22 Jul

Start the virtual-side of your business in 30 minutes!

Small to medium sized businesses are the backbone of economies, and here in South Africa, and in 2019, we need more self-starters than ever. During his state of the nation address, President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed his vision for a tech-savvy, smart and small-business-orientated South Africa. While he has been criticised for being a bit too “dreamy”, those who don’t dream at all are those furthest away from achieving greatness, in my opinion. In times when companies are cutting jobs left, right and centre, there isn’t time to sulk and wallow, we need new business owners to create new opportunities.Marnus Broodryk, entrepreneur, best-selling Author and TV personality recently posted on LinkedIn: “It's a bloodbath out there. Yesterday, another [...]

Site Builder, Entrepreneurship, , Read more...

26 Jun

Choosing the right web hosting hero to power your website

Web hosting is the behind-the-scenes HERO or VILLAIN of every website on the planet. But the true master-mind behind your website’s functionality is the web hosting company powering it all. Choose correctly –  and you’ll have a well-behaved website that functions precisely as it should. Choose incorrectly – and you could have an inconsistent, slow website that could be open to hackers and other security threats. So, let’s help you choose. Make sure your web hoster ticks the following boxes: Fast loading speeds Have you ever visited a website and waited for the content to download? Or even worse, some of the images didn’t display at all? Chances are you didn’t hang around to learn much about the website after that. As a website [...]

Website hosting, hosting, Read more...

25 Jun

Is now the right time to start your small business? Hell yes!

by Wayne Diamond The past couple of years have by no means been an easy ride for South Africans, corporations or  startups. According to the Bloomberg’s Misery Index , the index that zooms in on a country’s inflation and unemployment figures, SA ranks third “miserable” out of 62 countries. Add loadshedding, fuel prices and retrenchments to the mix and the picture appears gloomy indeed. Should we all mope around or jump ship to more economic affluent countries? Or is there a glimmer of hope?  Some reports suggest that the economy is nearing the end of its slump. Mike Schüssler, a leading economist believes that we will start to see an improvement over the next few quarters . “We’re probably over the worst, and by [...]

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10 May

The rise of AMD

Since the launch of AMD’s EPYC™ 7000 Series processors in June 2017 , AMD’s server market share has quadrupled . Although this is still far from the 22% market share AMD held in 2006, the EPYC™ 7000 Series is already being backed by some of the world’s most renowned cloud computing companies including Amazon.com, Microsoft, DropBox, and Oracle. A short history Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) started manufacturing microchips in 1969, just one year after Intel. This would be the birth of a rivalry that would span more than half a century. Although AMD is often seen as the underdog, the company has managed to beat Intel quite a few times  when it comes to CPU technology innovation: 2000 – AMD produces the [...]

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10 May

Keeping it local is lekker

There was a time when having a “.com” or “.co.za” behind your website’s name was an absolute necessity. The popularity of these domain name extensions have over the years left fewer domain name options for new businesses. A new shift in domain name extensions have created endless  Generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) options such as .net, .org and .biz. for startups and entrepreneurs. In recent years, even more gTLD options became available, including some that show where your business operates from. These are called geographic domain names. Some of the available geographic domain names that are relevant to the South African context include .joburg, .capetown .durban and .africa. And if you get most of your business from the local market, [...]

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10 May

Domains.co.za is supporting Slipper Day: 10 May!

This Friday 10 May marks the annual celebration of the Reach For A Dream Foundation’s (RFAD) annual Slipper Day. This initiative is aimed at gaining support and awareness for children with life-threatening illnesses in a fun and positive manor: by wearing slippers to work, school etc. Participants can purchase a wristband for R10 at Wimpy, Pick ‘n Pay or Dischem. The Reach For A Dream Foundation’s main goal is to realise dreams of kids with illnesses such as cancer in an attempt to give them encouragement and hope. The campaign’s slogan of “Not all heroes wear capes” is extremely fitting. In multiple hospitals (and at home) many children are fighting for their lives and are heroes in the hearts of those near to them. At Domains.co.za, we [...]

charity, Team domains.co.za, Read more...

06 May

The Power of Online in the 2019 Elections in South Africa

In a couple of days voters across the country will line up at the polls to vote in the 2019 elections in South Africa. This year 48 parties have successfully made it to the ballots. Over the past several months most of these parties have been using various platforms to aggressively broadcast their messages of change. While news channels, digital and print media will always be effective political tools, most parties realise that running a powerful online presence should also be at the order of the day. It is impossible for a political leader to visit every town in the country or guarantee that their messages are conveyed in the news in the manner it was intended. Online (via a political party website and social media platforms owned by the party) gives some of this power back [...]

