Cshel Chicago SEO, PR and Web Development

SEO 101: Domains – Picking them, getting them, keeping them

Posted on 27. Nov, 2007 by Carolyn Shelby.

Ouch. Brian’s office had a cable cut or something, we’d occasionally lose Neo, and for once I was the one NOT having connection issues, but the sudden silence made me paranoid… it was a rough episode. Technical difficulties aside, there is some good information about choosing, registering and hanging onto domain names which verily I shall summarize here.

Choosing a domain name for your business (key points)

1. Keyword domains are always a safe bet, but they can be a tad on the bland side. Is it better to go for a cool brand or a dull keyword laden domain? My vote is for the cool brand… people love their brands. People do not *love* keywords. Not to mention, brandable names tend to be more readily available on the open market than awesome keyword domains.
2. (Easy to Say + Easy to Spell) or (Clever + Easy to Say) = Easy to Remember
3. Hyphens are okay, and in some cases good, but remember to think about the big picture. If your primary domain has a hyphen in it, make sure you also snag the non-hyphenated version and 301 it to your hyphenated domain. This way you don’t end up with gross sounding radio spots, i.e. “Visit Bob’s-Tech-Hut.com. That’s Bobs Hyphen Tech Hypen Hut Dot Com!”
4. Make sure you’re not stepping on someone else’s trademark before you sink your entire life’s savings into a project. You don’t want to have to change domain names after you’ve already printed your literature and spent money on producing your ads, etc. We’re not saying it can’t be done; we’re just saying it’s incurring an avoidable expense and causes avoidable pain and anguish.
5. Domain Tools has a nice domain suggestion tool. Be prepared to jump on a domain once you find one you like… it might not be there when you come back the next day.

Getting the Domain You Want (key points)

1. Use a reputable domain registrar, and register as many years in advance as you can comfortably afford.
2. Check the backorder services to see if the domain you might want is going to expire soon. Backorders are generally free unless they successfully “catch” a domain for you when it drops.
3. Check after market sites for registered, but for sale domain names… search for “domains for sale” and you’ll come up with dozens of sites offering after market domain sales.
4. If you need to buy a domain from a broker, have a price in mind ahead of time and be prepared to walk away from the domain if the price isn’t right, or be prepared to write a really big check.
5. Consider having a third party contact the domain registrant to negotiate a sale, or at least contact them via a throw-away email address. Sometimes sellers up the sale price if they think you’ve got deep pockets, or if they figure out what your business name is and know how desperately bad you want the domain.

Keeping Your Domain (key points)

1. Make sure the contact information you have in the domain registration file is accurate and current.
2. Make sure your registration is paid up.
3. Throw some backorders on your own domains just in case… especially if you know you’re prone to bouts of forgetfulness.

Popularity: 55% [?]

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Selling Domains Via AdWords

Posted on 23. Dec, 2006 by Carolyn Shelby.

There is an interesting thread over at Dnforum.com right now where a bunch of guys have been having good luck selling domains through an AdWords campaign. The theory is that you’ll reach more potential buyers by targeting the keywords that comprise the domain name (with and without extension) and you won’t spend a fortune because there really aren’t that many people who type domain names right into google. Of the people who do type domains right into the Google search field, how many are going to type in the domain you’re trying to sell?

Most of the people giving this a try are going through AfterNIC to sell their domains, and have the ad’s destination URL set to their landing page there. There are some people using Sedo, though I haven’t seen many reports of success yet. I seem to be the lone loon trying to sell the domains on my own (which is fine… I figured someone should be different just to make the discussion interesting).

The CTR on my ads is 20-ish%, but I’m not getting a tremendous number of impressions per day either. I have gotten a few clicks. No inquiries or purchases yet. Part of that might have something to do with the prices I’m asking for the domains, but they’re worth enough to me to sit on for a few years longer if I don’t get the price I want.

This definitely seems to be a good way to reach a broader audience and particularly end-users who aren’t as tight with the purse strings as domainers. The only problem with using AdWords for marketing your available domains seem to be the cost associated with marketing high value, single dictionary word domains because the number of impressions and the cost per click can make it too expensive to continue the campaign for very long.

Popularity: 25% [?]

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Google easing into domain business afterall

Posted on 17. Dec, 2006 by Carolyn Shelby.

Remember when I said Google can’t see behind privacy protected domain registrations because they don’t actually manage any domains? Well… Google just announced they’ve added domain registration to the Google Apps for Your Domain Beta. Adding a domain to your Google Apps account is only $10.00 a year to register AND host AND get private domain registration to protect you from Evil spammers.

So this begs the question…

Is Google finally using their registrar license to manage domains for the general public?

Nope. They’re partnering with GoDaddy and Enom to provide the registration services. I doubt it’s a coincidence that they chose to partner with the registrars that have the first and third largest shares, respectively, of the domain market. Via these partnerships, there are now at least 20 million domain records to which Google (presumably) has full, behind-the-privacy-screen access.

Abhilash previously suggested this type of situation might be possible, and honestly, I didn’t think any of the registrars would get into bed with Google like this because the risk of clients becoming upset and transfering out in droves wouldn’t be worth taking. Sort of makes me wonder what kind of financial incentive they received.

I guess we’ll just have to watch and see how this plays out.

Popularity: 23% [?]

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