Choosing a Name -- Influence on Value

[GermanRaven]

Hello, I'm new to namePros and this is my first post. I am about to develop a site and I need to select the best domain name on which to build it. I intend this to be a major site (many articles, new ones daily) with Google ads & affiliate sales (but modest in quantity). In spite of reading so much on the net and on this site, I am still struggling to understand how the domain name (and tld) relates to the search engine results and traffic.

I obviously don't want to reveal my specific theme or names, so I'll use a close analogy. Let's assume that many people search for "Financial Planning" and that this is my site's theme. Further, assume that FinancialPlanning.com, *.org, and *.net are taken, and that the .com is a very rich storefront (the org & net are currently unused). Assume that I do have options for:

FinancialPlanning.co
FinancialPlanning.info
Financial.co
Financial.info

Ignoring the domain costs for the moment (the FinancialPlanning.* are much cheaper), and assuming that my content would be the same on any domain I build, here are my questions:
1. What is the preferred order of these relating to best traffic and monetization?
2. When someone searches "Financial" by itself, would the FinancialPlanning.* sites be listed?
3. When someone searches "Financial Planning", would the "Financial.*" sites be listed?
4. When someone searches "Planning my financial future", are the "FinancialPlanning.*" still rewarded as "exact matches", or is it only when 100% of the words are in the search, in the same order?

Thank you all in advance for your time and assistance to a newcomer! --GR

 

[Name Trader]

1. I'd prefer .co over .info (but neither are optimal)
2. Yes
3. No
4. Not sure, but I think not.

Your content is the most important thing to get good ranking. Good content on the .co/.info would outrank bad content on the .com/.net/.org

 

[GermanRaven]

Hi stub, thanks for the reply. Could you offer your insight of FinancialPlanning.co vs. Financial.co? If my site is truly about planning finances, is it better to have the longer name with the two words that better indicate my theme, or better to have the shorter name? The shorter is a more expensive domain, but the price difference isn't important to me -- I more prefer the better name (whichever it is) for long-term returns.

 

[Charles Sweeney]

Don't make your site for Google, make it for your visitors.

If you have a good idea for a site then any half-decent name will do. Register .com and your country code if applicable. Give some thought to the new generics if appropriate.

A financial site with articles? Is there something significantly new or different about it? If not, you are wasting your time and money but could be a good learning experience.

Good luck.

 

[GermanRaven]

Hi Charles, thanks for the input. My site is not about financial at all, but I thought that analogy would be close enough (without revealing what I am doing) for me to understand the pros and cons of name selection. As I noted, the .com is already a significant storefront, and the .net and .org are not used, but don't seem to really be available for sale. The word pair (analogous to "Financial" and "Planning") that is in the domain name is a common search pairing in Google today. User "stub" suggests "co" over "info", but didn't offer an opinion on whether just the main word ("Financial") would be better than having both ("FinancialPlanning") in the name.

This is definitely an investment for me, so I want to "do it right".

Staying with the analogy, I just learned that the FinancialPlanning.net (currently unused) *might* be for sale in about the same price range as the Financial.co and Financial.info names. So, summarizing all the variation (with some new information):

Financial.co <<< available (abt $8K)
Financial.info <<< available (abt $8K)
FinancialPlanning.com <<< already has a major storefront on it
FinancialPlanning.co <<< available (abt $100)
FinancialPlanning.info <<< available (abt $100)
FinancialPlanning.net <<< owner may be willing to sell (initial contact made), (probably abt $8K)
FinancialPlanning.org <<< owner has site at sedo auction, but ignores my bids so they expire (I am only bidder, and offered $3K, which is 6x his min bid)

I noted the likely costs above as a point of interest. I'd prefer to spend $8K on something that will be a long-term winner than $100 on a domain that will struggle to make half of the more expensive one.

I really hope that I can get some more experts to offer their advice as well ....

Thanks

 

[Charles Sweeney]

My site is not about financial at all, but I thought that analogy would be close enough

Beg your pardon, GermanRaven.

This is definitely an investment for me, so I want to "do it right".

Doing it right means providing a service of value. If you haven't got that, the rest (including the name) is irrelevant. Otherwise just get a half-decent .com for it.

If you give your visitors the same attention you're giving the name, you're bound to have a hit!

 

[Name Trader]

The domain name is (almost) irrelevant to Google. It's all about content and quality backlinks. It also depends where you live. If for example you lived in UK and had exactly the same content and backlinks as the .com, on your .co.uk domain, the two domains would both rank well in the SERPS for searches from UK. With the .co being recognized as a GTLD by Google, it would also rank well in UK.

The thing about "Financial Planning" or "Financial" is (almost) irrelevant. You could even use a brandable domain, XYZCO.COM. It would be harder to rank for "financial" rather than "financial planning" because there are 8M sites for the words "financial planning" and 356M sites for the word "financial" in Google's SERPS. So, of the two domains, I would suggest the more targeted "financial planning" domain may be more relevant. But if you want to rank for both terms "financial" may be better. But always bear in mind what I said in my first paragraph above.

Also note, that there are more people searching for "financial" than "financial planning", but you can never predict the mindset of a searcher and what they are actually looking for. They might just be more lazy to type in their full search. And therefore also less lazy to type in "financial.co" than the lengthy "financialplanning.co"

You say money is no object, but that isn't true else you would go out and buy financialplanning.com. The .net is probably a better alternative than all the others TLDs you have mentioned. Me being a cheap charlie would choose financialplanning.co because as I've said, the domain name is (almost) irrelevant to Google, and I'd get my rankings from my SEO and Marketing. You could use the 8K you saved, on marketing, although you are probably going to need much more money than that to SEO and market your domain name, in such a competitive niche.

Interestingly, I am going through a similar delema myself. Deciding on whether to buy an exact search domain or to use a lesser search domain. I keep swaying both ways. So haven't made up my mind yet.

 

[GermanRaven]

Stub -- thanks for the thoughtful reply. I didn't mean that money is "no object", only that the difference in cost amongst the options I have is not a deciding factor -- $8K vs. $100, while a significant amount in raw terms, is not meaningful in what I hope is a long-term investment. That assumes, of course, that the $8K investment provides better monthly income than the $100 investment. Regarding the analogous "financialplanning.com", it is a solid storefront and not for sale (I've spoken to the owner and I am sure I couldn't get it for less than $70K -- that is definitely beyond the "no object" quip).

Would you allow me to PM you with the *real* names for your confidential expert opinion? Only, of course, if it wouldn't be imposing on you.

Thanks!!

 

[Name Trader]

Feel free