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In today's world, a website is one of the fastest ways of attracting attention to your business. And the first step to setting up a website is choosing a good domain name.
This is one of the things that often goes overlooked - how your domain name attracts or turns away customers. Let's look at a few tips.
1. Make Sure Your Domain Describes Your Business
Your domain name should make it clear to your visitors what your website is about, even before they land on the site. Don't make them guess what you're offering.
For example, if your name happens to be Sue Brown and you own a hair salon called Sue's Hair Salon, get a domain name like, www.sueshairsalon.com instead of www.suebrown.com. Seems pretty obvious, but you'll be amazed at how many business owners use their personal names as domain names instead of choosing one that specifically describes their business.
Also, try to keep your domain name within a range of 13-15 characters, as shorter domain names tend to stick in people's minds. It also makes it easier for them to type out your web address in their browsers without too much head scratching.
2. Get A Domain That Includes Your Keywords
It's becoming increasingly important for business owners to have their websites indexed and ranked well in search engines like Google.com, MSN.com and Yahoo.com. And it helps this cause tremendously if you have a keyword-rich domain name. The reason for this is simple: Your potential customers search using specific keyword phrases to find what they're looking for.
Spending the time to research your keywords and find a domain that uses them, while still meeting the first criteria (descriptive, short as possible) is well worth the time.
There are plenty of other things you'll need to do to get good rankings in the search engines, but your domain name sets the foundation for everything else. Also, avoid using dashes in your domain even if it makes it easier to find a keyword-rich name. Hyphens are believed to hurt your rankings in some search engines.
3. Can You Use A Different Extension Than .com?
Well, the answer is yes and no. There's no reason you can't use a different extension like .net or .biz if that's the only way you can get the domain you want. It's not the best choice however, because everybody thinks in terms of .com. If your site uses something else, it's going to be an uphill battle to get people to recognize your site. If someone else already owns the .com version, they're going to get a lot of free traffic thanks to your marketing.
How would you like your potential customers to end up on your competitor's client list thanks to the time and money you spend on marketing?
If you're setting up a website for specific types of organizations, a non-profit group for example which should use .org, the best way to go is to stick with .com.
Don't rush into picking a domain name. Take the time to research your market and find keyword phrases that people actually search for. Websites such as Wordtracker.com and GoodKeywords.com can help you with this. Taking the time to plan correctly in the beginning will pay off well in the long term.
This is one of the things that often goes overlooked - how your domain name attracts or turns away customers. Let's look at a few tips.
1. Make Sure Your Domain Describes Your Business
Your domain name should make it clear to your visitors what your website is about, even before they land on the site. Don't make them guess what you're offering.
For example, if your name happens to be Sue Brown and you own a hair salon called Sue's Hair Salon, get a domain name like, www.sueshairsalon.com instead of www.suebrown.com. Seems pretty obvious, but you'll be amazed at how many business owners use their personal names as domain names instead of choosing one that specifically describes their business.
Also, try to keep your domain name within a range of 13-15 characters, as shorter domain names tend to stick in people's minds. It also makes it easier for them to type out your web address in their browsers without too much head scratching.
2. Get A Domain That Includes Your Keywords
It's becoming increasingly important for business owners to have their websites indexed and ranked well in search engines like Google.com, MSN.com and Yahoo.com. And it helps this cause tremendously if you have a keyword-rich domain name. The reason for this is simple: Your potential customers search using specific keyword phrases to find what they're looking for.
Spending the time to research your keywords and find a domain that uses them, while still meeting the first criteria (descriptive, short as possible) is well worth the time.
There are plenty of other things you'll need to do to get good rankings in the search engines, but your domain name sets the foundation for everything else. Also, avoid using dashes in your domain even if it makes it easier to find a keyword-rich name. Hyphens are believed to hurt your rankings in some search engines.
3. Can You Use A Different Extension Than .com?
Well, the answer is yes and no. There's no reason you can't use a different extension like .net or .biz if that's the only way you can get the domain you want. It's not the best choice however, because everybody thinks in terms of .com. If your site uses something else, it's going to be an uphill battle to get people to recognize your site. If someone else already owns the .com version, they're going to get a lot of free traffic thanks to your marketing.
How would you like your potential customers to end up on your competitor's client list thanks to the time and money you spend on marketing?
If you're setting up a website for specific types of organizations, a non-profit group for example which should use .org, the best way to go is to stick with .com.
Don't rush into picking a domain name. Take the time to research your market and find keyword phrases that people actually search for. Websites such as Wordtracker.com and GoodKeywords.com can help you with this. Taking the time to plan correctly in the beginning will pay off well in the long term.
About the Author:
Are you struggling to get your internet business started but feel lost in a sea of gurus and products promising instant riches? Visit the Internet Marketing Chaos site for a hype-free look at how to run your business. Visit http://www.netmarketingchaos.com for more helpful info
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