2019 elections south africa Online Domain registrations Domain names Hosting Fast hosting VPS hosting SSL certificates, Read more...

13 Mar

How to make the most of your online store in 2019

Online stores are huge in America and China, but this trend is also on the rise in SA. An eCommerce report by PayPal together with research firm Ipsos, believes that the online market in SA will grow by R17 billion over the next two years (currently R43-billion). Being successful online requires several things of which a user-friendly, visually-pleasing website, with a memorable domain name and fast, reliable hosting forms the basis. Naturally, you also have to market your store via social media and other platforms to boost visibility etc., but there are a few other important factors that can contribute to the success of your online store, namely: 1.Safety According to a study by Sabric, SA has the third-highest cyber attacks in the world. Making your site safe [...]

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21 Feb

Domains.co.za sponsoring local youth’s soccer team

There are lots Domains.co.za are passionate about. Entrepreneurship, cool domains names , UltraFast and secure web VPS hosting as well as delivering incredible service to our customers, but these aren’t the only things. We are passionate about giving back to the community too. Through last year’s   947 charity drive  we were able to help nearly 70 charities by donating thousands of water bottles for the cyclist who were competing for their respective causes. Helping charities through events that encourage physical fitness are particularly important to us as we believe that leading a balanced lifestyle is crucial in the demanding and stressful times we live in. That’s why we are happy to announce that we are sponsoring a local soccer team for [...]

Domains, web hosting, vps hosting, domains.co.za, sponsorships , Read more...

11 Feb

Turn your business dreams into reality by registering the right domain name

It is not unusual to notice a spike in new domain name registrations during the first quarter of every year. Generally, the holidays offer entrepreneurs and startups with clarity surrounding great business ideas, whereas the hype of the New Year in turn, offers enough motivation to turn these ideas into viable businesses. And as we like to say: “It all starts with a domain name”. A domain name is an incredibly important part of creating and setting up a business. The physical location of your business is something no company will take up lightly. It should be the same when you choose a domain name. Your domain name is where your business will live on the World Wide Web. A domain name contributes towards your online visibility, that’s why the domain name itself [...]

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01 Feb

Register a new African gTLD for just R30

We are happy to announce that all our African geographic Top Level Domain (gTLD) names will sell for only R30 (incl.VAT) until end March. This Domains.co.za promotion, in conjunction with the Registry, is valid for all new .africa, .joburg, .capetown and .durban domain name registrations. This promotion is unfortunately not valid for any domain name renewals, however ALL our domain names are still FREE with any   website builder package , web hosting or EPYC VPS Hosting package signups. Why consider an African gTLD for your business or venture? Connect with your audience: A .africa or city domain name immediately shows commitment to a target audience located in a specific geographical area. It shows your patriotism towards your continent or city and [...]

Domain names, Read more...

16 Jan

Introducing our Epyc VPS hosting featuring the AMD EPYC Processors

We are excited to officially launch our new Epyc Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting solution featuring the new AMD EPYC™ 7000 Series processors. Over the past several months the AMD EPYC™ 7000 Series processors have created quite a stir in the Cloud industry. Innovators in the field, including Amazon.com, Microsoft, DropBox and Oracle, have all started using AMD processors in their infrastructure. We are extremely proud to join these industry-leaders as one of the first hosting providers in South Africa to make use of it for our VPS solution. The Domains.co.za’s Epyc VPS platform is built on SuperMicro servers with 512GB RAM and 24 x 2TB Samsung Enterprise SSD drives in Raid 100 configuration, which facilitates disk access speeds of 4 Gigabytes per second [...]

Hosting, VPS, Read more...

15 Nov

Domains.co.za teams up with multiple charities on 947 Cycle Challenge

At domains.co.za, we have a soft spot for those in need, especially those  who cannot stand up for themselves. We have therefore sponsored a large number of our branded BPA free water bottles to The Society for Animals in Distress (SAID), DL Link, The Smile Foundation, Reach for a dream, the Hope Foundation (to name a few) to use as part of their Cycle Challenge goody bags. To date, domains.co.za have sponsored thousands of water bottles to over 65 charities to show our appreciation for the good work these guys are doing. We would like to share what these charities are about: SAID The Society for Animals in Distress (SAID) is the single largest welfare vet care provider in SA. It has been assisting domestic animals since 1958 and currently treat around 100 [...]

