Internet Marketing
How to Choose Domain
Names
By Sumantra Roy
The importance of having your own domain
name cannot be over-emphasized. If you are running an online
business, and don't yet have a domain name, you are probably
losing thousands of dollars worth of business because of this.
Why? Simply because, unless you have a domain name, your customers
will simply not feel comfortable buying from you. In order to sell
on the web, you need to build up your credibility. Having your own
domain name is the first step in that process.
So, now that you are convinced that you need
your own domain, how should you name your domain? Here are a few
do's and don'ts regarding this. While the availability of domains
which follow all of these rules may have become limited, try to
follow as many of these rules as possible.
1) Consider naming your company and
registering a domain name starting with the digit 1. Better still,
choose a name starting with "1st". Why? When people
create directories of web sites, they have to decide how they are
going to classify those web sites. One way to classify web sites
is to list them on the basis of how "good" they are.
Another way is to simply list them in chronological order (and
sometimes in reverse chronological order) based on the dates the
sites were submitted.
The other, and far more popular
classification system is alphabetic. Now, the first character in
the ASCII chart which can be used as the first character in a
domain name is the digit 0. The next character is the digit 1.
Normally, you wouldn't want to start a domain name with the digit
0 since it might send all the wrong signals to your customers. For
instance, if we had named our domain 0SearchRanking.com, it would
be telling our customers that we cannot get them any search engine
rankings at all! Hence, unless you really have a good reason for doing so, you should avoid using domain names starting with the
digit 0.
Instead name your domains starting with the
digit 1. More specifically, name your domains starting with
"1st". This will ensure that you get a high alphabetical
placement in those directories which classify sites
alphabetically. Furthermore, depending on the industry in which
your company operates, it may also send the right message across
to your customers - it indicates that you are the first company to
consider in your industry.
And guess what - the mother of all
directories - Yahoo! - lists
web sites alphabetically based on the Title that had been
submitted. Yahoo! wants the Title to be the official name of the
site. This implies that sites which start with the digit 1 will be
placed at or near the top of a category. Assuming that you can get
your site listed in Yahoo!, just look at what a top ranking in one
of the categories in Yahoo!'s directory can do for the popularity
of your site!
Furthermore, a small caveat here. If you are
going to name a domain starting with "1st", also
register the domain which starts with "ist". Then, have
the domain containing the vowel "i" redirect visitors to
the domain containing the digit 1. This is because people will
often type in 'ist' when they mean '1st' and vice-versa. Also, for
every email alias that you create for the domain containing
"1st" (like sales@1stcompany.com), you should create
the corresponding email alias for the domain containing "ist"
(like sales@istcompany.com).
Also, this strategy of registering domains
starting with '1st' is mainly applicable if yours is a somewhat
new company. If you own a well established concern with a well
known domain, you simply cannot change your company name and your
domain in a hurry because you will confuse your existing
customers.
2) Don't want to start your domain name with
"1st"? Consider starting it with "A",
"B" or "C". Although domains starting with A,
B or C will be listed after those starting with the 10 digits, you
can still get a pretty high alphabetical placement with A, B or C.
3) Try to register a domain which contains a
popular keyword applicable for your industry. This will help your
customers remember your domain name better. Furthermore, for
searches conducted in Yahoo!, a higher ranking will be given to
those web sites which contain the keywords in the title. And
according to Yahoo!'s instructions, the Title should always be the
official name of the site. Thus, if the domain name contains a
keyword, you will be able to include the keyword in the Title
which will improve your ranking in Yahoo!. As a minor
side-benefit, this can also help to increase the ranking of your
web site in some search engines. Hence, in an ideal case, you
should register a domain of the form 1st[keyword].com (without the
brackets of course).
4) Don't register a domain containing the
digit 0 in it, unless it is going to be part of a recognizable
word (like 1000 or 2000). This is because the digit 0 is often
confused with the vowel O. If you feel that you must register a
domain with the digit 0, make sure that you also register the
corresponding domain containing the vowel O.
5) Try to avoid using domains that contain
'2' for "To', '4' for 'For', 'u' for 'You' and so on even if
they seem to make your domain sound 'cool'. Your customers will
easily get confused if you do so. However, if you must register
such a domain, register the expanded form of the domain as well,
i.e. if you are registering greatthings2do.com, also register
greatthingstodo.com.
6) Should you or should you not use hyphens
in your domain? Well, the jury is out on the question. While some
Internet marketers will tell you that domains containing hyphens
are difficult to remember, spell and pronounce, others will state
that domains containing hyphens are, in fact, easy to remember,
spell and pronounce. Go figure. Personally, I would feel that
whether or not hyphens are helpful has to be determined on a case
by case basis. However, if you register a domain containing
hyphens, make sure that you also register the corresponding domain
without the hyphens. Once you do that, you can simply redirect
visitors from the domain without the hyphens to the domain with
the hyphens.
7) Don't make your primary domain too long.
Even though 67 character domains are a reality, exactly how many
of your users will want to type a domain name like
thisisanexampleofaverylargedomainname.com?
8) Always use ".com". If yours is
a serious business site, avoid using domains ending in "nu"
or "to". Your business will have little credibility if
you do so. You can consider registering a ".net" domain,
but since most people are familiar with ".com", it is
better to stick to convention.
While it is unlikely that you will be able
to register a domain which satisfies all the rules that I outlined
above, try to follow as many of the above rules as you can. You
can check out the availability of domain names and register new
domains at 1stSearchRanking.com
Article by Sumantra Roy. Sumantra is one of
the most respected search engine positioning specialists on the
Internet. To have Sumantra's company place your site at the top of
the search engines, go to 1stSearchRanking.com/t.cgi?1226
For more advice on how you can take your web site to the top of
the search engines, subscribe to his FREE newsletter by going to 1stSearchRanking.com
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