Review: Domain Dashboard
Review: Domain Dashboard
A few days ago I reached ownership of 100 domain names. All these domains are spread out over 1 dedicated server and two reseller accounts. Managing a large number of domains have become a task that takes more and more time out of my busy day and so I have been looking for a domain management tool. I then ran into a tool called “Domain Dashboard” which is promising easy domain management. After hesitating a little bit to buy it, I decided to try it and to eventually use the money back guarantee offered by the seller. I can already say right here that I will not need to take advantage of the money back guarantee.
The purchase process was pain free and easy. The software installed easy on my system, which is good news as I am running Windows Vista on my laptop and software support in some areas is still limited. I already have one software package sitting here unusable due to the software not executing properly on Windows Vista. Domain Dashboard however works just fine.
I went briefly through the documentation, but then decided to jump right in and see how easy DD is to use. I started with adding my 2 reseller accounts as well as my own server. Currently Domain Dashboard only supports WHM/Cpanel servers, but I heard that this will eventually change in the future. As I am a WHM/Cpanel guy this is fine with me. Adding my login information was a snap and within a few moments I had a complete list of all my accounts on the screen (see screenshot). Domain Dashboard shows a little green arrow next to each domain listing and clicking on this error I could get immediate access into Cpanel by using my master password. Awesome. No need any more to bookmark all the domain names or to manually type the Cpanel URLs. Each domain listing allows to add some notes or to switch from the master password to the actual domain password.
I then switched to the “Statistics” screen and hit the “update” button. Domain Dashboard got busy scanning my domains for certain data. The software is working super-fast and needed only a few minutes for all my domains to pull down statistical data (see screenshot). This does not fully replace AWstats, but is good enough to get specific data into one screen. The Keyword screen – as you can guess – is related to the statistics and gives you access to some keyword data per domain. That is a very useful tool as it makes the information accessible quick. If you do a lot of SEO work you know how much time you can save this way.
Domain Dashboard has a basic FTP client build in. Depending on what your FTP needs are this will be a big help. In my case I stick to what I have with Filezilla and CuteFTP Pr for. Call it convenience or the necessity to have a little more functionality available. Maybe down the road if the FTP functionality grows I might switch. But for basic FTP stuff Domain Dashboard offers you what you need.
Mass Account Creation: If you are a webmaster that needs to setup 2 or more accounts at one time this next section is for you. The feature does what the name promises. You can setup several domains, addon domains, or sub domains at the same time. This is a big time saver for sure. You pick from the available WHM accounts and select a package. You specify a user name and password of your choice and add the contact email to the setup. That’s it. You move to the 3rd screen and let Domain Dashboard do the rest. (screenshot)
Options: The software can be configured to work through a proxy. You can added custom commands for the SEO work in case search engines change the format of the existing commands. You can use your Google API key for Google queries, too.
What did I not like? I would like to see “Tool Tips” implemented to see some basic information by hovering the mouse cursor over a button. I’d like to see the option to eventually pull the AWStats data into a MySQL database on the local machine for more extensive analysis. There are a couple of other minor things, but overall Domain Dashboard does exactly what I have been looking for.
Conclusion: Domain Dashboard is fairly new on the market. However – I feel it will be around for a long time. This will especially true if more features get added. Currently the software already does a lot for webmasters with several domains to manage. If you have more than one reseller account or server to manage Domain Dashboard will save you a lot of time. If you have to setup several accounts at the same time Domain Dashboard is a life saver. The price is very fair considering the time savings you can get out of this.
Domain Dashboard is available from www.domain-dasboard.com