UPDATED 01/04/2019:  If you want to “Start a Website”,  a blog or an online eCommerce shop you will need a domain name.  With a website name, you will also need a webhosting account to host your website files and website. The first most important thing you would need to consider is “Do I get an Australian .com.au domain” or do I get a  .com domain.  Website name prices are not getting any cheaper in 2019 and so it pays  to get a cheap webname provider.

digital grog au .com.au buy domains logo Sm

The price factor between .com and .com.au domain names can make a difference, and decide who you go with if you are on a tight budget.  The  Australian .au extensions are generally much pricier. Today there are heaps of  Domain name registration companies that not only provide Aussie domain extensions, but a whole lot of new exciting extension’s to choose from.

Table of Contents

Best Domain Name Providers Online

  1. Godaddy
  2. Crazydomains
  3. Namecheap
  4. Netregistry
  5. Hostgator
  6. Domaincentral
  7. Bluehost
  8. Domain
  9. 1 & 1
  10. Cloudflare


Search Widgets for Domain names

1

What is a domain name and how do you register one?

Let me explain it to you!

In simple terms, a domain or website name is like an online address to your blog or website.

Just like people need an address to get to your house, on the internet they need a domain name  eg.  johndoesblog.com , www.facebook.com  to find your blog or website .

So you can give a person your online address  which is  www.johndoesblog.com – they  then type that in their browser and reach your website/blog ( which is your online address).

You do not have to be a company or organisation to register a  top-level domain extension or a  .com.au domain name. Any individual can register a domain for themselves from less than $1 or $2 for a dot-com domain name (when they are special deals). When they are no discounts or promo offers available, the prices for this can be between the range of $10 and $14 for a year.

The dotcom.au Australia names are just a little bit pricier and can be priced anywhere between $22 to $49  a domain a year depending on who you buy it from – yes Australian domains are a bit pricier and you need an ABN (Australian Business Number) to get one.

In order to register .com.au domain names, as part of the registration process you’ll need to supply either:

  • an Australian Business Number (ABN)
  • an Australian Company Number (ACN)
  • a Registered Business Number (BN)
  • Trademark number

 

2

Should I get  a .com or .com.au domain extension

Your domain name is your website address or URL on the internet.

Domain names are the unique identity for your online Business. They help establish, promote and protect your brand. And they’re where you direct new and potential customers, so making sure your name belongs to you is essential.

Registering a .com.au domain improves local search results and marks your business as Australian. If you are just after starting a hobby website or a personal blog you can surely start off with a cheaper .com extension domain and it would not make much difference to your online presence.

Why is .au or .com.au  domain name important?

  • .au represents the Top Level Domain for Australia and is the preferred Domain Name for all Australians.  Japan (.jp) and Germany (.de) are other examples of TLD (Top Level Domains).
  • Any website that ends in .au is a website built specifically with Australian Internet users in mind, but open to a global audience.
  • .com.au are generally for commercial purposes and can include commercial entities – currently registered and trading in Australia, as well as commercial products and services.

One other way of getting a cheaper domain and still making the website name relevant to Australia is to either get the term/word Australia or Australian in the domain name you are planning to buy and get that as a .com  rather than .au

For example:  If you are thinking of starting a gadget blog – you could name it www.gadgetaustralia.com!  This way while you could be just paying $0.99 cents for a dot.com domain name and still letting people know that your domain is Australian focused. 

In this example even though you are not buying a .com.au extension, the name gadgetaustralia.com clearly shows that its an Australian related domain name and so you can get away with buying a .com at a cheaper price.

The price difference could be cheaper @$9.99 year (99 cents promo price)  instead of  $22 or more for a .com.au extension for a year. However saying that there are some providers that provide both  webhosting + free domain name offers, you can check out our 2019 listing of webhosts over here.

 

Quick Tips to choosing a Website Domain Name

  • Make it Memorable
  • Keep it short
  • Target your audience
  • Don’t use hyphens or numbers
  • Name should be brand-able
  • Keep it Interesting

Use these tips and you will not regret choosing  your website name or brand name for your business.

Most of the prices given below is  for 1 year term unless where specified for a longer term.

Most aussie domain names ending with .au extensions registration  has a minimum registration requirement of two years. This means  if the price is $22 for a year – you will be paying approximately $44 upfront to purchase or register a website name with au extension.

