Choosing a Domain Name That Works for Your Website

When you're ready to get your website up and running one of the first decisions you need to make is what will you choose for your domain name.

Your domain, or url, is an important part of your online presence. You tell people to visit your website by giving them your url. You print your url name on your letterhead and business cards. It's part of your business identity.

There are 4 main factors that you should consider when choosing a domain name.

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
2. Branding
3. Dashes
4. Top Level Domain

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization (SEO) is all about getting traffic from the search engines, such as Google, and Yahoo/Bing. Google accounts for approximately 66% of the search engine traffic so it's best to focus on them.

Your url is part of your SEO strategy. If you have relevant keywords in your url, it can give you a boost in the search engine results when people type in keywords related to your website.

For example, if I had a site about china travel tips and the url for that website was chinatraveltips.com, I could get an extra boost from Google when someone types in that keyword phrase.

In fact, if you have an exact match domain name, most people agree that you get an even higher boost for that keyword phrase. For example, if your website was keywordphrase.com that would be an exact match domain name and you would get a boost in the search engine rankings when someone types that exact phrase in.

However, Google is turning down the impact that having a keyword related domain name has on search engine results. How much they're turning it down, we don't know yet. But, it's pretty clear that it won't have the same effect that it used to have.

Branding

Branding is just using a unique word, phrase or design to distinguish your products, service or company.

All of the major corporations are well-known brand names - Apple, Nike, Sony.

A unique name can help you stand out from the competition and the same goes for domain names. Do you think that Nike would've had the same success if they just went with tennisshoes.com? Obviously, that's a little different since they didn't start as an internet company, but the principle is the same.

If you're creating a business online and you want to stand out from the competition, you should consider a unique url. If you use a brand name as your url, you can stand out in your market and people will remember your name over all the other domain names made up of keyword phrases.

If you're creating small niche websites that target specific keywords, you might want to avoid brand names and try to get keyword rich domain names. However, with the changes in Google's position, the benefit from keyword domains most likely won't have the same impact as they did before.

Dashes

A lot of people wonder if they should include dashes in their url. Part of that decision is personal preference and part is based on objective factors.

I'm not a big fan of dashes in domains. If we're talking about how to choose a url, you have to consider the real world too.

Domain names with dashes can be hard to remember, especially if you communicate the domain to someone in person. If they forget, then you're going to be sending traffic to the non-dash version of your site.

For example, if your website is keyword-phrase.com and you tell your friend to visit your website at keyword dash phrase dot com and they forget the dash, you are now sending people to what I can only assume is your competition - keywordphrase.com - otherwise you would've just purchased the domain without the dash.

I imagine a url with a dash would run into those types of problems frequently.

From an SEO perspective, Google and the other search engines can identify keywords without a dash, so it's not necessary to include a dash in your url.

In fact, if you look at the search results for any given query, you won't see a lot of website names with dashes ranking in the top results. That could be because there aren't nearly as many domains with dashes as there are without, or it could be that Google doesn't rank them as well.

Unless, there was a really compelling reason to get a name with a dash, I would stick to one without.

Top Level Domain

The Top Level Domain (TLD) is the end of your url - .com, .net, .org.

The most common TLD, and the one most people default to is.com. In other words, if you tell someone your website is website.info and they try to visit your site later, but can't remember exactly what it was, they'll probably go to website.com before anything else.

Based on experiments that I've seen other people perform, .com, .net and .org are the best 3 TLD's to have, from an SEO perspective. That doesn't mean you can't rank well if you have a.info TLD, but it's gonna be a little harder.

You can also go to Google and run a search for anything you want. Take a look at how many of the results on the first page are.com compared to any other TLD. Again, it could be because there are more .com's than anything else, but the fact still remains that .com's are the most common and most popular TLD.

How to Choose a Domain Name

There are different factors that come into play when trying to choose a good domain name. If you're an affiliate marketer and you want the most SEO benefit possible, then you should probably look at getting a url with keywords in it.

If you're a real world business that wants a strong online presence, then you should consider branding. Either way you go, it's just one piece of the puzzle to consider.

Choosing a domain name is only one part of building a successful online business. If you want to learn internet marketing, and how internet marketing can help you grow your business, get website traffic and generate revenue, check out Superbad Internet Marketing for more free info.

