Starting a website needs a lot of precision, considering the many sites out there, but still you want yours to stand out! Choosing a domain name for your site is one of the most important things, as it determines how fast your site picks up.
A great domain name finds its way easily on SEO and Social Media Marketing. Well, this piece seeks to look at what factors to consider when choosing a domain name and how this will impact on SEO and Social Media Marketing.
Why Keyword Domains?
SEO experts’ advice on choosing domains containing sort after keywords as they improve on CTRs and score higher on most search engines such as Google and Yahoo. So just how does this technique work to your advantage if it as effective?
Most SEO strategists go for Exact Match Domains (EMD). These are domains containing the exact keyword phrase targeted. For instance, if you want to rank for “new coupons”, it’s recommended to go newcoupons.info. Selecting EMD’s has its benefits that include:
- The keyword phrase in the domain is itself is a ranking factor.
- The keyword phrase in the domain encourages webmasters to insert the phrase in the anchor text when linking to the site.
However, with the changes made on Google in line with EMD updates (from 0.34 in 2008 to 0.18 in 2012), domains containing keywords may not be as important in future. This means going for keyword domains should not be a must for your site, but it does not mean that they should be completely ignored.
Why Keyword Domains for increased CTR?
Owning a domain with premium keywords, can actually increase clicks through rates on ads and SERP listings. A study by Memorable Domains established that ads with generic domains perform better opposed to identical ads with generic or non-generic domain names.
Other factors:
- Why search volume?
To obtain the search volume, the keyword in the domain attracts or uses Google’s keywords to find out. Go for a domain with higher search volume. - Why Cost?
Most of the great domains with premium keywords are already registered and if not, they are very expensive to purchase - Why .com extension?
Sometime, a domain with a .com extension is more valuable than one with other alternatives such as .net.
Choosing a Brandable Domain
Going for a domain name with the targeted keywords is important. However, there is more to this if you want your brand established, which is the brand ability of your domain is. Your brand is very essential as it’s what your company will be identified by.
The domain name you settle for acts as the foundation on which your online brand will grow on. The essence of a domain name is that it allows others visit to your website, view it, interact with you and even refer others to your site. In fact a domain name is the only primary way through which users both on social media and search engines can identify where the link leads to.
SEO is not only about keywords and links; brands play a big role in how much traffic your site will attract. The first step to establishing a sort after brand is creating a brandable domain
How to choose a brandable domain?
Below are some of the factors to consider when choosing a brandable domain name:
- .COM extension: 75% of all websites contain .com extensions why be an exception? .com is considered as the standard way in which most websites end in. Hence pick a .com extension and get started!
- Be memorable: Users tend to visit sites they remember easily more often. Ensure your domain name is precise and can be easily remembered. This will make users visit your site more often.
- Be relevant: Ensure the domain name you go for communicates the purpose of your company. This is because words have explicit meanings and you can easily be misunderstood. To get it right, go to Amazon Mechanical Turk and conduct a random survey using your domain name. Provide your domain name and make users guess what it may be dealing with. The responses given will give you an idea of how relevant or irrelevant your domain name will be.
- Easy to spell: Keep it simple with your domain name. Avoid going for domain names with ambiguous words, numbers, hyphens among others. The simpler the better!
- Be authoritative: Users are attracted to domain names that command trustworthiness and credibility. Your domain name should command authority that is trustworthy, this way users will be drawn to you. Avoid domain names such as bestwidgets.com
- Keep it short: Avoid lengthy domain names; in fact 1 or 2 words are just enough. Most of the brandable sites have around nine characters in their domain names.
- Be unique: If you want your brand to stand out then go for a distinct domain name. A unique distinctive name will sell itself for instance yahoo.com, zazzle.com among others. Avoid names that go like your discounted insurancesolution.com as they imply no creativity.
Savings: Get a .COM just 99 cent at GoDaddy.
How to find a great domain name?
Getting the perfect brandable domain name is not easy, as most are already registered while the existing ones are very expensive to purchase. Choosing a great domain name calls for precision and brainstorming. Below are some tips that may get you started;
– Manipulate existing words
Unique words may not easily come to mind, use thesaurus to help you come up with words that may not pop up easily. Example of great domain names that were created from existing words include Amazon.com and VitaminShoppe.com
– Come up with new words
Brain storm with your friends and create some new words. Most of the brandable websites contain new words that were created such as Bing.com, Quora.com, Google.com among others
– Create portmanteaus
A portmanteau is a combination of two or more words and their definitions to come up with new words. Example New Coupons, Pinterest among others.
Getting the best domain name is one step ahead of generating traffic to your website as well as establishing your brand. Remember to keep it short and precise! It will prove to be an effective strategy.
