Did you know that Vimeo allows you to make a video private? You can make it so no one can see it, no one can use the embed code except on approved websites, and can even hide it from Vimeo so it is not listed anywhere.

After that, you can add your own site as an approved site so that you can embed it yourself. Grab the code, add the video to any page and password protect the page.

If you really want it hidden, you could even hide it from the menu on your site using our new hidden page option.

Then share the link to the hidden page and the password with a client and they will be the only ones able to see it.

There is nothing that defines your web presence and online brand more than your domain name. You NEED to own it.

The Good

When you own your own domain name, you can leave anytime. You can go to a new designer, a new company. You can use another email system.

You can login to your domain registrar account and in a matter of minutes do whatever you need to do with it.

More than anything… you will own your name, your brand, the center of your online presence.

If you “bought” your domain name through your web design company and you don’t know how to access or transfer it without asking their customer support, you don’t own your domain. You are merely renting.

At the first chance possible, you should transfer your domain to an account outside of the site itself so that you can own it.

The Bad & The Ugly

I have had way too many new clients tell me horror stories about trying to get a domain name back because they originally bought it through their last web designer.

Sometimes it is just poor communication skills, occasionally the designer is no longer in business, sometimes it is just lack of motivation because the web designer or company has to put forth effort to LOSE a client.

Once in a while, it is even downright malicious, unprofessional behavior when someone decides they will hold a domain name hostage. No matter the reason, this is wrong.

But you can avoid all of these things if you just purchase your domain name outside of the place you hire to design and build your website.

Where to buy domain names

We recommend a few companies that we have good experiences with:

• NameCheap.com
• Dotster.com
• Register.com
• eNom.com

Share your domain name Experiences:

Have any good domain registrars to recommend? Bad ones to avoid? Web company horror stories? Please share by leaving a comment…

There are a lot of ways to get online quickly and inexpensively these days. But you are doing yourself and your business a disservice if you do not own a custom domain name.

Does your blog or website address look like any of these?

• myname.wordpress.com
• mycompany.blogspot.com
• johnsmith.squarespace.com

For $10/year you can own a custom domain name.

• nyname.com
• mycompany.com

Doesn’t that sound better?

Plus you can get email at that domain name now. Using an email like info@mydomain.com sounds so much more professional than myname@yahoo.com or mycoolnickname@aol.com. Don’t laugh. I still see people using AOL email addresses.

Whether it is your personal blog or your company, spend $10 on a domain name and increase your brand recognition and the impression people will have when they visit your site or send you an email.

Some places to buy a domain name:

• NameCheap.com
• Dotster.com
• eNom.com
• Register.com

Once you have your website up and running, you set up an account with Google’s Webmaster Tools.

You can use it to:

• Monitor broken links
• See what keywords people are using to find you.
• See what sites google has found that are linking to you
• Submit a sitemap so Google can crawl your site
• and more…

Here is a great overview of using WebMaster tools.

How it can be used to help improve your SEO.

A video tutorial of how to add your site to Webmaster Tools.

However, if you are a PhotographyBlogSites user, we have made the process even easier. No editing code or downloading files. Just visit “Settings->All in one Webmaster” and give it your webmaster tools verification code and your done.

When you search in Google Maps, business show up with those red flag markers that link to entire pages about them.

Even more importantly, Google places these map listings at the top of even normal old searches if it thinks you are looking for something local.

If you don’t have a listing that appears in map results, you are missing out on the chance to appear at the top of certain search results.

Most people, most businesses do not have map listings yet. So you are competing against far fewer people compared to the usual search results because most websites get crawled by google just by sitting there, making the competition for the standard search result much more difficult.

All you need to do to get your own is create an account with something called Google Places.

So what are you waiting for? Go to http://places.google.com/business, create your listing and start getting found in those local results!