Using Your Intuition to Pick a Great Domain Name
July 7th, 2008As we delve more deeply into making your website effective, let’s talk domain names.
As tempting as it is to pick something cute or maybe automatically pick your business name, please consider this. To get the most bang for the buck, your domain name needs to be highly correlated to what you do.
Say you own a high end boutique flower shop. Even if your business name is Sally Schmitz Inc., do you think anyone looks for a high end boutique flower shop using the search words Sally or Schmitz? Not probably. The people who do know your actual name also are likely to know how to find you already, so that’s not really our focus. Our focus should be coming up on a google or yahoo search when people who buy what you sell are looking to buy.
But, maybe you’ve had your business name forever and you already have a website in that name. Let’s say that the name isn’t that reflective of what you do–for example, Sally Schmitz Inc rather than Sally’s Flower Boutique. Even if you don’t want to change it, I would still encourage you to purchase and develop a web name that does reflect specifically what you do also. You can redirect the less searchable website name to the better one without losing any traffic. We will discuss how to do that later in the week.
I purchase the majority of my site names through GoDaddy. I have been extremely happy with their service and tools and pricing. You can often get a domain name for as little as $1.99 per year if you purchase hosting at the same time, which is a screaming deal since you need hosting too. That’s usually what I do.
Here’s how to reach them:
There are many software tools available to discover the best name, and we will further the discussion more tomorrow, but today we are going to use our intution. For the sake of developing your mindset, let’s have a little fun with it. We’re going on a fishing expedition!
Enter the words you would type into google if you were looking to find your business, one phrase at a time. See what comes up. Try a bunch of different ways that you think your customer might look for you.
For our Sally’s Flower Boutique example, we might type in flowers, gifts, wedding flowers, flower shops, luxury flowers, flower arrangements, flower delivery, birthday flowers, high end bouquets, floral designers, roses, graduation presents, corsages. Get creative and attempt to exhaust as many possibilities as you can.
Go visit the top 10 or 20 sites you see when you type in these phrases. Look and learn. Does your current site show up? Where is it ranked relative to other shops? Notice which sites come up for multiple phrases. See how they rate to your business offerings. Do they serve the same clientele as you? Make note of sites where you could potentially add your link and cross promote. Begin thinking in terms of connecting with your client and broadening your network.
Not only notice what your competition is doing, but also see if you actually find what you were looking to find. Assuming you are intuitively on track with what words your clients use to find you, you are now looking at the landscape in which you will be competing and succeeding. You are looking at not only your competition but also potential partners and referral friends.
Tomorrow, I will list some software tools you can use to continue moving forward with developing an effective website for your new business. Thanks for dropping by.
Together, we are stronger.
Vicki Flaugher, the original SmartWoman
Does having a double-barrel domain name make any difference for the website , for example
http://www.flowers.com or http://www.spring-flowers.com
@SteveB. Great question. If both names are relevant and appropriate to your subject matter, the audience, and makes sense, yes. Hyphens, however, are a challenge. My rule of thumb is will you remember the name if you were chatting with me at a cocktail party (level of intoxication being neglible)? When you have to add some kind of disclaimer like “with hypen between the words” after you’ve given your URL, then you’re probably better off with something descriptive but easier to remember and/or say.
I see your URL is a hosting company–what has your experience been? Have you found it a challenge at all to promote a hosting site with a name like deepsron? Maybe I am just displaying my lack of arcane knowledge, but how did you come to that name?
I personally once had an internet marketing consulting business name/website called Freerange Dollar Enterprises. It was a cute name, based on a personal idea about having the organic freedom to make money (like freerange chickens can organically wander and are happier for it). It was a huge uphill, constant battle to gain SEO success and placement with relevant keywords. So, eventually I retired it.
What’s your point of view on it? I’d love some ideas. Post back if you can.
Vicki