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Domain names are no longer a web address these days. Manyprofitable companies have been built around their domain namemaking it the brand and the company. Choosing the right domainshould be as important as naming your product. Given thatstatus, here are some pointers ho
w to find a name that will seeyou through it all.
Branding vs. Keywords:
This is probably the most difficult to determine. Yet, shouldbe the first place to start because the rest of theconsiderations will one way or another relate to this. There aretwo schools of thought. One group believes you should have yourkeywords in the domain so that search engines pick up on thekeywords and rank you better. To what extent this really affectsyour search engine ranking is not clearly known or proven.Consider why you are putting the website up in the first place.Most likely it's for your customers or visitors. So choose adomain that also puts your audience first.
The other group believes a webmaster should go for brand. Mostsuccessful companies start off with a brand, including onlinecompanies. Brands make the product memorable, createdifferentiation and encourage loyalty. In the early days of theInternet, everyone wanted a generic domain likesearchengine.com, books.com, auctions.com and the likes. Today,very few of those are truly successful sites that rival Goggle,Amazon and eBay.
A branded domain also ensures consistency throughout yourmarketing efforts. As one web user describes, "Every time thecompany tells me to visit their generic website, they lose theopportunity to reinforce their brand name in my mind".
Whether you use keywords or brand for your domain depends muchon what you aim to do. If you plan to build a business orwebsite that is going to have staying power, branded domains area better choice. It might not be easy or cheap to build a brandbut there are no shortcuts when it comes to branding either.It's a slow process that can be very rewarding if done right.Don't choose a domain simply because of its keywords. Firstclass content, links in and clever optimization are moreimportant to good ranking than anything else. Having said that,a brand name made up of keywords could be best, and you wouldhave the best of both worlds - literally. TakeCancerComforts.com. Owner Kathy Browning chose the domainbecause of its keywords. But apart from being keyword rich,CancerComforts.com is also very marketable and can be a strongbrand.
If you are building a resource website, a website for affiliateprograms or one that's temporary in nature, keyword rich andgeneric domains would be a better choice. Finally, there is noharm in buying both branded and keyword domains that point tothe same site. Just make sure you only use one for submissions,directory listings, link exchanges and promotion. This way youbuild your link popularity.
You should also, make sure the site title or name matches yourdomain. If your domain is ExtremeBiking.com and your site nameis Smith Brothers Biking Tours this makes visitors and directoryeditors wonder if this is the correct website. It also causesconfusion. People who know you tend to look for a domain thatreflects your brand and not extreme biking. If you have yet toestablish a company name or a site name, it might be a good ideato name it after you find a domain name. This is sensible,consistent marketing.
Company Name:
This is the most common because in today's increasingly smalland competitive world, businesses tend to have rather creativeand catchy names. On the other hand, if your business name isvery nondescript such as The Smith Brothers, you might want totake the approach that combines part of your company name and akeyword. Although the importance of brand name was emphasizedearlier, here the situation is slightly different.Non-descriptive company names aren't particula
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3.22 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."
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