# Help me rest easy. Importance of domain name.



## virtualvendibles (Mar 26, 2007)

Hi all,

I'm brand new here and and have been really struggling with choosing a domain name.

I have a store on Printfection, that I don't own a domain name for. I checked godaddy, and the domain name I wanted is already taken. In addition, even if I did own the domain, the competetion for the words in the domain is huge.

So I'm thinking of changing the store name to something else. That way I can buy the domain matching the store name to aid in my promoting my site, instead of pushing printfection.com/XXXXXXX.

The problem is, I'm hearing different opinions on choosing a domain name. For instance if I'm selling widget t-shirts, does widget have to be in the domain name for me to hope to rank better in SEO and get more exposure?

The reason I ask, is because the name I'm thinking of doesn't have a connection to my chosen subject matter. How much will having a unique, unrelated name damage my online presence?

Thanks!


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## Jasonda (Aug 16, 2006)

virtualvendibles said:


> So I'm thinking of changing the store name to something else. That way I can buy the domain matching the store name to aid in my promoting my site, instead of pushing printfection.com/XXXXXXX.


That's a very good idea. It's much, much easier to promote a real ".com" domain name than a .com/XXXXX name.



virtualvendibles said:


> The problem is, I'm hearing different opinions on choosing a domain name. For instance if I'm selling widget t-shirts, does widget have to be in the domain name for me to hope to rank better in SEO and get more exposure?


No, widget does not have to be in the domain name. For SEO the page content matters a lot more than the domain name. The best thing to do would be to find a name that is short, memorable, has no dashes, and is easy to understand over the phone.



virtualvendibles said:


> The reason I ask, is because the name I'm thinking of doesn't have a connection to my chosen subject matter. How much will having a unique, unrelated name damage my online presence?


It won't necessarily damage your online presence, but it might make it more difficult for your customers to remember what your business sells if the name of the product is not in the domain name. Probably you'll just have to do a little extra marketing to make sure your customers remember the name.


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## darwyn (Feb 28, 2006)

Hello there! I've had a similar problem...check this thread

Also, on the advice of someone on these threads, I read the book "The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding" which helped a lot!

Your website name (domain) is CRTITICAL though, so choose wisely. The book should help you put it into perspective, but NO, "widget" does not necessarily need to be in the name to further SEO...I'm sure it helps a bit, but I can't imagine it will make or break you. Just use good keywords. I'm sure someone else here can clarify.

That being said, it may even be better to pick a name relatively unrelated to what you are selling. Think Amazon.com for books. Or Yahoo.com as a search engine.


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## JeridHill (Feb 8, 2006)

The way google works is it will search your website for copy, then search your meta data for similar copy. Then it will begin to rank you according to how well your content and meta data coincide. This is just one way it works. So this way, if you talk about your products but in your meta data you tag keywords with competitor products, it won't rank very well. It's all about the content.

So for every page you have, make the content great to read and your meta data keywords for those pages, match up with your content. After you do this for all of your pages, then submit your site to various search engines. As the popularity of your site increases and your content is relevant, you increase in ranking.


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## virtualvendibles (Mar 26, 2007)

Wow the responses have been great. Lots of helpful comments.

My next question:

Suppose I'm not hosting my domain name. Maybe I'm just pointing it at my Printfection URL. Does my domain still get indexed? Remember, visitors are just being redirected. Theres no content on my domain.

What's the best way to set this up to get the most of my SEO, traffic and promotions?


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> Suppose I'm not hosting my domain name. Maybe I'm just pointing it at my Printfection URL. Does my domain still get indexed? Remember, visitors are just being redirected. Theres no content on my domain.


They will try to just index the "final" destination. You can sometimes have problems with just redirecting the domain to another place because search engines can sometimes think you are trying to put duplicate content up to boost your rankings (they have had problems understanding that widget.com is the same content/site as printfection.com/widget)



> What's the best way to set this up to get the most of my SEO, traffic and promotions?


Set up an actual "website" at your new domain address. Put some original content on that website like a blog that talks about your design inspiration, new ideas, sales, news. Put your product images on the site that link to your printfection store. 

As you grow, you may decide not to use printfection anymore, but it won't matter because you will have the domain name and branding done separately, so you can just update the links on the website to point to a different company or to your own shopping cart if you decide to do it all yourself.


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

While I think having widget in the name really helps, it is far more important to have a domain name desirable to humans than one to robots. Widget.com is useful for humans to remember what you do, but it's not vital. Domain name is extremely important - if you have a "unique, unrelated name" that suits your store, then go with it. Branding will make it memorable, and advertising will bring in the sales more than search engines anyway.


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## sp8092 (Mar 27, 2007)

Solmu said:


> Widget.com is useful for humans to remember what you do, but it's not vital. Domain name is extremely important - if you have a "unique, unrelated name" that suits your store, then go with it. Branding will make it memorable, and advertising will bring in the sales more than search engines anyway.


...This is the best advice I've seen posted on this thread so far. 

I would add, in general, it is usually a bad idea to change your company name. If you already have a customer base and you change your name…most people will think that you have either closed or been replaced…especially if you have a store front. At best, they will see you as unstable. If you are not yet established and this isn’t a concern for you, then by all means. 

As for your .com. Matching your company name would be nice, but it is not the most important factor to consider. What is more important is how easy it is to remember. If your company name is “Printfection”, and that .com is taken, then try something related. Maybe like printedTees.com or similar. 

Your company name should tell people something about what you do(if possible) and should be short or easy to remember. However, a .com name only needs to be easy to remember.

Your company name is the simplest and most direct form of advertisement. Without it, no one even knows you exist, let alone what you do. Don’t get too caught up in a .com name. It is important, but not #1. How many TV commercials have you seen where you laughed your butt off, it was so funny…but 5 sec later you couldn’t remember who the commercial was for? The point is that to often people spend to much time focused on the task at hand, and forget to focus on what they are selling. Having the best marketing in the world does no good if you don’t put it to good use. Tell people what you do every chance you get.

Keep your company name. It’s both short and catchy. Find a memorable .com you can live with. That’s my 2 cents, take it for what its worth. Hope this post wasn’t to long.

-Shane


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