Welcome to the LCNews

Dear $name[$cnt], Welcome to the latest edition of LCNews. You have received this newsletter as a customer of Low Cost Names (LCN), The newsletter is designed to keep you up to date with the services and products that LCN offers. We would like you to view this as your newsletter too and we would love to hear from you with any comments, suggestions or ideas for items you would like to see covered in the next issue. If you have anything to say then please email us at lcnews\@lcn.com

Special Offer

March Special offer - Free 7 day trial on dedicated servers. Don't take our word for it check out the advantages for yourself.

IN THIS ISSUE...

Servers Update

Windows 2K servers now available

Pressure tactics

Nominet issues a statement in response to pressure tactics encouraging registration of .com domains.

Red Nose Day Record Attempt

Superhero attempts to register an Internet World Record to raise money for charity

Help us Help you

Requesting help via email - tips on getting a faster response

Domain Name Owner

Who owns your domain name?

Web sites tips

What makes a good web site? Do a SPRING CLEAN

Renewal reminders

We'll remind you if you stay in touch

March Moments

Check out these key March dates

Server Update

Windows 2k servers are now available and ready for rental.

If you would like to rent a Windows 2k server then please contact the sales team on 0870 7440823.

Special Offer

During March we are offering customers the opportunity to trial our dedicated server packages free for 7 days. We’ve told you about the advantages. How it will enhance your business, speed up your web site, services and provide added security and now we’re offering you the opportunity to put this to the test with a free 7 day trial. This offer applies to both Sun Cobalt and Windows 2k servers.

Extensive product range - turn it into an online catalogue. Estate Agents, Travel Agents and Stationery suppliers - encourage customers to browse your products and services via the web and buy online. Easy to update and change to include special offers and deals without having to reprint. Our dedicated servers have added security features for secure online purchasing. If you run an online catalogue now could be the time to investigate the advantages of running it via a dedicated server.

Phone 0870 7440823 now for further details or email us at dedicated.servers\@lcn.com

BEWARE PRESSURE TACTICS

Nominet UK is currently receiving a number of complaints about the sales tactics of a company called UK Internet Registry Ltd. They have issued the following statement on their website:-

Nominet UK is concerned about the confusion that has been created by the sales tactics of a company called UK Internet Registry Ltd. (www.ukinternetregistry.com).

This company has been sending out documents resembling invoices to registrants of .co.uk names. It claims that the .com version of the .co.uk name is unregistered and offers to sell it to the registrant for a sum of money.

We would like to clarify that there is absolutely no association between Nominet UK - the official Registry for .uk domain names - and the above company. We would like to point out that Nominet UK does not proactively sell .uk domain names and we have no involvement with the registration of .com domain names.

We advise companies never to be bounced into registering a domain name by the pressure selling tactics of an unknown third party. If you are unsure about the registration of a domain name, contact your usual provider who can advise you on the best course of action.

For further details visit Nominet's website at www.nominet.org.uk and click on the news link to find out more information.

If you wish to register a .com you can do so via the web site www.lcn.com for £25 for 2 years including FREE web and email forwarding.

To view a sample of the information received click here.

Red Nose Day Record Attempt

LCN supports World record attempt for Comic Relief

Charity fundraising superhero Captain Beany is attempting to break the world record for the longest registered domain name to raise money for Comic Relief.

To assist Captain Beany with his mission LCN has registered www.worlds-longest-domain-registration-in-aid-of-comic-relief.org.uk on his behalf in an attempt to make the Guinness Book of World Records in time for this year's Comic Relief Day on Friday 14th March. If successful Captain Beany plans to auction the name to the highest bidder with all proceeds going to the charity.

The Guinness Book of World Records currently has the most expensive domain name ever sold which was business.com sold by a Texan in 1999 for £4.6m.

"No task too big, no deed to small, this caped crusader can do 'em all!" says Captain Beany.

Captain Beany's previous and planned charity successes can be seen on his web site at http://www.geocities.com/capnbeany/beanzine.html

Keep on running...............

This fit, young superhero is also planning to run The Flora London 2003 Marathon. He will be joined by some of his comic book superhero friends. If you would like to find out more or sponsor him visit http://www.justgiving.com/captainbeany

This sporting venture is to raise money and campaign for a local Swansea City (Wales) based charity named The Christian Lewis Trust Caring For Children With Cancer.

Help us Help you

If you request help and support from LCN via email please ensure you identify yourself clearly. Please include your order number or domain name so our customer support team know who they are talking to. This will speed up the service provided.

If our support team have to investigate to find out who's requesting help or reply to your original mail for further information then this delays us answering your queries and sorting out your problems.

If you email from a different email address to the one in your LCN account e.g. a hotmail account or another email address it is very difficult to trace your customer details if you don't identify who you are. Also when returning responses please clearly identify yourselves or include the previous correspondence.

Our support desk responds to an average over 100 emails a day. Cryptic emails or vague replies cost both us and you time in solving your problems. Your co-operation is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Domain Name Ownership

Who owns your domain name?

