Is Your Domain Name Hurting Your Sales

Today I want to share with you some things about your domain name selection that you need to think about before you begin to promote your business or product online. If you already have a website in place, no problem, you can incorporate these ideas to make even more online sales. Here are some of the things to think about when choosing your domain name:

1. Choose a domain name for your business AND for your product.

Yes, that's right. Multiple domain names. For example, if your business is ABC Corporation and your product is called Maximize Your Sales, then get a domain name called www.ABCCorporation.com and www.MaximizeYourSales.com. You can have both of these domain names pointing to different pages of your web site. This way, customers who only know you by your product name can find you easily by typing in the NameOfYourProduct.com, and those who know you by your corporate name can find you easily by typing YourCorporation.com.(Hint: If you are an individual with a small business, you should register your personal name also).

2. Get domain names with dashes in them.

In the previous example, we used the company and product domain names. Now, go out and purchase www.ABC-corporation.com and www.Maximize-Your-Sales.com.

Why should you do this? Two reasons, really: The first is aesthetic appeal. Wouldn't you agree that it's easier to read the long domain names with the dashes in them? However, it is much easier to type a name into your browser without the dashes, and that makes it easier on your customers, which is why you purchased the domain name without the dashes.

Additionally, domain names with dashes sometimes rank a bit higher in the search engines. A higher ranking in the search engines will drive more customers to your web site. Search engine algorithms are ever changing, but buying multiple domains and pointing each one of them to a specific, product-related page on your main site can ultimately help you make more sales in the future. Be sure not to point multiple domains at the same page, though -- that will get you dropped from most search engines.

3. Purchase domains that are similar in spelling to yours.

Every day, someone misspells a word. Inevitably, they will still land on someone's web page. Why not yours? Using the example above, you might want to purchase www.abccorperation.com and www.maximiseyoursales.com just to be safe. It's easy to reroute these names to your main web page after you own them.

4. Use a top keyword in your domain name.

Let's use another example to illustrate: Suppose you are selling garden tools. Not just any garden tools, you sell low cost, high quality garden tools. The name of your company is Garden Tool World. Using the tips above, you will purchase the domain names for your company. But what about your product?

The key here is to look for names for your product domain that people will be searching for. When a potential customer goes to a search engine, will they look for “low cost high quality garden tools”? Or will they look for “Cheap Garden Tools”? With a little research, you can find out what people are looking for.

I use two tools to see what people are looking for on the internet: WordTracker and Overture's Inventory . Simply type in the word or phrase you are looking for and you will see instantly which phrases are most popular. So if people are looking for “Cheap Garden Tools”, then your domain name might be: www.cheapgardentools.com.

Choosing a domain name is an important part of the overall marketing process and should not be taken lightly. Make sure your domain name represents your company, product and image, and you'll be setting a great foundation for future sales.