Your domain name strategy can have a huge impact on your search engine optimisation and your company as a whole. Domain names play a critical role in the success of a company and its website and there are many reasons for this:
- Domains communicate a lot about the identity of a company on the web
- They are instrumental in allowing companies to send emails or publish content on the web via their sites
- The keywords used within a domain name can have a positive impact on your ranking with search engines
- The domain name should give web users a quick and concise insight into what your site is all about
How Can a Domain Name Strategy Work?
The main benefit to developing a winning domain name strategy is that it can increase the traffic to your site and also increase sales. Globally there are a staggering 1.6 billion internet users and this figure is continually growing. Having a good domain name strategy will help you to increase the effectiveness of your internet marketing strategies increasing traffic and sales.
Within the SEO industry, it is well documented that Google favours those websites that have domain names with one or more searched for keywords. If you have a domain name that is either an exact or close match to a search keyword then you are likely to get the site ranked highly.
Finding the Best Domain
Finding the best domain name can be challenging. This comes not from trying to think of a suitable name but trying to find one that is available. Here are some top tips when looking for a good domain name:
- Look at the generic domains that will be most effective in promoting the brand and are most likely to establish your business as a market leader
- Look for a domain name that is keyword rich rather than one that has little relevance to your website or business
- Choose a domain name that relates to the country that you want to target. Don’t opt for an .ie domain for example if your customers are in the UK.
- Ensure your domain name is memorable keeping it catchy and short. Choosing something snappy is more likely to be remembered by customers.
- Keep spellings simple
New Domain Extensions
There are new domain extension likely to be seen throughout 2010 such as .artist to .nyc for example. The city specific ones will be interesting to watch as this will put greater emphasis on local optimisation. As .co.uk and the like should rank better than .com domain names, city based domains could provide an opportunity for local businesses to increase visibility with search engines.
This provides an overview of how domain name strategy can benefit your business and that new domain name extension could offer more opportunities in the future. You should consider domain names when looking at your SEO campaigns as it can have a significant impact on your website’s success.
At SearchEngineOptimisation.co.uk we offer expert advice on search engine optimisation and other aspects of internet marketing.