1

Comparison of  10  Australian .com.au and US .com  domain registration providers

Below I have provided short reviews detailing  price and information on some Australian and US based domain name registration and web-hosting companies that primarily provide names for blogs and websites.

"Get

www.godaddy.com.au  (Recommended)

Godaddy is one of the largest domain name registrar and Web hosting provider in the world and has more than 12 million customers around the world. They also cater to the Australian market and is the only US provider to compete with local domain providers  to give a cheaper price for .com.au domains
the go daddy domain discount girls sm

$9.99 for.com
$9.99 for .com.au (as of publishing)

2 year registration required for .com.au domains( regular price$14.99)

Updated Discount Link:

$1/mo WordPress Managed Hosting from GoDaddy!

Activate this link and get $1 per month on order of managed WordPress hosting

Sale/Discount – Coupon code: cjcwph1applied link

Get A$.99 .COM Domains at GoDaddy!

Get a domain name for just a 99 cent with this link. Coupon Code: cjc99com

AUS$ – 30%* off! Get going with GoDaddy!

EOFY Savings – Get your Australian business online with upto 56% off and .com.au domain name.

With this promo code you will save 30% off all your online purchase. If you are small business owner, this is an opportunity for you to order multiple items and save big.  This promo code also applies to basic, deluxe, and advanced plans.

24/7/365, round-the-clock customer care operations and good phone support

"Get

http://www.crazydomains.com.au (Aus)

For 2 years its $12 for.com ( current sale price)
Crazy Domains was originally founded in 2000 and provide services as  a domain name registrar, web hosting and online marketing company$3 for.com

$12 for .com.au
pamela anderson for crazy domain ad

Regular price is $9 for.com
Minimum registration period for .com.au is for 2 years

teh australian crazy domain provider

"Names

http://www.namecheap.com (US)

Namecheap was founded in 2000 and has over 800,000 clients and over 3 million domains under its management. They provide services like domain registration, web hosting packages, secure SSL certificates, WhoisGuard domain name privacy

They are the only provider who actually reduce the price if you register your domain for more years.$10.69 for.com
$14.98 for .com.au Prices get cheaper  a few cents if you register for more years

2 years minimum registration for .com.au domain
* Free WhoisGuard Privacy Protection, a $2.88 value*

when domain is namecheap

"Get

http://www.netregistry.com.au (AUS)

Netregistry since 1997 is Australia’s trusted online provider offering domain names, hosting and online marketing services$12.50 for.com.  They have helped over 500,000 Australian businesses establish themselves online and are well known as a web host and domain name provider.

In 2018, Netregistry became part of the ASX-listed Arq Group and remains owned and run by Australians, for Australians. With offices in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane.

$16.95 for .com.au

aussie domain provider netregistry

Net registry has taken over many other hosting companies in this space including Smartyhost, Jumba, AussieHQ, Illsys and Uber.

get smart with smarty host domain registration

australian domain in abottle

uber domain provider australia

"Get

http://www.hostgator.com

Hostgator not only provides cheap hosting but also domains

HostGator.com LLC founded in 2002 is a world-wide provider of shared, reseller, VPS and dedicated web hosting$12.95 for.com
They do not provide .com.au aussie domains. With Hostgator you can get a .com domain and the webhosting for your domain in the same place and in one seamless transaction.

You can also  avail 25% off by going to www.hostgator.com website  via this partner link alternatively use  dg25percentoff  coupon code to get 25% off

the alligator that hosts domains

"Go

https://www.domaincentral.com.au/

Registrations for international and Australian domains

$22 for.com (1 year)
$22 for .com.au (1 year)

Its a bit surprising how Domain Central are so pricey.

Their list of extensions available for registration and  pricing is available over here

pricing

 

"Get

https://www.bluehost.com

 

Bluehost.com  currently has a special deal of $2.95 per month for hosting (until sep 15th)   which will not last long at this reduced rate. The reason  why I added them is their plans usually provide a free domain with hosting, so if you are planning  to start a website – this is a good option to get domain and hosting both in 1 go and get started.

They also have a 1 click install to get a word-press blog started quickly. check out their most current deals here.

Most of the  us providers provide the additional services like url forwarding and cloaking, email forwarding, dns and mx servers records adjusting  for free

blue host hosting for 2016

 

"Get

https://www.domain.com

Domain.com is known for the domain registration and web hosting services since 2000. They specialise in affordable domain names, web hosting, VPS hosting, Email, SSL certificates, web design, and online marketing services and provide free domain services including URL Forwarding, Email Forwarding, Transfer Lock, and Total DNS Management.

