In a perfect world, everything would just work correctly all the time. But sometimes they don’t and you will want to contact us for a little help. Here are some tips to help us help you faster.

1. Always provide us with your domain name

The quickest way for us to look up your account and start work on your problem is if you provide us with the domain name. The domain name is whatever comes after the “www.” of your website address. Please provide this in any emails you send to us. When you call us, please tell us the domain name and spell for us it since so many websites can be spelled many different ways. The quicker we can locate your account, the faster we can start solving your problem.

2. Be the authorized contact and write us from the email we have on file

If you send us email using the address we have on file for you, we’ll know for sure it’s OK it’s really you and okay to work on your problem. If you email from some other address, then we can’t be sure if it’s you or your evil nemesis (or a rogue ex-bandmate trying to mess with you). If you call us, be sure you are an authorized contact for the account (see below). Be prepared to answer some standard security questions we may need to ask.

If you need to update the email address on file with us you can do that by browsing to hostbaby.com, clicking on Members, logging in and updating it there. If you have been a HostBaby customer for over a year it is good to log in there anyway to make sure we have the most current contact information for you anyway.

If you have a designer or helper that you’d like to authorize on the account, please send us their name, email address, and phone number and we’ll make a note of it in your account.

3.  When You Call: Be Ready to Work on Your Site

If possible, be at your computer and logged in to your site (or ready to login at the least) with your list of questions handy. You might want pencil and paper nearby to take notes too.

For example, if you call from your car and tell us you forgot your password, about the only thing we can do is email it to you. If you instead call when you are at your computer, we can tell you the info you need, wait while you try it, and complete the call knowing you are successfully logged in.

4. When You Email a problem: Be Very Specific

Bad: Subject line: Email broken (and then no body message, no details at all)

OK: I can’t login to my email, it worked yesterday

Best: I tried to login to the webmail for me@domain.com today, and it came up with the following error: (error message copied and pasted)

If you ever get an error message please copy it and send it in! The more details, error messages, etc. that you can provide, the easier it will be for us to solve your problem on the first try. It’s okay if you don’t understand what the error messages mean – that’s our job – just send them to us so we can see exactly what’s happened. Here’s how to do a screen capture on a Mac and on a Windows PC.

We can help solve the problem faster if you also provide details such as:

1. Did it ever work before? If so, when?
2. What, if anything changed since it last worked?
3. Are you on a Mac or a Windows PC?
4. Do you get an error message (if so, copy it, type it down, or screen print it)
5. Can you make the problem happen consistently? If so, how? If not, how often does it happen (once an hour, once a day, etc.)?
6. What Browser or Email program are you using (if applicable)?
7. Have you tried this on any other computer?

Of course, take the time to be accurate when you describe your problem to ensure we have a clear picture of what needs to be solved.

5. If you have many questions, send them in email

If you have a long list of questions or requests, it is very helpful if you list them in an email and send the list to us. That way you can be sure all your questions are asked and we can be sure we answer them all. Again, be sure to be specific and provide

I hope these tips help you have a better experience when you call or email us for help. As always, let us know if you have any questions or suggestions for us!

Subject: yourdomain.com account notification

The contents of the email will contain the following, with your email account domain inserted in order to increase the credibility and to also attempt to evade spam filtering systems:

Dear Customer,

This e-mail was send by yourdomain.com to notify you that we have temporarily prevented access to your account.

We have reasons to believe that your account may have been accessed by someone else.

At this point, the emails will instruct you to do one of two things:

Please run this file and Follow instructions:

or

Please run attached file and Follow instructions:

Some of the messages will link to an executable file:

http://somespammer.somedomain.com/settings.exe

Others will link to a compressed version which they want you to download and then run, for example:

http://emailsupport.somedomain.net/settings.zip

Still others will will have the following files attached to the message itself:

* settings.zip
* settings.exe

In every case, the files and links are malware and if run it may infect your computer, add it to the spammer’s collection of zombie computers under their control. DO NOT follow the links or open the attachments.

Clues that it’s a scam:

• Many misspelled words. We all make typos here and there but this thing is riddled with bad spelling
• It’s directing you to download a .exe file (or a zipped .exe – same result)

Whatever you do, DO NOT open these nor should you click the links provided. If you have any suspicious emails that you want us to look over, feel free to ask! You can also refer to the following sites to look up possible scams, viruses, and hoaxes:

Antivirus Sites:

• Trend Micro Current Threat Activity
• Symantec Security Response
• McAfee Security Advice Center

Internet Myths and Hoaxes: Snopes Urban Legends References Pages

Related Articles:

Reducing Spam

Hostbaby Knowledgebase: Spam Prevention

You may have purchased your domain name through Hostbaby, or through Godaddy.com or Namecheap.com or any of the other registrars out there. Regardless of where you purchased the domain name, you do have to pay to renew it annually.

The problem: You may get an email or a snail mail telling you it is time to renew your domain name. It looks really official, festooned with flags and eagles. But is it real?

The emails often read something like this:
In order to avoid loss or cancellation of the domain name use the link below to renew the domain name. Click to renew your domainname: www.domainrenewal-online.org/blah blah blah
When we have received your payment we will start the renewal process instantly. You will receive a confirmation when the renewal process is completed.

