The New Web Business Guide Introduction can be found here. Chapter 1 - Choosing the type of new web business to start can be found here.

Choosing The Right Domain Name

Ok, so you have decided on which type of business you are going to operate online. If you chose affiliate marketing, you have signed up for some affiliate programs If you chose selling products or services, you have chosen your products or services to sell.

Now what? Well, you are going to need a domain name. Ok, that’s just my company name right? Nope. Not that simple. There are a lot of SEO Gurus who will tell you that the domain name doesn’t matter. I can prove them wrong. It does matter.

I have been buying, selling, and appraising domain names since 1995. So I was already doing keyword research for generic names and websites before anyone was really talking about SEO. I remember Danny Sullivan being the first person I ever heard talk about search engine optimization.

Does Size Matter?

Domain names are an important part of building your online presence. Many domain experts will tell you that your domain name being short and memorable is extremely important. They are right, ONLY IF you plan to advertise your domain name on the radio or on TV.

If all of your traffic will come from search engines, other websites, and people who bookmark your page, then the length of the domain name is not nearly as important. People bookmark and click links to get to your website. They do not try to remember your domain name unless you are google, cnn, yahoo, etc.

Shouldn’t I Choose My Company Name As My Domain Name?

Only if you think that people will search for your company name because everyone knows who you are already or you plan a huge advertising campaign to make sure people will be searching for you by name. Otherwise, generic, keyword-rich domain names are the best way to go.

You need to do your keyword research before you choose your domain name. You need to identify the keywords and key phrases you want to target. These are the terms that a user types into search engines when trying to find what you have to offer them.

The next chapter is going to cover keyword research. I bring it up here because we want the top key phrase you want to target as your domain name.

Is Dot Com King?

If you sell blue widgets, we want blue widgets dot something as your domain name. What comes after the dot does not matter. I know there will be domain experts who will tell you that you have to have a dot com and nothing else will do.

That applies to IF you are going to advertise on TV or radio once again, where people have to find you by memorizing your domain name. If your traffic comes from the Internet, what comes after the dot, whether it be dot net, dot org, dot biz, dot info, dot VG, dot PN, or whatever does not matter.

The part of the domain after the dot is called the TLD or Top Level Domain. The search engines do not give preference to one TLD over the other. The search phrase in front of the dot is what they look for.

Will My Domain Name Help My Search Results?

There are seo gurus who will say that the domain name does not help your search engine rankings or it only helps a tiny bit. I have enough top 5 google listings for the exact search phrase I targeted with the domain name using the same key phrase to convince you the domain name does matter.

Aren’t All The Good Domain Names Already Taken?

There are a lot of great domain names available in ccTLDs which means country code TLDs. There are the TLDs assigned to various countries around the globe. Some you cannot register unless you live there. Many do allow you to register domain names no matter where you live.

A good example would be dot TV or .tv. You may not know this, but dot tv does not stand for television. It is the ccTLD assigned to Tuvalu Island in the pacific who don’t have much use for domain names since last time I checked they had no computers or electricity.

Thousands of dot tv domain names have been sold but there are many more ccTLDs that can be registered that match the exact phrase you want to target. You can see a list here.

Don’t limit yourself to the choices GoDaddy or Network Solutions gives you. Broaden your search to choose the domain name that matches your top search phrase and don’t worry about what TLD it is in.

So read the chapter on keyword research first. Do your keyword research. Then register the name that matches your top key phrase.

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