Do You Make These 6 Common Mistakes When Naming a Website? Part 1 of 6

If you plan on having a website, this 6 part series of blog posts is for you. Many professional website designers don't even know some of these secrets. That is why this series of posts could make you a bundle and could also help you dominate your niche or market. To find out more, you'll want to read every word of this post . . .

Mistake #1 Naming Your Website Before You Write a Strong Purpose Statement

Have you ever gone to a website and wondered, “What do these people do?” Or have you searched Google. Clicked on a website you thought would answer your question or solve your problem. Then couldn’t find any answers or links to what you wanted? Frustrating, right?

Why can’t you type in what you want and get a page that really answers your question or solves your problem? Here’s why -- businesses typically go about creating a website for all the wrong reasons. Let me give you an example.

IBM sells servers, right? Dell sells servers, right? HP sells servers, right?

So logically, if you did a search for “servers” on Google you would find IBM or HP’s website or someone selling their servers right? Wrong….

Today I did a search for server. The first natural search result was http://www.server.com. The second result was http://www.apache.org. The third result was http://www.Microsoft.com/sql/. Not bad results. But if I want to buy a server, none of these help. Why wasn’t IBM, HP or Dell there?

Here is the answer, are you ready…. When these big players decided to create their websites, they never thought, “Let’s create a website to sell servers.”

When IBM and HP thought about creating a website, their first thought was, “let’s create a corporate website.”

The purpose was decided in a boardroom and involved several people from several departments. All with different agendas.

No one said, “let’s create a website with the sole purpose of selling servers.” So if you sell servers and you’re reading this article, you have a major opportunity.

IBM and HP have “sponsored listings” on Google. So they pay Google anytime someone clicks on their link. But why didn’t Google give them a top spot on the natural search results (the search results you don’t have to pay for)? Read on to find out why . . .

Search Engines Like Websites with a Tight Focus

All search engines have one major goal. The goal is to give you, the web surfer, the most relevant search results for your search. If you look at our example above, the number one result for a “server” search was www.server.com.

Hmmmm…. A website with “server” in the name got the top slot.

In the late 90s I worked for an IBM reseller. IBM’s website was all about IBM. Their website didn’t allow you to actually purchase products online. 7 years later things have changed. Now you can order products off their website. But originally, the IBM website was about IBM.

The business I worked for sold IBM printers. We easily created websites that got top search engine positions for “IBM printers.” Our website’s sole purpose was to get “IBM printer” sales leads. We even owned the website name IBMprinters.com (We eventually had to get rid of it for several reasons).

So the lesson of the day is first decide what you want to accomplish with your website. If your purpose is to sell right-handed widgets, then an ideal domain name would be “righthandedwidgets.com.” If I were in the server business, a good website name might be “serversforsale.com.”

I know this lesson may seem simplistic and obvious. But sometimes the simple and obvious can make you big bucks.

Stay tuned for the 2nd common mistake people make when naming a website.

Beware of the "After-Seminar-Nothin-Happens-Syndrome"

Last month I shelled out a few thousand dollars for a 3-day marketing seminar. This seminar was jam packed with great info on marketing information products. I rubbed elbows with several marketing superstars and lots of marketing-superhero-wannabes. Plus I took a legal pad full of notes (besides the materials given out as part of the deal).

After most seminars people are excited and motivated for a day or two and then the magic wears off and you're back at your daily grind. Part of the problem with the "after-seminar-nothin-happens-syndrome" is that once you go home, you have no one but yourself to hold your toes to the fire. You don't have a support group of others cheering you on and helping you implement.

This time I did something to make sure I profited from the cash I invested in this seminar.

Between speakers - DURING THE SEMINAR - I was talking to another seminar attendee at the bar (of all places). After a beer or two, we decided to start our own mastermind group. This group is made up of other seminar attendees. We're talking to each other every month. We're making sure that everyone is implementing the good stuff we learned in this seminar. We're making sure that our businesses grow and that the information we learned doesn't disappear.

The key here is to take action immediately in order to make sure you implement and keep implementing the week after. The month after. The next year after. Don't let the books, information and knowledge that will help you grow collect dust. Find little ways to help you hold your toes to the fire.

That's my thought for the day. On that note, here's one of my favorite quotes on the subject:

"The credit belongs to those who are actually in the arena, who strive valiantly; who know the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spend themselves in a worthy cause; who at best, know the triumph of high achievement; and who at the worst, if they fail, fail while daring greatly, so that their place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." - Teddy Roosevelt

Take action now and start implementing so that you aren't one of those "cold and timid souls." I wish you all much success . . .