One of the more popular questions from SEO’s or webmasters who are at new to intermediate level of the game is, “do I need to have my desired keyword in the domain name“? In the early days of the internet having your keyword in your domain name was important. However as search engine algorithms have gotten much sophisticated at detecting keyword spamming, the importance of the keywords is minimal at best.
One way a domain name can add value to your website is by building trust and reinforcing your message. Let’s assume that you are selling something as simple as apples (the kind you eat not the computers). The domain apples.com was registered many years ago and unless you have a large budget, chances are you won’t be able to convince the current owner to sell. So what domain should you choose? There are lots of services that can help you come up with alternatives. One popular service is nameboy.com. You put in your keyword(s) and it comes up with a list of alternatives. While I have found some good domains here, I like to use it as a jumping off point for more creative domain names that are catchy, memorable, or will make your website more authoritative and trustworthy for your message or product. At this point you’ll need to have an idea of the approach or message your website is going to use. Are you going to be selling apples, comparing different types of apples or apple vendors? Maybe you’re going to be selling rare hard to find expensive gourmet apples? What ever your, goal find a name that reinforces that message. Here are some suggestions:
- EvesOrchard.com
- GrannySmithsKitchen.com
- OrchardAdvisor.com
- PeckProfessor.com
- SliceofPie.com
- ForbiddenFruit.com
- EdensEatry.com
Some domains suit themselves to specific purposes more than others. If you were selling rare and expensive gourmet apples ForbiddenFruit.com, or EvesOrchard.com will be much appealing to that customers mindset than OrchardAdvisor.com would be. Now if you are reviewing different apple suppliers OrchardAdvisor.com or PeckProfessor.com matches the story that customer wants to hear much more than GrannySmithsKitchen.com. Now if you’re selling apples without going after niche customers, GrannySmithsKitchen.com would be my top choice instead of ForbiddenFruit.com or OrchardAdvisor.com. The key here is figuring out the message that your target customer wants to hear, and using your domain to reinforce it.
Now a domain name is just a starting point, your copy and visuals are going to have to match your story as well. You couldn’t use the same tone and style on forbidenfruit.com and orchardadvisor.com and expect it to work equally well. However style, tone and visuals are a completely different subject, for another time. I hope this has given you a little something to chew on and you won’t always go after the easy low hanging fruit when choosing a domain name.
tags: ( sem | search engine marketing | domains | domain names )
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