Friday Link Wrapup – Keywords in Domains, Hosting Moves, Online Mistakes
The top website and marketing links for this week.
Verisign researchers published some interesting info about keywords in domains in May… their study shows that domains that have keywords matching a given search query received more clicks than those with no keyword. By the numbers:
- No search keywords in domain: 12.44% click rate
- 1 search keyword in domain: 21.79% click rate
- 2+ search keywords in domain: 25.30% click rate
So when you’re considering domain names, it pays to make sure one or more of your product or service’s important keywords are included in the domain (of course, I haven’t done this myself – it’s not as easy as it sounds).
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One of the things that I frequently get asked by clients is, “can you help me move my site to a new host?” I agree that it can be a scary proposition… Sometimes it’s extremely easy, other times it can become a real nightmare. It all depends on the hosts involved. If you’re planning a move and want to learn how to DIY, here’s a post that may help you keep all the little details straight during your move.
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Finally – a quick guide to online mistakes made by small biz owners. All of these seem to be really common and I’ve had more than a few clients doing one or more of the following:
- Using a social media page instead of your own website for your business presence. You don’t own this page – what happens if the social network shuts down your account?
- Using a free email address for your business instead of your own domain.
- Abandoning your website – never updating it so it looks like you’ve gone out of business (or aren’t paying attention to it)