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Choosing a good domain name isnt always so simple.
So you need a domain name for your brand new internet business. You may even have some cool ideas for a new domain name combination that will really impress your friends. Question is, is your new domain name going to help your business or hurt it?
What could be simpler than choosing a domain name right? Wrong. There are a number of things you need to consider and research before you register your favorite domain name.
First off, what is a domain name and why would I want one?
A domain name makes our lives much easier when surfing the internet. You see, all computers on the internet are actually referenced with what is called IP addresses. On the internet, IP addresses are four sets of numbers that serve like street addresses allowing two computers to talk over a network. An example of an IP address is the one for Google.com. It is 216.239.39.99. If you enter this IP address into the address bar of your browser it will bring you to Google's home page in that very same way that typing www.google.com would get you there. Unfortunately, we humans have difficulty remembering our phone numbers let alone so many digits for all kinds of sites. That's one of the main reasons domain names were invented.
Domain names make it easy for us humans to remember how to find a site. Most people know Google.com and anyone familiar with the internet knows that to reach Google, you simply type www.google.com in your address bar and you are transported to their website. The same goes for Disney.com, Microsoft.com, CNN.com, etc?
Now you would think that choosing a domain name would simply be a matter of choosing something that is unique and that people would remember. The problem with that approach is that most of us don't have the money needed to turn our name into a brand name on the mass market. Most of us need to rely on our prospects reaching our website through other means. The best of these are search engines.
Choosing a good domain name for your site starts with the main keywords you have chosen to focus on for your website. Before you launch your business, you should conduct some preliminary research online to determine which keywords have the most traffic and the least number of other websites competing for that particular keyword. Some tools that help in this are the Overture keyword suggestion tool and Wordtracker.com. Both of these tools will give you a rough idea of how much traffic each of your chosen keywords will likely get each month. This helps to determine which keywords to focus on.
Should you choose a domain name that includes your main keywords?
In most cases, the answer is yes. Google and to some degree Yahoo both give you a small boost for your domain name. If your domain name happens to contain your targeted keywords, your domain name will help you in your quest for higher search engine rankings. Now if you do everything else wrong, having your main keywords in your domain name will not magically catapult you to the top of the listings. Many other parts of your site must be working for you as well. Other things you can do to improve rankings are beyond the scope of this article.
Choosing a keyword rich domain is a smart business move.
For some sites, it could be the edge they need to move up a few spots in the search engines. When choosing a keyword rich domain name, you may want to consider hyphens between your keywords. An example is cheap-airline-tickets.com. Current research trends for Google and Yahoo suggest that hyphens are the only way to separate keywords within a URL that will give you a rankings boost.
Why not simply choose your company name? Simple. Is your company a household name? Are you so dominant in a category that people have stopped referring to the generic name of your category and use your brand name like Kleenex has for tissue paper? If so, register your company name. If not, register a keyword rich domain wherever possible.
You may be thinking, "But I already own a domain name that is my company name. Should I go and register a new domain and point it to the same site? The short answer is no. Years ago, you could improve your rankings on search engines simply by setting up lots of doorway pages and having them all link back to your home page with all kinds of domain names. That tactic nowadays can backfire. You are better off optimizing individual pages within your existing website than you are creating a whole bunch of "fluff" sites just to increase rankings.
The technique I suggest above is really best suited for brand new business ventures. If you still have not registered your domain name for that special online business you are about to start, then make it keyword rich wherever possible. If you have already launched your business, you'll just have to take advantage of this information next time you start another online venture.
This article was written by Joe Duchesne, president of http://www.yowling.com/ , a budget web hosting company that specializes in helping online business owners increase their website traffic. Copyright 2004 Yowling. Reprint Freely.
The Modern Day Search Engine
The first task most netizens do when they log on to the internet is to visit their favorite search engine to find information on various topics. Over the past few years the search engine has evolved to do more than list available websites on an entered subject. The modern day search engine has tools to help the user accomplish a vast array of everyday task.
Ten Steps To A Well Optimized Website - Step 5: Internal Linking
Welcome to part five in this search engine positioning series. Last week we discussed the importance of content optimization. In part five we will cover your website's internal linking structure and the role that it plays in ranking highly, and in ranking for multiple phrases.
