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If you use automated software to copy your text into a different language, it is likely
to read clumsily and turn people off. You are better off not having the text on the
web if you do not have a person fluent in the language proof the final page copy.
If you have significant content and target audiences in different languages, then
usually you will want to have a different subdomain or site for each language or
major market. This will make it easier to get links from the different geographic or
ethnic communities you are interested in without the losing focus of your site. It
also makes it easy for engines to understand the clear divisions in your site.
Subdomains & Local Markets
Subdomains are best to use if you have a small amount of content about each
market. If you have significant content for each market, it may make more sense
to create a site for each market.
If your site is in an exceptionally competitive category and you have many links that
would be hard to replicate, then you might want to use folders (or possibly
subdomains) on your main site for each language instead of trying to build up the
link popularity of many different sites.
U.K. English is much different than English in the United States. Even within the
same language you may need multiple versions to cater to different dialects,
customs, and tastes.
Subdomains in General
If your main site is a thin e-commerce site, or if it lacks authority, it might make
sense to keep most of your authoritative content together with the low authority
content. But if your site has great authority, then using a subdomain for some of
your content should allow you to get more listings in the search results.
An advantage of placing some of your content on a subdomain is that if you have a
strong brand and the subdomain is also authoritative, then when people search for
your brand some search engines will feature both your domain and the subdomain
at the top of the search results, and searchers will have to scroll a long way down to
find competing sites or sites that are critical of your brand.
Branding Your Domain Name
Any more than about two or three words in a domain name and it becomes less
memorable. Some of the most memorable websites do a great job of branding by
creating their own word: eBay, Skype, PayPal, Yahoo!, Expedia, Slashdot, Fark,
Travelocity, Google…
However, most successful businesses are soft innovations; they may not be able to
afford the time, money, and effort required to create, brand, and add a new word
to our language. You can create a name that is well-related to something people
already know. It is easier to market corn sugar than it is to market fructose.
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If you are not going to develop a strong brand, then using keywords in your
domain name may give you a competitive advantage in search results. Having your
keywords in your domain name can increase click-through rates on search engine
listings and paid ads as well as make it easier to get keyword rich descriptive
inbound links.
If your brand is exceptionally strong and your content quality is second to none
you still can rank well in search results after enough related resources reference
your site, even if most references do not mention the keywords you want to rank
for. Google’s search algorithms have moved toward pushing natural authority sites
even if they do not have much relevant anchor text.
Branding Your Site
A keyword-rich domain name will make it easy to get inbound link text with your
primary keywords in them, but don’t forget that your domain name also plays a
role in your branding. Your domain name should have your branding in mind as it
can help reinforce the ideals of your brand.
On the web there are many different business ideas or business models. If low
cost is your business model, then you will find people who are willing to work for
half your wage that will slash throats to get by on razor thin margins. It is not a
way to enjoy life.
Someone can always do your job cheaper. For example, Google turned labeling
images into a game. Now thousands of people are labeling images, for free, to
improve Google’s image search relevancy. You can take a look at this process by
visiting
http:// images.google.com/imagelabeler/
.
Branding is one of the most important parts of building any website or web-based
business, and it is what allows you to establish healthy profit margins. Every
Monday, Rob Frankel holds free branding clinics on his website. I recommend
going to at least one of them and asking a question or two. He also wrote a great
branding book by the name of The Revenge of Brand X.
Leaving the Keyword Out
The site is not seriously launched yet, but a cool domain name for a site about
sleeping might be something like LikeABaby.com. Using a creative name makes it
easier to build a memorable brand than just focusing on keyword phrases.
Branding to an Audience Segment
A guy I met did not have a large marketing budget, but wanted to market a video
clip idea. I thought that it would be a great idea to use the viral nature of blogs to
market the initial product (i.e., let the bloggers market the product for us by word-
of-mouth, because word-of-mouth spreads like wildfire). I came up with the name
BlogFlix.net. The site later went under after some technical errors, but within a
few months of being finished, it was featured on popular sites such as Smart Mobs.
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The Right Domain Name
I either make my domain names define themselves exactly or I think of a creative
way to state its purpose. Your best bet is to think of a name that is an extension of
who you are.
A short and easy to remember URL is friendly to word-of-mouth marketing.
Would you feel better referring a friend to seobook.com or seo-search-engine-
optimization-marketing-e-book-book.com? Which would be easier to remember
and say? If you make a message hard to spread, then it will probably spread at a
slower rate.
Buying Multiple Names
Often times it is worth it to buy multiple domain names, even if you do not use
them all. By securing multiple domain names you can decide to use some of your
secondary domains to cover similar thematically-related topics AND prevent
competitors from purchasing the name.
Within six months of my starting the SEOBook.com website, someone was
already spamming me trying to sell me SEOBooks.com. I should have spent the
additional $8 to register that domain from the start. You also may want to buy a
generic name and the domain name that matches your business, and direct them
both to the same location.
Example of Breaking Ideas Down into Niche Sites
I do not recommend buying multiple domain names exclusively for deceptive
practices. Many of my sites are about SEO, but you can break ideas down to their
core and make useful sites in less competitive markets.
For example, one site I own is Search-Marketing.info. This site is similar to the
contents of this e-book, although the site is somewhat dated. That site is not a
well-branded name. I had many concepts on that site that later were extracted and
made into their own sites:
●
I had a blog at Search-Marketing.info; the blog was not successful. I
moved the blog from that site to SeoBook.com, and it has likely become
one of the top half dozen most popular blogs in the SEO industry.
●
I had a directory list on Search-Marketing.info. I decided to turn that list
into a directory of directories, and created that idea at
DirectoryArchives.com.
●
I listed some bad SEO practices on my Search-Marketing.info; I decided to
turn that idea into BlackHatSEO.com.
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Each of the last three sites occasionally spikes in popularity and helps give me a
multi-brand approach. I would not be nearly as successful if I kept all of those
ideas inside my first site.
When you spin out micro domains, they allow you to try to be humorous or
different without necessarily having as much impact on your root brand as if you
said and did the same things on your main business site.
There are also tactical business reasons for using multiple sites. For example, if
what you are doing might get you sued, it may make sense to put it on a non-
income-generating site to try to make it easier to get free legal help if the lawsuit is
bogus.
Generic Names versus Unique Names
Some businesses will require brand development to become successful. Being a
branded SEO makes it far easier to charge a fair rate for my services than if I was
unbranded. My original website (
http://www.search-marketing.info
) is really a weak
brand and was a huge mistake.
I like the idea of creating things that I think add long-term value to the web, so I
usually opt for branded names over generic names.
There is more than one way to skin a cat, and the same idea can be said for picking
a domain name. If you aim to extract long-term profits and want to make the site
you are working on become your career, then you want to pick a name that is not
overly generic.
Before you pick a name or start building sites, you should decide what your
goals are for the site. If you are unsure what type of site you want to make or
why you want to make it, you may want to participate in web communities to find
problems that need solutions and create a personal site until you find what you
want to do.
Creating a Topical Web site Network
Note: This is an advanced SEO technique most webmasters do not need to do.
With how many pages there are on the web, quality will usually win over quantity.
With that being said, sometimes it will make sense to have multiple, similar
websites covering slightly different topics. Doing this can help you create topically
authoritative inbound links to different sites in your network and give you a multi-
branded approach to marketing.
However, you want to make sure your sites are all different and unique. If your
sites are extremely similar, then your sites may receive a spam penalty or have the
nepotistic link popularity discounted. Even worse is that if you interlink them all,
then all of your sites could get penalized at the same time.
Documents you may be interested
Documents you may be interested
