Many believe that buying domain names or URLs is as profitable as it has ever been, while others believe that they have lost their value. While there are good arguments for both, in this article I would like to talk about a very common question I get from my customers. “I have purchased several domain names, what should I do with them?” We will discuss why companies buy extra domain names and ideas on what you can do to get value from your additional URLs.
Why Do Companies Buy Extra Domains?
Companies should buy a domain name for 2 reasons.
- First to make money
- Second to protect their business
Buy Keyword Rich Domain
The common reason people buy domain names to make money now is to buy “keyword-rich domains”. A keyword-rich domain name is one that has a search phrase related to a service offered by a business. For example, if a plumber offers repair services, he might want to purchase the URL, plumberrepair.com. By purchasing this domain name company he is trying to increase their likelihood of being on the first page of search engines when people search for the term “plumbing repair”. Here are a couple of things to consider when you are trying to buy domains for your company.
- When trying to buy a keyword-rich domain name, try to get the most popular keywords. Use a keyword tool to find out what are the most popular keywords in your industry.
- Think quality, not quantity. It’s not about having the most domain names, it is about having the best ones.
- Consider geo-targeted domain names. Sometimes the most popular keyword phrases have been purchased already, but adding your local city may give you a better chance at landing well-searched URLs. This comes with an added benefit for contractors and service companies because it allows them to target local cities.
Protect Company With Reputation Management
The first rule of reputation management is to get rid of the low-hanging fruit. If someone wanted to try to harm your business, the easiest thing they could do is write a bad review. The second easiest thing they would do is build a site about your business with any variation of your domain name. Either dot.com, dot. co.NZ, dot.biz, dot.info, or dot.net could be used to defame your business and could potentially generate traffic fairly quickly in the wrong hands. For this reason, it is encouraged that you purchase all variations of your domain name and point them to your site. The best way to point these domain names to your site is with what’s called a 301 redirect. For more information, click here.
Domain Is Too Long
Some companies buy an additional domain because their company URL is too long to type quickly. So they purchase a shorter one to use on business cards, billboards, radio ads, commercials, and other advertising.
Expanding Company
Lastly, companies take various country versions – dot. co.NZ, dot.com.au, dot.co.uk because they plan on expanding to those markets
What Is The Best Thing To Do With Extra Domains?
Now that we have talked about why people buy great domain names, it is very important to talk about a safe way to use domain names without getting a penalty from search engines. There is no easy way to make money with any domain name. The reason for this is because search engines will not allow you to have the same information on multiple domains (For more information, take a look at “Duplicate Content” in Google Quality Guidelines). However, there is no penalty for having a second or third website. Now more than ever companies are learning to invest in separate websites.
Let me explain!
Did you notice that Google owns Youtube.com and Gmail.com? Have you ever thought about why they don’t just have them all on one website? Yes, part of the reason is that they acquired companies, but another reason is that they each have completely different purposes.
Many companies provide services that they offer that are unrelated to the other. These companies may benefit from creating a second website that will focus primarily on 1 of these unrelated topics. For example, a handyman may have a website, but he may have a second website for junk removal items he sells that he gets from customers. Or a basement remodeling company, that has a website that specializes in making custom bars. Or a mobile car wash, that also has a website on pressure washing of homes. In each of these cases, having an additional website with a keyword-rich URL can really make a difference. Many times having a keyword-rich URL will increase click-through rates and improve your conversions.
Elite Web Professionals provide affordable internet advertising solutions and effective ways to promote websites online. For information on how we can help you with your website needs, browse our website for more information on our website design services. We provide comprehensive search engine optimization, and pay-per-click advertising services to help you grow your business online.