Easy And Simple Steps To Get Listed In Search Engines
Search engines are one of THE best resource for free advertising. Better your web site's search engine position better be the traffic generation. 85% of internet users go to search engines and find the information they want.
Google Rank Cake
6 cups thick content mix 1 jar word of mouth, whipped 2 tablespoons meta tags 1 cup creativity
SEO Tips for Google
Getting a high ranking on Google is a big achievement. There are many factors that go into pulling a high page rank. I have put together a small list of things that should not be overlooked when optimizing your site. Let's start from the top:
What are the Benefits Of Submitting To Directories?
Increasing your web traffic and rank in search engines is probably one of your major goals, at least as far as your online business is concerned. One great way to increase your traffic and weight in the search engines is to submit to directories.
9 Steps to Getting Better Search Engine Rankings
You finally have a website and you are ready to sit back and let the visitors start rolling in. How does that saying go? "If you build it they will come." This may be true in Hollywood but certainly not true in the case of your website. You need to constantly work at improving your site to ensure that your website achieves a decent search engine ranking. This is a process that doesn't happen over night but with some concentrated effort you can get better search engine rankings. Here are some tips on getting to the top of the search engines.
Search Engine Algorithm Quandaries
Before you make drastic changes to your website after a rocky search engine update, take time to study your web server logs, changes in traffic to your site, and your ranking in the search engines.
How to Top Google by Writing Articles
Search engines determine their rankings based on two things: Is your site relevant? (Optimized for certain keywords) Is your site important? (Many links back to your site from other sites)
Local Search Optimization - A Guide to Getting Started
While searching the web these days, it's hard not to notice all those little Local tabs sprouting up in the vicinity of the search field on virtually every major search engine. Within the past year, the race has been to integrate a plethora of advanced features into local search capabilities.
Introduction to Google Page Rank (PR)
For anyone looking to enhance their Google Page Rank (PR) to get a better place in the search results, we now have software that makes finding good links so much easier.
Linking for Traffic not Positioning!
With more and more experts and search engine enthusiastsclaiming the right way and the wrong way to handle linkswapping, link exchanging or reciprocal linking!
Why You Need a SEO Maintenance Plan
A search engine optimization maintenance service plan will ensure that your site will continue to increase in its rankings, attract more visitors and make more sales. It's not enough to simply design your web site, have it optimized for the search engines and expect it to continually rank well. If left alone, you may soon lose the business your web site initially generated.
What Is Search Engine Optimization And Why Do I Need It?
Purchasing web design service is confusing with all of the different buzz words floating around. In an earlier article I discussed the differences between custom web design and web design based on templates. Another service being pushed by many web developers is search engine optimization (SEO). It has become a huge field in the last few years despite the fact that many purchasers of web development services are not clear on what it is or why they need to consider it in the making of their site.
Google Bring Deskbar Search To Windows Desktop. Now Any Website Can Take Advantage Of This
Google's premier of desktop search proves that the desktop is an extremely valuable marketing real estate. Google, which holds about 75% of the Internet search market, just introduced "Deskbar" ? a small desktop application that allows users to search Google directly from their desktops. Google currently rules the Internet, but positioning themselves on the desktop gives them the power to rule not only the Internet, but also the entire personal computer.
Web Site Copy is about More Than Keywords
Let's say you are writing a web site to sell beach homes on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada.
Is Google Fair?
If you are the owner of a new website, trying to get a decent ranking from the mighty google, you will no doubt answer with a resounding, NO! Recent findings indicate that Google's algorithm has an ageing filter, which put in simple terms, makes it harder for a new webmaster to get high ranking in the SERP's, in the short term at least. So does this mean google favours established sites over new ones?
Affordable Small Business SEO: 5 Common SEO Errors and How to Fix Them
Don't put the cart before the horse.
Here Today Gone Tomorrow
Its a matter of here today, gone tomorrow at the moment with Google so don't get complacent if you are on the first few pages of the searches. Its great, you are making money and think now you can relax and forget about it for a while. No chance, Keep up with linking and adding the odd page every week or two or you will disappear in a twinkling.
Meta Tags - An Important Part of Every Web Page
Meta tags are an absolute must from a search engine optimisation perspective, there are many mistakes that can be made by not including these or even trying to 'spam' the SE's using them so heres a quick summary of the three main ones: