Control your domain: protect your .barcelona domain

One of the main reasons for people losing control of their domain is not renewing it in time. There’s a period of grace when it can still be renewed, but if this elapses the domain may become available again and could be acquired by somebody else.

Follow these steps to avoid this happening:

1.       Use an accessible contact address. When you register a domain, be sure to use a contact address which is easy for you to access.  

2.       Always keep the domain information up to date. A domain can be suspended if the data are not up to date and the registration company is unable to contact the domain owner.

3.       Check your mail frequently. Bear in mind that the registration company will send you reminders when the domain is soon to expire.

4.       Don’t forget the renewal dates. Make a note of the time period for the domain so that renewals won’t get overlooked and set some reminders in advance.

5.       Contract the domain for longer if you know you’re going to need it. Remember you can renew it for up to ten years to avoid having to worry about it.  

6.       Be sure you can contact your registration company. Check that you can communicate easily, whether by email or by phone.

If you don’t renew in time, the first step is to inform the registration company that you contracted. They will be in the best position to advise you.

What do you need to do if your domain has expired?

·         When your domain expires, you have around 45 days to renew it (although each registration company has their time frames and in some cases they may charge you extra to renew it after it has expired). If you don’t renew it, anyone else can register it, even you could acquire it again!

·         If your domain is contracted by somebody else, contact us at suport@domini.barcelona and explain your case to us. We will convey your request to the current holder and, if you are lucky, they will get in touch with you to negotiate the purchase of the domain.

·         Never negotiate the domain if it includes fraudulent information, if the website is being used improperly or if there is an attempt being made to gain from it. If you find yourself in one of these situations, contact us. If necessary, we will take legal action.

Remember to always keep your .barcelona domain up to date!

Success for .barcelona training at Barcelona Activa

The team from .barcelona organised an information session on 19 November aimed at  educators, consultants and professionals from the technical team at Barcelona Activa, introducing all the advantages of registering a .barcelona domain and providing them with the tools to act as prescribers for companies and advisory entrepreneurs from Barcelona Activa’s various programmes.

What is a .barcelona domain?

A .barcelona domain is much more than just a website address. It is a seal of identity which links your project with the city. It is a way of showing the world you are part of the Barcelona community and that you share the values of innovation, creativity and international openness that characterise the city.

Why choose .barcelona?

·       Visibility: a .barcelona domain allows you to stand out in searches linked with Barcelona.

·       Identity: it transmits a strong connection with the city and its inhabitants.

·       Credibility: it gives a professional and distinctive touch to your online presence.

·       Opportunities: it opens up possibilities of new collaboration and projects within the Barcelona ecosystem.

Who is the .barcelona domain aimed at?

The .barcelona domain is open to anybody wishing to link their project with the city: companies, organisations, the self-employed, non-profit entities, events, citizen initiatives and more. Whether you have a local business or want to break into a market in Barcelona, the .barcelona domain is an excellent option.

Unique opportunity for entrepreneurs

As part of its support plan for entrepreneurs, Barcelona Activa is offering free .barcelona domains during the first year of all projects establishing a link with the city. This way, entrepreneurs can launch their businesses with their own professional domain from the first moment.

How to register a .barcelona domain?

1.       Visit domini.barcelona: go to the website and check the availability of the domain you would like.

2.       Choose a registration company: select the registration company that suits your needs best.

3.       Complete the register: fill in the form with your details and complete the purchase.

With this training, Barcelona Activa gives entrepreneurs the tools they need to build a solid digital identity in the city with a .barcelona domain, which backs their work and visibility.

Make ChatGPT work for you: improve your SEO with AI

Artificial intelligence has revolutionised many sectors, and digital marketing is no exception. ChatGPT, one of the most advanced AI tools, offers enormous potential for optimising SEO strategies and achieving better results in search engines.

How can ChatGPT help with SEO?

  • Generating content: ChatGPT can create articles, product descriptions, metadescriptions and other types of quality content, providing it is given the right keywords and instructions. Remember to check that the content is in line with SEO practices (such as suitable inclusion of keywords, optimisation of titles and correct structuring of internal links).
  • Keyword research: not sure which keywords you need to use for people to find you with a search engine? ChatGPT can help you identify the most relevant keywords for your business and suggest synonyms and long-tail expressions. Remember you can use specialist SEO tools to verify their availability.
  • Improving style: ChatGPT can check and improve your texts to make them more attractive and persuasive. It can also help you organise keywords into semantic groups, compose metadata, descriptions and ALT tags for images, as well as suggest responses for FAQs.

