<<< Back to WeBizNews List

Grab a Top Level Domain Name

With the availability of website domain name suffixes (such as .eu, .ws, .cc and so on) it's never been easier to grab a domain name directly related to the subject matter of your site.

For example, if you want to create a site about Persian Cats, it would make sense to use a domain name including the phrase 'persiancat'. Unfortunately, other people have had the same idea, so persiancat.com is no longer available, nor is persiancat.net, .org, .biz or any other simple domain name with a top level suffix.

Most searchers tend to give first priority to sites with top level domain names, such as .com or .net. At least partially, this is due to these being the original suffixes, therefore the average surfer believes .com and .net have more credibility and authority. Since your website is selling or promoting your business or products, this could be critical, as these factors may translate into 'trustworthiness'.

Search engines take your domain name into consideration when spidering your site for a search results page. Google, Yahoo, MSN or any other search engine, looks for a clear relationship between your domain name and site subject.

Simply put, a top level domain name is one of your strongest sales tools.

So, what can you do? Well, here's a couple of very simple tips that may help you to bag that all important top level domain name for your site.

First, try a plural version of your key phrase, rather than the singular version. So, in the example above, you might check out the availability of top level names using persiancats, rather than persiancat. More often than not, when the singular version of a phrase has gone, so has the plural.

The second little trick is far more effective and well worth trying if you get stuck while looking for a top level name. The trick is - numbers!

Not numbers at the beginning of the domain address - that's really 'old hat'. You only have to look at a list of expired domains to see how many owners of such addresses allow them to die.

Why? Because they don't work particularly well with either search engines or with real people - and something like '0000persiancats.com' looks plain silly! Then again, 101Dalmations.com seems to be popular! If this works logically, great - don't push it!

But, that's not likely to be of much benefit to your site. However, numbers in the 'body' of the domain name, especially the numbers 2 and 4, may work.

Why? Well, the number 2 is a simple substitute for the word 'to' and 4 can be read as 'for'.

Now, tie that in with one other little substitution trick - take the word 'you' and substitute the letter 'u'. Now finding a good top level domain name that still relates to the site subject becomes a relatively simple matter.

Let's take our persiancats example to demonstrate how effective a strategy this can be. Using all three of the highlighted tricks, try searching for 'persiancats2u.com' and 'persiancats4u.com'. Still available? If not, how about 'persiancat4us.com' or 'persiancat4me.com'?

Even if all of these are now taken, all it needs is a bit of imagination to create a '.com' domain name that relates directly to your subject matter.

GoodLuck2u! BestLuck4U... Best2U...

AUTHOR BIO:
Nancy Cardinali helps small business owners by consolidating their on line and print image to develop brand name recognition. Her free Ezine, WeBizNewz, and on line tools will educate Small Business Website owners so they may get the most from their internet presence.
www.CardinaliDesigns.com

Article Re-print Rights Information

You may re-print this article as long as you comply with following terms:

Article must be published "as is" (unedited). Article must be published with the author's bio paragraph (resource box). URL in the resource box should be set as hyperlinks. Article cannot be used in spam communications.