You have probably fallen into one of the biggest pitfalls new business owners fall into. It all starts with …

Your domain name!

Most people believe naming your domain after your company name is the best thing since sliced bread. This is a total myth.

Let’s take a practical example to demonstrate why.

When you want to find something online, you go to a search engine and type in a term that is either the item you are searching for or something that comes pretty close. So let’s say you’re looking for a language translation service. It’s almost safe to bet your house that you will type in terms like ‘language translation’ or ‘translation services’ or translating languages’, right? This is what comes to most people’s minds.

But how do you know for sure?

Well you go to:

http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

Then enter the terms/words you feel people would type in when looking for a particular service.

This tool gives you a breakdown (from highest to lowest) of the most sought after terms.

So somebody with a domain name like translationservices.com has a MUCH higher appeal to search engines than randyisthewordmaster.com. Consequently, the former site will be closer to the top rankings because the domain name is keyword rich.

This means the best keywords people use to search for a particular thing online is incorporated in the domain name. It’s a very powerful and often overlooked tactic that could bring you a flood of qualified traffic.

Test this for yourself by typing in random terms in a search engine and watch as the top results yield keyword rich domains. It’s a tested and proven method so … use it!

Are The Best Domain Names Taken?

Most of this will probably be news to a lot of people which puts you behind the 8 ball. What do you do when you try and find a keyword rich domain and discover they have all been taken?

Well, this actually opens another door for you.

Go ahead and experiment with keywords. Gather the best you can find and put them in various combinations. You can also use numbers in your domain which is a newly discovered secret. Putting a ‘1′ before the first letter is picked up by the search engines before any letters. You can use the number followed also by a dash. Both of these are recognized before letters in search engines.

Here’s another slick trick. When Yahoo! and other major search engines check, they will look to see who actually owns the site. If you register your domain starting with a ‘1′ like 1waytranslation.com make sure you put 1waytranslation.com as the owner of the business when you register it (you didn’t think they would believe your business really starts with a 1 did you?). If it’s registered under the same domain, they leave it alone!

A final word of caution, do everything within your power to get a .com suffix. There is debate about whether .com’s get preferential treatment over others like .biz and .net, but from a buying publics perspective, .com is the safest and best way to register. The public has been ingrained that .com is credible and safe.

What’s next?

The next step is to find available domain names for registration based on your keywords. A Domain Name Suggestion Tool will help you find and register good domain names. Simply enter the word / phrase / keyword / domain name that you are looking for in the search box and click on the “Suggest” Button to generate a list of suggested domain names.