importance of a good domain name
When establishing a presence on the web, an important consideration is the domain name. Many think it must be relevant to, or reflect, the content of the web site. However, there are other considerations.
A relevant domain name.
A relevant domain name matters... NOT! The brand of the company, the product, and/or the service gives you lots of room to consider options. The biggest issue is being "memorable".
dnb.com may sound cheesy, so does toysrus.com. However, they both excel at being "memorable".
Using a generic domain name.
A keyword domain is "generic" -- and generic means "no name". People get stuck on the hoopla of "I need keywords". They forget search engine ranking isn't marketing (even if some call it search engine marketing, or SEM).
If you want to stand out, be innovative.
Keyword-stuffed (stuffing) Domain Names.
Some search engines consider the keywords in a domain name to determine results position. If two websites are equal on all other factors, the one with the keyword in the domain gets ranked higher. This leads some to think stuffing lots of keywords in a domain name is the best way to go.
Keyword recognition.
Not all keywords in a domain are recognized by all search engines. For example, beehive.com is not necessarily relevant to searches for "bee" or "hive". To get around this problem, a website inserts a dash between the two words. Hence, it becomes bee-hive.com. However, now there is a problem when searchers use the term "beehive".
The consequences of dashes.
Using dashes in a domain is pointless, unless it is part of the natural way the word appears (e.g. "e-mail"). People remember names. They don't remember dashes. With dashes, you may inadvertently send traffic to another website.
Pioneer Report web browser
The confusion with dashes is another reason to avoid the extremelylongdomainnameconcept.com. People simply don't remember it. However, moderately long domains are just fine. In fact, they have some advantages.
Domain Branding and Marketing.
There are just as many (if not more) keyword domain names "unranked" as there are "ranked". A little research shows this. if you don't know SEM, the domain does not help. If you do know SEM, you don't need the keyword at all.
The branding value, of a domain, is the real power! Once you decide on a domain name, be sure to name your business the same.
Case in point, before deciding, put the name on a business card. See how it looks. If it's too generic, you have a lot of marketing to do!
Conclusion.
the-largest-ecommerce-store.com is no amazon.com. The name, "Amazon", has nothing to do with ecommerce. However, millions of people no longer think of the river when they hear the name. That is what is possible with a domain name, regardless of its so-called relevance.
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