Improve your .tel

To get your .tel domain picked up by search engines, you can submit it on official websites, such as:

• Google https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/submit-url (Note that if you do not have a Google Account you will need to create one first in order to use this submission tool)
• Bing http://www.bing.com/webmaster/SubmitSitePage.aspx
• Yahoo! http://search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html

Indexation will take time (up to 8 weeks sometimes) depending on the search engine and other external factors, but it's expected to help search engines pick up your .tel quicker.

The language in which you see a .tel page relates to the language settings within your browser. Currently, .tel pages support 15 languages: Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Danish, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish.
To change these settings, go to the Options menu in your browser, as shown below for popular browsers Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer.

In Mozilla Firefox:

1. Go to Tools > Options.
2. In the Options dialogue, select the Content icon.
3. At the bottom of the dialogue, click "choose..." for a list of languages.
4. Select the required language and click Add.
5. Use the "Move Up" button to move the newly added language to the top of the list.
6. Click Ok.

In Internet Explorer:

1. Go to Tools > Options.
2. In the Options dialogue, select the "General" tab.
3. Click the "Languages" button at the bottom of the tab.
4. Click "Add.." and select the desired language.
5. Use the "Move Up" button to move the newly added language to the top of the list.
6. Click Ok.

Refresh the page in the browser and language should now change

Setting up AdSense in your .tel name control panel is easy. You will firstly need to create an AdSense account at Google.

Once Google have confirmed your account has been created simply click on the Settings link at the top of your control panel and then type in your Publisher ID and Advert ID then click save. Each Advert ID will display a block of up to 3 adverts to the right of your contact information on all PC browsers. If you wish to display more than three units, include a second Advert ID. The .tel page will then display 2 advertising blocks, one after the other, in a random order.

Google Analytics can provide detailed information on who is visiting your .tel and what they do while on the page. This information can be used to improve your promotion methods and modify your content based on which contact/web links your visitors are choosing to use. For details on tracking visitor activity on your .tel, please see Tip 10.

To activate Google Analytics for your .tel you need to:

1. If you don't have one already, set up a Google Analytics account at https://www.google.com/analytics/settings/home.
2. Click on the "Admin" link to the right of the menu bar
3. Click "+ New Property"
4. Here you add your .tel name in the website url section, choosing "http://" from the dropdown. Complete the other details and press "Create Property" to save
5. At the top of the next page you will see a "Tracking ID: " make a note of this ID, which should begin with "UA-"
6. In the section "What are you Tracking", select 1 domain. Ignore the code and press "Save" at the bottom of the page
7. Log into your .tel control panel and click on the "Settings" link. Select the "Google Analytics" menu option and paste the Tracking Code in the space provided. Once saved, the code will be added to your .tel and ready to track all visits.
8. Verify that Google Analytics is displaying a green tick next to your .tel in your account. This can take up to 12 hours to appear, but once it is there the setup is complete and tracking is operational.

Please note that results from Google Analytics do seem to be less accurate for the first 24 hours after initial set up. Also, any interaction with your .tel content from the Smartphone and Outlook applications will not be recorded as these interact directly with the content in the DNS.

Your .tel allows you to store your location as geographic coordinates: latitude plus longitude. Clicking the Location link on your .tel shows a Google map with your position.

In the .tel control panel Dashboard, you can enter your location as a post code, address, or exact co-ordinates separated by a comma. In the former cases, you may need to adjust your location because your postcode may not exactly correspond to your actual location. Follow these simple steps to store your location:

1. Enter your location and click the magnifying glass search button to go to that location.
2. Use the zooming controls to see where the marker is, and drag-and-drop the marker as needed for greater accuracy.
3. Click Save to store this location. Your new location is shown as coordinates beneath the map.
4. To change your location, move the marker or input another location, and repeat steps 1 - 3 above. Click Save to replace your old location with the new one.

Depending on the device you're using, getting the precise geographic coordinates may be easier. You can use the decimal format "51.518117, -0.13425" or the standard "N 51 31.090' W 0 8.050'".

Method 1 - Google Maps

1. Open yourname.tel in a browser window or tab.
2. Click on your Location link to view in Google Maps.
3. Click the Satellite tab in the upper corner to switch to that mode.
4. Compare the location of the marker to where you want it to be.
5. If needed, further adjust the position of the marker by changing the values for N (northbound movement) and W (westbound movement) in the Search Maps address bar until you get the perfect position.

For areas that are not identifiable on Google Maps, such as a factory location in Chichigalpa, Nicaragua, you may need to use the Google Earth application instead. A free version is downloadable at http://earth.google.com/.

Suggested by a .tel owner, Richard Laughton laughton.tel.

