Of Keywords and Domain Names

by 5 replies
6
Howdy Warriors,

I've got a question concerning the use of a direct keyword match for the domain name of a niche site.

I'm looking into starting up an Amazon affiliate site. This is the first time I've tried my hand at IM and Amazon is what I'm most comfortable getting started with.

Just wanna throw something against the wall and see if sticks, y'know? I mean, what have I got to lose for trying, right?

So I've been researching the Warrior Forum and there is an almost overwhelming amount of good info on here. I've parsed a tiny fraction of it, but I need some clarification.

Let's say my Amazon site is about "dog training".

I've done my keyword research on "dog training" and my global/local search numbers are good, SERPs are acceptable, and competition on the first page of Google seems manageable.

All systems point to go except for the fact that "dogtraining.com" is not available.

What are my options?

Let's say I want to avoid a ".net" domain. Would something like "dogtraininghq.com" be okay? Could I do a hyphenated domain name like "dog-training.com"?

What factors do I want to consider here?

I'm sure it's evident through this post, but I'm a n00b at all this. Help is much appreciated.

Thanks, folks!

Paul
#search engine optimization #domain #keywords #names
  • There's a lot of discussion about that issue already.

    One may think of considering a keyword domain like dogtrainingtips.com (I doubt that it's still available) while another one will say that the shorter the characters are the better like dogtraininghq.com.

    IMO, both ideas are useful. What matters is the amount of work you will apply for the website to be successful.
    • [2] replies
    • Paul:

      Funny you put "hq" at the end. I was just going to suggest "x" as in dogtrainingX.com

      This is something I learned at a Mike Long / Kelly Felix webinar. And, like "majorcheaphazard" mentioned, the "consensus" says the shorter the better.

      But, who really knows what Google likes and don't like:confused:. That's the million dollar question.

      Charlie
      • [1] reply
    • Also check to see what the competition / search volume of your new domain-name phrase is.
      For example "dog training tips" may get good searches itself, whereas "dog training hq" not so much. Do a search using the Google Keyword Tool to see what phrases people are searching for that contain your main keyword.

      Good luck,

      P
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