URL is 50% of your success?

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dsiomtw

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While reading through Diorex's archives I was intrigued by a comment he made in a post about niches regarding URLs. In short he suggested:

"Probably 50% or more of your success is going to be related to the URL, no reason not to consider what you might use before you start."

That's a pretty bold statement. I think I've been lucky in the sense that my past 4 or 5 projects I've come up with what I thought were really great URLs and the projects were all big successes. I never attributed 50% of my successes to the URLs, but domain names are obviously important.

My most recent project is an interesting one because it is lightyears ahead of my past few projects in terms of potential and it is already off to a rockin' start, but I had trouble coming up with a "great" domain and just settled for something OK. I wonder how much a better domain will improve my CTRs, perception of the site, etc.

Anyway, no brilliant insights here or questions really ... it was just timely that I stumbled across Diorex's comment while I was contemplating the exact topic. Anyone have any comments on domains? Is a really good, short and sweet keyword rich domain really "50% or more of your success" ?
 


Maybe in very rare circumstances, or for a certain niche. Overall, not a chance, as long as you don't pick something completely retarded.
 
Not really true anymore. I think if the domain gets the point across adquetly then you're fine. Take for example:

greenwidgets.com
widgetsgreen.com
green-widgets.com
widgets-green.com
getgreenwidgets.com
gogreenwidgets.com
greenwidgetreviews.com

...Could go on forever. The point is that while URL is important, just use common sense when marketing an offer and finding a domain, which goes without saying. If you're selling green widgets, don't launch an offer on RedRatchets.com; acquire a relevant URL and move on.
 
A good domain can lower your costs due to QS and increase your CTR on ads. I would get the best domain possible, yes.
 
I think name is very important and would go with the 50% the guy said.

Having a shitty name and starting something up is very difficult.

If I was opening a shopping site, I would want something very specific and since you are going to buy ads and brand it. I wouldn't want to brand something shitty.

Sure people do start things on stupid names that take off, but that's getting harder and harder to do nowdays.
 
A good domain can get you type-ins and exact match domains rank very well in search engines.
 
Catchy domains as well can stick in the persons head and they can remember you easier to refer them to there friends, ect...
 
I think that is the whole reason the secondary domain market is so huge - the domain really matters, especially for ecommerce sites. I might buy tires from tireworld dot com but never from myaffilliatesite101 dot info. Maybe it's not 50 % of the work - you still have to build a good site and rank well - but of two good sites with names like the above the name alone is responsible for at least 50% of sales.
 
Exactly. You can't really put a number on it, but your domain does have an impact on how people perceive and receive your site. I personally look towards brandable type domains for long term development, and leave keyword rich domains for when I'm looking to make a flip (unless ofcourse, I find an extraordinary keyword rich domain that I have a plan for) as they generally take a bit less to make a profit with. In saying all of that, I'm assuming that .com is the implied domain extension in most cases here.

I mean taking the domain into account is a good habit to get into, and a better domain will usually garner a better image/presence. Just don't go thinking that a good domain will balance out an otherwise shitty site. Overall, look for reasonable to excellent domains. As mentioned above, a user might be less likely to visit myaffiliatesite101 dot info as opposed to tireworld dot com if they both had the same content. But I'm sure that none of us would go building an important site on the former if the latter (or anything else that was better) was available.
 
aim said:
Not really true anymore. I think if the domain gets the point across adquetly then you're fine. Take for example:

greenwidgets.com
widgetsgreen.com
green-widgets.com
widgets-green.com
getgreenwidgets.com
gogreenwidgets.com
greenwidgetreviews.com

...Could go on forever. The point is that while URL is important, just use common sense when marketing an offer and finding a domain, which goes without saying. If you're selling green widgets, don't launch an offer on RedRatchets.com; acquire a relevant URL and move on.
Click to expand...

You may not want to go hog-wild when you're just testing an offer, but if you decide to promote an offer or product long-term, a good domain is a solid investment.

Put aside conversion rates for a moment. In order to convert a visitor, you must first acquire a visitor. Now if www vs non-www display urls, capitalized vs. lowercase display URLs, and directories (url.com/keyword) make a difference in your ability to get those clicks (CTR), then there's something to all this.

And, with certain quality score algorithms, as your CTR rises your CPC decreases in some cases, which directly impacts your ROI.

Even if it didn't impact your ROI... if you make $1 per visitor and you can choose between 300 visitors per day and 302, who is going to choose to make less money?

I have high-volume campaigns running where I've been testing ad variations against one another for over a year. You say "so what" but I mean constantly measuring and checking for a year straight on a single campaign targeting a single prospect group for a year. Believe me when I tell you, what URL you display and how you format it makes a noteworthy difference. I've got one test running right now with only two active ads and more than enough impressions and clicks to make the data statistically relevant. Only difference between the two is the formatting of the display URL (same domain), and the CTR difference is almost 2.5%.

