Hello Everyone,

I’m sorry about the delay with a new post… I’ve been pretty busy over the last couple of weeks working with new coaching clients (VERY exciting) and also a new project I am working on.  I’ll let you know how the new project is working in a few weeks… I’m hoping it is another way for everyone to make more money :

Today, I’d like to talk about domain length and how important it is… or isn’t :)  This is thanks to a question from a reader of this blog… so anytime you have questions… comment on the blog and I will either answer them in the comments or make a post about them :)  I believe this topic is something MANY people want to know

Is domain length important?  Well, that depends on if you are thinking from a human standpoint or a search engine standpoint. 

Human:
Are you developing a site that you want people to remember?  Maybe one that you want people to return to because you will be adding more information sometimes (such as a blog).  If this is the case, then yes you do want to pay attention to domain length and keep it something that people can easily remember. 

For example, www.ShannonLueck.com is one I want people to remember.  Maybe you’ll have one on dog training that you want people to remember, in which case I would not choose something like www.getdogtrainingonlineinformationhere.com … you are asking too much of people to remember a long name like that.  Keep the name short, sweet and easy to remember.

Oh, and if your domain is for this purpose, it is always better to stick with .com domain names… because if someone is going to be typing the name in, the first inclination is always .com

Search Engines:
Length does not matter to search engines.   Your domain name can be short or long.  But, if you are building a site that you want to rank well in the search engines and will not really be updating it and don’t expect visitors to remember it, then the most important thing to focus on is NOT the domain length, but rather the name itself. 

You want to complete keyword research before you purchase your domain name.  Above all else, you want to purchase a domain that has you main keyword phrase within the name.  So, if your main phrase is “dog training online” and just that alone is already taken (your main phrase will usually already be taken), then purchase something that has the main phrase with words around it.  And for these types of domains, the extention doesn’t matter because the search engines don’t care.  For example, you could purchase:

• getdogtrainingonlineinformation.com
• learndogtrainingonlinetoday.net
• dogtrainingonlineathome.info
• youcanlearnhowtocompletedogtrainingonline.com

The reason that keeping your main keyword phrase intact is so important from a search engine standpoint is because search engines rank websites based on both on-page optimization and off-page optimization.  On-page optimization are the things you do on your site that get you rank for certain phrases.  Off-page optimization relates to the words that link to your site.  By having your main keyword phrase in the name of the website, you are telling the search engines right from the start what your site is about… it is part of on-page optimization.

Now, if you already have websites up that do not have your main keyword phrase in the name… don’t worry about it.  That site will still be able to rank well for you chosen phrases.  But when starting a new website, ALWAYS complete keyword research first so that you have that one extra variable in place to make it easier

Best Wishes,
Shannon