Unavailable domain name for niche. What are my options?

[Simo]

I am looking at a www.rootword.com keyword which has a high traffic volume. Both the .com and .org are unavailable at present. If I add a problem solving word at the end of the keyword and purchase the domain (.com or .org) how would that affect my ranking in the SERPS for the rootword? Would I still get on page one for the rootword?

e.g www.rootwordhelp.com
www.rootwordanswers.com
www.rootwordsolution.com


If this helps with your answer, 6 out of the 10 sites on the 1st page of results for this root word, have a Page Rank of 3 or less.

Thanks,

Andrew

[Easy Cash]

If the rootword.com is already taken - then you have no choice but add a word on the end.

The good news is, you can make it perform well with another word in the url. In fact, in an uncompetitive niche - you can easily get to number 1.

Just make sure it is a .com

Also, see if there is a demand for your extra word related to the niche.

[AlexTampa]

info?

you could try all extensions

[Simo]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your feedback

@ Easy Cash - You wouldn't recommend .org as an alternative if I couldn't get .com?
Also should I ensure that the extra word is a prefix or suffix? (logic would suggest suffix, I just want to be sure)

@ Alex - I don't think google likes .info too much. Popular extension for spammers.

Cheers,

Andrew

[AlexTampa]

no, I was referring to info at the end of the phrase

[Simo]

Gotcha,

Thanks for the idea.

Cheers,

Andrew

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by Andrew Simich

@ Alex - I don't think google likes .info too much. Popular extension for spammers.

Google doesn't really care. They have made some adjustments in the past, such as a mass deindexing of BANS (Build A Niche Store) sites, that impacted .info domains more than other domains simply because more people were using them for this way due to the low initial cost. Some of these changes made some people, including myself for a while, think that the problem was the .info but it wasn't.

However, .info's are of less value on the domain resale market and savvy searchers will tend to avoid them in preference to 'normal' .com domains. On the flipside, I've found .info's to do quite well for some long tail search terms in certain niches.

To get to the original question, if you really want a .com, I suggest adding either a buying term, dashes or a word generally ignored by the search engine algorithms. For example, photoprinters4u.com, thephotoprinters.com, photo-printers.com, buyphotoprinters.com, cheapestphotoprinters.com, etc.

[Simo]

@ bgmacaw

Thanks for your feedback. Much appreciated. Will try the terms you mentioned. Do you use .org domains very often? What is your experience with .org sites in the Serps?

Thanks,

Andrew

[HomeBizNizz]

You could get in trouble as MikeRoweSoft.com did with MicroSoft.com..

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by Andrew Simich

Do you use .org domains very often? What is your experience with .org sites in the Serps?

They're the same as any other domain extensions. I only have a few of them that I bought as pre-owned domains. Usually I go for a .com if I'm buying new.

[Simo]

Thanks for your collective feedback guys,

Will put your advice to good use.

cheers,

Andrew

[Easy Cash]

Go for .com

At least you know it is the oldest domain extension around and generally most likely the most trusted.

[Silveda]

I would recommend playing with some keyword tools and try to come up with some ideas and see if a nice longtail is available for this rootword.

also depending on the niche, .net might be a viable solution, provided you are not selling something etc.

[ramone_johnny]

I put money on it that the .com domain is available with hyphens

Also, a great strategy to use is dumping the keywords from Google into godaddy's bulk domain registration tool and working from there. Always register domains based on traffic

If you understand what Im getting at you'll be on your way in no time!

[Simo]

Thanks Johnny & Silveda,

I will look into hyphens and check out Go Daddy + revist the long tail key words.

Johnny - Nice call on traffic... So true!!!

Have you guys come across a tool called Domain Name Analyzer. I really like using it. It is really useful for doing what you suggested Johnny.

Thanks again for the help everyone.

Cheers

Andrew

[HomeBizNizz]

Originally Posted by Andrew Simich

Go Daddy...

FYI after what I have heard GoDaddy
will takeover your domain if you get
spamcomplaints with that domain.

[thomasr]

I would say .net is just fine...or

www.root-word.com

[Easy Cash]

Also, Be Careful where you search for your domain.

If you find a good one - and don't buy it straight away, chances are someone is watching you and come back the next day and it will be gone.... ) :

[Terry Kyle]

Hi Andrew,

Use a .com or .net domain as these seem to be the best.

When in doubt, search on a bunch of different terms and see what extensions Google seems to favour.

Not too many .info there I suspect but always check.

With your name, add hq e.g. lawnmowershq.com or weightlosstipshq.com or a digit (like email) e.g. lawnmowers2.com etc.

To really get that site to rank, add a WP blog either as the main site with the blog title and default category as your keyword or create the WP blog in a subfolder called blog during WP installation, then add a post with your keywords at the beginning e.g. Lawn Mowers? The Awful Truth and make sure that your keyword is in the tags and category for that post.

Make sure you change the permalinks to the SEO-friendly type (PM me if you're stuck).

Then, backlink the hell out of that specific post page which will have a URL something like http://www.lawnmowershq.com/blog/law...he-awful-truth using the anchor text lawn mowers only.

Do NOT backlink to your homepage, just this specific post page only with only this anchor text (I learned this from Stompernet).

This way you have a chance at a double listing of your homepage and your post page on Google.

Using this method, I got a brand new site with only one blog post and no other content to Google Page 1 in 2 weeks on a term with 10,000 phrase searches a month.

[Simo]

Hey Terry,

Thanks for your feedback. This is great advice - I'll give this a go.

Cheers,

Andrew

[dimitri.richko]

Today is very hard to find two word niche domain name which is not already registered.
But the good news is that you can use two key phrases in domain name and kill two birds with one shot. Domain name doesn't matter these days (in highly targetted niches) because you should aim for search engine traffic only. This what I do, and my site's sell well

[runner]

Domain name is just one SEO factor and
it has not so dramatic effect on results.

If you want rootword into domain,
just add some word after or before it
and it works!

I just read from somewhere that Google
starts to set more value to branded domains
instead of keyword rich ones.

[martin2]

get some more global name, create blog and write a lot about your niche .