Getting past initial acquisition and on to conversion rate...

The Prodigy chose their name because it conveys a message. Grand Master Flash was "Grand". LL Cool J was "Cool". The Prodigy was a "Prodigy". They could have used the name "Guy with a bunch of keyboards" if it didn't matter any.

You can use your domain/URL to get messages across.

FreeCreditReport.com - I now know what you offer and what it costs
YouTube.com - You is personal, Tube is television. Not generic, but point taken
MySpace.com - More generic, no less catchy
VitaminShoppe.com - Need I continue?

Your domain/URL can reinforce search terms, highlight your point(s) of differentiation (cheap vs. luxury), express trustworthiness, and show exactly how specific your site is (widgets vs. green widgets).

Google any product or service that isn't dominated by Amazon.com and just read through the URLs. There will be some that you find more trustable than others, there's no way to avoid that. A URL is a web site's home real estate. So the quality of their name, the message and keywords contained in it, and the domain extension are the points they built their site on. I'd say that's pretty important.

Companies spend HUGE amount of money to change their names (look at the history of Palm) or rebrand themselves. Hell, look at how much money changes hands in the logo design industry. Trying to use a vector graphic to sum up your company. Here you've got a chance to use words... words that people will see BEFORE they see your logo.

You'd better believe it's important.
 
Are you domaining or building sites? If the latter, a good domain certainly can't hurt, but I'm still waiting for the domainer who can explain to me what the word "ebay" has to do with buying and selling, what the word "google" has to do with searching the internet, what the word "yahoo" has to do with news etc.

Quality content and promotion trump a good domain every time. I have many really and truly awful domains redirecting to good ones, because I picked them up before I knew what was doing with domain selection but the traffic from backlinks and SERPs is to valuable to sacrifice. That traffic sure as hell didn't come from me thinking that everyone would think it would be natural to associate ".ws" with "website" or ".biz" with "business."


Frank
 
fm1234 said:
I'm still waiting for the domainer who can explain to me what the word "ebay" has to do with buying and selling, what the word "google" has to do with searching the internet, what the word "yahoo" has to do with news etc.
Click to expand...

Short, brandable, memorable. All important because you selected 3 companies that A.) rely heavily on repeat business and B.) were named long before internet advertising was what it is today. They named companies, not domains. These names attracted eyes through traditional media channels... not adwords.

Wtf is "kleenex" or "colgate" or "sony"? Difference between inventing something new and capitalizing on an existing demand/market.
 
for SEO and PPC purposes (for branding is another story) domain is really important.
Of course it's even better if it drive type in traffic (free traffic is always good).
 
fm1234 said:
I'm still waiting for the domainer who can explain to me what the word "ebay" has to do with buying and selling, what the word "google" has to do with searching the internet, what the word "yahoo" has to do with news etc.
Click to expand...

Google: The numeric value of one, followed by 100 zeroes.
When Google started, that was the number of pages that they wanted to catalogue.
It's meant to represent an improbably large numerical figure that is basically infinite for conceptual purposes... That pretty much summed up the internet in 1996.

eBay: Pre-1999, before the letter 'i' preceded every product, if you wanted to look technological, you either started everything with an 'e' or had COM in the name. 'e' signified electronic but quickly became associated with email... which was still this wonderous thing at the time...
The 'bay' just comes from most auction houses also being known as bays.

Yahoo: was originally meant to be the friendliest way of using the internet. You've got to remember that a lot of these businesses started when Eudora was the dominant browser, and it was NOT easy to use.
Sites were plain, and often difficult to navigate for non-computer users (yes, this was a time when most people didn't use computers daily, and owning one got you crammed into your locker at school)
Yahoo was fresh in that it used images (<img> tags were few and far between) to graphically convey what it was for. It also went with bright and colourful, as opposed to serious and technological... It was user friendly...
The sound of "yahoo!" was supposed to be what n00bs would make as they used it to "surf" the "information superhighway" (how you surf on tarmac still eludes me, unless it involves chaining yourself to the back of a vehicle)
Like Google, Yahoo simply expanded away from its original business and became an aggregate site.

Sorry if I sound like a smart arse...
I've been using modems since the speed was rated in 'baud' though...
 
I have always felt like having a good domain name is more the type of thing that is more noticeable if you have a real shitty one. Like your just sort of expected to have a good domain if you plan on having a decent site.
 
You CAN have success just with a domain name, but don't count on it.

I have one domain that is just the plural of the brand name and has served me well for a few years already.

::emp::
 
I have personally found with search marketing with domains will pay for themselves even if their half good. A few people will instead of clicking on your ad and costing you money, just put your domain from your ad in and go to it. Hasn't really failed me yet - my domains pay for themselves and then some. Not a bad proposition in my book. Just make them relevant to what your promoting.
 
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