Online, you must be noticed, you must be clicked!
LOCAL SEARCH STRATEGY
To avoid being submerged in millions of search results, your site must rank very high.
First page please!
The best way to accomplish this at an affordable cost is to make your domain name an exact search term .com. Search engines rank sites higher as traffic increases and .coms do get more traffic.
You can pay to be more visible, but much like the phone books, it’s not cheap and it doesn’t necessarily work. And as soon as you stop paying, you disappear.
A .com domain is your single most important point of contact, and the extension of choice, because it is used in about 90% of overall search, AND 100% of highly-targeted direct navigation search.
The Credibility of the .Com
Consumers are constantly exposed to the reassurance of the .com. The domain names of their banks, couriers, insurance companies, lawyers, airlines, and doctors are primarily .coms. This familiarity builds trust.
By using a .com you are essentially branding your domain with a term consumers know well. Who would you be more likely to click on:
DOCTOR.COM or DOCTOR.ORG
Having your company web address as a direct description of your location and business activity confers authority within your market. There is no doubt in the consumer’s mind as to what your focus is and that you more likely qualify for consideration than your less-focused competitor.
Build Trust
In its 2011 web bias study, Microsoft found trusted domains performed much better.
Experience shows that the best strategy is to have your URL exactly match the term a prospect would intuitively use to find you.
It should also be direct, short and memorable. Take for example–abilenetowing.com. This URL contains all the above desirable characteristics for a tow truck service in Abilene. Hospital in Utica? Go with uticahospital.com.
A website developed on this exact search term domain will have a better chance of ranking high in SERPS than any other, as search engines “see” keywords in a domain name as an important indicator of the site being relevant to the searcher’s query. The ultimate goal being to match the query exactly to provide the best search experience.
Back-linking and Bolding
Your exact search domain will ensure that other websites link back to your website using keywords you hope to get ranked for. Links add a further tailwind to your potential of ranking high.
Your Domain will also receive 100% of the best kind of internet traffic, that from direct navigation.
Also, Click potential will be very high as the search engine bolds your domain name and the searcher spots his exact query high on the display page and featuring a .com. Even partial results are bolded.
Lower Your PPC Costs
If you are using Google adwords or similar, you should benefit from higher placement and lower cost per click. These savings could be substantial, as with proper SEO, you could well find you no longer need this service at all.
Offline Advantages
The optics of signage, vehicle graphics and printed matter (newspaper, brochures, Yellow Pages) carry much more weight with a .com website displayed in the text. Whether you’re still using the Yellow Pages or another print advertising vehicle, I recommend showing nothing more than your domain name, in large, bold type.
- This allows you to use larger type as you don’t need space for your name, company, physical address and phone number.
- They won’t forget you and your site will show far more than any print ad.
- And you will cut down on profitless phone calls but still receive the important ones.
Now |
Future |
|
W Bender and S. Leadbetter LLC PHONE 961 – 456 – 1234 |
BARHARBORLAWYER.COM |
H’mm …..no phone number in your ad?
Everything on one line?
Yup.
You heard it here first.
The next advantage of an exact search domain is one I really believe adds value to any enterprise:
The ability to have multiple email addresses specific to your business.
Thisbenderandleadbetterllc@hotmail.com |
becomes |
This |
Your email address is now more memorable, and carries far more authority in the marketplace.
Lastly…..Thinking of moving on?
An enterprise that owns its specific, ranked website, has added value. Many businesses have changed hands to secure the ownership of the domain. Look for this to become more common as time goes on and domains continue to rise in value.
Remember of course that for most businesses only one or two names will work. You could be an accountant, or accountants, a dentist, or dental, but go outside of your commonly known term, and you’re dead! With multiple businesses competing for the .com there will never be enough names to go around, many being already taken.
Best advice, go to our inventory page and look for yourself — now!
YOU ARE FAR MORE LIKELY TO BE FOUND ON THE INTERNET USING AN EXACT SEARCH TERM THAN ANY OTHER DOMAIN NAME YOU COULD HAVE CHOSEN! DOMAIN NAMES MATTER! SIMPLY NO QUESTION ABOUT IT!
CraigMarshall
CEO
inameonly.com