Authority sites and domain names

8 replies
I've always wanted to build an authority site based on something I'm passionate about and would enjoy writing about, but I have a question about choosing a domain name for it. Let's say (this is a hypothetical) that my passion is "Nature Photography" and I want to build my site base on that theme. During the course of keyword research, I come across a "related keyword", let's say "digital camera photography" and it's a great keyword to target, i.e. decent traffic, low and easy to beat competition etc. AND there also happens to be an exact match .com domain name available for it - digitalcameraphotography.com, so I've got a very good shot at ranking at number 1 in Google for that keyword. Now it's related to nature photography, but in a sort of tangential way. So I have a few options:

a. register digitalcameraphotography.com and use that as the domain name for my nature photography authority site.

b. adjust the theme of my authority site so that it's centered around digital camera photography and have nature photography just be a sub-page of it (although again, my passion is specifically for nature photography)

c. register digitalcameraphotography.com and have that point to a more suitable domain like naturephotographytips.com (even though the kw "nature photography" is not a good target.

d. forget about the domain digitalcameraphotography.com altogether and just register a name like naturephotographytips.com which more accurately describes the theme I am passionate and want to write about.

Or????? What do you think? What's my best option?
#authority #domain #names #sites
  • Profile picture of the author MikeLiving
    Which keyword gets more searches? If you want to become an authority on something one of the easiest ways is to get your site in front of the most eyeballs as you possibly can. Doing this organically is going to be far more profitable in the long run.

    I would go for the keyword with the most searches and then fit my passion into that mold. You can always have categories with different niche-related topics.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2932853].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author webatomic
      Originally Posted by MikeLiving View Post

      Which keyword gets more searches? If you want to become an authority on something one of the easiest ways is to get your site in front of the most eyeballs as you possibly can. Doing this organically is going to be far more profitable in the long run.

      I would go for the keyword with the most searches and then fit my passion into that mold. You can always have categories with different niche-related topics.
      Right. That's kind of what I meant in option b. I guess the trick is to "fit my passion into that mold" as you say.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2932859].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author powerspike
    If there were enough searches for nature photography, i'd go option D.

    for categories etc i'd put in maybe different types of nature photography like "water","ocean","sky" etc. This would in the end get you into a good spot in the niche.

    More food for though, why not go both? a little more work, but you could also flesh out other parts of photography on the "digital" blog and guild it out even more over time.

    - Justin
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2933272].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Always-A-Warrior
    I would reg "D" because digitalcameraphotography.com is irrelevant to what you are doing and will only bring in people looking for digital cameras instead. People get upset when they see what they've come for isn't there so "D" would suit your interest more better.

    By the way, I own Photographiy.com if interested.
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2933312].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author bethparker
    If you want to build an authority site, then I would go with option D. You want a domain name that will be easy for people to remember so that they will be able to find it again easily. Having an exact match domain would help you rank more quickly in the beginning, but as you build your site into an authority site, the sheer amount of content on the site will bring you traffic regardless of the domain name.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2933352].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    Picking the domain can be keyword related, but I prefer "Brandable" domain names. In other words, I want a domain name that will roll of the tongue and be easy to remember.
    Signature
    Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
    Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2933353].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Steve Powers
    As domain name, I think it must be easy to remember, we also can put some keywords in the domain name, which can be good for SEO. Of course, the domain name don't have to be long.
    Signature
    HostEase Web Hosting
    20% for shared web hosting with coupon code "hostease"! $7.95 per domain with coupon code "695TLD"!
    99.9% Uptime Guarantee! 30 Day Money Back Guarantee! 24/7/365 Customer Support!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2933449].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author webatomic
    Thanks for all the input. Exact match domain names are so tempting because they rise to the top of Google so quickly and easily and this KW gets almost 10,000 broad match searches per month, with competition that shouldn't be too tough to beat, but I tend to lean towards Beth's reasoning that over time, the SEO value of the sheer amount of content will outweigh the value of that domain name.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2933755].message }}

Trending Topics