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| 7 Strategies to Choosing an
Effective Domain Name |
| Posted: 27-04-2006 |
| Author: Donna Gunter |
Copyright 2006 Donna Gunter
A friend of mine calls me the "Domain Queen", since at
one time I owned around 50 domains. I've let many of them
go (I own only 22 now) as my business has changed and
developed, or I've just simply lost interest in the project.
I'm often asked how I go about picking effective domain
names, so as the "Domain Queen", I'll share my thought
process with you.
1.What's the purpose of the domain name? Are you planning
on using this name as the main website for your company,
as a one page sales letter site, or squeeze page site?
If the domain name will be your primary company website,
try and find the closest version to your company name
that you can. If you're just starting out, choose your
business name and domain name with care. When I started
my virtual assistant practice, I chose the name SOHO Business
Solutions, as I thought everyone knew that SOHO stood
for Small Office, Home Office. I think I've run into 2
people in my 7 years in business who knew what that acronym
stood for. If I had it to do over again for this business,
I would choose a business name and domain name with virtual
assistant in the title, like InternetMarketingVirtualAssistant.com,
a name I just recently purchased.
If the purpose of a domain is for a one-page sales letter
site or a squeeze page, think ahead as to how you might
promote this site. Because content is king in today's
internet marketing world, there's little chance that either
of these types of sites would be picked up by the search
engines on key words. Therefore, your best promotion strategy
is PPC, or "pay per click", where you're buying keywords
for placement in search engines. If you're buying keywords
from Google, for example, the paid listings appear at
the top of a search in a blue box, or down the right-hand
side of your screen. You want to be sure that the info
displayed there is compelling enough to get someone to
click and visit your site. So, for example, I've created
a squeeze page, GetMoreClientsOnline.com,
which has a compelling solution to a common problem that
my clients have, as a side door gateway to my OnlineBizCoachingCompany.com
coaching website.
2. Brainstorm a list of ideas of the problem you're trying
to solve or the solution that you have. A domain name
that clearly indicates what you do, or a problem that
you solve, or a solution that you have to a problem will
give a visitor a fairly clear picture of what s/he'll
find on your website. What I typically do is go to my
domain registrar, http://www.ultranetdomains.com/,
and just start plugging in the names I'm brainstorming
until I come up with 3 or 4 that are available. If the
domain name that you type in isn't available, the service
will come up with 10 or so alternates for you to consider.
I found this alternate listing quite helpful recently
in picking the name of an article directory site that
I want to create.
3. For SEO (Search Engine Optimization) purposes, it helps
to have your keywords in your domain name. Marla Regan,
who's a professional organizer, has put two keywords in
her domain name, OrganizedTime.com. Retirement
Coach Lin Schreiber has her keyword niche in her domain,
RevolutionizeRetirement.com.
Consultant John Reddish has the desired outcome keywords
in his domain, GetResults.com.
I own a domain that I haven't yet developed for house
sitters, BecomeAHouseSitter.com.
Before buying your domain, make a list of keywords that
someone might use to find you online. This list could
include your industry, your target market or niche, a
problem your target market has, or a solution that you
can offer.
4. Shorter is better, if it's to be your primary domain.
I haven't always followed my own rules here, as I tend
to have business names that are quite lengthy. If the
domain name is going to be your primary domain where your
primary email address will be housed, you want your domain
name to be as short, catchy, and memorable as possible.
After a few times of spelling out your lengthy email address,
you'll come to appreciate the beauty of a short domain
name. Your domain name can contain up to 67 letters and
numbers, although I would encourage you not to have one
of this length, and can contain no special characters
other than hyphens.
5. Purchase your your given name as a domain name. I typically
tell my clients not to try and brand their given name
as their business name, as that takes many years, much
money, and lots of hard work to have the name recognition
of Oprah, for example. However, it still pays to purchase
your given name as a domain name, as well as any common
misspellings of your name. Many people think my name is
Donna Gunther, with an "h" in the last name, but I've
been unable to register that common misspelling of my
name, as a photographer in Venice, CA, has owned in since
2000. Once you've purchased your name as a domain, you
can redirect it to your primary website. This means that
when someone types in a domain, they land at the website
to which you pointed that domain. So, currently DonnaGunter.com
redirects to OnlineBizCoachingCompany.com
because I don't want to use my name as a website, although
that might change in the future.
6. Buy the .COM version of the name if it is available.
When people hear a domain name, they "hear" .COM whether
it's .NET or .BIZ or .ORG or whatever. So, it pays to
find a domain name that you like that is part of the .COM
family. If you just can't get the name you want, try a
hyphenated version of the .COM name. For example, when
I was seeking a domain name for my Self-Employment Coaching
Gym, I really wanted SelfEmploymentSuccess.com,
but it wasn't available. However, Self-Employment-Success.com
was available, so I grabbed that. Many SEO specialists
state that search engines like hyphenated names, and many
online business owners use hyphenated keywords in their
domain names to be more attractive to search engines.
I don't have a clear answer as to the validity of this
theory, so I just advocate going this route before having
to resort to the .NET or .BIZ of the name you desire.
Some domain name holders may be willing to sell you the
domain name that you want. You can find out who owns a
domain name by checking the WhoIs Registry at Internic,
http://www.internic.net/whois.html.
For info about country codes (two-letter) top-level domains
(.UK or .CA, for example) visit http://www.uwhois.com/cgi/domains.cgi?User=NoAds
7. Consider owning other versions of your primary domain
name. If you are registering the .COM version of a domain
for your business, you may also want to secure variations
of the name, alternate spellings, common misspellings,
and the .NET and .ORG versions of your domain and repoint
them to your main site to keep them out of the hands of
your competitors. You can also go broke very quickly by
purchasing all of these variations, so exercise some restraint
in your purchases and don't go crazy with purchasing every
single variation of your domain name. For my coaching
company site, I own both the OnlineBizCoachingCompany.com
and OnlineBusinessCoachingCompany.com
and decided that was good enough.
Your domain name is the beginning of the establishment
of your presence online, Take some time and put some thought
into the process so that the domain name serves you well
in the years to come, and is an effective tool for helping
you get more clients online.
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Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Business Coach
Donna Gunter helps self-employed service professionals
learn how to get more clients online at http://www.onlinebizcoachingcompany.com/
. To sign up for more FREE tips like these and claim your
FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit,
visit her site at http://www.getmoreclientsonline.com/
. Read about running an online biz at our blog,
http://onlinebizcoachingcompany.typepad.com/online_business_coaching_/
This article is free for republishing
Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/ |
| Online Business Coach Donna Gunter
helps self-employed professionals make more profit in
less time online. To sign up for more FREE tips like these
and claim your FREE ebook, TurboCharge Your Productivity:
50 + Tools To Help You Automate Your Business and Make
More Profit in Less Time Online!, visit her site, www.onlinebizcoachingcompany.com |
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