Domain Name Registration

A good domain name strategy is a very important part of the successful website equation. If chosen correctly, it will be remembered easily by customers, help you rank higher on search results, and even keep competition at bay.

Domain Name Privacy

Domain name privacy protects you from Email Spammers who harvest your email address from the publicly available domain name registration record. Some other domain name registrars charge $10 a year or more for this service. We include contact privacy with every domain for free.

Choose from .com, .ca, .net, .me, .tv and .co domains.

Some things to keep in mind while choosing a domain:

A.com

If possible see if you can have your domain name start with the letter “A”. Of course, most search engines no longer present results alphabetically like telephone directories do, so the days of “AAA Plumbing” are over, however, some online directories still list their results alphabetically. Customers have long been accustomed to having lists sorted alphabetically, and some will choose to do so if given the option.

More importantly however, is securing a .com where possible. While search engines do not favor domain names based on their ending, customers do. A .com is easier to remember. How many times have you reached the wrong site or have an email fail to send because you assumed it was a “.com” instead of a “ .ca” and entered the wrong email or website address? A .com also implies that you have been online earlier since the .com wasn’t taken when you registered your domain.

As a Canadian company, It is a good idea to secure the “.ca” of your domain name at the same time, to prevent competitors registering a copycat domain and directing customers away from your site. If your competitor has done so, contact us, as we can help you get your domain back. However, the old adage is true: “An ounce of prevention is better then a pound of cure”.

Include Keywords

When choosing a domain name, make sure to include relevant keywords in your domain. Although this will not automatically help your site rank higher, it will allow you to include keywords in the content in your site, and most importantly, linked content. It will also make your domain name more memorable. If you offer several products and services, it would be a good idea to register domain names for each of those products and services, and direct them to a corresponding landing page on your site.

Short, yet Meaningful

It is important to make the domain name as short as possible, as this will result it fewer spelling mistakes while typing your address, as well as making your domain easier to remember. To do so abbreviate where possible, but avoid abbreviating keywords that describe your product or services. For example: “A Really Good Printing Company” would be better to register “ARGPrinting.com” then “ARGP.com”

Localize it: Search users are increasingly using search engines to find products and services nearby, therefore, search engines are focusing on returning local based results. So, where possible include the location where your business is located, or even the location where you would like to conduct business. For example, you may be located in Arnprior so for “A Really Good Printing Company” would register “ArnpriorRGPrinting.com”, but you may wish to extend your reach into nearby Stitisville, so could additionally register StitsvilleRGPrinting.com. This combined with a landing page that is localized will help you rank in location based searches.

Second hand domains

If you want your site to rank higher, faster, it would be a good idea to buy an already registered domain name from someone else, sometimes called “Premium Domain Names”. Although they may cost more, you will get quicker results. It is a little known fact that Google will not include newly registered domains in their results for up to 9 months from the time of registering to prevent “Domain Name Farming”, whereby domains are quickly setup to make links to other sites to improve their ranking. An already registered domain name is also more likely to rank higher in the results due to the fact it is more established, and also if it is registered for several years.