How to start using ChatGPT to help optimise SEO

  1. Define your goals: before starting, clearly establish your SEO goals. What do you want to achieve with your website? What are you offering?
  2. Provide clear instructions: tell ChatGPT what type of text you want, what keywords to use and how you want it to sound.
  3. Check and edit: even though ChatGPT is highly competent, it is always important to check and edit the texts generated to ensure they offer quality and suit your brand.
  4. Combine AI with human creativity: although tools such as ChatGPT can be highly valuable for us, we need to remember they are still a long way off substituting our creativity. AI should always be a way of supporting the generation of ideas and improving content, but only your personal touch will make the difference.

A step further: create your website with AI

Many registration companies currently offering the .barcelona domain, such as Nominalia and Cdmon, propose packages with hosting that allow users to create their own website using artificial intelligence. If you need to create your .barcelona site from scratch, don’t miss the chance to explore the possibilities offered by artificial intelligence to create an updated, competitive and well-positioned website.

Tips on optimising SEO for mobiles

SEO optimisation for mobile devices is essential if we consider that smartphones are a vital means of internet access for many users. Search engines such as Google prioritise websites that offer a good mobile experience. Here are a series of tips to help you optimise your website SEO for mobiles:

1. Responsive design

A responsive design automatically adapts to different screen sizes. This means your website can be viewed well on computers and mobiles alike, enhancing user experience. Google recommends a responsive design as it helps to index content and avoids duplicated content.

2. Good loading speed

Loading speed is crucial for mobile SEO. Mobile users tend to abandon a site if it takes more than three seconds to load. Improving the loading speed can reduce this and increase the time users stay on your site. You can use tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights to identify any issues with speed.

3. Content optimisation

Content must be easy to read on small screens. Use short paragraphs, lists with bullet points and clear headings. Well-structured content facilitates the reading experience for users. Adapt content for mobile devices with simple and direct language, and make sure that calls to action (CTA) are accessible.

4. Avoid Flash and intrusive pop-ups

Flash is not compatible with many mobile phones and pop-ups can be very annoying to users. Steering clear of these improves user experience and avoids penalisations from Google. Use tech such as HTML5 instead of Flash and configure pop-ups to be less intrusive, or get rid of them altogether.

5. Local search optimisation

Many mobile searches are local in nature. Optimise your site for local searches adding relevant information such as addresses, phone numbers and opening times. Local searches can bring highly interested traffic to your services and products. Register your business on Google My Business and make sure your local information is accessible across your whole site.

6. Implementaton of structured data

Structured data are fragments of code that help search engines such as Google to understand website content better. You can use Schema.org to mark elements such as products, reviews and events.

Structured data can improve the visibility of your website in search results with rich snippets. With the help of an expert in programming, add structured data tagging to HTML code on the site following the Schema.org directives.

7. Use of Accelerated Mobile Pages

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) are a Google initiative to accelerate page loading on mobile devices. It’s a good idea to implement the AMP version of website pages as they load almost instantly, improving user experience.

8. Monitoring and analysis

Finally, it’s crucial to monitor the performance of your website and make constant adjustments. Regular monitoring enables you to identify problems quickly and adapt to new SEO trends. Use tools such as Google Analytics, Search Console and other SEO tools to monitor the performance of your site and get valuable information.

We hope this article helps you understand the importance of taking SEO for mobiles into account, and helps you optimise your website’s position and the experience of users who access it via mobile.

Migrating your website to a .barcelona domain: Everything you need to bear in mind

If you’ve recently registered a .barcelona domain and you already had a website, now it’s time to migrate your website to the new domain. We know this can be a complex task and that it needs to be planned properly. While we advise you to do this with the help of a programming professional, here we explain what you need to bear in mind when it comes to the migration.

1. Planning the migration and assessing the current site

Before you start the migration, you need to plan the change properly and review the state of the current website. This is a good time to produce an inventory of the content and decide what we want to keep and what’s now obsolete.

One way of knowing what content generates the most interest is to analyse the traffic that your site gets, this way you can see which pages get the most visits and the resources used the most by your visitors.

2. Preparing the new domain

If you haven’t done so already, before the migration you need to register the .barcelona domain: Make sure the new domain is registered and configured correctly. To do this, check the list of accredited registration companies that appear on our website. Here you’ll find the services they offer, as well as their set-up and renewal charges.

Once you have the domain registered, you need to configure the new hosting: If you’re changing your hosting service provider, make sure the new server is ready for your website. If you’re unsure, contact your new provider for help.

