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Do you have a Great
Domain Name?
When is it time to let a domain name expire peacefully?
If you’re like many entrepreneurs, you have a list of domain
names that you’ve picked up with the hope of developing it
further. While domain names are fairly inexpensive to keep,
holding on to one that has little value really doesn’t make
much sense. The way to evaluate your domain name’s value: use
Word Tracker.
Long ago, the best domain name began with either the numeral
one or the letter a. In a time when human directories (DMOZ
and
YAHOO) were king,
getting your web site listed at or near the top was as
critical then as it is now. Then along came Google. Using
automated programs to index the internet was nothing new, but
Google’s spiders did it better, faster and more
comprehensively.
 Today, choosing a domain name that helps your SERP should be
your first concern. With Google’s patent application, the veil
has been being lifted from Google’s magical page ranking
algorithm, and it is common knowledge that the keywords
contained within the domain name are an important factor in
how Google indexes your site.
So the first step of evaluating
whether to renew your domain name is to evaluate the value of
each of the keyword phrases contained within.
Word Tracker
is more valuable than any other tool to evaluate how valuable
your domain name can be.
For example, if you have a domain name with the keyword
marketing in it, you’re in luck! If marketing is the first
word in your domain name, you’ve got a HUGE advantage in the
search for higher search engine rankings. According to
Word Tracker there are over
1.6 BILLION pages competing on the term marketing, there are
also almost 3000 searches performed on the term each day.
While learning that you are competing with 1.6 BILLION pages
isn’t the best news, at least you’re competing upon a
frequently searched term.
Here’s an example of a horrible domain name:
AdvancedWellnessSolutions.com Five years ago, this domain name
would have gotten kudos for starting with the letter “A.”
Let's evaluate it based on today's standards to see the value
of the keywords contained within this domain name.
ADVANCED EVALUATION:
There are 4,410,000,000 pages competing on the keyword
advanced. That means there’s lot of competition. However,
according to Word Tracker, there are only 186 searches
performed per day for advanced. OUCH! So much for that first
keyword: It’s a dud.
WELLNESS EVALUATION:
There are 213,000,000 pages competing on the keyword wellness
with 401 searches per day. Well, that’s better than for our
keyword “advanced” but it’s still not good.
SOLUTIONS EVALUATION
There are 2,610,000,000 pages competing on the keyword
solutions with 727 searches per day. Again, it’s better than
advanced, but not as good as wellness.
In the case of the domain name above, if there isn’t a site
currently living under that domain name, I would recommend
letting it expire. There’s just too much supply and not enough
demand to justify developing a web site under the domain name
AdvancedWellnessSolutions.com.
The problem with the domain name above is it uses WAY too many
long words. Let's face facts, average people like small
words.
However, if your target audience is college professors,
doctors or other well educated people, you may find that those
keywords suit your business well. You won't be targeted
the unwashed masses with those keywords though.
Word Tracker
can be a valuable tool in evaluating the domains you have and
the domains you plan to acquire.
About The Author
 Kathy
Hendershot-Hurd is a Small Business Internet and Blog
Consultant. She is the founder of
Virtual Impax and she is
the author of the book:
Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results
Visit the book's blog at
Beyond Niche Marketing.
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