Catchy Domain Names vs Keyword Domains

When it is time to buy a domain name, the tendency is to run out and purchase a domain incorporating your business name. This is a mistake. Unless you have a very popular business, you business name is not going to help you pull traffic to your site. Whether it is buying a domain name or designing your site, you should always be thinking about pulling traffic to the site. It is by far the most important aspect of your marketing.

A better way to select a domain name is to focus on one of two strategies. The first is to pick a catch name that people will remember. Examples of this include Google, EBay and Amazon. A second approach is to pick a keyword domain name. This is accomplished by doing keyword research for your niche and then using one of the keyword phrases as your domain name. So, should you choose catchy domain names or keyword domains? The answer depends on your intent.

Keyword domain names are the best way to go if you intend to pursue search engine optimization at some point. The reason for this is the search engine give a lot of weight to the domain name. If your domain matches a keyword phrase that has traffic, you have an excellent chance of getting high rankings under that phrase. For example, we have a site called solarcompanies.com. With a nominal amount of effort, we are now ranked in the top 10 of MSN, Google and Yahoo for this phrase. Since the phrase gets a couple hundred searches a day, we immediately have free traffic coming onto the site. Free traffic is the way to make a great return on investment for your time and money.

Catchy domain names are appropriate where your marketing efforts are not going to focus on search engine optimization. If your marketing plan involves viral marketing, word of mouth or advertising in more traditional media, you need a name that people will remember. Google is a classic example of this, to wit, a name you can’t help remember. Importantly, you can still do search engine optimization with a catchy domain name, but you will not have high rankings as quickly and easily for your home page.

At the end of the day, the answer to catchy domain names versus keyword domains depends almost entirely on how you intend to market. Give some thought to your marketing plan and the choice should be obvious.