Choosing a domain name? Do your keyword research first Posted by Rachelle Money on 16 December 2007

As the ancient Chinese proverb says; “the beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.” Choosing an appropriate name for your company takes careful thought and picking a domain name for your website is just as important a decision, especially when taking into account how fiercely competitive the world wide web is. Joshua Sloan, director of online marketing for the world’s most popular web host company, 1and1.com explains...

As the ancient Chinese proverb says; “the beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.” Choosing an appropriate name for your company takes careful thought, and picking a domain name for your website is just as important a decision, especially when taking into account how fiercely competitive the world wide web can be.

Joshua Sloan, director of online marketing of the world’s most popular web hosting company 1and1.com, says they have registered and handled more than 8.8 million domain names, as well as providing additional tools to help customers build professional and helpful websites.

Carrying out some keyword research could be a deciding factor on which name you choose, as Sloan explains; “The process of finding keywords helps you understand the search behavior of your target consumers and first ideas of how you want your site to be found on search engines.”

“But if you are a new company there aren't going to be many people looking for your brand. Usually that process of discovering keywords means adapting how you pick domain names.”

If the keywords relevant to your business are not in your brand name you may have to use a domain name which isn’t the same as your business name, or alternatively incorporate both.

For example, if I ran a family company called Henderson’s which was recognized locally by its brand name as a bakery, having a domain name like hendersons.com won’t tell potential customers on the web anything about the company. So, it would be beneficial to incorporate a keyword in the domain name like hendersonsbakery.com

Sloan says: “In the world of the internet you can use keywords anywhere in your domain name, url, directory, title tags, page name, content on the pages - this pattern of keyword relevancy all adds up to being beneficial to not only your visitors but also your site traffic.”

Research, and research, and research...

However, Sloan is quick to point out that when businesses start to build their website, keyword research and search engine optimization tend to be afterthoughts.

“The average website builder does not necessarily understand the keyword relationship to architecture and page naming - directory naming and domain naming do all tend to come afterwards.

“If you were extremely knowledgeable you would know the time you invest in understanding the keyword relevancy to your site’s architecture is valuable because it tends to take longer to retro fit your site based on new keyword knowledge.”

However, Sloan recommends businesses launch a template site as opposed to nothing at all until a website has been fully designed. “If you don’t get something up you’re just going to extend the time needed to get value from your site,” he warns.

1&1 are now working alongside Wordtracker through the affiliate sales channel, which Sloan directs. “We are constantly looking for tools, tips, websites and products that help generate additional traffic, and preferably tools that aren’t expensive and have relatively low learning curves - because one thing a company cannot give to its clients is time.”

When asked what advice he has for young companies eager to put themselves on the web, Sloan harked back to his days as a college lecturer.

“I have this metaphor framework that I teach my own students and I call it the three rules of data.”

1) More data is better than less data.

2) All data is relative to the questions you ask about it or the way you think about it.

3) All the data in the world is not helpful unless you can make a decision on it.

“And that goes for whether you are analyzing your web traffic or how to battle severe competition, or picking a domain name for branding - it applies to a lot of different eCommerce sites and web businesses.“

1&1

1&1 started out as an internet access seller in Germany in the early 1990’s and now boasts an international portfolio with companies based in the UK, France, Austria, Spain and of course the United States. They are also working to expand into the Indian and Australian market.

In 1998 the company passed their first milestone when they merged with an IT and web services company called Schlund+Partner. Buying one of Europe’s most powerful data centers brought an exciting new dynamic to the company - this has continued to pay dividends.

“That synergy was really good for us,” remarks Sloan. “According to the last numbers I saw we have 40% of the German hosting market, 20% of the European hosting market and in the US, which is a relatively new company, we hit the top ten list in less than two years and the top five in less than four.

“In the US there are 22,000 web hosts and so for us to rise quickly in a highly competitive industry is quite remarkable.”

Diversify and expand

1&1 have worked on expanding the number of services they provide to more than just registering domain names. They now have 6.39 million customers on paid services like click and build packages where you can create professional websites which attract and effectively communicate with visitors. They also help people set up instant mail where you can have your domain name in the email address (your.name@yourdomain.com), and get your own eShops up and running, or install virtual private servers (VPS).

Sloan says 1&1’s employees are “proud geeks.” “We think that’s a good term here,” he laughs. “I myself am a second generation geek - my father was a programmer in the seventies.

“I would say that there are a large number of people at 1&1 who don’t have a great deal of corporate experience, but do bring a lot of intelligence, enthusiasm and the ability and willingness to learn the skills that they need.”

1&1 understand the benefits of online marketing and so have given their customers a helping hand, especially to those businesses just starting out, as Sloan explains.

“With the beginner's hosting plan we give $50 for MSN or Pay Per Click, $25 Google Pay Per Click, $25 for Yahoo Pay Per Click, and if they are a brick and mortar store they can also get a $25 voucher for City Search.”

He calls this “learning money”, for businesses to gather data on which marketing solution is working best for their business - this in turn helps them make future decisions on online marketing strategies.

Become an expert

Once a business is satisfied they have built a good website, the next step is to create the copy that will go on the site. Sloan says many website designers will “draw the line at creating content” and will rely on the client to provide the designer with the copy needed.

“My honest feeling is that whatever your website is about, you need to be the expert in your subject matter, and if you can’t write 500 to 1,000 words from the top of your head on a topic related to your business then you haven’t yet mastered your niche - you have to be confident and competent,” says Sloan adamantly.

He goes on to say: “That doesn’t mean it has to be right first time, and if you have done keyword research and can see the way people are querying the search engines, it is possible to organically write copy that has between half a percent to one percent keyword density.”

It just goes to show that keyword research is as important at the beginning when you decide your domain name, as it is at the final sentence of your content.

Top tips for choosing a domain name

1) Do not assume your brand name is the best domain name to select. Carry out some keyword research before making a decision and consider incorporating a keyword alongside the brand name.

2) Short is better if you can do it, but simple phrases can be fine. Too long and you might get more mistypes.

3) Keywords (which people actually use) in a domain are useful in making it clear what the site is about.

4) Show a preference for .com top level domains (TLDs), but don't despair if you have to use other TLDs. Any TLD can be brandable - it's just a bit easier with .com.

5) Most people should avoid trade name and trade name typos. Domain squatting on these kinds of names can lead to costly legal battles.

6) Do grab the mistypes of your own domain. Not for SEO, but to get traffic that might have not otherwise reached you.

7) Multiple domains can be developed into targeted sites and then interlinked if their themes are not mutually exclusive.

8) And finally, here’s what to do if your domain is gone:

(i) Contact the existing owner directly and make them an offer.

(ii) Use a domain broker like Sedo.com to negotiate the price for the domain.

(iii) If your brand is strong, you could try out a different TLD (a .net instead of a .com), or if your brand is new or not well known, try a variant domain (mybrand.com instead of brand.com).

For more on this topic have a look at the Wordtracker Keyword Research page.