Posts Tagged ‘domain name’

How Keyword Rich Domain Names Will Increase Google Rankings

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

Everyone who wants a website to be hosted on the internet will have a purpose. The common aim for every website owner is to get more visitors to the website. When you run a website for your online business, you have to concentrate more on getting many visitors to your website. Search engine traffic is the highly targeted traffic, but to get visitors from search engines, your website must have high Google rankings. Apart from on page SEO, it is possible to increase search engine rankings by taking advantage of domaining. While buying domain name is an important task for a webmaster, many people ignore the importance of domaining. A domain name which contains the keywords of your website is likely to increase search engine ranking.

Search engines will first look out for URLs containing keywords that the user searched. If the search keyword matches the keyword in the domain name of your website, your website will be displayed in the search engine results increasing the possibility of getting more number of visitors. Your website will get higher increased ranking if it contains keywords in its domain name. Using exact keywords in the domain name is a small change in your domaining plan, but it can give you positive results which you thought were tough to achieve.

Domaining has to be considered before hosting a website. If you have already established a website that has a few visitors, you should not change the domain name because users will remember the website only using the domain name. Though domaining is important for search engine rankings, you cannot expect to increase the ranking of your website only with the help of keyword rich domain names. Lot more steps are involved in search engine optimization and the importance of any of those steps cannot be ignored if you want higher search engine rankings.

While choosing domain names, many webmasters are unable to choose between branding and keyword rich domain names. If your website is aimed at selling products in a niche and if you have a small budget for marketing your website, then keyword rich domaining can greatly help you achieve your goal. Brandable domain names are easy to remember for your repeating visitors. You cannot expect your visitors to search for the same keyword every time to reach your website. Also, search engine ranking is not a constant number and the ranking of your website changes continuously.

With more and websites being hosted on the internet, finding the domain name that you like has become near impossible. Many people buy domain names at lower rates and wait for some time to sell it for a higher price. When you search for domain names, come up with as many names as possible that reflect your business. If you cannot buy domain name that contains exact keywords of your website, you can look for names that describe your website niche. For business websites, hyphens in domain names are to be avoided even though search engine optimization is not affected by the hyphens in the domain names.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Domain Names, SEO, Website Development | 2 Comments »

Choosing Domain Names for Your Business

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

Let’s say that you’re creating a website for Barb’s Specialty Pet Products. Should the domain name be barbsspecialtypetproducts.com?

Perhaps — but don’t stop there. Having the right domain name, or domain names, can bring more traffic to your site.

Why more than one domain name?

One domain is all you need to set up a website. But with more domains directing to your site, you can have these additional benefits:

- Bring site visitors who type variations of your domain name

- Acquire traffic that might otherwise go to your competition

- Harness the marketing power of keyword domains

Your primary domain name

If it’s feasible, use your business or brand name in your primary domain. People will remember it and associate it with your business. Also consider the following factors when choosing your primary domain.

Domain name extensions

Should your primary domain end with .com, .net, or .biz, or with a country-specific extension such as .ca or .co.uk?

If your website is aimed at people in a specific country, having a country-specific domain can help:

- Site visitors will recognize right away that the business has a presence in the country of the extension. They may therefore be more comfortable buying from you.

- Some country-specific search results include sites with the relevant country-specific domain extension even if the site isn’t hosted in that country.

On the other hand, if you’re targeting an international audience, a country-specific domain could work against you. People from outside the country of the extension may be less inclined to buy if the business looks foreign to them.

If you want to attract both people within your country and those in other countries, have both. Each domain could direct to the same site, with each audience seeing the domain intended for them. For country-specific search results, the primary domain should be the country-specific one.

Chances are that the .com domain you want is already taken. If you use the .net or .biz version, you risk having potential site visitors go to your .com competition instead. Be sure to use the full domain name on all promotional material to reduce this risk.

Domain name length

A short domain is easier to remember, it has less risk of being mistyped, and it’ll fit easily on your business cards and correspondence.

Conversely, if a short name doesn’t represent your business, it’s more difficult for people to remember. The short names you like may already be taken anyway.

If your business name is up to three easy-to-spell words, it’ll probably work as a domain name. For a longer business name, the initials or just one or two words may be easier than remembering a combination of words.

Secondary domain names

Secondary domains directing to your site are for online use:

- For people who type your primary domain name incorrectly

- For people who search for your products or services online

Typing and spelling variations

How many ways can people spell and type your business name?

barbsspecialtypetproducts.com

barbs-specialty-pet-products.com

barbspecialtypetproducts.com

barbsspecialitypetproducts.com

barbsspecialitypetproducts.com

barbspecialtyproducts.com

barbspecialtyproduct.com

Hyphens aren’t recommended for your primary domain. When people tell others about your site, they’re likely to omit the hyphens. They may also forget to type them.

