Playing the Name Game (Domains)

[Neo]

There are so many issues to consider when selecting a domain name. Most companies are not aware of all of these, and they choose poorly. If you don't have a well-known brand name or the resources to build a brand name that people might search for, why register a domain name that gives you no advantage whatsoever in the search engines, where people search for your product or service?

You can never own too many domain names. That's a rather bold statement, but think about the implications. If you have just one domain name, and just one website, you have limited your ability to attain rankings, to be found in search engines and directories, and to take on your competitors.

Of the many page elements that can contain your targeted keywords, perhaps the most often-overlooked is the top-level domain name. Some spider-based search engines, however, favor Web sites that contain the targeted keyword in the root domain name. For this reason when you register domain names, you should keep one eye on your search engine positioning interests.

Brainstorming for a good domain name can be a time-consuming, if not maddening exercise. Let's talk about how to pick a domain name, both in generally and for the benefit of a search engine positioning program.

Use Catchy But Relevant Keywords.

If you operate a company that offers custom Visual Basic Programming services and the company name is "Practical Computer Programming Services Corporation, "do not register the name as jpkls.com. This tells the user nothing
about your company and it is hard to remember. If your company is named after the founder or partners, perhaps an environmental engineering company named Smith and Jones, LLC, I would advice against registering the domain name neo-and-earth.com (or worst yet, jone.com). Instead, choose something like research-developers.com. This domain contains an important keyword phrase and improves your odds or being found in the major search engines.

Don't pick an Easily Pluralized Domain Name.

Unless you want someone to steal your traffic, think about a domain name that is already plural or that can't be pluralized. The chances of a visitor failing to type the "s" in the name is great. If you register frame-master.com, just wait a week. Someone will probably register frame-masters.com in hope of stealing some of your customers.

Make it Easy to Remember.

Remember that SERPs and word-of-mouth Internet marketing both rely on the ease with which the domain can be remembered. You don't want to be the terrific website that no one can remember the URL so that they can tell their friends.

Reject Numbers and Hyphens.

Both numbers and hyphens make it harder for people to remember and type. I would suggest not using roman numerals or hyphens in domain names as both can be mistaken and the wrong URL might be entered.

Choose domain with a .com extension.

A domain name with a .com extensions is what most people type in when searching for a website.

In Conclusion

Don't make the mistake of attempting to retrofit your domain to your Web site. Get that domain name before you start your site.