7 Strategies to Choosing an Effective Domain Name by 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, 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 establi
shment 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.
Copyright 2006 Donna Gunter
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