When I talk to any new client that is looking to build a web site for their business, I like to share with them the fact that there are two kinds of domain names to choose from:

• People friendly domain names, and
• Search engine friendly domain names

Rarely, but sometimes they are the same thing. So when you are thinking of choosing a domain name, I suggest you choose one of each.

People Friendly Domain Names

A domain name that is people friendly is short, easy to remember and is usually easy  to spell. It fits nicely on your business card and any other hard copy advertising that you are using – newspaper ads, yellow pages, radio ads – that type of thing. Like: joes.com. What a great domain name if your name is Joe and you have a web site.

The problem is that most people will not look on the internet using your name to find your products or services. Joes.com is very specific if you are looking for Joes.com; however, even that can be detrimental. When I did a search in Google for Joes.com I got back 3,450,000 results – with every type of product from sports stores, restaurants, grocery stores, to audio equipment – and that was just on page one.

That question that needs to be answered in a search engine is: Joe’s what? What is Joe trying to sell or what service is he offering?

People friendly domain names are the names that you tell people when they ask you for your web site, or you place on your business card.That leads us to the second type of domain name.

Search Engine Friendly Domain Names

If you were Joe, and you sold sports and outdoor equipment or gear, then you might pick a domain name like: outdoor-sports-equipment.com; or sports-and-outdoor-gear.com. See how it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue? Especially if you were trying to tell someone your web site address – go to outdoor hyphen sports hyphen equipment.com. Whew! That one just got past me like a fast moving train. And imagine trying to put that on a business card. Not a good professional look.

But search engines love it! Why? Because people use those words to specifically look for that type of product and you have just planted major keywords for your business in your new domain name.

The key is: this type of domain name is only for the search engines. When someone does a search for sports equipment, outdoor sports equipment, outdoor gear, sports gear – you have a distinct advantage when your web site comes up because a new client will see your web address and know that that link will take them to a site that has what they are looking for. Can you start to see the benefit?

So here is what you do. If you are starting a new web site:

1. Get two domain names – one people friendly and one search engine friendly
2. Build the search engine friendly domain name as your main site on your hosting account
3. Park the people friendly domain to point to your search engine friendly domain name
4. And Market the search engine friendly domain name for new clients who are specifically looking for your product or services.

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