Fast As Well As Short Suggestions About A Website Name Search For A Video Marketing Business

Would you rather go the cheaper (normally) route of getting an unregistered website address and build it up yourself?

That is simply the very first of many queries you must ask yourself. I will break it down a bit so you have a much better idea of which option is the very best one for you and your business online.

First things first, take into consideration just what your financial budget is for your website address. A new, unregistered domain name is around $10 annually. You can save on that price in case you register it for several years and/or you buy multiple domain name at a time. If you buy in bulk you could generally get a per domain price of around $5 or $6 dollars, maybe much less.

In case this is the way you want to go then you have to find a listing of key phrases that are directly relevant to the topic of your business enterprise. For example, if you are starting a niche site on the subject of bird baths you have to do some keyphrase research so you can make a good big list of highly searched search phrases associated with bird baths.

Once you have this listing, you could visit the domain address registrar online and discover which online sites are readily available There are many web address registrars out there such as GoDaddy.com, DomainCheapsters.com or NameCheap.com to mention just a few.

Try and obtain a.com extension whenever possible but in case you have a really great keyword that obtains lots of searches every month, going with a.net should work out very well for you too.

In addition, try and obtain a domain address that just has the search term in it and if possible, no other words. Though, again, if the search phrase you're targeting is quite common you must not pass it up. So in case all you are able to get is a domain address with something like the term 'best' or 'easy' and so on, before or after the search phrase, you must probably go for it.

In case you are searching for an expired domain name that presently has a high page rank and lots of search traffic every month you must visit an online domain auction site. There are plenty of them around and many of the domain registrar businesses will sell off expired domain names.

Be sure you know what you will get should you follow this path. Most of the time you are just getting the website address and not the actual online site. Also, carefully consider the amount of traffic the site is currently getting and try to estimate what your monthly revenue will be for that website, so you don't spend too much.

As you can tell, there are several options with regards to your domain name search for your video marketing enterprise. To a degree the option you select would depend on what your budget is. Spending some time to carefully look into all your options before you make an acquisition is a very sensible idea.

Video Marketing is actually a scheme which facilitates and encourages people to pass along marketing video clips about services and products available. This could be successfully done by using Social Media Marketing, a great method that provides links, attention as well as huge numbers of page views by advertising your website or organization through social media channels.

Choosing a Good Domain Name for Your Website

What is a domain name?

The domain name is the name for your website. It is the Internet equivalent of your mail or postal address.

Choosing a good domain name is one of the first items on the agenda when setting up your new website. Take great care with it. You cannot change it at any time in the future without a completely fresh start.

It should be easy to remember and it should include your main targeted keywords.

Search engine optimisation (SEO) or other types of website promotion.

You must decide at an early stage if the main thrust for promotion will be with SEO or another type of marketing.

If you hope to attract new clients to your website by being found on the search engines such as Google, the domain name should concentrate on the keywords that indicate the products or services you offer: Your name or brand name will be meaningless to people who have never heard of you. If you plan to promote your website mainly by advertising or networking there would be merit in having your brand name included.

There is a balance to be struck between the inclusion of your targeted keywords and ease of recall.

The question of including locality should be carefully considered. Targeting a large metropolis will make it difficult to achieve top positioning on the search engine results pages (SERPs). 'london-italian-restaurant' may seem attractive but the competition is high (HomePage PageRank keyword difficulty - HPR-KD 5.6) and top positioning on the SERPs is unlikely. Competition will also depend on the nature of the service or products at you are targeting. The competition for a dietician's website is likely to be less than for an Italian restaurant and a town with 200,000 people may be in range for top positioning whereas a small borough might be more appropriate for the Italian restaurant.

Three words, perhaps including your locality, are a reasonable maximum and aim for no more than 20 characters. The maximum permitted number of characters is 63. Letters, numbers and hyphens are permitted.

There is debate as to whether there should be hyphens between the words - 'london-tour-guides' or 'londontourguides'. In favour of the former is that it is easier for the search engines to index the keywords whereas in favour of the latter is that it is easier for clients to remember. The search engines provide no guidance and this is not an area that lends itself to research.

