Does Your URL Work Without The ‘www.’?
Author: glend
Go into your browser and then enter your website address without the ‘www.’ ,eg. yourdomainname.com
Press the ENTER key and see if you can still reach your website. If you can, then congratulate yourself and have an early lunch/go home early.
If not, then read on.
This is a simple problem to rectify. If you have access to your web server then you need to adjust the DNS configuration and enable or disable the www/no-www functionality. You can also setup your server to have both www and non-www so they go to the same pages (multiple headers is what it’s called in IIS).
If you don’t have access to your web server then you need to telephone your web hosting company and talk to them. If they can adjust your DNS settings then fine, if not then there is another way around this, you can set up a ‘301 Redirect’. Below are some good articles about 301 Redirects so you can learn how to set one up;
. http://www.tamingthebeast.net/articles3/spiders-301-redirect.htm
. http://www.seoconsultants.com/tips/asp/301.asp
. http://www.jdhodges.com/log/1373
Even if your website does work without the ‘www.’ then you may still want to use a 301 redirect just so visitors see that your domain name WITH the ‘www.’ is the preferred entry point for your website. This will also simplify your website statistics as yourdomain.com and www.yourdomain.com are usually recorded as separate pages.
Why Do This?
This makes your website more easily accessible to visitors if they don’t include the ‘www.’ when entering your domain name. It also allows you to shorten your domain name when advertising your website online or offline. For example, ‘Visit amazon dot com for the latest books’ is easier to say than ‘Visit doubleU, doubleU, doubleU dot amazon dot com for the latest books’. There’s no need to include the www. everytime as that can be safely assumed to exist.
You can even use this as part of your logo. Look at the Amazon logo on their site, it doubles as the actual web address too by stating ‘Amazon.com’ not just ‘Amazon’.
Here are some corporate websites that have overlooked this simple matter, just so you can gloat or comfort yourself in not being the only one 
If you copy and paste the urls below into your browser and then press the ENTER key, they will not work properly.
. Slazenger.com
. TheSun.co.uk
. Heinz.co.uk
Did You Know?
As an internet user, if you’re bored of typing in the www. and the .com at the beginning and end of each domain name, there is an easier way.
Just type in the name in the address bar of your browser, eg. kowabunga and then press the CTRL and ENTER keys together. This automatically places the www. and the .com at either side of the kowabunga name saving you valuable milliseconds!! (This only works with .com’s though, plus it only works in Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox browsers).
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