The right domain name can make or break your online presence, so it’s important that you make the right decisions when choosing and registering your domain name.
For SEO purposes, you need to decide if you’re going to use a branding domain name (one that includes the name or your brand or business) or a keyword-oriented name. You can also break it down even further if you want to be recognized locally.
For example, let’s use www.MelbourneSEOServices.com. Not only is this the company and branded name, it’s also SEO friendly since it deals with what we’re doing. And we’ve got the locality in there as well.
If you’re in Australia, you may have a few more choices than folks in the States or other places by using the .com.au (or .net.au or .org.au extensions) instead of simply using .com (or .net or .org). The addition of the .au at the end can open a whole new batch of domain names that can apply to your business.
It’s also not a bad idea to check the ABN registry to make sure that your domain name isn’t infringing on anyone else’s trademarks or business names. This is something to keep in mind if you’re registering a branded name, but most keyword names should be safe to use in these instances.
Keep the name relatively short and easy to remember. If you’re known as Uncle Bob and you run a carpeting service in Queensland, you don’t want to go with something like www.UncleBobsQueenslandCarpetingAndVinylFlooring.com.au – instead, you may think about something like www.BobsQueenslandCarpeting.com.au. This is shorter, and much easier to remember. Two to three words should be the general rule of thumb.
You’ll also want to avoid hyphens. For example, the stars of the US television show “Ghost Hunters” have as their domain name www.The-Atlantic-Paranormal-Society.com. This can cause all kinds of problems when you’re verbally relaying your info to someone – dashes, hyphens, dots – they can all get in the way and are easy to forget when someone is later trying to find you online.
So those are the basic rules of choosing a domain name: Brand name or keyword oriented, keep it short, and make sure that it’s unique enough to remember so you don’t get lost in the crowd. Best of luck with your online business, and if you’d like a helping hand along the way, we’d be more than happy to help you out. Check out our list of services here.
I have made the mistake (a few years back) of choosing a domain name that was so long, I myself even had a hard time memorizing it.
A friend had suggested that I use my then newly-found long tail keyword and include it my domain name. In terms of branding and recall, it was garbage. Now I try hard to do as you have suggested: short and brandable name. Although I admit it’s getting harder to find such a domain name.
The best domain name of all would be one that has the keywords in it and is also brand oriented. This however is obviously difficult to come across. I suppose this is where the difficulty lies. You really have to sacrifice one for the other to get a good domain name. So I guess it’s all about finding out whether a brand name or a keyword rich name is more advantageous.
@Mark – I have been there too, terrible situation isnt it? I think mine was too many keywords plus too many hyphens. Long tail phrases can make good domains if you are looking to build a website that is found primarily through search, however, short and brandable is always good, just so long as you have the ability to optimise it for search.
Have you checked out Domain Face Pro? Might be a good option for you when it comes to looking for top notch domains that have a bit of age too.
One of the things I find challenging in choosing a domain name is when I decide to include those keywords in my search only to find out that these are all taken. :p There are times when I have to change keywords/keyphrases just to see if those are still available for registration.I guess the key is to be a bit creative as well in choosing domain names.
Or you can come up with your own brand instead and build links to it, until such time that your site/page ranks first for that keyword. Just be ready to spend more time and money for this option, IMHO.