Why do some businesses (with perfectly good domain names) spend thousands of dollars (or more) to buy an additional premium domain?

Because a premium domain can pay for itself in months. It can…

• Generate thousands of ‘free’ prospects, year after year

• Help you achieve a number one ranking on search engines

• Save you thousands of dollars in Adwords costs by making your ad stand out

• Generate instant credibility and improve existing advertising response rates

• Lock out competitors from gaining using these advantages against you

Spend five minutes reading the following and you’ll know more than 95% of businesses about using premium domains to gain customers at a fraction of the cost of your competitors….

1. Generate thousands of ‘free’ prospects, year after year.

Good domain names get type-in traffic. Type-in traffic is when searchers bypass the search engines (either by accident or on purpose) and just type in what they are looking for. Type-in traffic quality can convert as well or better than visitors who arrive via paid search ads, so owning a premium domain can pay for itself quickly by delivering targeted prospects who are already interested in what you sell and primed to become your customers.

How much can this free traffic be worth? The value of a visitor in a given field can be estimated using Google’s keyword tool which assigns a ‘cost per click’ (CPC) to any keyword phrase. This is the cost your competitors are paying when their ad is clicked on, regardless of if the visitor leaves immediately or stays and ends up becoming a life long customer.

If a domain receives 1,000 visitors a year and the CPC for that phrase is $8/click, this can be compared to receiving $8,000/year of free traffic. Since domains are a one time purchase and type-in traffic occurs year after year, a prudent purchase can bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of free prospects over it’s lifetime – letting you treduce the amount you spend on advertising or giving you the ability to outspend competitors without this this advantage. And this free traffic can be pointed to your existing web site in about five minutes and does not require any changes to your existing site.

2. Help you achieve top search engine rankings.

Exact match / premium .com domains are highly sought after because of the incredible advantage they can give a business in achieving a top search engine ranking. Since most premium names were registered back in the early nineties by larger companies or acquired subsequently by these companies for significant sums of money, there is a much greater chance that these names will provide what the searcher is looking for – the primary mission of Google – delivering relevant search results.

This advantage is two-fold…

a. Search engines have many factors which influence ranking, however owning the exact match .com name is can be one of the most important factors. In fact, in the past many web sites have achieved a number one ranking based on domain alone.

b. Another absolutely critical factor is the number of incoming links and how they are labeled (what words are hyper-texted). Google treats links as ‘votes’ for a site, but more importantly looks at what each link is saying. A link to ‘JonesFlorist.com’ will help a site rank well for the company name, but a link to ‘Roses.com’ will better help a site rank well for ‘roses’. Since it’s common practice to hyperlink the name of a site, using the right domain can help tell Google that your site is a relevant match for what you are selling.

Since achieving a top ranking can bring in an incredible amount of business, some companies have spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for SEO benefits alone. For example, using the above cost per click example of $7, if a company can rank first place and bring in an additional 5,000 visitors a month – this can be compared to spending $35,000 a month on Adwords – basically more free traffic and unlike most PPC advertising no need to worry about competitors outbidding you.

3. Save you thousands of dollars in Adwords costs by making your ad stand out

Using a premium domain name increases the effectiveness of your existing ads, since Google bolds ads whose URLs contain the keywords being searched for. This can dramatically increase your click-through rate (CTR) – the % of people who click on your ad. Since you are in constant competition with other Adwords advertisers and Google bases the price you pay in part on how many people click on your ad, this can dramatically lower your cost per click. On large campaigns, this alone can save thousands of dollars a month.

Or restated, using a premium domain, one that is bolded in search results can greatly lower your cost per click and allow you to out-bid your competitors while spending less.

4. Generate instant credibility and improve your existing advertising response rates

Unless your business is already a household name, potential customers are probably not searching for it – they are searching for the product or service they are interested in purchasing. Premium exact match domains show them that you sell exactly what they are looking for. This helps them remember your address (greatly increasing the results of any existing offline advertising such as print or radio). When customers see your premium domain, they’ll be more likely to click on it and more likely to trust your business and become your customer – because a good premium name instills confidence and trust and makes you appear like a leader in your field.

