Website Domain

This article will discuss the consideratiosn for choosing a website domain.

Website Domain

The website domain name that you choose is a significant factor in creating a successful online web presence. If people are able to remember your website domain name, they are more likely to visit your website. The Website domain you choose also creates an impression of your web site in the minds of your visitors.

What is the Importance of Your Website Domain?

How do you choose a website domain that is relevant to your visitors and attracts the targeted audience that you want to visit your website? If possible, your domain name should be the same as the name of your website. You would be surprised at how many websites are not the same as the domain, but think about this. If they remember the name of site, they'll probably remember your URL if they are the same.

Your website domain should include your keyword. Deciding on a good domain name for your website that includes your key word requires careful thought and a lot of research to find the perfect name for your online business. The fact that so many domain names are already taken makes this much more complicated.

The website domain serves more than one purpose depending on the purpose of your website. First, it provides a hopefully memorable and catchy representation of your website. Before you decide on a website domain, you should define the purpose of your website. Are you using it to sell products or services? Is it an online magazine or a social networking site? Are you trying to create content rich site so you can earn income from Adsense? Are you sharing pictures with the family? You must define the purpose of your website before choosing your website domain. This will help you narrow down the list of relevant names.

Short Catchy Website Domains vs. Long Domain Names

Some webmasters will tell you that having a short website domain that people can easily remember and that is easy to spell is critical to your success. Some of their arguments are that shorter website domains are easier to remember and to spell. But if the domain name doesn't give an indication about what your site is about, people may not remember it anyway. GandT.com is short and easy to remember but it doesn't provide the user with much information about your website compared to guidesandtutorials.com. I prefer the longer more descriptive name than the shorter name without much meaning.

I disagree with the view that shorter catchy names are better because in my view you couldn't possibly advertise your name to enough people that would remember it and enter it into their browser to go to your site.

Unless you're Toyota.com or Mcdonalds.com and you have a zillion dollar national television advertising campaign to get people to visit your website domain name, you're probably not going to get a lot of traffic that way. An I doubt that your family and friends list is large enough to affect your hit count.

Most visitors to your website will arrive there as a result of a search they performed in their favorite search engine, most likely Google. Yes, it would be good if a relatively short and catchy domain name that included you keyword, was short and easy to spell, and was available for your website, but that's probably not the case. What's really important is that your website domain include your sites keyword and that it is search engine friendly. That means it helps the search engines to know what your site is about.

When people do a search in Google for information they want, they won't pay much attention to your domain name unless you've got great information and they decide to bookmark your site.

Hyphenated Website Domain?

I choose old-woodworking-tools.net on my site and I used hyphens because I thought it was easier to look at than oldwoodworkingtools.net. Separating the words with hyphens seems to make the words stand out more and make the domain easier to remember. Sometimes, however, some people will forget that your domain name has hyphens and may land at a competitors website.

Remember, the bulk of the traffic to your website will come from search engines, so choosing a website domain that is more search engine friendly is really important. Using hyphens in your website domain enables the search engines to distinguish your keywords better and understand the content of your site better. That means you should be listed higher in their search results which is always a good thing.

I've used both non-hyphenated and hyphenated names and in the end, I really haven't noticed that much difference in how well the search engines can index and find your site. It may just be a matter of personal preference or of what looks best in your marketing and advertising materials.

If you liked this article, you might also like:

• Pointing a Domain Name to Your Website
• Domain Name Registration
• Domain Name Parking
• The Importance of Page Optimization

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