Weblog Bucks

One of the fastest ways of getting attention for your business in today’s world is to have a good online presence. And the first step to getting your business online is a good domain name.

Somehow, there hasn’t been enough emphasis placed on choosing a domain name that attracts the right customers, so allow me to expound on this subject with some tips you can put to immediate use for your next website or blog.

1. Choose A Descriptive Domain

What your website offers should be clear from the domain name. Don’t make your potential visitors guess at what they’ll find on your website.

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, shorter is better because it’s easier to remember. It’s also easier for them to type, with less chance of spelling mistakes.

2. Choose a Domain With Your Keywords in It

Most websites rely on Google, Yahoo and other search engines for some (or most) of their traffic. If your business’s keywords are included in your domain, you’re more likely to rank higher in the results.

Taking the time to do some research to find your best keywords, and a domain that includes them, is important. Make sure it still meets the first criteria though - short and descriptive.

Of course, there are other SEO tactics to implement for better rankings, but getting a keyword-rich domain name is the first step towards ensuring your website will be search engine friendly. Avoid using any weird characters like apostrophes and even hyphens in your domain name as this will eventually affect rankings.

3. Can You Use A Different Extension Than .com?

Yes and no. You could use other extensions like .net, .biz or .info but it’s not the best choice. Everybody knows .com but if your site uses something else, you’re going to have to market it a lot harder to get the correct extension in people’s minds. And if someone else already has the .com version, they’ll probably get a lot of traffic from people looking for you.

Another reason is when emailing, customers automatically assume every company ends with a .com extension and this can be devastating to your business if your customers’ emails keep ending up in your competitors’ database.

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.

So don’t rush into picking your domain name. Research your market and find the keyword phrases that people are searching for. There are quite a few websites that let you research this information, such as Wordtracker.com and GoodKeywords.com. Putting the effort in up front will pay off in the long run.