Creating a new website consists of many different concepts. What style to use? What colors? What about the biggest decision of all? The domain name could be the most important of all these elements. When it's time to choose a domain name you have two general approaches. One is to try and create a domain name that matches what people are searching for when they look for a product or service. The other is to create a brand identity with a domain name. We will discuss both approaches and the pros and cons of each.
For illustration, let's assume that a business named Tiny Treats sells cupcakes in New York City. A potential customer may use various searches to find what they want. If we assume we're not limited to domain names, it makes sense to concatenate a geography to a product or service. Through keyword analysis we might find that a typical person uses "new york city cupcakes" to search. A perfectly matched domain would then be newyorkcitycupcakes.com. Since this domain name matches a customers target search, they are very likely to get the jump on a non-matching domain. This is because the search engines give relevance to domain names and since they match it provides a benefit.
There are also downsides to a keyword matched domain. They certainly are limited to the audience they target. People search for products and services in vastly different ways, so a matched domain may not provide the benefit expected. In addition, a customer may wish to create a brand and, with an matching domain, that isn't possible. "A matching domain name can also be viewed as a negative or phishing attempt," says Chloe Gimblette of a NJ Web Design Company. "This is due to many advertisement related websites using domains of this type."
The other way to go is with a brand or company name as the domain decision. This typically means using the company name as the domain name. This can create a brand association with your customers in the long-term. Think of common name brand products or services. Often their names are meaningless from a product perspective. The name Ford, for example, is known for cars and trucks but has nothing to do with them by name alone. Also, a typical SEO approach is to use keywords and phrases as internal slugs so that their URL still caters to the search engines. An address like mystore.com/what-I-sell can both retain a brand and make the URL search engine friendly.
I think most people would want to use a branded name as a domain but often choose a matching name to help their on-line visibility. A site will certainly see a positive gain in the search results from doing so. While these gains might be short-lived due to other search factors, it's evident it helps to some degree. Customer will also find that the obvious domain names are already taken and be forced to create a branded name or risk a silly URL as a result. Ultimately, the domain name should fit a customers needs regardless of which approach.
For illustration, let's assume that a business named Tiny Treats sells cupcakes in New York City. A potential customer may use various searches to find what they want. If we assume we're not limited to domain names, it makes sense to concatenate a geography to a product or service. Through keyword analysis we might find that a typical person uses "new york city cupcakes" to search. A perfectly matched domain would then be newyorkcitycupcakes.com. Since this domain name matches a customers target search, they are very likely to get the jump on a non-matching domain. This is because the search engines give relevance to domain names and since they match it provides a benefit.
There are also downsides to a keyword matched domain. They certainly are limited to the audience they target. People search for products and services in vastly different ways, so a matched domain may not provide the benefit expected. In addition, a customer may wish to create a brand and, with an matching domain, that isn't possible. "A matching domain name can also be viewed as a negative or phishing attempt," says Chloe Gimblette of a NJ Web Design Company. "This is due to many advertisement related websites using domains of this type."
The other way to go is with a brand or company name as the domain decision. This typically means using the company name as the domain name. This can create a brand association with your customers in the long-term. Think of common name brand products or services. Often their names are meaningless from a product perspective. The name Ford, for example, is known for cars and trucks but has nothing to do with them by name alone. Also, a typical SEO approach is to use keywords and phrases as internal slugs so that their URL still caters to the search engines. An address like mystore.com/what-I-sell can both retain a brand and make the URL search engine friendly.
I think most people would want to use a branded name as a domain but often choose a matching name to help their on-line visibility. A site will certainly see a positive gain in the search results from doing so. While these gains might be short-lived due to other search factors, it's evident it helps to some degree. Customer will also find that the obvious domain names are already taken and be forced to create a branded name or risk a silly URL as a result. Ultimately, the domain name should fit a customers needs regardless of which approach.
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