WebMaster Solutions

Web Site Marketing

Top Level Domain Names 101

by Kenneth Catto

With the recent explosion in the availability of website domain name suffixes (such as .eu, .ws, .cc and so on) it's never been easier to grab a domain name that is directly related to the subject matter of your site.

For example, if you want to create a site about Persian Cats, it would make sense to use a domain name including the phrase "persiancat". Unfortunately, however, other people have had the same idea previously, so persiancat.com is no longer available, nor is persiancat.net, .org, .biz or any other simple domain name with a top level suffix.

Furthermore, it is a fact that most people who are searching on the net are going to give first priority to sites with top level domain names, such as a .com or a .net.

At least partially, this is simply a function of these being the original suffixes, and therefore the average surfer perhaps believes that they have more credibility and authority.

This is especially critical if your website is selling or promoting your business or products, as these factors translate into "trustworthiness" in this situation.

Simply put, a top level domain name is one of your strongest sales tools.

Many people also belive that search engines will give weight to your domain name when considering your site for that all important search engine ranking. In this case, there needs to be some clear relationship between your domain name and site subject, to give you any chance of featuring when people search using Google or Yahoo.

So, what can you do? Well, here's a couple of very simple tips that may help you to bag that all important top level domain name for your site.

First, try a plural version of your key phrase, rather than the singular version. So, in the example above, you might check out the availability of top level names using persiancats, rather than persiancat.

Truth be told, however, used on its own, this tactic is a bit too obvious, and more often than not, when the singular version of a phrase has gone, then so has the plural.

The second little trick is, however, far more effective and well worth trying if you are looking for a top level name for your site. The trick is - numbers!

Not numbers at the beginning of the domain address - that's really "old hat" and you only have to look at a list of expired domains to see how many owners of such addresses just allow them to die. Why? Because they don't work particularly well with either search engines or with real people - and something like "0000persiancats.com" just looks plain silly!

So, that's not likely to be of much benefit to your site. But, numbers in the "body" of the domain name itself, especially the numbers 2 and 4, very possibly will be.

Why? Well, the number 2 is a simple substitute for the word "to" and 4 can be read as "for".

Now, tie that in with one other little substitution trick - take the word "you" and substitute the letter "u" - and finding a good top level domain name that still relates very closely to the site subject matter becomes a relatively simple matter.

Let's take our persiancats example to demonstrate how effective a strategy this can be. Using all three of the highlighted tricks, try searching for "persiancats2u.com" and "persiancats4u.com". Still available? If not, how about "persiancat4us.com" or "persiancat4me.com"?

Even if all of these are now taken, all it needs is a bit of imagination to create a ".com" domain name that relates directly to your subject matter.

A simple but effective method of grabbing a top level domain name for your site.

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