Module 2 Day 1: The Importance of Being Domain

Todays module is about getting registered, getting hosted and using WordPressDirect. As I am catching up with The Challenge 2010 this week this will be brief with no other blog links – I’ll catch up later if I can.

Kenny Goodman of Domain Face explains domain names and why it is important of getting an SEO friendly domain name.

Then gives info on how to acquire them. Nice to see the feature covered in Market Samurai and the domains module. Every little helps. I wonder when the .co will be added to the mix?

Hostgator is suggested by the Challenge but most of my domains I use Dreamhost, they are the best host I have ever had, but there is always the worry of having too many eggs in a basket. For the sake of the Challenge I do have a Hostgator account which I will do some testing with.

10 domains are going forward for the Challenge, though two I already bought before this season started.

Tried a mix of e-prefixed .coms and .orgs. I thought a lot about the actual choice of domain names and really tried to find clever versions of my keywords with the phrase match in there if I couldn’t get an exact match. However, it seems there are cleverer people out there who have already had a jump on buying the names I thought were cool. Never mind. I ended up thinking that I should not waste any time thinking too much about it and tried in the end for going for maximum keyword density.

It is sad that loads of good .com domains are just being sat on without any work being done to them – what a complete waste. I guess the domains will have increased in value but a little work over time would make them really valuable.

Big resistance in the back of my mind to entertaining WordPress Direct – some objective reasons but mostly subjective. This is one service I wish I could get in and give it a good shake – loads of opportunities for saving work to both newbies and veterans.