Your Website's Name - The Crucial Importance

So many webmaster tips are written about how to optimize your site. Others write about how to utilize keywords effectively or other secrets that will help you increase your traffic. However, very few, are written about choosing a good domain name. The days of finding a one-word domain name that perfectly describes your site’s theme and objective are over – unless you’re willing to shell out the big bucks to buy one from the domain name’s current owner via an auction or other online sales program. If you’re looking to just buy a simple domain name – on a budget, or as a new webmaster for a new project, here are some tips will help you make the most out of “what’s left” in the current domain name market.

Tip #1 – Keep it Short and Sweet

We’ve already discussed that the one-word domain names are very likely out of the question for most webmasters. That being said, you should still keep the length to a minimum. Make sure it is short and recognizable. It should be something you can easily brand and is easy to pronounce. Try to find something that will stick in your site visitors’ memory. It doesn’t even have to be a word in the dictionary, e.g. Google.com, MSN.com, MySpace.com and YouTube.com. Experts say you should try to keep your domain name to under 10-characters whenever possible.

Tip #2 – Make it Relative

Your domain name should have something to do with your website, the content you will be using on it and the targeted traffic pool you will be trying to attract. Sure, you can make up for a bad domain name with some really time-intensive optimization work later, but why not start off with something that will help you sell your site from the first moment your visitors type in your name or click to enter your site? If your site is about “boobs” try to have the word “boobs” somewhere in the name. If your site features “muscle hunks”, try to get something that conveys that niche content in your site’s name. There are still some great names out there and with creativity, a thesaurus and some common sense you can find a solid domain name that will be relative to your site’s focus and will contribute towards attracting targeted traffic.

Tip #3 – Avoid Trademarked Names

A while ago webmasters thought it was a good idea to use trademarked names. They came up with Disney.com, CocaCola.com. Other bad ideas included: the White House (yes, that one in Washington D.C.) or Whitehouse.com and Whitehouse.org. Or they tried SteveJobs.com and numerous of Mattel’s Barbie doll related names, e.g. BarbiesBeachWear.com, BarbiesClothing.com and the recent headline-maker, ChinaBarbie.com adult site. Of course today we know these were a bad idea. You could at the very least be accused of cyber-squatting. At worst, you could get served by lawyers and spend a lot of money defending your losing case in court. It’s the wrong kind of attention. You definitely want to stay away from a trademarked or branded name.

Tip #4 – Branding VS. Keywords

There’s a lot of debate on the subject of branding versus keywords when purchasing domain names. Keywords are great for lots of things, e.g. SEO, painting a picture of the site’s theme or topic in the consumer’s eye, etc. But some experts maintain that name branding is better. Think again about Google and other uniquely named sites such as eBay, Yahoo! and YouTube. These businesses decided to go with their own original domain names and brand it! They have found amazing success because of this strategy.

Keyword-based domains are chosen primarily to take advantage of search engine traffic, giving your site an advantage over the competition, but not necessarily the best “branding” opportunity. Which way you decide to go will depend upon your project, the time, money and energy you would be able to devote to branding your unique name and what you hope to get out of it.

There are plenty of one-word unique name domains that bombed – the examples above highlight only the successful branding ventures. A new name is a creative challenge. It needs to be short, relevant and taught to the public. Originality and the ability to promote it are going to be crucial.