Domain name and keyword relationship
ok, folks. Some of you know that I've it a concrete barrier in my progress here, and have had to take a 'thinking chair' break (you know that every project, whether it's solving a home-maintenance issue, writing a story, sewing a gown, or painting a room requires a 'thinking chair', right?). I've been doing a lot of thinking, and have somewhat been able to jump-start my creativity and focus. But now, I have another block and need help.
Specifically, I need domain name help. I found an awesome kw phrase (long-tailed-keyword), with a domain available....and it's something I'm quite interested in acquiring. So - when we find a phrase that has awesome search (over 7k) and next to no competition (17) - is it a good idea to buy a domain with that kw?
I am a reader-bee, a learner-bee, much more than a chore-bee: I only say this to emphasize that every day - yes, EVERY DAY - I learn something. I'm arrogant enough to think that others might get a kick out of reading about my new learning. Maybe not - but - hey, a blogger has to start somewhere, right?
My most profound hurdle at the moment is getting readers to stay interested. I need, and I mean NEED, dialogue in order to spark my writing. Without traffic, it feels like I'm talking to no one. When I get comments, I always respond, and try to start a conversation, but it doesn't work like on 'forums', where people are already there and looking at what you are saying.....it's been a difficult adjustment to make, because I thought my 4 years of forum activity (and large number of followers and respondents) would translate easily to having my own site.
It doesn't work that way, though. Doing blogging on your own site depends on readers finding you via whatever means.....when on a forum, they see what you wrote whether they want to read it or not.
ANyway - that's where I'm befuddled. My forum activity was prolific, and my threads gained me front-page rank several times. Why is SEO so much harder than that? Well, that's something I'm still learning. How to pull in readers via social & search when you are an unknown is a very slow/difficult process(as we all have learned here).
I digress, though. Sorry. So - here is the current confusion I have:
A few months ago I found a long-tail keyword that had incredible 'results', and bought a domain by that name, but it turns out I'd have had to do an incredible amount of research to get it off the ground. So - it sits there languishing in 'construction mode'. (Oh well. I guess I could offer it for sale.) I have other topics I'm more interested in than that topic (how to for guests), so - meh. A problem. Do I REALLY want to start a new learning campaign about how to do things for guests, when I only know a few of them? No. I don't. I thought I did, but I don't, as much as I'm interested in anthropology, social structure, and human behavior, I don't have enough verve right now to dig in there.
BUT -
Today I thought of a new section I'd like to add to my two site(s): "today I learned".....a place for a 'blog' that just talks about my life, my own journey, and what I've learned in my areas of interest. EVERY DAY I learn something new, and I thought it might be a worthwhile thing to put out there to get readers.
So - the long-tail keyword (which, for newbies, just means a "key phrase" - a kw with more than one word) - "Things I have learned life". It has almost 7K searches per month, and only 17 competition. But, it's not exactly 'brandable' as it is.
I'd like you all to help me determine if it is worth the investment in the domain (which is available as a dot com and a dot net) - 'thingsihavelearnedlife'....or whether I should just make categories in my existing domains with that phrase and put them on the menu.
Your thoughts will be greatly appreciated.
Recent Comments
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I would use the phrase with "in" as part of it for the domain name and without the "in" as part of your content and keywords. Then it sounds tight as a do sun and still reaches results for both phrases.
Ah, I see what you mean. Use the 'in' phrase for the domain, but make the titles and descriptions without it.
Like the existing results. Almost ALL of them were: "things I have learned. life ......" with the 'period' (or colon or whatever) instead of 'in'.
Thank you!!
Based off of the keyword stats, I'd say go for it... but the lack of grammatical sense would drive me nuts, so I could never bring myself to use it. However, that might just be me (I can be pretty persnickety at times.) I hope that helps!
yes, it makes sense. it's part of my conundrum. Do I buy it even thought it's grammatically incorrect, based only on the search results?
I'm not really sure; it could end up being a super brand-able name in the future. However, I'm of the opinion that it might deter some of the more... persnickety people, so to speak. They might totally reject everything you have to say, even if it's grammatically correct and quite useful (people tend to judge books by their covers.)
