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Make Your Domain Name Workable
Make Your Domain Name Workable
When Paul first wrote to me for help he claimed to have so little progress with his new online business that hed have been pleased with bad progress. As one of my subscribers, he knew he could depend on some help. After looking over everything, I felt he was on target for almost everything, but I did offer a proposal for his consideration.
He needed to change his domain name. The URL did not give even a hint of his business, but even more problematic was his use of the number-one. Most keyboards do not differentiate between the letter l (L) and the number l --- both look alike. Eliminating this letter and/or number in Pauls domain name might avoid the misspelling by a surfer and getting an error page instead his website.
All online businesses must have a domain name and that name should contribute towards its image. Just as important to that name will be the ease with which net surfers locate you. For this reason, serious thought should go into your choice. Traffic is one of the very important facts, and if you know even a little about Search Engines, you know that key words are what zillions of inquiring surfers type into that search box.
If a surfer wants to lose-weight, they might type in health, vitamins, weight-loss, diets, etc. A workable domain name should carry one of those words.
Having said that, lets think about your business and the possibility of including one of the key words that a visitor would type in the search box resulting in your website listing. The best way to collect some words for consideration is to think about your product or service and make a list to work with.
Next, make your domain name as short as possible and still include one of the key words on your list. Short and simple makes for less confusion to net surfers. Longer names cause problems in pronunciation. Something that sticks in the memory is ideal. Today, domain name limits have been lengthened to 63 characters but personally I would not advise taking advantage of this.
Entrepreneur is a great word, but few people can spell it without frustration. I have seen it in many domain name combinations, but I often wonder how much business is lost because of a poor choice of words. Make your domain name easy to spell and easy to remember.
For the best traffic, your domain name should give some idea of the business you are in and what your program is all about. While Yahoo! and Amazon seemingly ignored this rule, their business has exploded through brand name building (mega advertisements) and a deep commitment to quality.
It wouldnt hurt to also consider the alphabetical order of the domain name. A directory is no different than your Yellow Pages; A comes before B, and B comes before C, etc. Again with traffic in mind, a Z listing will not be beneficial.
Even with a list of all your possible selections, you will run into that exasperating notice of --- sorry, but xxxxxx.com is taken. And you type in your next best, but that is taken also. It will seem like everything you can think of is already being used; Ive had that happen to me. All you can do is start with a fresh list, and keep trying until you finally have a short, easy to remember, pertinent to your business, domain name.
2004 Esther Smith
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Esther Smith is editor of Partners-For-Profit Newsletter; always a good read and publisher of http://thepermanentventure.com and http://MoreOnlineCash.com Subscribers to PFP receive a weekly diet of marketing and advertising reports, fr*ee bonuses, ad space and 5-star resources to start up, run and explode your business venture. clendon@thepermanentventure.com?subject=subscribe
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