Domain Extensions.

The extension indicates the country of origin of the site, the nature of the site or both. Although '.com' suggests a commercial site it has become the most popular and often the first choice for many sites even if they are not commercial. Examples of other domain extensions indicating function are '.org' - non-commercial organisation '.gov' - government websites and '.edu' educational websites.

Every country has its own extension. Examples include '.co.uk' - for the UK, '.de' for Germany and '.jp' for Japan. Most extensions are available to all websites. Some extensions, however, are reserved for specific organisations. Examples are '.nhs.uk' and '.ac.uk'.

Two websites cannot have identical domain names. They can have similar names but with different extensions such as 'mywebsite.com' and 'mywebsite.org'.

Domain name registration.

When you register the domain, you are inserting an entry into the global directory of all the websites on the Internet.

At the time of registration, there is an option to show or hide your details. It is better to show them or potential clients might have concerns that you have something to hide. Make sure your information is kept up to date or you could lose control of your domain.

There is an annual fee for domain name retention. If you fall behind with the payment, the cost of renewal increases significantly. You should renew your registration with the 'registrar' company you used first time round. There are some seemingly official looking companies who may contact you early offering to renew the registration for you at a discounted rate. It is worth double checking their fees as they are usually the more expensive option.

Buying an old domain name.

You may find that the domain name you would like is owned by someone else. It may be in use currently on the web or possibly registered but not in use. Some companies have a facility to negotiate purchase of owned domain names on your behalf. For example, if you want a new website for a travel agency to South America - Amazon.com might be desirable, although this one might prove to be rather expensive.

There are some agencies that actively market currently unused domains. There is an incorrect belief that the age of a domain name has a major influence on positioning on SERPs. Whilst it is true that there is a tendency for older domains to have higher positioning there are confounding factors relating to backlinks. A new website has no links and a HomePage PageRank (HPR) of 0. If a website has good content, it will accumulate links and the HPR will increase. The HPR is the top factor in the Google algorithm. Older domains only rise up the SERPS when they have accumulated links. An old domain with no links will fare no better than a new website.

For those considering purchasing a 'pre-owned' domain name I have the following concerns.

1. The search engines will become aware of the change in ownership. They may discard links from their index made before that change. I know of website owners who purchased a domain name with an HPR4 only to find that within a few months it had fallen to 0.

2. It is possible that the previous owner indulged in unethical practice. You may inherit the repercussions.

New domain names

It is worth spending time researching your options and inventing a new name that will fulfil most of your ambitions. There are often gems to be found. A few months ago, I came across a new available '.com' that was too tempting for me to resist - '1onGoogle'. However, with an HPR-KD of 6.4 for '1 on Google', I know that my website will not hit the top SERP for such a competitive keyword even with the keyword in the domain name.

The main advantage of having your keyword in the domain name is that there is a reasonable chance that your keywords, such as 'health', '1onGoogle' or 'web design' will be included in the anchor text of links to your website. This has positive SEO implications.

It must be said that inclusion of keywords in domain names for SEO purposes has never been a major ranking factor. According to Matt Cutts, who regularly speaks on behalf of Google, its value has been further diminished in 2011. It can be argued that websites such as Google, Amazon and Facebook have done well with brand names as their domain names. These, however, are the exceptions to the rule that most of us must work with.

Finally, choose a domain name that you will feel comfortable with and that you will enjoy. It is like choosing the name for your baby. Let us hope that your website will be successful and you will be happy with your choice.

David Viniker MD FRCOG has 30 years experience with computer applications for medical education and he has applied the principles of evidence based practice to SEO: He is a doctor trained to practice evidence based medicine. David has published compelling and easily verifiable evidence that HomePage PageRank is the top factor in the Google positioning algorithm and that Google provides a boosting adjustment to HomePages that are competing for a keyword. He has developed a new, essential keyword tool - http://www.keywordseopro.com/ which calculates keyword difficulty based on HomePage PageRank. Visit his website for further details.

His website http://www.firstwebsitedesign.com/ provides valuable information for beginners and intermediates in website design and search engine optimization.

A Website Name Is Only A Name, Or Is It?