Wanted to add: my second site is a WA bootcamp site. It is a siterubix for now, and I've been shopping for a domain for it. Another that I had come up with (and researched) is: boomerbootstraps - because as a Boomer I hope to reach that generation.
But it's rather exclusive, and I want to include everyone in my site.
Hi VivkiB58, hi you are in 'niche' marketing so you can't include everyone on a site. I would say 'boomers' is a great niche as so many of us are in it. But your content if it appealed to us it probably wouldn't appeal to the younger visitor.
Yes, good point. Perhaps I should just focus on boomers, rather than trying to appeal to youngers.
thanks for your input. :)
Keeping visitors coming back is a real problem. I get them to my AR whenever I can so that I can email them regularly. As far as the new domain is concerned, my own attitude is, domains come and domains go. I keep the ones that pay off and jettison the ones that don't. I have no pride of authorship about them. They either fly or crash. The cost isn't all that great and I write it off to the cost of doing business.
Hey Vicki,
AR stands for Auto Responder like http://Aweber.com, http://GetResponse.com, and http://MailChimp.com, etc.
Best Regards,
Jim
AutoResponder. Email service like AWeber, Get Response, Mail Chimp. Get an account, put up a form, and give your visitors a reason for entering their email address. It goes to your AR and you can keep emailing them. It's somewhat involved, but if you're not doing it you're leaving money on the table. I believe AWeber has some training in working with them. It's one of three that I use.
Thank you. I have been searching for a good subscription plugin - and tried 'Email Subscribers' - but it failed me when I put my site into 'maintenance mode' for a day.
I've checked into Mailchimp and Aweber, and heard about Mad Mimi - but the signup process for those has been off-putting. I need help with that.
AWeber has excellent support. You shouldn't have any problems signing up. Mail Chimp is free until your list grows to some number - I'm not sure when they began charging me, but overall, AWeber is cheaper in the long run. Unless you expect to have a small list.
The word "IN" is missing in the domain. Still if it gets the traffic you mention then yeah, it is a great domain!
Personally I like the subject, it's easy to blog away on it!
btw, good to see you again!
Thanks! Yes, I know 'in' is missing. The phrase as a domain including 'in' is available as well - but shows much poorer results in terms of competition. That's one of the issues that I need help with.
Good to see you, too!
If it won't cost you an arm and a leg, just go for it! Buy the site and possibly follow the suggestion by Sdawson. Makes sense to me.
Use it to create a main page topic and build it from there. That way you can get traffic to your whole website. That is if it can be worked into your existing site name
Not sure I understand. My existing site name is a siterubix - I haven't settled on a domain name yet (thankfully, SEO meta and Dashboard Settings let us have a site title different from the domain name).
My site 'TITLE' is not yet established, however. I'm playing around with it.
No, don't feel bad!!! I'm just trying to figure out a domain name of my own to attach it to.
I just answered you in chat but you must have been writing this!! This sounds good to me, like an "investment" and, if it were me, I'd go for it and the challenge that lies within. What you find interesting might not be interesting to others...just like with one of my sites. People are into it or they are not .However, the topics are endless and that could really work out well for you! I know you will make the right decision.
Aw, thanks, Donna! I got impatient. lol!!! It happens. A procrastinatrix with impatience is a volatile thing :)
I like how you took a moment to step back and reflect upon the task. It's really important to do that at times.
It's important for all of us to do that from time to time. Being at WA has been a 'turbo-learning' experience, and I got overwhelmed....
has that happened to you?
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What about a subdomain?
I don't know how to do that yet. Is that like "whatever dot siterubix dot com" - or more of a 'sister site' thing that I link to from my primaries?
I've thought about that, too......
here is site #1, and here is site #2 that you can get to from clicking on link A in site #1.
Like that?
How To Create A Subdomain
You can make a subdomain of one of your sites once you buy the domain and it would be http://thingsihavelearnedlife.yourdomain.com
like a compliment to your main site.
For example: (of course I can't think of an actual one because I'm trying to lol, so this may or not be a real subdomain)
domain: http://weebly.com
subdomain: http://blog.weebly.com