Choosing a Domain Name
This is the first and most important thing to consider when designing a new website or optimizing and old one. Having key words in your domain name is not mandatory, however, results continue to prove that keyword rich domains are immediately seen as relevant by search engines for those keywords. Let's start with an example. Your company makes really nice widgets. Your company name is Beyond Classy. You may want your domain name to be www.beyondclassy.com, and maybe it already is, but it might not the best choice. Why not? You have to ask yourself 'how are people looking for my product or service'? The answer is they are looking for your website through search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN. So the next question is 'What are they typing in to find my product or service'?
In this example, we can assure you they are not typing in "beyond classy", unless you are already a fixture in your market and have regional or national brand name recognition. Website Design Columbus will do the research to discover the best keywords that drive qualified buyers to your website. In this example, after doing the research, we find that more people are trying to find your widgets by typing in "unique widgets". After these findings, although your company name is Beyond Classy, the best domain for your website might actually be www.uniquewidgets.com. This concept is lost on many business owners. It's hard to convince older, established companies with deserved pride in their name, that to place better in the search engines and to sell more widgets, it's better to use the domain name www.uniquewidgets.com over www.beyondclassy.com.
As with everything, there are exceptions. If you have name brand recognition or have had the same website online for a few years, there may be no need to change your domain name. Sometimes a compromise is all that's needed. With the above example, maybe www.bcwidgets.com would go a long way to pleasing the the business owner and the search engines. At Website Design Columbus we'll suggest every best practice we can, and implement as many as possible with your permission. We can achieve balance by working closely together and consistently working on improving the ROI on your website design and search engine optimization efforts.
Domain Age
Many people don't realize that the age of a domain plays a role in where the website ranks in search engines. By age we're talking about how long the domain has been continually active. How big of a role age plays depends on a few things. Generally though, as your domain gets older search engines begin to trust you and will start to give a well optimized site more favor. As with all factors we'll be discussing, domain age and domain names won't matter much regardless how old or great the domain name, unless a professional web marketing firm is on the job. There's not much you can do about domain age, your domain is how old it is. However, with a professional website design that is well targeted and highly optimized, it is possible to purchase a brand new domain name that ranks number one on google in about a month for it's targeted key phrases. We know this because Website Design Columbus has done it.
Blacklisted Domains
The saying goes "There is nothing new under the sun". That's almost always true. Have you ever thought that maybe someone had bought and used your domain name before you bought it? It's always possible. So what did this person do with your domain before you had it? Something dubious perhaps that's now gotten your domain permanently blacklisted from appearing in the major search engines results? Website Design Columbus researches these areas when recommending domains or working with your existing domain. Good domain names these days are getting scarce. Domain names are becoming longer because of the simple fact that someone else has already thought of and purchased the shorter version of it. Let us find the best domain name for your business.