Domain names are often overlooked as a key way a site can dominate in the search engines. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) relies on many angles, not just one, so I am not suggesting that a good keyword rich domain will alone help you dominate search, it usually will not. But, a good domain can only help, and ultimately you need your site to have many reasons why your site ‘deserves’ to be a top site in the natural search results.

There are many ways to look at domain names, and how they can help a site. These are the two principal factors you should use in evaluating a domain name.
1. Is it a brandable name, even if it is not keyword rich? Or,
2. Is it a keyword rich domain name?

By ‘keyword rich’ I mean the domain name contains within it some of the primary keywords your website will be built to attract. For example, dallaskarate.com or trafficticketattorney.com. Having good keywords in your domain name will help you with those particular keywords, some search engines really value this more than others. I do not like dashes, but I dont think it matters from a SEO point of view.

Domain names alone are worth anywhere from $5 up to thousands, and even millions of dollars. Getting a good domain can bring value to your website. Compare these 2 scenarios…

Scenario 1
Domain: SanAntonio.com (Keyword Rich domain name)

Scenario 2
Domain: HeartOfSanAntonio.com (Brandable with keywords too)

Who do you think gets more direct type in traffic per month? (That means when a user just adds .com to a keyword… Like say I am interested in staying in San Antonio for a few days of vacation, I may just type sanantonio.com into a search engine or browser which will take me directly to a site called sanantonio.com) That direct traffic is valuable, and just one of the ways that a keyword rich domain brings real value to a business when compared to a brandable domain, even a brandable name that includes keywords in it.

You can use domain names as a great place to invest online, and another way to make money online. There are many places you can buy great domain names, one is Domain Portfolio Advisor, they sell names and help people acquire other investment quality domains. Domain name investing is very similar to real estate investing, there is potential for monthly cash flow and underlying asset appreciation at the same time. There are lots of other similarities with real estate, like the potential for huge percentage returns, but domain investing can be started with just a few hundred bucks, or a grand or so can get you a good handful of names, compare that with real estate where you need a small fortune to get going!

Anyone out there have any luck with domain name investing? Let me know in the comments. I own a handful of domains, and have sold a name for almost $2,000 that I paid $9 for, crazy return on a percentage basis! I wish I could do that about 100 times a year!