Buying Domain Names

Internet Marketing for Small Business: Buying a Domain Name

Buying the right domain name is essential for quick & easier rankings.  If you buy and use the wrong domain name it can make your SEO efforts harder than necessary.   In this tutorial, we are going to offer tips on how to purchase a domain name for your small business that will allow you to gain faster rankings in the search engines.

The most common mistake that many small business owners make when buying their domain name is buying one that matches their ‘Doing Business As Name’.   Now there is nothing wrong with branding your business, but when it comes to marketing your business online through search engine optimization, it makes your life more difficult to secure quick and easier rankings if your domain doesn’t contain the keyword(s) you want to rank for.

For example, if your DBA Name is: ‘Holistic Body’ and your business offers massage therapy services in Calgary, AB Canada.    If someone doesn’t know about your business, but they go to the search engines to find a local massage therapist would they ever type in “Holistic Body” into the search engine…? Most likely not.  What they most likely type in is: “massage Calgary” or “massage therapist Calgary”, etc.  You get the point.

Now, think if you were a search engine and you are a search engine algorithm (very analytical) and you were handed two domain names:

1. www.holisticbody.com
2. www.calgarymassage.com

Which one would you rank better for the keywords “massage Calgary” solely based on the domain name…? Exactly! This is why you want to purchase a domain name that has your major keyword(s) in it.

Here are a few other important elements to consider when buying a domain name for your small business:

1. Keywords (related to what you do)
2. Short – keep the domain as short as possible to make it easy to remember
3. Easy to Spell – this is not a time to get creative – not good for humans nor search engine spiders
4. Age – Whenever possible buy a aged domain

Note: Now remember to always base your decision on humans ultimately reading seeing your domain name.  Don’t buy a domain name that is only for the search engines.  This is where a little common sense comes into to play.

Using the right dot extension to your domain: If your business is in the US or if your web site is targeting a global audience then you should use .com as your top-level domain. Generally .net and .biz domains are not perceived as being as professional as .com domains. If however you are marketing to a local audience in another country, for example in Canada or Australia, then using the local .ca or .au may make it easier for visitors to recognize that your site is local.  I would still recommend you get the .com for local marketing and then have a permanent redirect to the local dot extension because people still seem to remember most domains with the .com extension over any other version.

No Trademark Conflicts: Make certain that your domain name is free of legal conflicts due to trademarks belonging to other businesses.

Warnings: Watch out for buying domain names with double meanings. When joining words without a hyphen be careful that you don’t create any double meanings that might be embarrassing. Here are some examples to illustrate this point:

• TherapistFinder.com or could be mistaken for TheRapistFinder
• MoleStationNursery.com or could be mistaken for MolestationNursery.com

Domain Buying Resources:

Godaddy – one of the most popular places to buy domains, go spot to have if you ever think you are going to sell it because most people have a Godaddy account and it makes easy for transferring ownership. Ditto or buying domains too.

1and1.com – I buy my domains from here when I don’t plan on ever selling it and it offers free private registration which saves you some coinage.

Whois – This will allow you to find the ownership details of a domain name, great tool when looking for aged domains.

If you follow these domain buying tips listed above, it should give your local business a serious advantage over a lot of your competition.  Please let us know what you think of this tutorial by writing comments below in the comment section.  If you like this small business internet marketing tutorial why not share it with your friends by using your favorite social listed below.