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02 Nov

Domains.co.za announces its 14 x Telkom 947 Cycle Challenge competition winners

In mid September domains.co.za  launched a Telkom 947 Cycle Challenge competition  in which we offered 10 branded tops and bib kits (each to the value of R2500) up for grabs to 10 lucky race entrants. Overwhelmed by the interest, we decided to choose 14 winners instead of just 10. After a random selection process, we are happy to announce our 14 winners:   Andre Liebenberg Nick Pluck Norman van der Merwe Garreth Keet Kyle Petersen Hilton Tarrant Ben de Klerk Adam Orpen Sherylee McBride Madondo Daniel Mahlaule Lisa O’ Neill Gideon Fourie Andrew Dixon Shaun Smith   Congratulations to each of you. Your prizes are ready and waiting to be delivered! We received hundreds of entries and sincerely appreciate [...]

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16 Oct

How to protect yourself (and your business) from ransomware

Earlier this year, the insurance company Liberty Life’s IT infrastructure was hacked by ransomware . Ransomware is a malicious software that can either find its way into a system through a security vulnerability or by being installed by someone unknowingly. The latter is usually as a result of clicking on a suspicious pop-up, link or email attachment. Once installed, ransomware encrypts a company or individual’s data or blocks access to a website or system until a ransom is paid. Although Liberty Life applied immediate security protocols to alleviate as much of the damages as possible, some data was extracted. This is just one example of how cyber crimes have become a great concern, not only for businesses, but for its customers. Over the past several years, [...]

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12 Sep

947 Cycle Challenge Cyclists: Win a Domains.co.za R2500 Cycling Kit

At Domains.co.za we are enthusiastic about leading a balanced lifestyle. Life is busy and stressful and it is important to blow off steam in a healthy way. When it comes to getting your sweat on, we are particularly passionate about cycling. The wind in your hair…that thrill after successfully completing a challenging race… The 947 Cycle Challenge is the beast of all cycle races and this year's race will be in “reverse”. Hill after hill in an unforgiving city setting for the 1st roughly 55 kms are tough to say the least. But this year there is some good news too: 1. The route is now in reverse, which means the usual climbs will now be downhill and vice versa. 2. Domains.co.za is giving away 10 Cycle Kits to the value of R2500 each to 10 [...]

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06 Sep

Keywords in domain names: How important are they?

The right domain name can do a lot for your business behind the scenes, and should by no means be chosen lightly. While there are many that favour the branded domain name (i.e. your business name), others again believe a keyword domain name (i.e. what your business does) could be more effective in more ways than one. Is this still the case? To answer this, let’s take a step back and look at what the right domain name should do. The right domain name should: • Be memorable: A domain name that is easy to remember makes it easier for potential customers to recall and search it later. It is a cost-effective marketing tool that could help you get more traffic as a result. Just think about www.webuycars.co.za or www.wesellcars.co.za . They are hard to [...]

Domain names, Domain extensions, Read more...

20 Aug

Domains Website Builder vs. Professional Build: Which is best for an SMME?

Domains’ website builder, called Site Builder has multiple features and benefits for SMMEs. From as little as R85 per month, a Site Builder website can free up cashflow for other important expenses. But what is the best option for an SMME, our website builder solution or a professionally built website? As an SMME owner, you already know how important it is to have a website. It is like having a shopfront in the largest mall in the world – the internet. Unfortunately, like all things in business, getting from “I need a website” to “Ta-da!” requires making important decisions. Once you’ve settled on and bought your domain name , you still need to get the site built. There are basically two main options: A website [...]

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16 Jul

Google Chrome 68 to mark all sites that aren’t https as “Not Secure” in July

In light of the rise in cyber hacking worldwide and the recent GDPR laws for the EU , many search engines have shown their commitment to website security and privacy by rolling out additional security features. At Google, one of these are the soon to launch Google Chrome 68, which will mark all sites that aren’t encrypted as “Not Secure”. It has therefore become essential for business websites to install an SSL Certificate as soon as possible in order to avoid it. In February, Chrome Security Product Manager, Emily Schechter wrote in a Google blog post : “For the past several years, we’ve moved toward a more secure web by strongly advocating that sites adopt HTTPS encryption. And within the last year, we’ve also helped users understand [...]

Google, Chrome 69, SSL Certificates, domain validated SSL certificate, organisation validated SSL certificate, Read more...

29 Jun

What is a domain name?

Back in the day, a business wasn’t a business if it wasn’t in the Yellow Pages. Nowadays, if a business isn’t on the internet it might as well be invisible. That is where domain names come in. Just like a telephone number, a domain name is unique to the business who owns it. This is the easiest and most direct way for users to find your business’ website on the web. Domain names were created to make it simpler to find a website. Before domain names, websites were accessed by typing in the IP (internet protocol) address of the host computer. But the internet is used by people, not computers, and we aren’t very good at remembering strings of numbers. And so domain names were born. The first ever domain name ever registered, symbolics.com, was [...]

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