Land or Domain?

“Choosing the right domain name is much like selecting a suitable plot of land on which to build your first home. Your domain is an investment. Seek out a nice neighborhood that is well priced and shows real promise for the future. Have confidence in the name you have chosen.”

- Kristoffer Howes, President & CEO

Listed below are 8 carefully selected factors to consider when purchasing a domain name:

"TLD” or Top Level Domain

This is the extension that appears at the end of a domain name, such as .com, .ca, .net, .org, etc.
All other factors considered equal, a .com name will (often) sell for nearly four times (4x) the otherwise equivalent domain, registered in any other common global extension. Global extensions include .net, .org, and .info.

The .mobi extension, utilized for content to be delivered to mobile devices, is rapidly gaining value and popularity.

Some country specific domains, such as .co.uk and .de (Germany) are very prestigious, and can, in certain instances, command high prices.

It is hoped that one day the .tv extension will be used in connection with Internet enabled TV. Until hardware, distribution, and media companies are able resolve profit-sharing differences, sales of these domains will only occasionally result in high prices.

Number of Words

Single "real word" domains (no misspellings or abbreviations), especially in easily monetizable Internet industries, can be enormously valuable; particularly when accompanied by the .com extension.

Two word domains, without misspellings or abbreviations, are also quite valuable if the domain name is easily monetized, and the TLD is of high quality.

Values plunge when considering domain names with three words or more.

Content

Domain names containing misspellings, abbreviations, hyphens, special characters not found on a standard keyboard, or other text oddities often have very little value.

Domain names containing a phrase that is trademarked are very likely worth nothing. The registered trademark owner could be in a legal position to summarily confiscate the domain from you.

Can The Domain Name Be Monetized?

Website monetizing is the process of converting existing traffic into revenue. For example, Google Adsense is a popular method of monetizing a website.

In this application, how attractive is your domain name to motivated online consumers? Will the name itself generate traffic?

The extent, to which a domain name can be monetized, has a major influence on its value.
Domains in the Sex, Financial, and Health industries often top the list in terms of high value sales.

Generic vs. Non-Generic

Generic domains are generally more valuable than non-generic ones.

A generic domain name is one that contains only real words (ones you can find in a dictionary), and has no contribution from proper names (first or last).

Generic .com domain names in highly monetizable industries are immensely valuable and are, for the most part, very difficult to secure.

Number of Letters

Three letter .com names can be the most valuable, even if they mean nothing.

Four letter .com names usually need to be pronounceable to have any value. They do not need have to be real words found in the dictionary (cool sounding four letter .com names can be very brand able, even if they are created).

When your domain name reaches five letters or more, the value is driven by the quality of the word or words (generic vs. non-generic, monetizable vs. non- monetizable, etc.).

When surpassing 8-9 letters, the value tends to decrease substantially unless the domain name is highly monetizable.

Branding

Domain names that are easy to say and remember, easy to type in, highly reflective of predictable monetizable content, and/or generate a lot of "type-in" traffic (people typing your domain name directly into the address box in their browser rather than finding your domain via a search engine) are highly sought after. These domain names may have significant worth.

E-Market Size and Profitability

This factor directly impacts how easily the domain name can be monetized. Products and services that do not lend themselves to the e-marketplace (directly, or indirectly through selling ad space) will (most often) have little value.

http://www.cornwallshoppingcentre.ca/

Content Revisited

A recent study by OPA and Nielsen/Net Ratings showed that Internet users are spending more time than ever on content based websites:
i. Commerce: 13.8%
ii. Communications: 32.0%
iii. Content: 49.6%
iv. Search: 4.5%

With the popularity of blogs and social media websites on the rise, it's no wonder that people are spending more time than ever reading online. While time spent researching and gathering information over the Internet has increased, consumer shopping activity has decreased; down over 2% from a year before. This could be attributed to the thrifty online “window shopper”. The CIUS indicated that 60% of those consumers who research products and services on the Internet, followed through with a purchase directly from a merchant’s “brick and mortar” store.

