The Importance of Choosing a Good Domain Name
Having a good domain name can often be one of the cornerstones of a site that ranks well in the search engines and therefore I recommend putting a reasonable amount of time and effort into the research before choosing your domain name. Here are some important tips that will aid you in your planning when you are faced with choosing your next domain name. Choosing a good domain name may not be as hard as you think.
Your Domain Name Should Match What You Sell
I feel the most important aspect of your domain name is to have it match the main product or service for which you hope to rank. Google and the other search engines tend to favor websites for which the domain name matches the main product or service as closely as possible.
For example the actual legal name of your company might be Jim’s Plumbing Service. Although I would also recommend purchasing that domain name to protect your brand identity, I would not use it as the domain for your main website. As a side note, if you are purchasing the .com version of your company’s legal name as a domain, you may also want to purchase the .net, .org and even .info versions just to protect your brand identity. Those versions would not necessarily be used for live websites but for the relatively low cost of only $10-$15 each per year, it is fairly cheap insurance.
Some Examples of Good Local Domain Names
If you are in the Tampa Bay area, a good alternative might be TampaBayPlumber.com or CommercialPlumbingTampaBay.com. It is important to think in terms of what phrases someone might type into the search engine when looking for the type of product or service you offer.
An Easy To Use Keyword Research Tool
When doing your initial keyword research, one of the easiest tools to use is available online at no charge. You can go to https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal?forceLegacy=true and type in some of your main generic keywords and when the results appear in the area below, you can sort by number of searches. The keyword phrases with the highest search volume would be the ones I recommend first assuming they are relevant to your business, which may or may not always be the case.
Research Tools for Choosing a Domain Name
There are two free online tools that are very useful when trying to quickly check the ability of a domain name that you have in mind. You can go to Instantdomainsearch.com or Domainsbot.com and do your research. Results are displayed in real-time as you type which makes it more convenient. I have noticed that the results are not always 100% accurate. In other words it may show that a particular name is available when in fact it is not when you actually go to the domain registrar and check, it is not. These are still valuable tools even with that slight flaw.
Using Local Modifiers in Your Domain Name
This is especially important if you are a service oriented business who usually works in a specific local area. For example if you are in the Tampa Bay Florida area, you could utilize some of the geographic modifiers shown below as part of the domain name. These could be used either in front of or after the main keyword. I have seen very little difference with regards to search engine rankings in either these cases. Some examples would be adding the name of the city where you are located or mainly service such as Tampa, Tampa Bay, Tarpon Springs, Dunedin, Clearwater or Saint Petersburg. You could also include your County such as Pinellas, Hillsborough or Pasco. You might also want to include Florida or FL if the similar version with the city name you want is not available without it.
Using Buying Keywords
Depending on your business, it may also be beneficial to include buying type keywords as part of your domain name. Once again think in terms of what people would be typing into the search engines when looking for the type of product you sell. Some suggestions for this might be buy, purchase, purchase online, order, order online or find.
Dashed or No Dash Domain Names
We have all seen examples of domain names with or without dashes. Although I have not seen significant differences with regards to search engine rankings, I would always recommend the non-dashed version as the first choice only because many people often forget to place the dashes between the words, so if they are typing in the name directly they could easily end up at your competitor’s website.
Top Level Domain Name Extensions
As far as the domain name extension for your main website, the .com version is always preferred above all others only because most people associate a website with that extension and will often type it in by habit and again could end up at your competitor’s site. The .net version is acceptable if the main keyword phrase that you are trying to purchase is not available and it is something for which you are trying to rank. The .org domain extension may be appropriate for some businesses but not all. Some of the other available domain extensions may be suitable for certain purposes such as landing pages or marketing tracking but I would not recommend that they be used for the main corporate website.
Some Clever Suggestions If Your Domain Name Is Not Available
For very competitive markets you will often find that many of the prime domain names are already taken, even those with local geographic modifiers. In this scenario is often acceptable to add a word either before or after your main keyword and still get most of the benefits of your primary keyword phrase. For example if your business was antique furniture refinishing, you could add words after that such as expert, authority, resource, depot, center or hub. With a slight modification, you might use a prefix such as my, your or the as in Your Antique Furniture Refinisher. Many people do not think of these other variations so you can often find solutions using one of these modifiers.
Pulling It All Together
In summary, I would like to reinforce how important I feel it is to spend the time and research your potential domain name properly. A well-chosen domain name can give your site a boost in the search engine rankings. Because of the time and effort that will be spent creating search engine rankings and branding for your new domain and website, it is something you want to choose carefully at the onset. This can become an integral part of your Internet marketing strategy and it is certainly one of the most important things you should do first.
