How Not to Pick / Name a Site / Domain Name
Not sure I any sort of worlds leading expert in this category, but I have seen some people name some domains that just did not make much sense to me. Link Proctor was great software...too bad I didn't know what the hell proctor meant when I first saw the name. I ranted to Brad Callen about that name and he changed the software name to SEO Elite...which is a better name IMHO...and pretty darn good software to boot.
A recent link network came out by the name of Link Smile. I looked at the design and the smiley guy on it and it made it hard for me to want to take it seriously...made it hard for me to want to spend money.
Today I just got a spam email message alerting me to a new link exchange network by the name of Link Fart...which I thought was such a bad name that it inspired this post.
Colors and words evoke emotions, and if the first subconcience response people have is one of alert, disgust, or confusion in most cased your name is probably not helping you sell more widgets.
Some tips on choosing a company or domain name:
- A Hundred Monkeys: Top ten things to look for in a Company Name
- Wilson Web: How to Select a Good Domain Name or Two
- Igor International: Igor Naming Guide (PDF)
- Old article by me from a SEO standpoint (don't tell the branding people above or they may want to lynch me): Domain Names & Anchor Text
As a disclaimer: I bought that Search-Marketing.info domain name when I had 0 knowledge about branding. It is a crappy domain name IMHO.
[update: a friend of mine also pointed me to Name Boy as a good domain name resource. Thanks Todd]
Comments
Link Fart....LOL! I guess the idea of such a name is create enough buzz to overcome its disgust connotation. I guess this one didn't fly.
I am looking at starting a small web business and have been grappling with this for a few days now and I am posting this in this forum to see what all you learned folks think!
Given the paucity of domain names today, I have two with me - not-so-good-name.com and good-name.in
What is the weightage to be given to the .com tld over the unknown .in?
In the context of SEO and link building - how much weightage does a not-so-good-name.com have over good-name.in?
Looking forward to your comments.
Thanks!
Kaushik
Hi Kaushik
If India is the target market then use .in. If you plan on going global use a .com.
Domain names play a role in the memorability of a site and the ability of the site to become a brand. If a .com has 6 words in it then it won't be very memorable.
Hi Aaron,
Thanks for that!
This brings me to the second question:
1) Suppose one of the target markets is the US/UK
2) and the second target market is India
The core offering is the same for both the markets.
However, The packaging and pricing of the services will be different for each of these target markets.
Marketing Channels will be primarily Online for US/UK. There will be off-line marketing component for the Indian market, though Online Marketing will be primary source here too.
What are the factors that will decide between having two separate domain names for the two target markets or a single domain name?
Significant amount of my time will have to be spent in marketing efforts that will help in drawing traffic organically. Though it will not be twice the time for two domain names which have similar content.
In such a scenario - does one choose one domain name or two domain names?
What are the risks of having two sites which differ in look and feel - (colors, layout, etc.) but have a good amount of same content - from an SEO perspective?
Warm Regards,
Kaushik
In most cases I would probably use multiple domains, but giving you much more advice beyond that would move into the realm of selling consulting for free...which is generally a bad idea.
Appreciate the line of control!
Hi Aaron,
I have a client here in Brazil and your domain is grupoplacar.com.br. Now he bought another domain that is gramassinteticas.com and want to use the same web site content for the two domais. It has some problem in this being that the domain grupoplacar.com.br it is well classified on Google currently?
Thanks, André
Where is the value add in putting the same content on both domain names? Why not just redirect the new one to the established on if they are going to use the exact same content?
Ok Aaron,
but the domain gramassinteticas.com it contains a the most important keyword phrase for this client that is in portuguese: grama sintética.
If I to make the redirect, this domain will continue having weight in the searchs?
Thanks again,
André
Probably for the link equity and website trust (assuming you do a 301).
Probably not for any criteria associated with the raw name though, other than whatever benefits direct navigation traffic brings to the site.
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