For secondary domains, hyphens make long domains easier to read. Each word stands out when people see your domain. However, domains such as buy-keyword-product-now.com make some people view hyphenated domains, especially those with more than one hyphen, as spam-like.

Having the words in domains separated may help some search engines recognize keywords. With Google, though, hyphens don’t make any difference.

Consider all of these variations for secondary domain names:

- With and without hyphens

- Different ways of spelling some words

- Singular and plural versions of nouns

- Extensions with .com and .net as well as a country-specific extension if relevant

What people search for

If you want to find the website for Time magazine, you might do a search for it, or you might try typing in time.com. If you do the latter, you’ll find yourself at the Time site.

This type of search behavior extends to generic words too. Searching for dog collars? Try dogcollar.com, for example, and you’ll be redirected to dogidcollar.com. Do you want life insurance? Lifeinsurance.com redirects to nmfn.com (and so does northwesternmutualfinancialnetwork.com).

While having keyword domain names may not draw a lot of site visitors, using them is a technique to consider.

How to use more than one domain

Set up your website with your primary domain, and use that domain on your correspondence and with your customers.

Point secondary domains to your site using URL forwarding (also called domain forwarding, domain redirect, or URL redirect). To have the secondary domain appear in the browser, use domain masking. You can set up these features when you log in to your account with your domain registrar (if your registrar offers these services).

With domains that are simply variations of your primary domain, you can expect additional traffic just from having set up these domains. With domains that contain keywords, you can get more from them by using them to list your site in online directories. When these domains appear in search results, searchers will see the keywords.

The next step

Once you decide on the available domains that you want, register them immediately. They might not be available tomorrow.

If you don’t already have a business name, you’ll find it easier to market your business online if you choose a primary domain and a business name together. If your first choice for a business name doesn’t work well with any available domains, consider a business name that you can easily market with an available domain. Once you’ve registered that domain name and your business name, register secondary domains and put them to use.

Is it worth registering multiple domains for one site? That depends on your site, but any variations that you don’t register will be available for competitors to register and use. If a domain is valuable to a competitor, it’s valuable to you.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Domain Names, Webcrowd News, Website Development | 2 Comments »

Domains and Subdomains

Thursday, February 19th, 2009

Author: Sandi Baker

There are ways to increase your exposure with the power of subdomains but first we need to look at what domains and subdomains are.

What Are Domains?

Domains we are all familiar with. They are our URL which is the full http address. While the Domain name is the name of our website. Keep in mind that in the past theses two where interchangeable and still are with virtual hosting. If you do not have this type of hosting you will be dealing with the fact that there are more websites than there are servers. Many things have changed over the years with so many websites out there now on the internet.

How Does A Domain Name System Work?

The name consists of tow or more labels separated by dots. To the left the label specifies a subdomain.

What Are Subdomains?

This is an extension of your existing, working domain. It is however separate from the domain that it extracts from.

What this means is that a subdomain is considered as it own site.

Why Use A Subdomain?

Some people create subdomains for niches. Others use them to load images that coincide with their main site, There are some businesses that use them to split their departments.

Many uses can be found and the benefits are that you don’t have to start another website, thus incurring another expense. Another benefit is that search engines will count the subdomain as a separate site causing more exposure.

How Do You Create A Subdomain?

Use the topic of your website domain name in your subdomain so that they relate to one another. Go to your web hosting administration panel to create your subdomain.

Let us take a website address such as www.webcrowd.com.au/domains

The subdomain would then become www.domains.webcrowd.com.au

Did you notice the change of the dot and the placement of it?

Most of your hosting will help you with this process or you can purchase some simple software to aid you with this. If you are doing multiple subdomains, I recommended that you purchase the software as this can become tedious.

Important Notes:

You should have at least 4 pages on your subdomain for them to appear as having substantial content for the search engines,

Also keep in mind that this is like any other website. You still must use keywords, content, placement, and submit to search engines, etc. All of these factors must come into play.

You get the idea!

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Domain Names, Hosting, Website Development | No Comments »

How to Pick the Right Domain Name for Your Website

Thursday, February 19th, 2009

by Chloe Davies

Ask any online marketer what their domain name means to them, and they will automatically tell you that their domain name is their company’s identity. It tells surfer everything they need to know: who they are? What they do? What their product/service can do for them.

It essentially acts as a summation of your company’s web identity, so making sure you pick one that accurately describes you is vital for your digital marketing strategy.

For this reason we recommend that you pick something that is memorable, distinct and original. One that stands out from the rest in your product niche, but also at the same time efficiently reflects your company’s products/service.

So how do you decide which is the right domain for you?

Well the first thing we recommend, especially if you are interested in incorporating SEO into your web design, is to pick a domain name that is SEO friendly.

But as with all things, this in itself can lead to more problems when it comes to choosing your domain. You see, you are just one of many companies online, who have undertaken the task of finding a URL that is SEO friendly.

So trying to find one that is distinct to your product niche and that has also been left untouched can be difficult. The competition is fierce.

