There’s a lot in a name; more so when it’s a trading name; even more again when you are using it to market your small business online.
The Catalyst That Drives The Engine
Your domain name is the catalyst that drives the engine containing all the other factors that combine to create high ranking spots in the major search engines – and you will discover why when you arrive at Chapter 16.
Above all, the domain must accurately reflect your product or service and, if in the process it breaks some (or all) of the conventional rules in devising a trading name for offline application, so be it.
Your marketplace is cyberspace and if you have to cut a few corners to come up with the name you want to run with – then cut them.
I use names online that I wouldn’t dare to use for my offline ventures; names such as:
- 1st creative writing course;
- how to products xl;
- making money online;
- costcutters;
- madhatter;
- how to become famous online;
- website optimisation;
- start a business masterplan;
- free stuff xl;
- retirement moneymakers.
Ten ugly, cumbersome, tongue-twisters if applied offline; ten winners when used online ...
Fitness For Purpose
It’s a question of fitness for purpose; they all tie in exactly to the respective produce I am promoting, that is they accurately reflect the product or service.
Let’s dissect the reasoning behind four of these ugly bugs.
Why ‘1st’ Creative Writing Course?
Because someone had already registered
http://creative-writing-course.com and also because ...
Why ‘xl’?
Same reason: http://howtoproducts.com and http://free-stuff.com had already been registered – plus the fact that ‘xl’ can also mean ‘excel’...
Why ‘costcutters?’
Because prices are cut to the bone on all the produce featured on this website ...
Why ‘retirement Moneymakers’?
Because what I am promoting here is a course directed at retirees on how to make money online in their spare time ...
No Finesse Required
Straightforward, down-the-middle, to the point; but then, I am not chasing literary prizes, just enticing the ‘spiders’, the robotic dirt devils that determine where (if at all) websites are positioned in the search engine listings.
Whichever route you take in choosing your trading name, make sure it’s your name and not some concoction based on a free hosting service domain, like for example
http://howtoproducts-xl.freeservers.com . All that will get you is the bottom of the pile.
Exception To The Rule
Paradoxically, though, you
can get away with such cheese-paring when you tag the trading name to an existing URL that you registered yourself ... and you use the unique system revealed in
Chapter 16.
For example,
http://howtobecomefamousonline.howtoproducts-xl.com ranks No.1 on Yahoo!, AltaVista and AllTheWeb.
Do’s And Don’ts For Choosing Your Own Domain Name
So, now that you are convinced that you need your own domain, how should you name it? Here are a few do’s and don’ts; try to follow as many as possible.
While it is unlikely that you will be able to register a domain which satisfies all the rules that I outlined above, try to follow as many of themes you can.