What should you consider when buying a domain name?
Why do people spend a redicoulus amount of money on something as silly as the right to use a certain address on the internet? Think of it as real estate. Buy and sell later.
Another reason is that the clever SEO crowd discovered that anchor text is one of the strongest SEO tool availible. That means if someone link to my site with the text “widgets” in the anchor tag, search engines will associate my site with “widgets” and give the site higher rankings on that particular search phrase. So this means that if I own “widgets.com”, chances are that many people will link me up with the domain name, and since that contains my main keyword, half the SEO is already made.
So what should you look for when buying a domain name? Assuming you don’t have the big bucks to spend, you try altering your searches and broaden your acceptance of domains for your web presence. This can be very frustrating. Let’s say you are selling “widgets”. So you want widgets.com – tough luck. That domain was registrered 3 years ago and some guy wants a whopping 50 grand for it. Ok, what about “widgets.net” or “widgets.org”. Try again. All of them are most likely occupied. Given that all popular keywords are taken combined with the releases of some new country codes, people are coming up with some creative domain ideas.
Let’s rewind this for a moment. Is it really that important to have your main keyword in the domain name? Should you really be looking for “buy-widgets-at-my-site.info” in the end? Think of the big ones. The key is not the keyword – it’s the brand. Keyword domains are out. Branding names are in.
So when choosing your domain name, don’t get stuck in the keyword thinking. Take it back to the brand. If necessary, have a domain lookup tool at your disposal when choosing the brand in the first place.
I particularly like google (who doesn’t). Its easy to remember, you can verbalize it (let’s google that) and it has a deeper meaning (googolplex – the highest number there is). And today, the brand is stronger than ever. Think beyond keywords.