3. Transferring content

This is one of the key points in the migration. We recommend that from this point on you proceed with the help of somebody with programming knowledge.

You’ll need to make a complete back-up copy of your current site, including all the files in the database. Once you’ve made a copy of the files, the transfer to the new server associated with the .barcelona domain can be carried out.

Besides the files, you also need to migrate the database from your current website and import it to the new server.

4. DNS configuration

DNS configuration is crucial for your new .barcelona domain to lead to your website correctly. You need to access the control panel of your domain and update the A and CNAM registers with the IP address of your server. These changes can take up to 48 hours to be applied across the whole of the internet. Finally, you need to check that your website loads correctly and that all the links work.

5. Redirections and SEO

To maintain site traffic and SEO when you carry out the migration to the .barcelona domain, you need to configure 301 redirections from the former domain to the new one and ensure that visitors and search engines are directed correctly. You will also need to update all external links, as well as sitemap.xml and robots.txt files to reflect the new URLs. The permanent redirections will help preserve the position of the website and the authority of your website.

6. Verification and testing

After migrating to the .barcelona domain, check that all the pages load correctly and there are no 404 errors. Check all the forms and links work as they should. You can add the new domain to the Google Search Console to monitor its performance and ensure that Google Analytics is configured to monitor the traffic to the site. Keep checking the website to detect and solve any issues.

7. Communication with users

After migrating to the .barcelona domain, inform your users and customers of the change through communications and updates on social media. Make sure that all platforms and marketing materials reflect the new domain. Establish a support channel to help users with any problems they might have. Monitor your site to identify and quickly solve any issues that appear after the migration.

Finally, we recommend you carry out the migration at a time when your website has little traffic, so if something isn’t working you can always recover the website with the back-up copy you made at the start. We hope this step-by-step process will help guide you with migrating your website to the .barcelona domain.

Il·lustració amb dos ordinadors que intercanvien dades.

Imatges.barcelona surpasses 17,000 free photos

Can you imagine a website where you can download over 17,000 free photos of Barcelona? It exists, and it’s called imatges.barcelona, a repository created at the end of 2020 and allowing users to dip into a huge archive of photos of the city in different resolutions.

You will also find them organised into themed galleries, such as those for Sant Jordi 2024 and the Pla Endreça. In addition, the site offers a selection of the best photos every month in the current gallery. If you’d like to know where they are from, you can activate the map to automatically geolocate them.

Once you select the images you want, bear in mind that they are subject to a Creative Commons licence, which allows them to be published freely, but they must be duly accredited and not used for commercial purposes or any works that result from them.

We recommend you spend some time browsing the archive and discovering everything that imatges.barcelona has to offer. Remember it just keeps growing too! When you come back you’ll always find new photos of the city.

Públic contemplant les obres de la pintora Suzanne Valadon a l'exposició del MNAC.

Domain ownership certificate: what it is and how to get it

Owning and having control of your domain is essential for guaranteeing your online presence and protecting the digital reputation of your brand. One imperative step in this process is to get a domain ownership certificate, a document officially confirming that it is legally your property.

What is the domain ownership certificate?

This official certificate shows who the legal owner of a particular domain is. The document is issued by the authority responsible for registering domains or for domain registration companies and is proof of the domain’s ownership.

Why is it important?

Obtaining the domain ownership certificate is crucial for several reasons:

1. Confirmation of ownership: the certificate officially confirms who the owner of the domain is, establishing their legitimacy should any disputes or legal claims occur.

2. Brand protection: it ensures that the brand or company has complete control of their domain, avoiding the risk of unauthorised use or appropriation.

3. Digital security: the certificate provides an additional layer of security as the data and information associated with the domain are linked to its legal owner.

How to get a domain ownership certificate

The process to get a domain ownership certificate can vary slightly according to the registration company for your domain, but generally follows these steps:

1. Access your account with the registration company: log into your account with the registration company you used to get your domain.

2. Go to the domain management section: look for the section or tab for managing your domains within your account.

3. Request the domain ownership certificate: in the domain management section you will find an option for requesting and downloading the domain ownership certificate.

4. Verify the data: in some cases, the registration company might require you to verify your identity or ownership before issuing the certificate. This can mean sending additional documents or confirmation of the contact information associated with the domain.

5. Download the certificate: once the data are verified, you can download the domain ownership certificate from your account with the registration company. The document will normally be available in an electronic and/or PDF format.

Once you have your domain ownership certificate, we recommendyou keep a copy of it in a safe and accessible place. The document may be necessary for domain transfers, changes in domain management or legal disputes.

