You visited a great website some time ago that had some fantasticinformation on it. It is not easily found in search enginesresults so you decide to type the domain name into your favoritebrowser. The problem is that the url spells out something likekeyword-keyword-keyword-keyword-keyword.com.
Does that sound ethical to you It maybe helpful with thosesearch engine rankings but for many visitors that can be a painin you know what to type out.
For years I worked in an internet caf and was surprised to knowthat many persons cant type in a hyphen. Instead of finding outhow to do it, they just move on to an alternate site hence a lossof traffic.
The average computer user can be a lazy fellow indeed. Thats whythere are so many keyboard shortcuts. He needs to complete histask as soon as possible.
Ever wonder why the Googles, Yahoos, Amazons and Ebays of theonline world are so successful Its because there domain nameplay a significant role in there branding.
There are countless persons logging on for the first time eachday in search of information that can assist them in the iniationprocess. It is imperative that your domain name play a major partin creating a bond with your viewers.
For almost four years I marketed a free website that was hostedon Geocities. My domain spelt out Geocities.com/Mynamewhich made marketing feel like running with an anchor tied to mylegs. I cant even imagine the amount of traffic and credibilitythat I lost due to that single factor.
Does it work It can and sometimes it wont. I believe thathaving a domain with too many words in it can be a turnoff justlike having a Geocities site. It seems unprofessional for acompany to have a name that contrasts the credibility that theyare trying to create.
Some domain names are like a cargo train several comportmentslong. Why Since some search engines do not give any significanceto the meta keyword tag, some webmasters fill their domain withtheir keywords.
A good domain does not guarantee success as I found out. But amemorable and easy to spell name can be beneficial to both youand your visitors. You can have an easier time reaching them andthey will have an easier time finding you with a quick type in ofyour domain.
I think it is best to put your keywords for each page in yourfile name. That way you, the search engines and your viewers allwin.
Copyright Nicholas Dixon
*****************************************************
Nicholas Dixon is a Jamaican webmaster, writer and affiliatemarketer. Find out
how you too can create an online income with ourlist of highly recommended
programs by visiting
*****************************************************
The toll free number 1-800-Get-Rich belongs to the Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City. Perfect vanity number for a casino, right Well apparently not. Their website shows the actual numbers, 1-800-438-7424 for the marketing department of Resorts Atlantic City. Those NUMBERS are nowhere near as memorable as is the mnemonic device of letters representing those numbers on the telephone keypad. It makes you wonder, did the casino have bad luck (no pun intended) or receive bad publicity for their 800-Get-Rich phone number
Doing a Google search for 1-800-GET-RICH returns several spoof articles using the toll free number to make light of get rich quick schemes. Seems as well suited to a casino as to satire, since gambling represents the ultimate get rich quick scheme.
But on the web theres a another element to toll free numbers you must consider. 800 numbers are used as domain names which seem to stick in our memory as a web address just as well as a phone number. Resorts Atlantic City Hotel Casino should buy the domain name www.1800getrich.com from the current owner and assign their marketing department toll free 800 vanity number to the Casino instead.
The domain name www.1800GetRich.com is for sale as of this writing if you visit that web address. You can be certain that the current domain owner knows that the toll free vanity telephone number is owned by Resorts International Hotels www.resortsac.com which matches the domain www.1800getrich.com. It has to be enticing to think a large international hotel corporation may want his domain.
The casino owns the toll free number but isnt using the mnemonic for the numbers (GET-RICH for 438-7424). Makes you wonder about the history of the domain name, since WHOIS records show it was reserved only this past May of 2004, AND the history of the vanity number since it is going unused, at least on the web site. Hmmmm...
There are vanity phone number resellers online that actually specialize in providing 800 numbers with matching domain name for those seeking the consistent branding for their business. Clearly this is simply a marketing ploy by savvy 800 number vendors, as those domains may be full of hyphens and may cost more than they should due to the perception of value-added.
An interesting aspect to toll free numbers as domain names is that of 1-800 copyright and trademarks. Take for example, the well known flower retailer 1-800-FLOWERS.com where they use both the domain name and the toll free number. Both are copy- righted and trademarked names and essential to the business.
Legal precedent allows trademark owners to confiscate domains from cybersquatters who buy domain names containing trade- marked or copyrighted words and phrases hoping to sell that domain back to the trademark holder. But it is less clear an issue when it comes to descriptive toll free and vanity phone numbers. How about 1-800-PINDROP.com - which you would think would be registered to Sprint Communications Curiously, as of October of 2004, this domain was available. What do they use www.pindrop.com (without the 1-800) goes to Sprint.com.
It appears there are wide inconsistencies in using toll free 800 phone numbers as domain names but they can be memorable, which is one measure of a good domain name. They also arent limiting as to word length. Ive always felt its a bit odd to type in 1800keywordphrase.com as a domain name, but only because there is no hyphen in it. 1800 looks like eighteen hundred and is just as strange as typing 247 for domains as a suggestion they are always open, more often seen as 24/7, but domain names cant have that slash mark in them.
As a matter of fact, Ive always disliked numbers of any kind in domain names - especially those using numbers in place of the words to (up2me.com)& for (good4you.com) But, as owner of http://website101.com Im at odds with the dislike for numbers in domain names. Still, it works better than 1800website.com or 1-800-website.com, both owned by Verio Web Hosting and both purchased in August of 1996, but neither have web sites configured at those addresses. They must not have been a worthwhile domains, yet they keep them.
If it offers you another option for a memorable web address, 800 number domains may be worth considering.
Mike Valentine operates WebSite101 domain name tutorial Free domain lookup tool to find out who owns domain names at This article written for 800 Numbers Toll Free