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 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 establishment 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.
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