Posted by admin on 10 January 2013.
The selection of a domain name for your website plays an important role in determining the success of your online business. These days, most businesses are focused on choosing a search engine friendly domain name. However, that may not be the wisest decision.
The search engines can be either be your enemy or your friend depending on how well you build your website and fill it with meaningful content. Over the years, experienced Internet marketers have also developed Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques which aim to rank websites in search engines, to garner a significant increase in traffic. However, SEO techniques have to be used wisely because they can just as easily turn against your website instead. One of the SEO techniques that has been very popular is to choose a domain name that is search engine optimised.
Depending on your business, having a search engine optimised domain name may not work for you, because instead of remembering “Johnny’s Electronics”, your customers are now facing a generic domain name like “Best-Android-Tablets.com”. One way around this is to have 2 websites – one for your official business, and one that acts like a minisite that provides a lot of good content to attract users. You’ll then be able to use that site to advertise your business.
The domain name and the website name should be the same. When a person wants to visit your website, the first thing that comes to his or her mind is the name of your website. That is precisely why your website address and the name of your company should be the same. If your business deals in the selling of products or services that are fairly common then this practice holds more importance for you. Otherwise, a user who might have ended up on your website may just end up on your competitor’s website instead.
That is why a brand-specific domain name is also very important. Many people use a generic domain name to build their websites. However, if you are trying to build a brand then a website address similar to your brand name will provide you with free advertising. A brand-specific domain name also comes in handy when you are performing link-building for your website. Link-building is an extremely important SEO process.
When you purchase a domain name, you are given ownership for a certain period of time. The length of time is entirely up to you, but is usually capped at 5 or 10 years. For businesses, it is important to choose a duration as long as possible, because to certain search engines, a domain name with a longer lease period shows more confidence in their business and their ability to stay around. Lease duration is a good measure of the credibility and reliability of your website, because fly-by-night operations don’t typically go for anything longer than the minimum lease duration of a year.
Also, once your lease expires, anyone can purchase it if you do not renew it in time. There are a lot of people out there who keep an eye out for domains that are nearing their expiration date in the hopes of purchasing them and then making a profit by selling it back to the original owner. Just remember to renew it when your lease expiry is nearing! Most domain name companies provide a reminder service for this, so that you don’t forget to renew your domain name.
Choosing the right domain name is extremely important. The above mentioned suggestions are just the tip of the iceberg, and you can find more information in our archives.