A domain name is more than just the address people type in to find your website and having a bad domain name could mean more than a few little jeers here and there… it could potentially cost you thousands. Get a domain name for your business that keeps on giving, as the right domain name will simplify your SEO efforts, reduce your PPC costs, make your company stand out from its competitors, and make it much much easier for customers to find your website again.
Choosing and buying a domain name for your business may seem to be a straightforward task for most business people. However there is a lot more to choosing a domain name than one would first think.
For starters, a domain name that is long, complicated or uncommonly spelt will be difficult for potential customers to remember. Typically if a domain name is more than 3 words long or contains words that have multiple spelling options you have to consider registering multiple domains and having them redirect – especially if your business name or product is a play on words such as effekt or uses a symbol like Perfume 4 U.
Imagine if you get a domain name then spent time and money on your marketing efforts to get your brand well known and then when people tried to search for you they couldn’t find you simply due to spelling differences…. it would be, well, a bit of a waste of money considering up to 85% of internet surfers are shopping and researching products online.
Unless you are in a position where your brand name is synonymous with the product you are offering you should definitely look to match your your products and services with keyword rich domains. As a general rule of thumb, when it comes to ranking in Google for your keywords you are more likely to reach the number 1 spot (and receive some extra brownie points) by using the matching keyword rich domain – you do have to have strong inbound links also, but having the correct keywords in your domain is a sure fire way to save some money on link creation which trying to rank for a competitive keyword with good traffic.
So how do you get the balance? Start by writing down all possible combinations for your business name and also for your major products or services. For example:
- MyAmazingHotel.com
- My-Amazing-Hotel.com
- AmazingHotel.com
- AccommodationBroadbeach.com
- BroadbeachAccommodation.com
BustAName is a tool to help find domain names.
You can also use domain name generators to help stimulate you creativity. Here are two tools that allow you to simply add in your keywords and they will generate multiple combinations to check for availability:
Once you have a list ditch the ones that are too hard to remember or too hard to spell (you want something you don’t have to spell letter by letter over the phone when they can’t find you), then once you have your shortlist start checking which domains are available. You can do this by heading over to some of the more popular domain name registrars listed below and start searching (you will also be able to see how much the domain name registration costs and any other extensions that are available)
- www.crazydomains.com.au (.com.au – $24 for 2 yrs)
- www.melbourneit.com.au (.com.au – $140.00 for 2yrs – ouch!)
If the most strategic domain name for your business has already been taken, it’s worthwhile looking it up on the web to see if the domain name is actually being used. If the domain name is not being used, then you can try contacting the owner and offering to purchase the name. However, be aware that you may have to pay a higher premium for it!
If you need more tips to help you get a domain name check out 12 Rules for Choosing the Right Domain Name by SEOMoz. Point 3 “Only Choose Dot-Com Available Domains” does not apply to many local based Australian businesses, if you can secure the .com then great but in most cases using the .com.au will be better for your business.
Once you have registered your domains, make sure you keep a list of them and the access details. You will need to decide which domain you want to keep as your main domain i.e. the one that you will direct people to for your website. You can then ask your web developer to create a 301 redirect for your additional domains so they also point to your website and down the track when you are ready and looking to maximise your SEO you can build out mini-sites on your additional domains. We recommend getting your Internet marketing strategy plan in place with your primary domain first before replicating a potentially ineffective website strategy and creating double the headache.