But you can overcome this. You can offer your domain a uniqueness presence. Take the following details for example. Each can help make your decision easier.

Brand: as we said before your domain name is your websites identity. It represents who you are to the entire marketing sector and what you are trying to achieve as a company.

Saying this, your brand essence can also play an important factor in what domain you decide to choose. 

All your brand is, is an extension of your company’s identity. It is another means of allowing your surfers to recognise who you are and what you do.

So if for example you are a property investment teaching company, within your domain name it needs to mention the phrases ‘property courses’ or ‘property investment.’

Length: which do you choose? A short domain name that is easy to remember and type into your browser or a long domain name that will enable you to incorporate SEO and explain your product?

Both of these have got their benefits. It is just a matter of deciding which one would best benefit your website.

One way you can have the best of both these worlds is to set a word restriction of up to 67 characters. By doing this, you can give your domain name just enough description length so that it is not obscured, but a clear cut off point.

Saying this, if you can keep your domain name to under 67 characters that will prevent surfers from making any errors when come to type in your domain name.

Hyphens: similar to the length of your domain names, hyphens can bring both its advantages and its disadvantages.

On the one hand, using hyphens can help you to get the domain you want whilst making your keywords more accessible to SEO e.g. propertyinvestment.com to property-investment.com.

But then on the opposite end of the scale, if surfers forget to include them, they could either be taken to another company’s website, or they won’t be able to find your website at all.

Domain name type: when picking your domain name you need to decide what you want your top level domain to be.

All a top level domain is, is your domain names extension for example .com, .net, .org, .us or .biz.

Now most companies choose to go for .com but there is nothing necessarily wrong with using any of the others we have mentioned above. In fact, with .com being such a popular domain source, it can be quite competitive to get your domain name with them so choosing one of the others could ensure you get the domain you want.

So take the time to decide what domain name best suits your website, and make sure you consider all the above pointers. Do that and you can offer your website the best in domain representation.

Tags: ,
Posted in Branding, Domain Names, Website Development | 2 Comments »

Expired Domains Mean Real Opportunities

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

by: Richard Legg

If you have a website, you want traffic; lots and lots of traffic, as a matter of fact. You are well aware of the fact that there are now millions of Internet users out there, and among those millions, there may be at least one or two thousand web surfers every day looking for the exact services or products that you’re selling. But there’s a problem. How do you reach out to those potential customers and make them come to your site? 

You probably have been very busy already with your Internet marketing. I would assume that you have submitted your site to the search engines, bought a few ads in a variety of e-zines, and perhaps even put up a couple of banners. So are you satisfied with the results you are getting from your efforts? You may have tried all that you know about promoting your site and your products, but are you getting the traffic that you wanted? If not, then maybe you need to look in other directions. 

But don’t worry; you won’t have to resort to illegitimate methods just to get the traffic you need. There is a perfectly ethical and legitimate way to get traffic to your site, and it’s very effective, too. But what makes this method even better is that over 95% of the people on the World Wide Web have absolutely no clue about it at all. So, have I got your attention? Let me explain it to you a bit more in detail. 

Have you ever considered using expired domains for pulling in traffic to your site? Probably not yet, but let me tell you, this is a great (but oftentimes overlooked) opportunity for you. Expired domains have a lot of wasted traffic coming to their site, and this traffic could be put to better use for you instead. If you’re lucky, you may even find a domain name that’s related to your business in Yahoo. This could save you an instant $200 off the Yahoo listing charge. 

Think of the possibilities here. For the cost of a single domain name, there could be loads of traffic just waiting for you! It costs less than $10 to register a domain name nowadays, and coupled with the potential immediate traffic, you cannot find a better deal than this. It’s estimated that over 3 million visitors are hitting an expired domain every day. That is mostly targeted traffic, and I’m willing to bet that you’d like to get a piece of that action. If so, then it’s time to start working and get those wasted traffic to your site. 

But why did these domains expire in the first place? There could be several reasons. Sometimes webmasters just get weary of all the work involved in developing and maintaining the site. Perhaps they become too busy with work or with their personal lives. Others may have carelessly let their domains expire without knowing it, and several may have met with financial problems, so they just stopped maintaining the site. 

One good thing about this whole situation, though, is that the traffic that these expired domains have generated since the time they were active just keeps on coming. If you’re a virtual realtor in cyberspace, this could make for some very attractive real estate indeed. Registering expired domains need some careful research on your part, though. Most important of all, you have to be certain that the domain’s traffic isn’t coming from websites that you’d want to avoid at all costs, like porn sites or such. 

Now, if you have done your job and made sure that the traffic is satisfactory, you have two options for taking advantage of your new domain. First option is to redirect the traffic from the previously expired domain to your own site. Second option is to sell off the domain, which could be very profitable for you, depending on how heavy the traffic is.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Site Promotion, Webcrowd News, Website Development | No Comments »