Deciding upon a name for your website is almost like naming your child; once it's named, that's it and you can't change it, well, you could but it will cost you. Your website name represents you and your company; it should be meaningful and hopefully something that someone can easily remember. What is involved and why is a good name so important?

Time - Take time to create names. Use key words and try to leave out words such as best, greatest or superior because they don't actually give any information. The name should reflect the product. If you look at any of the major products on the market today, you will find that the website name is actually the name of the product. For example, SC Johnson's cleaning product Scrubbing Bubbles has its own website called scrubbingbubbles.com. It is simple, easy to remember and to the point.

Individualize - How one comes up with names will vary on the person and how they work as an individual. A quick and easy (yes, I said easy) is to brainstorm and just list whatever comes to mind. First think about what you are offering and everything that it can do. Then start writing and even if it sounds funny or stupid to you, write it down. If you want a different point of view, ask someone else to brainstorm for you or with you. When you are done, you will have a number of words and/or phrases that you can use to begin creating a name.

Mix it Up - Another way to create a name is by slightly altering the name but keeping it easy to remember otherwise someone may type it incorrectly and ends up at your competitor's website. This change could be a play on words or a particular word is spelled slightly different or you use a numeric digit instead of writing the number out. If the product or selling is fun, then try and make the website name fun like your cleaning company could have a name like wedontmessaround.com. And you certainly wouldn't want your law office to have a name like defendersRus.com because what you do is of a serious nature so the website name should be professional and clean.

Research - If you are still having a hard time, check out your competitors names. There may be one that attracts your attention and perhaps it will set your mind in motion. Maybe there is a key feature about your product that simply stands out and you could use that in the name. Check out the Internet registries and see what they have available for sale. You could even search the Internet with several of your keywords that have been used in your articles and see what comes up.

If you have a website name that you just have to use and is already taken, try changing the extension. Instead of using ".com' try ".net" or ".org". With some imagination and ingenuity, you will be able to decide on the perfect name for your website.

Jeanne Lovely is a successful Internet Marketer helping people with Step-By-Step systems to get a website online.

For my FREE REPORT on "How To Find A Killer Niche" go to http://www.howtogetyourproductonline.com/secrets

Visit my blog http://www.howtogetyourproductonline.com/blog

How to Choose a Name for Your Website

If you have decided that you want to build a website for your business then the naming of website is very important. A website name is also known as a domain name and it's what people use to find your website.

There can be hundreds of companies, and people, all over the world with the same name but there is only one website name available. Try to think of a name that is memorable and describes your business.

The first thing you will need when deciding a name is a pen and paper. Write down various names that you would like to use for your website. You should use only letters if at all possible.

Remember that whichever name you go for, it is going to be for good because even though you can change it every page, link and promotion will no longer work. You will have to rebuild your whole website costing both a great deal of time and money.

So you have the paper in front of you with some clever, funny, fantastic and not so fantastic website names, now what? How do I know if these names are available?

We can check if the names are available on various websites. Enter a website name e.g. myownwebsite.com to see if the name is available. The results page will tell you if the website name is available or not. If it is available you may be given the option of buying the name but do not do so right away.

If a domain name is not available you will get a results page which will tell you who owns the name, when is was registered and when it will expire. If a name you have your eye on expires soon then it may be worth holding on until it becomes available. It is also important to remember that expired domains are often renewed automatically or the owner is given first preference on renewing the name.

To check for yourself what names are available or take you enter the name on this website whois.domaintools.com

Many names are purchased by internet companies that also provide hosting services. These companies will either just use the names and have adverts on the page or they will have the names for sale at a high price.

Now if for instance myownwebsite.com is unavailable you could go for another extension instead. An extension is the part that comes at end of the website name e.g. .com, .ie, .us.

If at all possible you should try to get a.com for your website name. This extension is by far the most popular in the world and is the default name that browsers use. If for instance a user types myownsite into the address bar, then the browser will straight away go look for myownsite.com. If you own the.com version then great but if you own the.biz version then you will lose that visitor and of course that all important sale.

My name is Paul O Brien. I have set up my own websites about various subjects and now I am sharing the knowledge and resources I have gained with others like me. If you want to design and build your own small simple website then visit my website http://www.websitedesignhub.com/ for tips and information.