SMBs may have the best marketing techniques and an engaging website built. Yet, if the website is not having substantial hits on the page, it is not effective. While you may have chosen an appropriate .com domain for your business, your page may not be receiving the number of potential clients due to a lack of domain marketing. Here is how domain names and marketing your domains can influence your overall success as an SMB.
Know the Numbers
The internet has over 300 million new domains registered every year, with thousands of top-level domains (TLDs) being added to the extensions available. Where .com was the initial domain extension and remained so, other top TLDs should be utilized such as .edu, .net, .org, and location extensions such as .uk and .us, for example.
To maximize your views, it is recommended that SMBs use extensions that maximize their target base. For example, if your site is based in the UK and has educational material offered to potential clients, you would reach far more people with domains .com, .uk, and .edu than you would with just the standard .com extension.
Avoid Competition Scoop Ups
As a business grows, so does the potential for competitors to focus on redirecting potential buyers to their site. The main way this is done, apart from targeted marketing, is through targeted redirection of domains. This is accomplished by purchasing words that are commonly misspelled (such as too instead of to or there instead of their), purchasing domains with different word orders (such as shoes and socks instead of socks and shoes), as well as purchasing the TLDs with the same or similar name but a different extension. In truth, the competitor is piggybacking on the success of your business through domain redirection.
By purchasing and maintaining the variants of your domain name, you limit any redirection to competitor’s sites. Additionally, you can research SERP words and phrases related to your business niche and make domains and redirects to your site.
Purchasing Power
Domains that do not necessarily meet your target audience but at the same time could pose traffic to be diverted from your site may have the domain available for purchase. This does not mean that you must redirect every domain to your site, as this could be costly, or your hosting may limit the number of site redirects. However, owning the domain gives you the ability to either block competitors from using that domain or you can sell that domain to gain ROI for other marketing purposes.
Keep in mind that many available domains are offered at a low rate for the first year. After the first year, many domain purchasing sites require paying a fee and a larger price for the domain. The best way to minimize the purchase cost in the future is to acquire your domains for more than one year. Monitor the estimated value of the domains. Domains that constantly increase in value are the ones that have a higher probability of showing up in the SERPs. If you have a domain that remains static in its value, it may be due to a lack of interest in the content or having too complex of a domain name.
It is about you, but it is not.
SMBs with too specific domains will find that the visits to their site are lower than those who pick a domain name that describes the service or goods offered. This is especially true of domains that use a person’s last name, the town where the SMB operates, or lengthy names describing the business. Yes, your domain name should be unique, and people should associate your domain name with the product and services offered. However, branch out and include other domains which will make your site identifiable in general searches.
Keep in mind that when you formulate your domain name, the location is not needed for TLDs that give the location. For example, you do not need to state that you are in the UK or US if the extension is .uk or .us. The user already has that information due to the extension. Focus your domains on the target audience. A domain may be memorable in your mind, but if it is too complex to type in or if the name is too specific, you may be losing a large margin of your market.
Put it all out there.
One of the major marketing strategies of domain names and SMBs is to register each purchased domain. Although these domains are all pointing to the same website, they are not all the same domains. To maximize the number of clicks that each domain receives, be sure to register your .coms, .net, and other TLDs with Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other top-rated search engines.
By maintaining control over your domains and minimalizing the margin for others to control or redirect potential clients, you will gain an advantage in your marketing for your SMBs. Allocate funding to maintain your domains and domain hosting and monitor the value of your selected domains. Remember that SERPs are based on a loop algorithm, so results in search engines could take a little while to show an ROI. However, if you maintain your market on your domain names and you will see your market grow.
