Thinking of building a new site? Have you considered registering  a .com, .net, .org, or .info domain name for it? Well, in the world of publishing information on the web, it is always important to consider some basic (SEO) search engine optimization factors when writing articles and building other content for your business. One of those basic SEO strategies is to pick a SEO domain extension for your new site, blog, landing pages, etc. that the search engines view as important. That will help make the content that you have on that particular site be seen as more important.

There is a hierarchy when it comes to domain extensions, and it’s more important than ever to know this information and more importantly act on it because as time marches on and the web grows – domain names are being reserved by the boatload. Don’t let your competitors get all the good keyword rich domain names!

.COM
This domain extension is the most common and the most important in the eyes of the search engines. It is considered the industry standard, and so my first recommendation is to always try to secure a keyword domain name in the .com extension. I mean try really hard. Most people who surf and search online think in terms of .com

Of course if the name doesn’t make sense for your business, then don’t. But if you can find one or better yet several domain names with your keywords in it AND it has a .com extension then you should secure them. Domain names are really a small investment in a long-term SEO strategy that will benefit your website for years to come. I always tell folks at seminars and during coaching calls, that my one biggest regret is that I didn’t secure enough .com keyword domains when I had the chance.

.NET
This is the second runner up. The next most important extension in terms of a regular business. If you are securing keyword domain names for a “for profit” online business — then .net is the way to go if you cannot find your name with the .com extension which is happening more often these days.

Now here’s the thing with this extension, if you have a “killer” .com domain and can grab the .net for it – then do it. You can always use it as a doorway page to your main site as long as you add different content to it. But you do not need a .net domain for every .com you own. The .com holds much more weight and is enough to have in the grand scheme of things.

Also, if your #1 competitor has the domain name you are looking for with the .com extension, then I wouldn’t bother with the .net. You’d have to work too hard to outrank them in the search engines. Just look for a better .com name.

.ORG
Now .org domain names hold as much and sometimes even more weight then .net extensions, but I put them third because it looks really silly to have an .org domain name for a magic tricks site or a marketing site (or most “for profit” sites). In hindsight, they probably should have reserved .org names for people who really run organizations like they do for .gov or .edu sites. But I digress, my point here is that the search engines give me them just as much value as a .net – so if you can’t find the domain name you want in either a .com or .net extension than this is third best option.

Now even if you do run a real organization, like a non-profit for children or something, you STILL will do better in the search engines with a .com – so keep that in mind.

.INFO
Many registrars  run specials on .info names. You can pick these up some days for .99 cents. So do I have to tell you the importance of this extension? There isn’t much importance placed on them at all. I don’t know why, really no one does. The fact is that the search engines do not view .info websites as very important. SEO experts have run a lot of tests on this theory as well. They have created similar sites at the same time, but one as a .com and one as a .info. Even with little competition, the .com ranked very quickly and over 4  months later – you still couldn’t find the .info site in the search engine results at all. So need I say more. Don’t buy these.

While there are .BIZ and a lot of other new domain name extensions, they really do not hold too much more weight than an .net, so having said that, I think it’s better to just find a name based on the top 3 domain extensions in this hierarchy and your keywords. If you cannot find one, then you may need to reconsider your keywords or your approach to even penetrating your niche with content on the web. Grab your keyword rich seo domain names while you can.

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Lisa Angelettie

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I make a living writing, ePublishing, and marketing books and teaching others how to do the same. I have one mission: To turn you into the best writer that you can be while enjoying every minute of it!

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