Method 2 - iPhone

1. Install the free My.tel application to edit your .tel domain, iphone.apps.telnic.tel.
2. Click on the map.
3. Click the move icon, select move to GPS, and then click the Set .tel marker button.

Method 3 - BlackBerry

1. Go to Options -> Advanced Options -> GPS.
2. Click the BlackBerry button and select Refresh GPS. The latitude and longitude, and accuracy will display on screen.
3. Copy or input these to the Location in your .tel control panel.

Other devices may offer similar services.

A .tel domain does not include email hosting by default, but provides the necessary support for a .tel email address. Please check with your .tel service provider whether a mail hosting service is available, or setup your own mailbox on independent mail servers.

To have a .tel email address, you need to setup mail servers to host your mailbox, and add MX records pointing to those servers from your .tel domain. You can add MX records from the Settings link in the .tel control panel, or programmatically using the SOAP/AJAX APIs. Again, your .tel provider might offer to do this for you.
If you do not see the Setup .tel email tab in Settings, please check with your provider if email is supported.

Below are simple instructions on setting up a free .tel mailbox using Google Mail or Windows Live Mail, or configure Hostgator hosting for .tel domains.

Google Mail

1. Sign up for a Google Apps account and add your .tel domain name:
   1. Select the option Administrator: I own or control this domain from the sign up page and enter your .tel domain name.
   2. Enter all your personal information.
   3. Enter the email address you want setup at your .tel domain and finish the sign up process.
2. Get Google mail server names to setup MX records in your .tel domain.
   1. Verify domain ownership as described in Tip 11 below.
   2. Go to your Admin Panel
      Verifying Domain Ownership > Configuring MX Records.
3. In the control panel, setup .tel to point to Google mail servers, such as
   ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM. 10
ALT1.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM. 20
4. Wait for Google to validate ownership of your domain. This can take up to 48 hours.

Windows Live

1. Add your .tel to Windows Live.
   1. Sign up for a Windows Live account or log in if you are returning user.
   2. Enter the domain you want to add as a Custom Domain.
   3. Accept the Terms and Conditions.
      You will be presented with the MX record for your email service.
2. Setup .tel to point to Windows Live server.
   1. On the Domain Settings page, get the details of the MX record that you need to set up. This is tied specifically to your domain name rather than being a generic address.
   2. Copy the MX server name into your .tel Settings in the control panel.
   3. Return to the Windows Live process and hit Refresh to validate the changes.
3. Create member account(s).
   1. In the Member Accounts area, click Add+ to create a new member.
   2. Fill in the form with the requested data (may not work on browsers other than Internet Explorer).
4. Activate your mail account.
   1. Sign up for the Windows Live Mail system by filling in the form.
   2. Sign in again entering the captcha when prompted.

Hostgator hosting

1. Add your .tel to Hostgator.
   1. In your browser, login to your Hostgator Control Panel.
   2. Click the Add-On domains icon
   3. Specify your domain and password and click Add Domain.
2. Get your MX settings from Hostgator. If you don't know your mail server, perform a DIG command to get those settings for the domain associated with your Hostgator mailbox. For example:
   
   http://digwebinterface.com/?hostnames=yourname.com&type=MX&ns=resolver&useresolver=69.65.17.101&nameservers=
   
   You will see something like this copy the values on the :
   yourname.com. 60 IN MX 20 ns2041.hostgator.com.
yourname.com. 60 IN MX 10 ns2042.hostgator.com.
3. In the .tel control panel, setup your .tel to point to Hostgator's MX servers from the DIG result you copied, like "ns2042.hostgator.com." .

You can save a backup copy of your domain as an XML file on your computer. The backup includes all data, including contact information, profiles, groups, and friends. You can then use this file at any time to restore the domain data; for example, during a transfer.

To backup your domain(s), go to Settings, Backup / Restore data tab and select the domain to be exported, or choose All domains to backup all information in your account. Confirm the operation and save the file when offered by the browser. Please ensure that your browser allows saving files from your .tel control panel.

To restore information, again open the Backup / Restore data tab and click Browse to navigate to the backup file. The system will check the data format and list the domains contained in the file. Select one or more domains to be restored, and confirm the operation. Please be aware that this operation can take significant time depending on the amount of restored data.

Important: Restoring a domain erases any other data that you may have in your control panel for this domain.

All .tel domains can now link to images and display them at top left of your .tel page in a PC browser. The mobile view doesn't load graphics to save traffic.

You cannot upload an image from your computer but you can link to an existing online image in your social profile or your company logo. If you have many folders, you can have a different image in each one. You can also make your image private in Advanced Options, just like with contact items.