Having a reliable database of information to assist visitors in making an informed decision, such as a glossary, FAQ, helpful tutorials, etc. will improve your visitor's overall shopping experience and increase the odds of conversions and return visits. The ultimate goal is to lead consumers to a confident, final sale; either from your e-commerce website or your doorstep.

This can be accomplished by creating a satisfying user experience and providing the correct balance of information and entertainment. Motivated shoppers need these to achieve their conversion goal.

Listed below area number of proven methods:

i. ratings and reviews
ii. blogs to convey important and relevant industry information
iii. useful tips and demonstrative tutorials
iv. an information database (glossary, FAQ)

The best ecommerce websites do not build content around their products. Instead, developers build a strong community around a product’s interest or appeal. Website founders create a place where like-minded consumers can visit, gain valuable information, learn more about featured products and share comments, questions or concerns.

By constructing a dependable online community, developers not only sell more products and services, they build brand recognition and customer loyalty as well.

Website Content

Pleasing Your Website Visitors- Real People and “Spiders” Too

The content within your website will be digested by both website visitors and search engine “spiders” alike. Both types of Internet guest can be as critical as Donald Trump in the Apprentice, or Simon on American Idol. An unfavorable review from either can be crippling for your online presence. You must be very careful to compose content that is relevant to your website and its concrete corporate objective.

Once you begin building, do not deviate from your website’s commitment. Remain diligent and focused. If there is a complimentary topic you are eager to include, make a note of it and engage it at another time. Build a new page to display it later, and devote yourself completely to it then.
The content that you write should be in a conversational format that is easy to understand. Your visitor’s first impression is paramount to their thoughts of staying or returning in the future. Your carefully chosen content should not be a thesaurus-revised addition that has been gently polished to lend credibility to your website. It should be a message from a friend or peer.
Ideally, the text and images will be exciting and informative, as well as grammatically and politically correct. With the introduction of Social media, messengers and online communities, as participants we begin to accept “how r u?” and “sup?”. This type of literary practice should remain confined to your personal MySpace page, and definitely not appear on your corporate website.

When composing and fine-tuning your online narrative, do not riddle it with search words, terms and phrases, in an obvious (and futile) attempt to attract the “Spiders”. This will insult your educated visitors and perhaps draw a crippling “SP@M” tag from valuable Search Engines.
Search engine spiders are much easier to please than your thrifty online consumers. Don’t waste your time.

Detailed below are five (5) suggested methods of adding meaningful content to your website.

The obvious answer to more content is more pages. The more pages of content you display, the more information you provide and in turn, the more keywords you can target. The math is simple and the technique is effective. Add new pages for new topics, and if necessary, split the page into several parts.

Some believe that the Forum has been outdated by more modern web 2.0 applications and portals. While this may be true, the forum can still be used advantageously; although only in the appropriate circumstances. Forums must provide a viable means of communicating from one person to another. If you can create a vibrant and lively Forum, you will instantly attract and retain website visitors.

Early bloggers claimed they would be the future of the Internet while more skeptical marketers and Webmasters decided their popularity would dwindle eventually. The former certainly came true and it seems there are Blogs everywhere, within every industry, and on every conceivable topic.
If you don't already have a blog, then get one. Consider using your Blog as the news section of your website. Blogs are easy to design and typically very easy to integrate. If you're not blogging then you’re missing out on an effective means of communicating with your online visitors and potential customers. Moreover, a simple Blog allows you to add meaningful content to your website and draw steady search engine traffic as well.

Although the Frequently Asked Questions page serves a number of purposes, it is primarily used to prevent redundant telephone calls and emails; regarding simple to answer questions. Consider using the FAQ page, to highlight the main benefits of your service or product. Apply carefully selected keywords and phrases to your questions and answers.

RSS and XML Feeds are great for adding insightful content to your website. Look for reputable partners within your industry that provide noteworthy feeds. Embed the feeds into a page or several pages of your site. Quality feeds will change often and as such, search engine spiders will believe that your website content is updated regularly. This will definitely help with SEO.