Dos homes miren la pantalla d'un ordinador portàtil a un banc.

Five tips for updating the design of your website

As the digital world evolves, the landscape of website design also changes to adapt to users’ needs and the latest technology. Here are some of the most notable trends in website design in 2024.

1. Dark mode

Dark mode continues to gain in popularity as it offers benefits such as reduced visual stress and battery power saving for mobile devices. Many websites offer clear and dark mode options so users can choose the one they prefer and improve the browsing experience.

2. Bento grid

The Bento grid aims to simplify and order website pages more efficiently. Inspired by the principle of the Japanese Bento Box, this trend organises content into clearly defined sections using a combination of generous white spaces and graphic or visual elements to separate the different parts of the website. The structure facilitates browsing and comprehension of information for users, creating a more intuitive and pleasing experience.

3. Innovative typographic design

Typography has always been a crucial part of website design, but now more than ever there is a greater use of personalised and bold typographies to capture people’s attention. Frome the use of variable fonts to typological experimentation, designers play with possibilities to create more interesting and attractive reading experiences.

4. Priority for accessibility

With a growing focus on digital inclusion and accessibility, websites prioritise accessibledesign to guarantee that all users, including those with some sort of disability, can access and engage with online content easily. This includes optimising screens for reading, contrasting colours better and improving simplified browsing.

5. Micro-interactions and subtle animations

Micro-interactions and subtle animations play an important role in user experience (UX) on websites. From buttons with transition effects to animation responses when moving the cursor, these details play a key part in improving user engagement with online content.

We hope these tips prove useful if you’re thinking of updating your website and adapting it to current trends to improve user experience and browsing.

Meta tags: what they are and how to use them

Meta tags, also known as meta elements or metadata, are fragments of HTML code that provide information about the content of a website for search engines and other online services. Using them effectively is crucial in SEO for a website and improving its position in search engine results.

There are different types of meta tags to bear in mind:

1.  Title tag: This is one of the most essential meta tags. It specifies the title of the page and is the text that appears in the title bar of the browser. It needs to be appealing, contain relevant keywords and not exceed the limits recommended for the search engine.

2.  Description tag: This provides a brief description of the page content. It is the fragment of text that appears beneath the title in search results. A well-drafted and informative description can drive up click rates.

3.  Canonical ERL tag: This is used to indicate the main page when there are a number of similar ones. It helps with page hierarchy and prioritises the indicated page as canonical. We should bear in mind that in this case, the meta tag is placed on the secondary page to indicate which page is the main one.

4.  Robot tag: This indicates if a search engine can index a page or not. Sometimes it can be used to prevent certain pages from being displayed in search results.

5.  Alt image tag: This describes what an image shows. Besides being one of the elements that helps with positioning, it is important in terms of site usability for people with visual impairment who use screen readers that include these texts.

To use meta tags effectively to improve your search engine positioning, you should make sure that they are in keeping with the page content and that they include relevant keywords. It is important to maintain a coherent structure and avoid the excessive use of keywords, as search engines can penalise this. Finally, it is a good idea to review and update meta

tags regularly to adapt to changes in search trends and the algorithms of search engines.

Keys to avoiding hotlinking and protecting your online resources

Hotlinking describes a practice where somebody uses a link to an image, video or other multimedia file on one website and links it directly to their own platform, without hosting the image or the content themselves. This can lead to various problems for website owners, including the unauthorised use of content and unauthorised consumption of hosting and bandwidth. Fortunately, there are various ways of preventing this practice.

To start with, many websites use protection which disables direct linking through configurations on their servers. This way, when somebody tries to link an image or multimedia resource to another site, access is blocked and just an empty image or error message appears. While this is an efficient measure, some platforms or hosting may not offer this option directly.

Another common strategy to avoid hotlinking is to use a .htaccess file. This can be configured to only allow access to certain websites and block other domains that try to directly link to resources. Configuring the .htaccess file requires technical knowledge but offers accurate control over who can access website content.

Other methods include the use of content delivery networks (CDN) that can manage and distribute content and prevent hotlinking. These services provide specific links which are protected and are only accessible from the owner’s website or platform.

Despite these preventive measures, some users try to avoid them. In these cases, website owners can choose to replace images which have been directly linked with others that display a clear message on the prohibition of hotlinking and add a watermark showing the origin and ownership of the file.

We hope this article helps you to recognise the practice of hotlinking and offers you some ideas on avoiding it. While in most cases some technical knowledge is required, adding a watermark to your multimedia files can be the simplest way of protecting your online resources.