Is it a Good Idea to Buy a Long Domain Name?

November 30, 2011 | Author: Joshua Nikenya | Posted in Domains

Most domain name experts believe domain names should be short and easy to remember. It’s great when you can find a short name that works for your business, but that isn’t always easy to accomplish. (You can visit my website for a good domain name.) When you can not buy an effective, short domain name, should you purchase a longer one?

The belief that domain names should be as short as possible is not as valid now as it was in the old days. Many sites are quite successful despite having long domain names. FreeCreditReport.com is just one example. This article will help you understand that purchasing a long domain name can be a good idea, and why you may want to do it.

Long vs. Short Domain Names

If your site will only be used to draw in traffic from organic search engine results or online advertising like Google AdWords, a long domain name can be beneficial. People will find your website by clicking on hyperlinks which take them directly to your website. A long domain name is not an issue in this situation, because your visitors will not have to remember it or enter it into their browsers.

Let’s say you own a webhosting company that specialises in selling cheap web hosting. In that case, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t use CheapWebSiteHosting.com as your domain name. Yes, it’s long, but it conveys helpful information to your potential clients. Possibly even more importantly, it also conveys some vital information about your website to the search engines. How does it do this?

Well, one of the ways search engines learn what a website is all about is through the words used in its domain name. The search engines then use the information they glean from the name as one of the factors that determine where the website will be ranked in the search engine results list. If your domain name includes the words ‘cheap website hosting’, the search engines might rank your website higher for that search phrase than another site that doesn’t use those words in its name.

When people search the phrase ‘cheap website hosting’, you may have an advantage over ‘JonesWebSiteHosting.com’ if you name your website ‘CheapWebSiteHosting.com’.

You may as well use the words ‘cheap website hosting’ if that’s the main focus of your website. There’s a good chance the search engines will rank your website higher for that phrase than sites that don’t include those keywords in their domain names.

Long Domain Names and Offline Advertising

What about offline, mass media advertising? Will long domain names work for radio or television advertising? Yes, but only if the name is memorable. For instance, FreeCreditReport.com advertising is on TV regularly, although it’s a fairly long domain name. Not that long ago, a short, snappy name like eBay.com was considered necessary. But the name FreeCreditReport.com popped into my mind right away when I started writing this article. It’s easy to remember despite being long. In our hypothetical example, a website called ‘cheapwebsitehosting.com’ will be easy to remember for people who want to save money on their hosting. It is, however, essential to string words together so they flow naturally. For instance, ‘cheapwebsitehosting.com’ is natural English, but ‘websitehostingcheap.com’ would probably cause a problem for mass media advertising.

So, should you buy a long domain name the next time around? In the end, the answer will depend on whether an appropriate shorter version is available and how valuable you think the small advantage in search engine ranking might be.

Keep these factors in mind while you’re buying a domain name. You might discover that a long domain name can help your business be successful.

The writer, Joshua Nikenya, is an online entrepreneur who has been in the domain name field for a long time. Visit his detailed website where he and his team of experts have prepared information on domain name reviews, private domain name registration, and much more regarding domain names.

Author: Joshua Nikenya

This author has published 4 articles so far. More info about the author is coming soon.

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