The Changing Importance of Domain Names

I recently attended the Search Engine Strategies Internet Marketing Conference in Chicago. It was my first time in Chicago, and I loved it. While I was at the conference I was shocked to find that so many people even among the ranks of the so-called SEO Professionals don't know how powerful a domain name can be. Aside from branding, and direct traffic, there are ways that your domain name can hurt your site, and of course ways that your domain name can help your site.

Don't Look Like a SPAMMER

First of all, when you are registering your domain, be sure to register it for two years. I won't go into detail in this post but in my days as a spammer (It wasn't SPAM according to the law, but if you got it in your inbox you would probably call it that - I will go into detail about email marketing in future posts), we would go through hundreds of domain names every year. Search engines see this trend and so they often penalize websites if the domain name is registered for less than a year. It is one of the key factors in the Website Grader. Always register your domain name for 2 years minimum to avoid looking like spam.

3 Words or Less

Your business plan is not a good domain name. Not only will long domain names hurt your direct traffic potential, but you will run into issues with many Pay Per Click Engines if your Display URL is too long. Keep it to 3 words or less. 2 is ideal, 3 is an absolute maximum.

Use Your Keywords

We have talked about how important keywords are in every piece of SEO, so it only makes sense that it is important in your Domain Name. Your goal is to create congruence between what you present, and what Google, and other search engines see. Choosing a Domain Name that has your keywords in it, helps solidify that congruence.

Multiple Registration Advice

Here is the question that burns in the hearts of so many of my clients, and probably lots of my readers' hearts as well. Should I register .com, .net, .us, and the rest, or just focus on one? I am going to go out on a limb and say it doesn't really matter to most of us. Of course domain registration sites will tell you that you need to get all of them to protect your brand. That is true for sites like facebook, digg, google, nike, and many major companies, but for most of us, our brand is not worth the investment on all the types of domains out there.

My advice:

• If you have the money to do it, DO IT.
• If you DON'T have the money to do it, Don't Fret it. If it ever becomes an issue you are rich anyway.
  

Some people are so good at using domain name registration to drive traffic that that is all they do (I could hardly believe it either when I met this guy in Chicago). It works, and I will explain the dynamics of it in a later post, but there are other methods that are more simple for beginners.

How to Start With Domain Names

Start with a domain name registration site. I generally use Godaddy, but there are hundreds out there, some cheaper than others where you can start. Here is a link if you would like to use GoDaddy. You will find that many of the domains that you want to register are already taken by Domain Squatters. Don't get frustrated though. Your domain name is not going to be the piece of your website that makes or breaks it. Use this post as guidelines, not hard fast rules to get stressed out about. If you have questions about this please comment on the post.

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