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Bought my first .com

post #1 of 16
2/6/09 at 7:05am
Thread Starter 
...and the .net to go with it.

Right now it's nothing but a fun idea, something I've had for a couple of years now. Yesterday I thought I might as well search for the domain name and check, sure enough, it was available.

My next step, I think, is to pursue the trademark, that looks very involved reading up on it on the USPTO site. I mainly want to trademark the name, no real logo yet, but I'm working on it. My daughter came up with a real good one which might just be the starting point.

My goal is to have a simple website in place and some product in the hands of family and friends by Christmas.

My next step is to find a host and a simple website building tool to get started. If anyone has any tips or suggestions, please, post away.
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post #2 of 16
2/6/09 at 7:51am

Re: Bought my first .com

Don't forget that you get rights to a trademark by USE of the mark, not by filing for a registration. Also unlike patent and copyrights, trademarks are not exclusively a federal issue - you can seek protection under various state laws. Registration, whether federal via the USPTO or state via state registration, gives you certain advantages when facing enforcement litigation.

Get the Nolo Press book Trademark: Legal Care for Your Business & Product Name or at least check it out of your library.
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post #3 of 16
2/6/09 at 7:55am
Thread Starter 

Re: Bought my first .com

Excellent, thanks Dennis.
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post #4 of 16
2/6/09 at 8:51am

Re: Bought my first .com

My friends with big named companies don't have trade marks. They just use it. There are people who borderline infringe on their name, but it is an expensive battle to fight.

dreamweaver is an app you might like.

microsoft frontpage is a more lightweight, but still able web builder
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post #5 of 16
2/6/09 at 10:28am

Re: Bought my first .com

Quote:
Originally Posted by brandonchenry
microsoft frontpage is a more lightweight, but still able web builder
Frontpage was replaced a couple years ago by Expression Web (for small businesses) and Sharepoint (for bigger players)

I find either to be a lot more intuitive than Dreamweaver.
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post #6 of 16
2/6/09 at 10:30am
Thread Starter 

Re: Bought my first .com

Thanks Brandon.

I'll at least register it with the State of California, it's a very easy two page form and costs only $70. Much less and simpler then going the federal route, at least for now and it will at least give me some legal backing.
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post #7 of 16
2/6/09 at 10:53am

Re: Bought my first .com

Thanks, Dennis. I knew we could depend on you.

I would avoid Microsoft Frontpage. It works well enough, but it tends to encode things in non-standard ways that only Windows/IE can properly render. You don't wan't your logo showing up on Linux and Mac machines as Spit %!"=NampersandN":^ Spot

(or whatever your logo happens to be. )


Edit: Frontpage has been replaced? Wow, am I out of the loop on that one.
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post #8 of 16
2/6/09 at 4:06pm

Re: Bought my first .com

Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianW
Edit: Frontpage has been replaced? Wow, am I out of the loop on that one.
The biggest difference is that its successors can reformat in several flavors of standards compliance (and continues Microsoft's obsession with marketing too many different versions of things)
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post #9 of 16
2/6/09 at 4:54pm

Re: Bought my first .com

Quote:
My next step is to find a host and a simple website building tool to get started. If anyone has any tips or suggestions, please, post away.
I started my website last spring. I use e-rice.net for my hosting at $10 per year. Google is your friend. There are many free website templates available that are good starting points. Being as I didn't take a class, I looked at what worked and tryed to copy it, using Notepad to edit.

Once you get one going you need to check if it will look the same in all the different browsers. Just paste your URL here; The W3C Markup Validation Service and it will let you know what issues you need to fix, or you can see it here.
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post #10 of 16
2/6/09 at 5:46pm

Re: Bought my first .com

Quote:
Originally Posted by drobbins
I started my website last spring. I use e-rice.net for my hosting at $10 per year.
What's your experience been with them? That's a very competitive price, even with no Perl support. I've been looking for a low cost host to host a main page for my blogs for a while now.
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post #11 of 16
2/6/09 at 7:44pm

Re: Bought my first .com

Ron...sign up for Web Hosting Services and Domain Name Registration : 1&1 Internet Inc. webhost...they have a ton of nice features and are very inexpensive.

They have a great website builder and usually give you some other downloadable free software to help with the site.

When we had a site I used them and it workd flawlessly.

I highly recommend them.
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post #12 of 16
2/6/09 at 8:54pm
Thread Starter 

Re: Bought my first .com

Thanks Alf, I will check them out. Good to hear from ya, hope all is well.
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post #13 of 16
2/7/09 at 12:50am

Re: Bought my first .com

I've been hosting my personal website at mjzhosting.net for the last five years. I've been very happy and have never had a problem. I'm on their lowest plan of 500mb disk space, 15gb bandwidth for $19 a year.
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post #14 of 16
2/7/09 at 4:47am

Re: Bought my first .com

Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt
What's your experience been with them? That's a very competitive price, even with no Perl support. I've been looking for a low cost host to host a main page for my blogs for a while now.
I have had no problems at all so far. I had one question for them and they go back to me in less than 24hours. I belong to weather forum and many of its members have used e-rice for years and recommended them to me.
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post #15 of 16
2/7/09 at 4:57pm

Re: Bought my first .com

There are innumerable hosting companies. I used Server Central for years until they outgrew small fry (like me), cranked up the rates, and went for the big fish. I switched from SC to GoDaddy a few years ago; they were the cheapest big hosting company. I also like the look and pricing of 1and1, but haven't used them.

For a personal business, my wife does a Doing Business As (DBA) registration with the county.

I did a lot of hobby web design some years ago, but not too much now. My sense is that Dreamweaver is the Photoshop of web design, and priced accordingly. On the other side, iWeb (on the Mac) is a good solution for modest needs. My wife uses it for her graphic design business.
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post #16 of 16
2/7/09 at 8:22pm

Re: Bought my first .com

I'm in Canada, so the rules and procedures may be a bit different.

Registering the trademark The Canadian Public ® took eleven months, cost about $475 CAD, involved no lawyers, and was entirely done on-line.

For my Web site The Canadian Public , I registered the domain name and purchased a monthly hosting package at godaddy.com. I then installed Wordpress using GoDaddy's automated installation tools, which helped avoid plenty of installation hassles. It was then a simple matter of finding the best free skin available, and customizing it to my liking.
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