Your Domain Name
Your domain name is the address of your web site for human visitors. There is also an address for computers, which is called the IP address. A web site name is composed of several parts.
The first part of your domain name is known as the URL, (which stands for Uniform Resource Locator). The URL tells the browser what the domain name is going to point to. This will usually be "http", which means the browser can expect to locate a hypertext document. In layman's terms this means webpage.
The second part of your web domain name will be "www", which stands for "World Wide Web". This phrase lets computers and humans know the site the domain name is pointing to is indeed an Internet web site.
The third part of your domain name is the actual domain name, which can be a combination of letters, numbers or phrases. A good domain name will be short, memorable and most importantly, search-engine friendly. In fact, good webmasters tend to concentrate more on a domain name's effectiveness with SEO, (or Search Engine Optimization), than they do its creativity. To do this they make sure to choose a domain name that has a widely searched keyword.
The final portion of the domain name has what is known as an extension. This lets a person know a little bit more about a website's origins. For example, take .com, the most common domain name extension. It stands for "commercial", and was originally intended for organizations in that vein. However, now the extension is used by virtually anyone looking to create a website. And this is for good reason, since most web surfers will think about the .com before they would think about .org, .biz or .net. Yet, don't think the other extensions can't become memorable either. Consider Wikipedia.org which is a wildly popular website despite its .org extension.
Domain name extensions can also specify things on a geographical level. An example are country-based extensions such as .fr, (which stands for France), or .jp, (which stands for Japan). They can also be state-based, such as .ca, (which stands for California). Both can serve as excellent tools for localized Internet marketing.
You can usually get your domain name from your hosting company. You can also buy it from a domain service company, such as Godaddy.com. I recommend your getting it from a domain service, as it will usually cost less, usually under $10 per year.
A good domain name not only makes people more likely to visit a website, but it can also increase search engine rankings. This is because search engine bots index websites based on keywords found both in its content and domain name.
When it comes to search engine keywords, there are some that are potential gold mines that are being ignored. These are ones in which a word or phrase is accidentally misspelled. Usually, the search engine will link to results that contain the correct spelling, but it will still show any websites associated with the misspelled keyword. If one of these websites catches the eye of a surfer, they may visit it. This is why many webmasters will not only create websites around misspelled keywords but also pay money to bid on them in pay-per-click search engine advertisements.
But misspelled keywords can help in another venue of Internet marketing... one's domain name. When a popular misspelled keyword is included in a domain name, the search engine bots will be more likely to notice the website. Granted, it won't get listed with the properly spelled keyword, but even traffic from a misspelled keyword is better than nothing. A person will just have to decide whether they want their website to be branded with a domain name that has an improper spelling.
The webmaster will ultimately have to decide whether their content still looks "professional" with the misspelled keyword. Some words, (such as mesothelioma), are so hard to spell, that a person may not even notice improper versions of it. If this happens they won't have any issues seeing it so many times in the content, since they didn't really know how to spell it right themselves.
Including a misspelled keyword in one's domain name could be an excellent way to covertly get website traffic, at least if a webmaster knows what he or she is doing. If they don't a misspelled domain name could cause a person to think negatively about a website.
Should you use hyphens in your domain name? Usually if your domain name is only one or two words you should not use a hyphen. If it is four or more you should use one.
Most people are not used to using hyphens, but that is changing fast. If you have a hyphenated site and your potential visitor forgets to use the hyphen, they will not find your site.
A hyphenated name may be more understandable to a human visitor. It may also be easier for a search engine to read, which could help your site’s search engine ranking.
When searching for a new domain name for your new site, first and foremost you will need to find a popular search engine keyword that can be incorporated into your domain name. A keyword analyzer can help you in this task. These can be found pretty easily with a basic search engine query. When you find one, enter in a keyword that best summarizes the purpose of your website. The keyword analyzer will return different versions of this keyword. If the more specific instances can also fit within the nature of your website, choose one. This is because when it comes to search engine optimization, more specific keywords are better since they are less likely to be used by other webmasters.
Now you can start selecting your actual domain name. Most domain name companies will allow you to see whether or not your domain name is available. If it is not available, it will return a list of recommended domain names. Take advantage of this tool by first entering your selected keyword. If your keywords as a domain name is not available, consider the suggestions the domain name company gives. If the main keyword is still included in these suggestions and it ends with .com, consider it. Otherwise, you will have to be more creative.
For example, you can use "filler" words, numbers or phrases within your domain name to still include your selected keyword. Fillers could be "a", "an" or "the". Search engines tend to not look at these words, so you still have a good shot at getting indexed while having a domain name that is memorable and catchy. You can also consider fillers at the end of a phrase, such as "101".
What if you do these things and you still can't get .com? Well, there are some situations where it is better to stick with a lesser-used extension because the keyword is just that popular. Extensions that still get noticed include .net, .biz, info, and .org. Additionally, you can also consider using country or state-based extensions if you don't mind international or local-based marketing. It's better to be number 1 in France's version of Google than to be number 200 or worse in America's version of Google.
In conclusion, choosing a domain name that will get the right buzz from both humans and search engines doesn't have to be hard. The keyword analyzer will help you with 90% of your domain name, while your wit with fillers can help you the other 10%. And, if after an immense amount of pondering, you still can't get the .com, you can opt for other extensions.
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