Hey Charles

Do want you want to do - its your business!

Make sure your keyword is in there but add to it if you want to.

I Wouldn't be frozen into inaction by anyone else. Who knows - they might be wrong.

I have a series of a few good websites that are www.keyword-tips.com (where keyword is your keyword)

They all get traffic and the names look good to me

Charles, The reason not to add any more words to the keyword is because the keyword is what the people are searching for, so if you add more words to the keyword there may not be anyone searching for the keyword with the extra words you added.

After saying all that it still might not hurt that much to add a few words if you need to, because getting back links to your site is the real key to getting the most traffic, but using only the keywords helps so I always try and use the exact keyword if I can.

Clint

Kenj and Clint...thanks for your perspective!

Hi Charles.

Choose a domain that is logical to your website. It's that simple.

Keep in mind that the domain name is for people and not for search engine. Your domain should easy to remember.

Sure, you'll hear people teaching you to buy a keyword rich domain but there are more than 250 factors google are using to rank a page and domain name is but a little fraction of it.

If you'll google "dog training" without quotes, only 2 out 10 in top are using "dog training" in their domain. And you can't even say that they're on top because of their domain.

There are a lots of domain squatters etc. out there. It's hard to find keyword rich domain and google knows this.

Don't worry on this little things. Instead, work on putting valuable content to your site for your visitors.

Hey Charles,
I was watching some Stompernet videos the other day (from the Upsell of their latest package) and Brad said that he doesn't think domain names are worth as much weight as some people believe. He said that the main benefits are that 1. it's exactly what people are searching for and 2. That when people link to your site from theirs your domain will automatically be targetting your keywords.

He's doing quite well with MyWeddingFavors.com

I am starting to worry less and less about having a keyword domain - I like to have the keywords in there, but I think other on page factors and links are more important.

So, don't stress about it

As has been said you ideally want a keyword rich domain, but it's more important to get one that people will remember. If you can't get a keyword rich domain, choose something brandable.

I think that getting links from relevant sites with the right anchor text is much more important than the domain name itself (although of course if you have a keyword rich domain you're likely to get more links with those keywords in the anchor text).

Also, wouldn't you want to get traffic from many different keywords ideally?

Hi Charles,

I don't see the reason for "#4: Don't add any words to it." I've had domains with kw+other words that have ranked well for "kw" alone.

MSN does seem to place a heavy weight on keywords in the domain name at the moment.

Another thing to consider is brandability. If you're developing a site for the long-term, you should consider selecting a domain that's short and brandable. Then select other domains that are kw targeted to help drive more traffic to that main site.

Just a thought.

Hock

Adding something to the domain really doesn't make a whole heap of difference. If your keywords are "Monkey Nuts" and you register www.BestMonkeyNuts.com and get a heap of backlinks you *will* rank above Free Halloween Wallpapers | Free Halloween Wallpapers, Desktop Themes, Screensavers no question.