Picking a Domain Name for Your Website
As part of talking to agents about our new predesigned sites, I’ve been asked several times what domain name to use for an agent site. There are 3 main approaches to picking a domain name in my mind:
- Use your own name as your URL. For example, www.joesmith.com. Many agents take this route, and it’s not a bad one. It gives you the flexibility to build SEO juice on the domain name, with the ability to shift the site to focus to something else should you move to a new market or profession. The downside is that your keyword targets (maybe Laguna Beach real estate) are not in your domain name – which is certainly a factor in ranking well.
- Use a URL with your hyper local area in it (my recommended approach). For example, www.lagunabeachrealestatesales.com. The big benefit to this is that your primary keywords are right inside your domain name (which is a big factor in having great onsite SEO). One downside to this approach is that, if you move or want to change professions, your domain name where you’ve built up SEO juice is now targeting a different keyword that is not relevant to you anymore. However, if you end up moving, or changing professions — you can likely sell the domain name for a bit of money if you have built some SEO juice to it.
- A mix of numbers 1 and 2. For example, www.joesmithlagunabeachrealestate.com. This gives you some personal branding while also placing your keywords into your domain name.
Additional Rule of thumb: If you’ve owned a domain name for at least two years, stick with it — unless it’s a domain you hate and want to trash completely. And even then, make sure you 301 redirect that domain to whatever new domain you end up using.
Secondary question I’ve run into: Does a long domain name hurt my SEO?
Answer: From my experience, the answer is no. But if anyone else has other experiences on this topic, leave them in the comments.
Another great post on this subject is Joe Salcedo’s “How to Build a Successful Real Estate Site in 2011” (#1). Any one else have any domain name tips or recommendations?
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Graham Ginsberg
Posted at 12:52h, 01 FebruaryProbably the most important decision in making a new website is the name.
http://www.naples-fl-real-estate.com
Jay Thompson
Posted at 21:21h, 01 FebruaryYou’re always welcome to send this this way –> http://realestateblogpro.com/be-careful-with-your-domain-name/
My #1 tip? Never, ever use the brokerage name in your URL.
Tip #1.5 — don’t violate NARs trademark on the word Realtor…
Long domain names? No harm from an SEO perspective. Can be difficult to fit on a business card (or other print marketing). And hard to remember…
drewmeyers
Posted at 21:23h, 01 FebruaryThanks for the pointer Jay.
Justin Britt
Posted at 20:11h, 03 FebruaryGreat post Drew, and some further good points from Jay. I would also argue for a #4 – Choosing a domain name that defines a brand (other then a personal brand). If you put a lot of work into your site, it will definitely have value, and it will be harder to sell if the brand is your name vs. something else.
And that gives us a #5 – a mix between 2 and 4. Like what Jay’s done with “Phoenix Real Estate Guy.”
Angie @AgentKnowHow
Posted at 02:30h, 05 MaySo, just to chime on the question of does a long name hurt your SEO. A long name, IMHO, doesn’t make it easy to cross brand on the social networks. Twitter, for example, has a 15 character limit.
When you reg one name, you may want to make sure you can register it on a number of social networking sites.
Matthew Coates
Posted at 17:05h, 18 MayI can’t take my domain name from Superlative can I?
drewmeyers
Posted at 17:07h, 18 Mayyou own your domain name. you should be able to use your domain domain
with any website provider.
Unless superlative owns your domain name. That’s something to sort out
with them.