5. Lock out competitors from gaining these advantages…

“Once the premium domain for your industry is sold to a company that understands it’s benefits, it will probably never be available for purchase again. This is one of the reasons why premium domains sell quickly and have multiple offers when they come to market.”

On-line your competitors are just click away. Unlike traditional advertising, purchasing a premium domain is an investment that can pay dividends for years to come. Acquiring the premium .com domain for your industry can enhance your credibility, improve your search engine rankings, block competitors and enhance your traditional advertising efforts. Not bad for a digital asset which has an annual renewal cost of less than $35 – regardless of it’s initial acquisition cost.

Some businesses settle for second rate domain name because their first choice has been taken. Unfortunately, choosing a poor domain can be a costly mistake which can make it difficult for your business to succeed on-line. This article explains four ways a bad domain can hurt your business.

1.Lack of credibility

Owning a premium domain in your industry helps position you as an expert in your field. Since domains are registered on a first come first served basis, people assume that businesses using a premium names are well established industry leaders. Choose poorly and you risk looking like…

• You haven’t been in business long
• You aren’t tech savvy and familiar with recent advances
• You don’t value your business enough to buy a ‘good’ domain

2.Poor search engine rankings

Owning the exact match domain in your field makes it much easier to achieve a number one search engine rankings. It’s no accident that companies with premium domains tend to dominate the search engines. Why? Because search engines arrange their results in relevancy order, placing sites which are the best match at the top of the results. Specifically, Google commonly rewards exact match domains with top rankings. Here’s why…

Two of the important factors for achieving a number one ranking on Google are…

• Having a premium domain name with the exact keywords that are being searched for. Only Google knows the exact reason for this, but it’s probably because they want to return the best results possible for each search. Just as ‘Pepsi.com’ is the best result for a search for ‘pepsi’, it’s more likely that ‘Keyword.com’ is the best match for ‘keyword’. Google is also aware that exact match names tend to be used more by established companies.

• How many trusted sites link to a site and the words they use in the link. Google counts incoming links as ‘votes’ of quality for a site. This gives businesses using exact match names a two-fold advantage. Webmasters, bloggers and the press are more likely to link to and send traffic to authoritative sounding sites. And links are usually hypertexted using the domain itself which provides an added quality boost. For example…

Imagine two companies, both selling gift baskets. One is using their company name, AmysBaskets.com. The other is using GiftBaskets.com. GiftBaskets.com is more likely to be linked to and mentioned in the press. Someone who links to ‘GiftBaskets.com’ is telling Google that they recommend the site and that it is about ‘gift baskets’. Compare this to links to AmysBaskets.com, which tell Google that the site is a good match for ‘amys baskets’, a phrase that very few people are searching for.

3. Using a difficult to remember domain can sabotage your traditional advertising.

Radio, TV and print advertising is expensive and has to be carefully crafted to be cost effective. If you aren’t using a good domain in your advertising, you may be fighting an uphill battle. Why? Because poor domains are difficult to remember – making your ads less likely to be acted on. This can decrease the number of new customers your ad campaigns yield – and may be the difference between successful and failed campaigns.

4. Failing to prevent your competitors get hold of the premium domain for your field

If you fail to secure the premium name for your field, your competition can buy it and use it to outrank you on search engines like Google. This can save them thousands in SEO and advertising fees and allow them to have a steady stream of new customers (that could have been yours). For this reason, many companies defensively purchase premium domains to lock out competitors for years to come.

Summary

On the Internet, first impressions count. Most business owners wouldn’t run their business from a run down building or have their salespeople greet customers in a t-shirt and slippers, but surprisingly many businesses spend thousands of dollars on web design and advertising, only to use an unprofessional, second rate name. Sure, quality businesses can use poor domain names. But they typically compensate by spending thousands more on traditional advertising and costly SEO services.

Online your competitors are just click away. Unlike traditional advertising, purchasing the .com version of your name is an investment that can pay dividends for years to come.

Acquiring the right domain can…

• Enhance your credibility

• Improve your search engine rankings

• Guard against sneaky competitors

• Enhance your traditional advertising efforts.

Not bad for a digital asset which has an annual renewal cost of less than $35 – regardless of it’s initial acquisition cost.