What's in a websites name?

This article was written by Matt Roach

What's in a name? That which we call Bebo, Google or Facebook by any other name would smell as sweet; Not sure how to chose a domain name? Heard lots of advice you can't make sense of? The answer is simple...

When choosing a website address (domain name) you have to consider a couple of things. If you are building a large brand then something simple, even an abstract word like Google or Bebo is great because it is easy to remember. However, if you are going to build a site for a small business then you are very unlikely to create the brand awareness for a single abstract word to make sense to your customers.

Commonly people name their website after their company's name, this is a good strategy as your company name is known by your customers. Increasingly people are looking for the internet to win new business so a debate has risen.

How about using Key words in your website address?

Where the key words are those that you would like to rank highly for in the search engines. It is our opinion that having key words in your website address certainly helps your ranking in the search engines. Please note though like everything else that help you climb the search engine rankings it is not a single fix. So if you are to consider key words in your website address then there are some rules of thumb that we strongly recommend that you follow.

Choose 3 words or less to make up your website address
Choose keywords that people are searching the internet for
Choose keywords that have low competition from the rest of the internet
Choose keywords that are relevant to your business
choose keywords that make sense to us, people, after all we are the ones remembering and typing in your website address
one final piece of advice if you are considering a new website address (domain name), choose carefully!

See below for some examples of websites that did not head all of the advise on this page ;-)

'Who Represents' is where you can find the name of the agent that represents any celebrity.

http://www.whorepresents.com

Experts Exchange is a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views

http://www.expertsexchange.com

Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at

http://www.penisland.net

Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at

http://www.therapistfinder.com

There's the Italian Power Generator company,

http://www.powergenitalia.com

The Mole Station Native Nursery in New South Wales

http://www.molestationnursery.com

If you're looking for IP computer software, there's always

http://www.ipanywhere.com

The First Cumming Methodist Church Web site is

http://www.cummingfirst.com

And the designers at Speed of Art await you at their wacky Website

http://www.speedofart.com

And finally, does the ending matter? .com co.uk .net etc.

Before we end this artlie we'd better pay attention to the end of your new website address. People often ask .com or .co.uk etc, does it matter? Yes, the endings of domain names (top level domains) were made up for specific reasons and it is always best to use them appropriately, see the list below for some examples. Small business owners often look at alternative endings for domain names if their first choice .com has gone for example, and this is a perfectly sensible thing to do. However, before we go we shall mention one final thing on this topic it is our opinion a .com or .co.uk domain is better for optimising search engine rankings when used appropriately.