Dot.com starts as low as $9.99 a domain name and upwards.

Dotster.com and mydomain.com are listed as affiliate’s under domain.com in the commission junction affiliate program.

Domain.com LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Endurance International Group Holdings, Inc.

domain.com australia

"Get

https://www.1and1.com

1 and 1 is known for their webhosting as well as domain registration services.  The 1&1 Group manages more than 19 million domain names.

1&1 currently offers a wide range of Web hosting products, including email solutions and high-end servers in 10 different countries including Germany, Spain, Great Britain and the United States.

Since it was founded 26 years ago, 1&1 has successfully established its product range in many different international markets. Its products are available in the following countries: Germany, Austria, Great Britain, Spain, France, Poland, United States, Canada, Italy and Mexico.

1 and 1

"Get

Cloudflare has been providing top webhosting companies like Bluehost, Dreamhost and WP engine with their free cloudflare CDN service, but now they have decided to enter the domain registration business.

Pricing :

cloudflare pricing

Cloudflare has decided to enter the business with a wholesaler price point for customers. They say they will get rid of promo discounts and just sell for a wholesaler even low price, rather than upping the domain name price when you need to renew. This is good news for those who are in the website or bloggin business for the long haul, rather than just testing/trying things out.

 

If you are serious about your domain name security, Custom Domain Protection, a Cloudflare Registrar feature available on the Enterprise Plan, is the highest level of registrar security. It protects your organization from domain hijacking with high-touch, on and offline verification of any changes to your Registrar account.

"Yahoo!

https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/

Yahoo small business has got a unique offer where you purchase a domain and get email and hosting free. This is different from what other provider’s offer –where you get domain free with hosting. So this yahoo small business offer certainly sounds sweeter.

In this offer from yahoo, you can register a domain and instantly get a website and custom email at no extra cost or you can you can even get them for free when you purchase Website Builder or Business Mail.

Check yahoo small business domains for more details

yahoo

Can you buy a domain name forever?

Short Answer – No!

But luckily most domain name providers do  have a button in their settings/admin panel that say renew my domain automatically and your domain will renew automatically when 1 or 2 years are over. 

You can also set it to manually renew in your settings so that it doesn’t automatically get renewed on expiration and you don’t want get  charged for another year if you want to dump the domain name.

Most providers will send you and email saying your website name is going to expire and ask you if you want to renew or saying that it is auto renewing prior to expiring.

Domains ending with  .com  or .com.au are not the only options available and people can easily buy .info or .org  or .net .au which are generally more cheaper  than a .com or .com.au domain

 

when you need domain privacy block name address from domain

Privacy is another extra  that one might need to consider  while buying domain,  most domain providers  charge a extra charge for privacy ..so they block out your personal email contact and address from the website if you take the privacy option provide by the registrar.

 

How to Register Your Own Domain Name

If you have a website or blog , you should seriously consider registering your own domain name. So what is a domain name ? A “domain name” is a name like e.g. “www.digitalgrog.com.au/” or “gadgetaustralia.com” which you give to your website , which you can then  use to refer or point to your website or blog.

Registering a www domain in 5 minutes

Generally, there are no restrictions on who can register .com domain name, the period of registration can vary from 1 to 10 years

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Buying your own domain name can be a great way to set up your own website/blog and/or personalized email address.

To register a domain name its as simple as doing search on the domain name provider for your name

Go daddy Domain Checker

Do a domain search in godaddy

Example: Say you are going to start a bbq recipe blog, go to the website godaddy.com and in the search button put in bbqrecipe and search (go) and they will tell you if its available or not available  to register ( and also provide you other name options and prices) .

If  the name you want is not available, you will need to try different variations to the name until you get related name and then buy the domain via PayPal or your credit card or other payment options available and this whole process is done in 5 minutes.


Bluehost Domain checker tool :

(Free Domain deal with hosting below )

You can also get our DG blog special offer  for bluehost Hosting  where you get a Domain free ( with an hosting account for $3.49 a month)- Get this deal here.

 

Why is it so difficult to register a Australian domain name ?

While eligibility rules for .AU names can be somewhat of a pain and  a bit more cumbersome than registering top level domains, they do serve a very important purpose – preserving the Australian namespace’s integrity and ensuring it continues to enjoy a solid reputation as one that can be trusted.

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