The problem is, this mail or email likely is NOT coming from your real registrar. Instead it’s an overly-aggressive marketing pitch designed to look like an official renewal notice. They want you to transfer your domain name to their registrar, so they can over-charge you to renew it annually.

So, the question is how do you find out who your actual registrar is? Go to this link:

http://hostbaby.com/whois.php

You’ll see a simple interface with just one input box. Enter your bare domain name in that box, for example:

hostbaby.com

(without the http://www.  part).

It will return a bunch of information, but the thing you are looking for says “Registration Service Provider:”. If you purchased your domain registration thru Hostbaby it will say this:

Registration Service Provider:
HostBaby, hostbaby@hostbaby.com
503-256-4450
http://www.hostbaby.com
This company may be contacted for domain login/passwords,
DNS/Nameserver changes, and general domain support questions.

If you have purchased your domain name thru Godaddy.com it will read like this:

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)

Now check out the notice you received – if it is not from your official registration service provider, then you can safely ignore it.

The main thing to know is that if you want confirmation or have questions about any of this stuff, you can contact Hostbaby 7 days a week and we’ll give you the straight scoop. You can always email hostbaby@hostbaby.com or call us at 1-888-448-6369 and we’ll check it out for you.

Grow Your List

• Offer a signup sheet at your live shows. I’ve made you a basic blank one you can print out and use. You could also open the .doc version in Word and add in your band name and any other info you’d like to collect. (Email list signup sheet: .doc or .pdf)  Bring it to the show on a clipboard ($1.89 at Office Depot!) and tie a pen to it so that folks don’t have to go digging for one. Mention it during your set, ask folks to stop by your table and put their name on the list. Promise that you won’t spam them, and tell them it’ll make them one of the cool kids if they sign up. You could even offer some incentive if they sign up, such as a free song download or a drawing for comps to your next show.

• Have a “join the email list” signup box on every page of your website, so it’s easy to find. On the site, you can give an incentive to sign up for the list too. Again, a free download is ideal, you could also run a monthly contest of some sort, drawing for a free t-shirt, comp tickets to your show, a free CD–whatever you have available to build some excitement about being on the list. Here is a tutorial on how to give a free download if you are using our Listbaby.

• Use other social networks to promote list signups. Mention it on your Myspace/Facebook/Twitter feed. You can have a link straight to the list signup from your page. Most folks can just link to http://yourdomain.com/list.html (replacing yourdomain.com with *your actual domain name*. Here is a tutorial on how to link it from your Myspace page. Feel free to email us if you need help with this!

What To Do

• Send emails to your list regularly, but not too often; only send a message when you actually have important things to say. No one wants to know that you had toast for breakfast, but everyone wants to hear about upcoming shows, CD releases, any other newsy info you have to share.

• Keep the email short, paragraphs should be about 5-10 lines. People are often in a hurry and they scan through email messages, so make sure your email has the most important point in the first sentence of each paragraph.

• You need an exciting subject line! You want your email to be opened and read. Don’t make it sound like hype.  Simply state a benefit the reader will get for reading your message.

• Let your personality show in the email. People don’t want a sales pitch, they want to know the inside scoop about you or your band or your music. Try to make the reader feel like they are an ‘insider’ with special knowledge of your music because they are on your list.

What Not To Do

• Do not buy/rent/borrow lists from others. Even if it’s being sold as “100% safe opt-in list” – it’s not; it’s spamming. Folks on your list need to have asked to be on *your specific list*, either by signing up at your site, or on the aforementioned signup sheets at shows.

• Be cautious about mailing to your list if the topic isn’t you or your music. Topics like politics, religion, get-rich-quick schemes, etc. are probably not good topics for your messages unless your music is specifically about one of those subjects. Definitely don’t forward chain emails, jokes, etc.  Instead, stick to the purpose of the list – you and your music!

• Don’t send messages with spelling or grammar errors! Use spell check and grammar check or have a brainy friend read it over for you before you send it out.

What techniques have you used to grow your email list and to use it for effective marketing?

A domain name is like a brand name – it identifies your website and helps make you findable on the internet. A domain name lets visitors type your domain name right into the browser’s address bar and arrive at your web pages directly, without having to search for you.

Shorter is better!

Try saying your proposed domain name out loud. Do you have to spell it out for people to get it right? Does it send you diving for a pen and paper? Imagine saying it into the microphone at your performance. Will your fans still remember it when they get home?

Try to avoid hyphens and abbreviations in the domain name, if possible. If you are going to use an abbreviation, use the most common version of it – don’t make one up.

Also type out the domain name and see how it looks in writing. Is it possible to misunderstand the words/meaning by breaking the words up differently?

For example – Mole Station Nursery – www.molestationnursery.com comes out reading like “molestation nursery” which is really bad. A hyphen would have helped that – mole-station-nursery.com might have been a better choice in that case. So check out your domain name in writing and make sure it reads ok.

.com or .net or …?

Ideally, you would get the .com version of your domain name. If the name that you really want is not available as a .com, you’ll want to look at the .com site before you choose .net or another extension. That is because people usually think of .com first, and if they are looking for you and put .com in by  mistake, you want to make sure they do not end up at some porn or scam site.

If you are a Hostbaby customer, or are thinking of becoming a Hostbaby customer, feel free to contact us for help brainstorming the perfect domain name for you. We are here for you!