We have a huge announcement in tomorrow's edition. For the last few weeks we've been working on something that will help you get more visitors from search engines. It's completely free and completely awesome. Keep an eye out for tomorrow's edition for the big announcement.
I have gotten a few questions from our readers saying they have domain XYZ.com and it was registered a long time ago when they weren't thinking clearly. Should they change it?
First a quick recap of the most important things to consider when choosing a domain name:
In the 90's and early 2000's search engines would put a significant amount of weight on the keywords in your domain. Domains like car-auto-insurance.com that stuffed as many relevant keywords into the name were common. Then around 2003 things started changing and keywords were deemphasized in search algorithms. They realized that sites like amazon.com and eBay.com have arbitrary names but should rank highly for certain categories.
Modern domain names take human factors into account rather than search ranking. In issue #9 I listed these things to consider when choosing a name:
- It must be easy to remember
- It doesn't have to be short. HuffingtonPost is the most popular blog in the world.
- It should have words that are related to what it does. e.g. RescueTime.com sells time management software. MediaPiston.com is a copywriting service.
- It must be easy to spell
- It must be easy to pronounce
- It should not contain dashes - when someone remembers your domain, they won't remember if it included dashes or not.
- It should be a dot-com. .org'ers argue with me if you like, but dot-com's are still the most memorable domains.
Now back to the question of whether you should change your name. Don't make this decision lightly. You have a significant amount of search engine equity and brand equity in your domain name. Unless your name is harming you in some way or a new name would deliver strong benefits, I would recommend against changing your name.
A valid reason to change your name would be that you have strong evidence you're being confused with another company. Assuming you don't want to get involved in a trademark dispute, changing your name may solve this. Another good reason is if you have an obscene word or suggestive word in the name that is harming your brand.
If you do have to change your site or blog domain, there is a way to ensure that all the page-rank you have accumulated gets passed on to the new site. I'll discuss how to change your name successfully tomorrow - along with the big announcement we're making.
Regards,
Mark Maunder
Feedjit Founder & CEO.
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