Choosing a Domain Name

Well it is my first foray in the blogging world and as you wait expectantly to read what I have to write about, I find myself struggling finding something to say. Given that this blog is about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) I suppose I should start my first post by mentioning something on that subject.

When I look at the name of this blog: “SEOthegame.com” it leads me to think about the choice of domain and some points which you might consider when choosing your domain name. SEOthegame is good because it does contain the word SEO. If I try really hard, squint my eyes, I might be able to also try and justify the choice by saying that SEO is like a game and that it is also a dot com. Although, in reality I am thinking it might as well be SEOthedog.com but my hindsight is your foresight as I explain what makes a good URL for your online empire.

The Company Name

If you are just starting your on-line business then you have a tremendous amount of freedom in the choice of the domain name. While it would be great to find a domain which is a generic match for the product which your business sells, in practice it is often very difficult if you are on a low budget. Many domains were registered but not used in the belief that someone would want to pay a lot of money to own them at a latter date.

The Top Level Domain

The most well known type is the .com. We have all heard about .com and if you want to guess a website popular website it is usually your first thought. The influence of a .com domain is worldwide and if you are running a large organisation or a business that is interested in selling products globally this is a good choice. If you can find a .com for your product or company name that is all well and good. Most of the single dictionary words for .coms have been taken. Other top level domains include .net and .org. You can check whether your domain is available at on a whois database. New domain extension such as .eu, .tv, .info are available but as the number of new domain endings increases the chance of a memorable domain is diluted.

What was that Domain Again?

This is why we see the profusion of childish sounding domain names which do not mean anything: bebo, squidoo, kelkoo, scribid but the domain is available as .com and it is quite short. It is debatable whether these domains are easy to remember but it is a useful tactic with the advantage of no association with any particular product.

Regional Domains

If your web-site is run from the UK then you might be better off with a .co.uk domain. There are other uk specific domains such as .uk.org . If you want to consider a wider audience then you might plump for a newer .eu domain.

For an established business that is diversifying into the online market, your domain choice is more restricted. If you are able to buy the domain that matches your existing company name you should do this. It is then easy for your existing customers to find your website. You should also consider buying the other top level domains and variations as well. Domain registration is really quite cheap and to some extent, your company will be protected from other people buying and using the domain to take business away you or defame your company. Using redirects, these domains can also direct traffic to a single web site which might result in extra leads.

Use of Hyphens

If your company name has more than one word, then you might consider a domain with dashes to separate the words as domain names cannot have spaces. For example: ‘gibsons-hydrochloric-acid.co.uk’ however the general rule of thumb is that long domain names separated by dashes looks a bit spammy. However, there is no evidence to suggest that you will be penalised for this by the search engines as long as you are playing the game. The lack of space between words can lead to some odd results. Take, http://www.expertsexchange.com (experts exchange .com) for example.

Use of Keywords in the Domain

It is widely believed that keywords in a domain also affect its rankings. It may help your rankings a tiny bit but it is not as important as many people believe and there are certainly more important factors to worry about, so it is not worth spending a huge amount of money for a domain with your keyword in it. If it were not the case, then you could do a search for a competitive keyword and the top website would have the keyword in their URL. So I don’t personally believe it to be that important.

Conclusion

In summary:

• If you are already in business, choose your domain name which matches your company name. For new web sites or businesses, choose the name of the company that corresponds to the domain, it should be a name that is short, easily memorable with a .com or other top-level domain or domain that covers the country where where you will be trading.
• If possible buy the related domains and 301-redirect them to the main site.
• Don’t worry about keywords in the domain name they not very important

If you follow these rules you shouldn’ t go far wrong, otherwise you might end up with a domain like http://www.seothegame.com