When you register a domain name you set up an administrative account. The "originator" of the admin account has control of the domain name/s in the account. Through your admin account you can set up email and web forwarding, add hosting, and renew domain names and hosting. Requests for changes are verified by confirming the user name and password or other details from the admin account.

We use the email address and telephone numbers within the admin account to communicate with you. If you ask someone else to set this up for you then ensure you have control and are aware of the user name and password. This may not seem a problem now but beware.

We receive many calls from customers where the original person who set up the account has moved on and they are now unable to access the account. The main reason is they do not know the user name and password. On some occasions the passwords have been changed by the ex-employee/contact.

In these cases we require proof of ownership before you can have access. In extreme cases you could lose your domain name by missing out on renewal or because of a dispute with ownership. Please take care of your possessions including your domain name.

What makes a good web site?

Here are some tips on how to make the most of your site and ensure its running effectively.

• Current - Keep your site up to date and ensure that changes in your company filter there way through to the site.
• Special offers - should have a special place. New launches, offers and reductions - put them on a separate page so customers can find them easily.
• Reply - Respond to emails and control email traffic effectively within 48 hours max.
• Options - If you provide an email form or links ensure they work and accept data like commonly used email formats.
• Revisit - If you want visitors to return again and again or remember your site give them a reason to return - introduce a newsletters that updates them via email and reminds them to go back to the site.
• Security - make sure your site is safe. If you're offering payments on line then ensure your site provides a similar level of security to a bank account. Comfort customers by guaranting that no one else can look at their details.
• Targeted - Focus on what the visitor asked for. Beware of directing traffic to your site for no apparent reason. Make sure your directory listings are correct.
• About - somewhere on your site you should tell visitors what you do, what kind of service you're offering.
• Details - Give people a way to contact you via email, telephone or postal address. This reassures people to use your service.
• Beware Blurb - lots of words and no navigation. How text heavy are your pages?
• Speed - Pages should download in 3-5 seconds. Large images should be available on demand only. Large pages, slow-downloads and no opt out option will put people off.

Badly run sites are a waste of time and money, don't answer your questions, create obstacles, are an unpleasant experience and ensure visitors will not return - an instant turn off.

Do an audit on your site to ensure your site isn't a turn off or log out.

Site Audit

It doesn't matter if you've just launched your site or it's been around for a while by doing an audit of your site you can ensure it is fresh, up-to-date and running properly. Here are some ideas for areas to look at. Can you put a tick by all these questions?

1. Does your web site encourage visitors to find out more about your products and services and/or purchase them?
2. Does your web site stand out from the crowd and present the correct image of your company?
3. Do you know who visits your site?
4. Does your site encourage feedback?
5. Is the content relevant to your target market?
6. Can visitors navigate your site to find information easily?
   

If not give your site a spring clean! Update your hosting options to find out where your visitors come from through site statistics, what your most popular pages are and how many visitors you get a day, week, month or year. If you would llike to upgrade your hosting ring 0870 7440823 for better options and just pay the difference in price.

Renewals

Don't forget to renew your domain name and/or hosting otherwise you will block access for both yourself and your customers to your services. You might not know when your domain name or hosting is about to run out but we do and we'll remind you up to 2 months in advance. We'll keep reminding you so you don't lose the name or disable your site BUT we can't remind you if you don't keep your admin details up to date.

Domain names last 2 years and hosting 12 months. You can now request a renewal reminder by SMS. Once your domain name has expired you have a further 5 days grace to renew it and after that time it is detagged and could be sold to someone else. If your hosting expires it can be renewed at any time but it will render your web site inaccessible for the time it is out of date.

If you would like to activate an SMS reminder you can do so via the LCN admin section by adding your mobile number.

March Moments

March Moments to celebrate

• 5th March Ash Wednesday
• 10th March Commonwealth Day
• 14th March Comic Relief
• 17th March St Patrick's Day
• 21st March Spring Begins - Human Rights Day
• 30th March Mothering Sunday

March mutterings

March is National Nutrition Month 1973-2003, sponsored by the American Dietetic Association (ADA), concentrated on making informed choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits.

Nebraskans celebrate the admission of their state to the union on March 1st.

Texas celebrates March 2nd as the anniversary of its independence from Mexico.

Spring - March brings in Spring and ends Winter in the Northern half of the world March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, referring to the weather. 1st March is stormy while the last days are mild and warm.

March Moments past....

1555 - Nostradums first published the "Book of Centuries"
1562 - In Naples, kissing in public was made punishable by death
1876 - Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone
1886 - Coca-Cola went on sale in the USA
1903 - Niagara falls ran out of water during a drought
1910 - The Chinese Imperial Government abolished slavery
1944 - PAYE Income Tax was introduced in Britain
1961 - The New English Bible was Published
1963 - Alcatraz Prison closed
1968 - Astronaut Yuri Gargarin died in a plane crash
1977 - Bank of England issues first £1 note.

LCN would like to thank you in advance for your continued support.

Kind regards

LCN Team