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Topic: Tips for New Webmasters - Picking a Domain Name (Read 2034 times)
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 6215
Administrator
 
   United States
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 Sep 16, 2007, 11:36:31 PM | #1 |
This thread is for sharing tips and ideas we've learned while plying the trade. The internet is continually changing and if webmasters don't keep up with the changes, you'll be left out in the cold. The absolute most important element in a successful website is a domain name. I'll share a bit of my personal experience here.
Domain Names
The main things when starting a website is to make sure you register a good domain name. Many people make the common mistake of choosing a personalized domain name instead of taking the approach used by expert SEO's (SEO = Search Engine Optimization) which is to choose a domain name that will rank high in the search engines. The domain name itself is the single most important element of ranking well in the search engines. If you have content or ideas that can be broken down into distinct keywords, I would suggest creating individual websites for each keyword set.
I've made the mistake of overlooking thedomain name in the past. For example, I wanted to start a free musician's classified service where musicians could post ads seeking other musicians without all the hassle of signing up for a membership, email verification, etc... I was thinking something similar to a Craigslist approach in simplicity because any sincere musicians who are looking for bandmates don't exactly need to be email verified. Well, back to the subject of domain name, I picked JamConnect as my domain name. I thought it was catchy, but the part I overlooked was that search engines rank keywords higher if they are in the domain name. Granted, I'm still on the first page of Google search results for my target keyword "Musician Classifieds" and I'm first page for any searches like "alabama musician classifieds" but the site has been up 2 1/2 years and I put a lot of SEO work into it to get it there. I could have avoided most of that work had I set out with a domain with the words "musician" and "classifieds" in it. Currently I try to register domains with high ranking keywords in them. If you wonder what high ranking keywords are, go over to Google Keyword Ideas and type in a keyword or phrase and see the results.
For this example, we'll pretend you'd like to make a website about cars, so we use the keyword "car" and this is what Google returns for us.
Notice the top search results. If you were interested in creating a website that was optimized for cars, you might grab a domain like newcarprices.com because you would be capturing search results for the keywords "new car" and "car prices". Also using something like carcarsearch.com (which phonetically sounds a bit like baby talk but it's catchy) would be an obvious SEO friendly url and if someone were to create a site with original content related to the topic.
Before You Even Begin
Alway try to plan ahead for what you would like to achieve through your website. Websites that aren't topical generally have less success in the marketplace. Find a niche and stick to it, if there's a subject you are well versed in, use it to or advantage. ....but, before you begin, you should already have a blueprint, plan, flowchart or even some chicken scratch on a cocktail napkin that you can work from.
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 10
United States
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Feb 26, 2009, 11:13:21 AM | #4 |
| Most of the good and obvious ones are taken already, so you have to get creative with the keyword combinations or maybe try going for a more niche market. Even if you don't get an ideal domain that doesn't mean you can't be successful. Good online marketing and website design can take you far. |
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