Branding Your Domain Name

Branding Your Domain Name

Any more than about two or three words in a domain name and it becomes less memorable. Some of the most memorable websites do a great job of branding by creating their own word: eBay, Skype, PayPal, Yahoo!, Expedia, Slashdot, Fark, Travelocity, Google…

However, most successful businesses are soft innovations; they may not be able to afford the time, money, and effort required to create, brand, and add a new word to our language. You can create a name that is well-related to something people already know. It is easier to market corn sugar than it is to market fructose.

If you are not going to develop a strong brand, then using keywords in your domain name may give you a competitive advantage in search results. Having your keywords in your domain name can increase click-through rates on search engine listings and paid ads as well as make it easier to get keyword rich descriptive inbound links.

If your brand is exceptionally strong and your content quality is second to none you still can rank well in search results after enough related resources reference your site, even if most references do not mention the keywords you want to rank for. Google’s search algorithms have moved toward pushing natural authority sites even if they do not have much relevant anchor text.