One of the many things you get confused about when starting your online marketing, is whether you should have your own website and if yes, then what comprises a good domain name?
Searching and getting a good domain name is an art and science in itself and requires a lot of efforts. One of the reasons for this effort is that, there are so many companies across the world today, that most of them are present online and they would have chosen the domain name that you have in mind.
So, if your company name is XYZ, you will find that XYZ & XYZ1 & XYZ2 are all taken and purchased? So what do you do?
In essence, what are the main factors to consider while buying a domain and what comprises a good domain name?
1) Major SEO benefit – Search engine optimisation or SEO involves optimizing your site so that it is found in the top recommendations of google or other search engines. One of the principles of search engines states that, if you have your keyword as one of the word in the domain name, it gives an amazing benefit in terms of search engine ranking.
Let us look at marketing91 itself. Marketing is directly the one keyword mentioned in the name, and 91 stands for India, the country I originate from. Another reason was that i wanted the “91” to be like an umbrella network for Network 91. So i launched list91, advertising91, and other such sites within the umbrella brand of 91. I might not be operating some of these sites today, but at the time of purchase, the objective was crisp clear.
A good domain name needs to have your keyword in the name. Off course, this DOES NOT APPLY TO BRAND NAMES.
2) White labelling or brand domains – Supposing I had a website XYZ.com. I could then have a professional id of [email protected]. Doesn’t that look very professional? I could also have XYZproducts.com and the email id will be emai[email protected]. Even that email looks official and beautiful.
The advantage of domains which are branded and have your brand name in it, is the white labelling. There are many tactics for white labelling your brand and one of them is to have a branded domain name. This same website is going to be mentioned in your visiting cards, going to be used for your customers and is a big time contributor during social media marketing.
3) Conveys what the company is all about – If you name was robert and you had a domain Robertevents.com, would i need to call you to ask what you do? You are into event managements. But if your name was robert and you had a domain called Robertconsultant.com then i don’t know which type of consultant are you? An Export consultant, engineering consultant or worse for me, a marketing consultant?
So how about robertmarketingconsultant? Hmm, you get the complete keyword in your domain name, and you have your name also. Looks fine, doesnt it? Only it will be too long for your visiting card and definitely long for recalls. So how about this – robertmarketing.com. The domain clearly says you are in marketing, and that i can consult from you.
A good brand name will convey to your readers and customers what your site is all about.
4) Using your own full name – Nowadays due to dearth of good brand names, many people are registering their sites by their full name. So my site will be hiteshbhasin.com. Not an issue, as long as i am ready to spend the money for SEO on it.
Your name as a domain name is a good idea and it makes sense if your product is you yourself. If you are the consultant, then having your name as the domain name builds people’s confidence in you. But then, be ready to shell out some money to SEO the domain so that it ranks for the desired keywords.
Now the above were the big points in buying a good domain name. To make it even more pinpoint, here are some more points.
5) Make it remember able – You might have to jumble up the words a bit to get the domain you desire. But in essence, don’t make it too mumbo jumbo of a word which people are not able to pronounce.
6) Short enough – Do not buy a domain name which is 30 alphabets long. Google and other search engines hate that. They DO NOT like long URL’s and hence long domain names are a big no no.
7) Should be easy to pronounce- Goes without saying, word of mouth is the best promotions you can have. But what if they are not able to pronounce it properly?
8) Use external help for searching – Search for the keyword – “Domain name suggestions” and you will find several sites on google which help you in choosing a domain name. For that matter, even godaddy suggests a lot of good domain name alternatives if you want.
So, if you are searching for domain names, never do it in a hurry. In fact, look at the future implications of your domain name and ensure that you buy an excellent one.
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