Adding an image is easy: simply click Add logo on your Dashboard and add a link to an existing image on the web. Click Preview to see how the image fits into the dimensions, and Save to confirm. The image dimensions are 78 by 78px, and larger images will be scaled to fit this size. Note: if you are using Internet Explorer and you opted not to display non-secure elements after logging into the control panel, the link to your image may not work.

If you don't have an image you want to link to on the web, you can sign up for Gravatar and upload your image there. The system automatically fetches any images associated with email addresses in your .tel, so you can simply pick one of them. You can use any other image hosting sevice, as long as you can get a direct link to your image file on the web.

Don't forget to add a description for your image. Search engines index those and help visitors find your site when searching images.

Any connection issues to the .tel for BlackBerry application are usually attributed to the APN settings of the device. If you experience connection issues when using the .tel application, check to see if the APN settings on your BlackBerry are enabled. These can usually be found in the Options menu section of your Blackberry in Options > Advanced Options > TCP/IP. If the APN setting is disable, please enable and retry connecting to the service.
If this is still not successful you may also need to specify the APN username and password for your carrier. These settings can be found at this third party site by selecting your country and phone supplier, http://www.modmyi.com/wiki/index.php/Carrier_APN_Settings.

Having added Google Analytics to your .tel (see tip 4), you can automatically see which contact items your visitors have clicked on. This information can help you identify how many leads your .tel is generating and improve the structure and content of your page.

Visitor activity details are within your Google Analytics account and can be found as follows:

1. Click "View Report" for your .tel within the Analytics Overview page
2. On the left-hand side "Dashboard" links, select "Content" and then "Event Tracking"

In the report, each click of a contact item (including phone numbers and web links), user advert or rich content section is classed as an "event". You can modify the time period of the report at the top to get a broader insight. Check back regularly to see any changes to visitor actions over time or through different campaigns that you run.

In addition to seeing the analytics for your .tel as a whole, you can also see a breakdown of visitors to each of your folders. These can be viewed in your Content report in the Analytics account, as follows:

1. On the left-hand side "Dashboard" links, select "Content" and then "Overview". This is information about all your folders.
2. Below the the "Page View" table click on the "view full report" link
3. In the table displayed, next to the "Page" column title, click the "None" dropdown and select "Network" and "Hostname"

Following the steps above will show the pageviews by Hostname, or Subfolder as they are known in your .tel. If certain folders are not included in this report they have not been viewed in the specified time period.

You can use certain Google Apps and Google Webmaster Tools services to benefit from free email and file hosting, apps and keyword research. To start using these services with your .tel domain, you need to have a Google account.

For Google Webmaster Tools, simply sign in with your Google account and click "Adding a site" to type in your .tel domain name. For Google Apps, choose to "Get Started" and setup a new account with your .tel domain name. Once the account is created, follow these steps:

1. Choose to verify ownership with a DNS record and select your provider.
2. Copy the TXT record you are shown. It will start with "google-site-verification=....".
3. Login to your .tel control panel and add a new Free Text keyword with the TXT you copied.
4. Once the verification record is on your .tel page, click "Verify" in the Google account. Your .tel should be in the list of verified sites.

If you have multiple .tel names that you would like to divert to one main .tel, take the following steps:

1. Choose a .tel name you wish to divert to another .tel name
2. In your .tel control panel, choose ‘Go to a .tel’ as a Contact Type and type in the .tel you wish to divert to in the “Value” field
3. Make sure that no other public information* (such as header, sub-header, location record or contact information or any other content such as a logo) are present in the control panel. If you have inserted any type of advertising or images on your .tel these will also need to be removed
4. After closing out from the control panel and waiting a couple of minutes, type the .tel name you are diverting into the browser. If there is still content in the .tel, it will still resolve. If not, it should divert to the chosen .tel name

*This re-direct is at the proxy level, so it is temporary. All non-visible records, such as MX records for email, can be stored and will not be affected. If you wish to use this .tel name for email accounts using services such as Gmail, first follow the procedures to verify your ownership and, once this has been verified by Google, you can also delete this record to enable the re-divert.

There are a number of icons which will automatically show on your .tel next to your contact information if you publish a link to a particular site (for example, linking to a Facebook page or a LinkedIn profile). To show these icons, all you need to do is add a link to the service in the "Contact Information" section of your control panel , selecting "Web Page" from the dropdown and the icon will display automatically. When you add the link to the service in the "Value" field, be sure to insert the full link and not a shortened version (for example twitter.com/YourTwitterName rather than @YourTwitterName).

You can see the full list of icons that are currently available at http://icons.yourname.tel.