Is your domain name registration private? Or is it listed on WHOIS with all your contact information showing? The place I am considering registering my domain name wants to know which I want and of course it is more $ to go private. I'm interested in hearing the pros and cons of each.

Opps - in addition - it says you get higher ranker in search engines the longer you purchase your domain name for...Is this true?

Thanks,

Sundi

Hi Sundi
We have all of our info listed and haven't ever really considered going private but I have many clients who are listed as private. They feel the fee is worth the extra anonymity.

As far as the statement about ranking higher for SEO if you purchase your domain name for an extended time, in my estimation, that's not quite true - the longer you OWN and operate your site (ie - populate it with relative content, etc.) the better your rank will be (over time) but I don't see what difference purchasing a domain for 5 years vs. 1 would make to Google, or how they'd calculate such tihngs...of course, there are a ton of variables that go into the search rank algorithms, and it's entirely possible that this is one of them I'm not aware of...

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I purchased mine for a year only and actually I just read somewhere over the weekend that the longer you have it for it is beneficial. The people at GoDaddy said it to me too something along the lines that it makes your business appear more stable. I blew them off just thinking they wanted to make a sale!

I will try to find where I read it and post it here..

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Dawn Riley
A Virtual Assistant in Paradise
Our business is about making yours better

I paid for the privacy - I get enough junk mail/spams that I don't need to be harassed more!

I apparently have a high ranking on Google from posting to this forum! I had a Realtor call me this morning looking for assistance who said that after Googling "Virtual Assistant in Boulder" my name came up near the top, and, he found a link to this forum and was impressed by my having posted 647 times on this forum (at that point). He felt that showed a commitment to my business and the VA industry as a whole. Too bad he was looking for a low rate VA ($9-12/hr). But, it's nice to know that I'm visible on Google!

I also followed all the SEO advice I have received both here and on other forums. I'm pretty sure that has also helped

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Lily Chambers, The Virtual Office Goddess, LLC
Author "How to Do Your Own Small Business Bookkeeping"

Depending on the type of company, I'm leery of businesses that are listed as private on whois. While I can fully understand wanting the anonymity, It might be possible to achieve some of that by using your company name instead of your personal name in the whois and maybe getting a PO box address rather than your home address.

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Jeanne
NowAssistingYou.com
Virtual Assistant :: Web/Blog Design & Hosting :: Writer