Some people say that it does not matter what you choose to put between www and dot. Some insist choosing a keyword, that hopefully some how reflect your business. While others claim that it should be easy to remember.
My perspective is a combination of the first and last group of people. It really doesn’t matter what you choose for your website’s domain name as long as it easy to remember. This approach makes my life much easier, because I do not have to worry about so called keyword rich domain.
I have no intention to dwell into what extension should you get, whether or not to include hyphens in the domain or should it be 50 characters long- these arguments were discussed in great details before. Chiming into the conversation, I would like to ad my personal experience and what I have learned from it.
When I have registered my first ever domain, I thought it would be a great idea to purchase a domain which would be a combination of my first and last name. While for some people, who’s name is easy to remember this may be a good idea. Having your name for domain may prevent you from selling it for a quick profit. However if you are from eastern Europe and your combined first and last name is about 20 characters or longer, chances are you should think twice before turning it into a domain name for your website.
I think a real time example would put things in prospective. I do have a website with a domain name as a combination of my first and last name (Volodymyr Zablotskyy), even though most of my English speaking friends call me Vlad- which I should have used instead of my “official” first name. So you can imagine that as my website became more popular, I was often asked about the strange domain name. Of course I have defended that it did not matter, while deep inside I knew that was not the wisest choice I have made. To my defense it should be said that I have purchased the domain long before I new anything how the world of online marketing worked.
The worst part of having such a domain is at times when the opportunity of word of mouth marketing arises and you realize that the person you are talking to will never be able to remember your website. So what did I do. I would just say, oh my domain is difficult to remember but if you can Google me by searching for …. I of course would give a keyword for which my website ranked #1, as for example for long time I ranked #1 for “Vlad The Affiliate”. You know what was in the back of my mind on these sort of occasions? Will Google change the algorithms tomorrow and I will look like a complete idiot?
If you are about to start a blog or website and are planing to use your own name for the URL, I ask you one question. Will it be easy to remember?
I believe what it all comes down to is what you're trying to do. If name branding is one of your main objectives then it's probably a good idea to use your name.
However, you also have to realize that if you decide to sell the domain later on, it will be much harder to sell, as the URL is of personal nature.
As far as keywords in the domain I don't believe it's going to help much. I'm sure the SE's may give that keyword a little more weight, but I highly doubt it's much at all. It always comes down to the quality and quantity of incoming links.
I have my name registered, but don't use it for anything for the time being.
The main reason I don't use it is because of my previous statement; I may decide to sell my site(s) at a later date. And what about when I die? My son (or wife) will get the site(s) and unless one becomes an online marketer, they'll probably sell them, as they won't know what else to do with them.
Josh,
My main goal was to chose an url that people can actually remember. Never mind knowing how to spell.
I believe what it all comes down to is what you’re trying to do. If name branding is one of your main objectives then it’s probably a good idea to use your name.
However, you also have to realize that if you decide to sell the domain later on, it will be much harder to sell, as the URL is of personal nature.
As far as keywords in the domain I don’t believe it’s going to help much. I’m sure the SE’s may give that keyword a little more weight, but I highly doubt it’s much at all. It always comes down to the quality and quantity of incoming links.
I have my name registered, but don’t use it for anything for the time being.
The main reason I don’t use it is because of my previous statement; I may decide to sell my site(s) at a later date. And what about when I die? My son (or wife) will get the site(s) and unless one becomes an online marketer, they’ll probably sell them, as they won’t know what else to do with them.
Josh,
My main goal was to chose an url that people can actually remember. Never mind knowing how to spell.
i think whatever the name of the url is , when someone finds with a name in google search , it will find the website . Its better to write your nick name in meta tag of your index page.