How to Get and Use New Longer Website Names to Promote Your
Business
New 67 Character Domain
Names
by Kevin Nunley
http://DrNunley.comYour domain name (yourname.com) can now be 67 characters long.
Yikes I thought the first time I heard that. Many
domain names
are already too long to remember, what are they going to do with
domains two and half times as long?
There
turns out to be three good answers to that question:
(1) You may need a long domain to spell out your business' full
name.
JimBobs-Emporium-AutoParts-CommunityCollege-and-
Pizzaria.com now has a home.
(2) You can use a well-known sentence
or phrase for your domain
name. Just like the techniques country music songwriters use,
people will be able to remember
your phrase.
DoesMyRingHurtYourFingerWhenYouGoOutAt Night.com
(3) You can list your most important keywords in your
domain.
Search engines tend to rank sites higher if the word people are
searching with is included in the site's domain
name.
This week I used the keyword method and registered:
internet-marketing-plan-website-promotion-press-release-
writer.com
Promote
on Search Engines With a Long Domain
Search engines tend to list sites higher if the keyword people
search for is
listed in the domain name. If you type "shortcake"
into a search engine, you will probably get sites like
shortcake.com
and Lilas-shortcakes.com.
Search engines have a slight preference for domain names where
the words are set apart
with dashes. It is easier for their
computers to parse the name into recognizable words.
Many savvy entrepreneurs
are hurrying to register longer domain
names that include their most important search words.
I wasn't sure if the
search words I would use to find my site
would be the same as the words prospects would use. Fortunately,
Goto.com has
a free service that lets you type in your keyword.
It comes back with all the related keywords Goto visitors have
used
including the number of times the term has been used. See
http://goto.comTurns out people search a lot for internet, marketing, and
marketing plan. They also like website promotion. Of
all the
things I offer, press releases are their favorite search term.
Keep in mind I won't direct customers to
this site, just use it
for getting listed on search engines.
Registering Your Long Domain Name
As I write
this, the usual domain registration places aren't
participating in the stampede to get long domain names.
Network
Solutions who formerly was the sole registration service
isn't currently set up for the longer domains. You may have a
bit
of trouble finding a place to get your big domain.
Get a list of ICANN-accredited registration firms at:
http://whois.internic.net/regist.htmlThe banners above and below this article will let you register
your domain with registrars.com , ICANN's arm in
the United
States. They instantly granted my request for a domain name, but
getting it transferred over to my host's
servers took three days
due to a flood of new registrations. Since then, Registrars has
hired several more people who
handle the load.
If you are in a hurry to get your new domain set up, you will be
smart to get your DNS information
from your host in advance, then
include it with your online registration application.
Kevin Nunley provides marketing
advice and copy writing for
businesses and organizations. Read all his money-saving marketing
tips at
http://DrNunley.com/. Reach him at
kevin@drnunley.com or
603-249-9519.
