SEO Basics-How To Choose An SEO Friendly Domain Name
One of the most frequently asked questions I get when consulting with my SEO and web design clients is, “How should I choose my domain name?”
And since I’ve been chatting with you about SEO Basics, lets keep rolling and talk about how to choose an SEO friendly domain name, OK?
1.Your domain name should be descriptive. Your prospects should be able to look at your domain name and have a pretty good idea what your website is all about. Don’t get cute here. Just tell your prospect what your business and website is all about ( This goes for picking your business name too by the way)
Remember, you’re going to be using your domain name on your business cards, marketing pieces and the search engines will read them as well which brings me to my next point…
2.Your domain name should be keyword rich. Again, EVERYTHING in SEO goes back to your keyword research.
If you have not done your keyword research how are you going to know which keywords to place in your “meta title tags”, “meta descriptions” or your domain name, right?
So the first thing I suggest is to make sure you get your main keyword into your domain name. In fact, the earlier you get your keyword in the domain name the better.
3.Make your domain name easy to remember. It’s important to keep in mind that SEO is NOT just about getting your website found but it’s also about converting your traffic into sales.
If your domain name is not easy to remember, does not contain your keywords and is too long the chances are you wont get the conversions you want which means you’ll lose money.
Your domain name must be at least 2 characters in length and no more than 63 characters long. I’d highly discourage you from even coming close to the 63 character limit.
In fact, I’ve found the sweet spot for most domains to be around 10-14 characters max. It’s a lot easier to read a shorter domain over the phone, add it to your business card or to your marketing pieces, make sense?
Also avoid domains with numbers and dashes. It looks spammy and they are not very user friendly.
4.Choose a top level domain name. I recommend going with a top level domain name like .com. It just looks more professional and it’s what your customers expect. If you can’t get your domain name as a “dot” com I would go with .net or”dot”info.
If you’re able to purchase your preferred “dot”com domain I would also suggest you purchase the other versions as well meaning the .net, .info and .org versions. You also should consider picking up your domain name with dashes also just to protect you. ( www.your-domain-name.com)
( Also, I recommend buying your name as a “domain name” as well. You can always set it up as a redirect so when someone types in your name they will be instantly taken to your website.)
5.Purchase your domain name for multiple years. Another little known SEO secret is to purchase your domain name for longer than a year. Google wants to see longevity with your websites. Pre-paying for your domain name is a way to show Google you plan on being around for years to come.
Hopefully these tips will help you pick out your next great domain name. If you are able to follow these simple rules I guarantee your SEO and website conversions will increase and so will your bank account!
Now get busy, Bill Parlaman
P.S. If you are enjoying these tips but just don’t have the time or expertise to implement these ideas yourself why not let me do it for you? Shoot an email over to info@radicalmarketingsolutions.com and I’ll show you how easy it is to get started!
