help and advice for newbies and people who need a kick up the backside in 2009

[wisey08]

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hey guys

quick question...

numbers in domain names good or bad?

say you wanted to register 2ftbeds.co.uk would the inclusion of a number in the url make a difference to its performance?

Cheers
Chris

[Stuart]

hey guys

quick question...

numbers in domain names good or bad?

say you wanted to register 2ftbeds.co.uk would the inclusion of a number in the url make a difference to its performance?

Cheers
Chris

Depends on a few factors and who you talk to, however you can rank very well with numbers in the domain, try typing in 37 lcd (being 37inc lcd tvs) and see what comes up No1. I am not associated or own the site in anyway.

[schteev]

Depends on a few factors and who you talk to, however you can rank very well with numbers in the domain, try typing in 37 lcd (being 37inc lcd tvs) and see what comes up No1. I am not associated or own the site in anyway.

Ok...

what about hypens?
As several of the domains listed in the post are still available with hyphens between the words. I know people dont remeber the hyphens when revisiting a site, but if you're not looking for return custom then does it matter?

[sabian1982]

what about hypens?

Hypens are ok however only use them if you have to and definately only use one in a domain name otherwise your domain starts to look very spammy!!!

[jls]

Now that raises a question that has been bothering me - re numbers and hyphens:

I have a domain name in mind which would logically have two hyphens (which I know is not good practice), BUT, the phrase logically uses the word 'to' in linking the other elements together. E.G. 'placeA-to-placeB'

Personally I do not like the use of the numbers in domains e.g. 'All4us' - it always looks a bit gimmicky.

So my dilemma is - Should I link the two words on my domain name with the word 'to' and the two hyphens, OR, should I use the number '2' to make the link ? as in
'placeA2placeB' ?

Welcome any thoughts / pointers to previous research that suggest the most effective option.

Thanks

john

[Stuart]

Ok...

what about hypens?
As several of the domains listed in the post are still available with hyphens between the words. I know people dont remeber the hyphens when revisiting a site, but if you're not looking for return custom then does it matter?

Again depends what you are trying to achieve, a brand name, then No dont use them. If you want some sales and not worried about people typing in or remebering you domain name then they can be ok

Hypens are ok however only use them if you have to and definately only use one in a domain name otherwise your domain starts to look very spammy!!!

But spammy is ok if you just want a few sales, I have one site that has 2 hyphens and is at No 1 and made me a nice few quid at xmas, I am not saying do this all the time but if no other domain is available and its just about getting a few sales then why not...

[gadget]

hey guys

quick question...

numbers in domain names good or bad?

say you wanted to register 2ftbeds.co.uk would the inclusion of a number in the url make a difference to its performance?

Cheers
Chris

I have Top 10 Best Sellers and it ranks well for my chosen phrases, eg. Top 10 Toys ( number 3 in G ).

[karenlb]

Am I still being too impatient?

I loaded my Mothers Day Gifts site up last Thursday - and posted about it earlier in this thread.

I did everything last week in terms of ad on gumtree and submitting sitemap.xml and submitting url. I have added two posts a day since loading site up, and today I have had it dugg, reddit'd and also had my free press release:tup

Googlebot has come crawling more than once everyday but still my site has yet to be indexed:cry. I haven't had this trouble with any of my other four sites.

Anyone have any other tricks up their sleeves?

[sabian1982]

Googlebot has come crawling more than once everyday but still my site has yet to be indexed:cry. I haven't had this trouble with any of my other four sites.

Go to Google.com/.co.uk and the following search where domain is obviously your site:

site:www.domain.com

What happens? Does your site appear? If the answer is yes (which is more than likely) then your site has been indexed. What perhaps isn't happening is your site isn't appearing in the serps ie when you search for a specific term... this takes more time!

Unlike getting indexed, updating of the serps happens (as i remember) at specific times - i have 3 sites that have yet to appear in the serps. Once the updates occur (hopefully) sites should start to show up a little better. You just need to be a little more patient

[karenlb]

No it doesn't appear - and Google's webmaster tools tells me that no pages from my site are indexed. No problems reported with the site though - sitemap has been verified etc, etc etc.

[Andrew Starr]

No it doesn't appear - and Google's webmaster tools tells me that no pages from my site are indexed. No problems reported with the site though - sitemap has been verified etc, etc etc.

Are you sure there are no problems with the site?

Looking at the html of your site it appears that the "body" and "html" end tags are missing

I would also remove the double space and the » from the beginning of the "title" tag
i.e. I would change:

  » Mothers Day Gifts | Mothers Day 2009 | Gift Ideas | Presents

to:

Mothers Day Gifts | Mothers Day 2009 | Gift Ideas | Presents

[karenlb]

Hi Andrew

OK. I understood this:

I would also remove the double space and the » from the beginning of the "title" tag
i.e. I would change:
HTML Code:

» Mothers Day Gifts | Mothers Day 2009 | Gift Ideas | Presents

to:
HTML Code:

Mothers Day Gifts | Mothers Day 2009 | Gift Ideas | Presents

and after a bit of digging about managed to sort it out.

But I'm afraid this bit:

Are you sure there are no problems with the site?

Looking at the html of your site it appears that the "body" and "html" end tags are missing

has got me stumped. I think I can see what you mean when I view the source code but as to where to look for where they might be missing - erm :scared is my only reaction.

Thanks for help thus far anyway!

[karenlb]

I think I've sorted the "body" and "html" end tags.

Would that affect Google indexing the site?

[fizzbird]

I think I've sorted the "body" and "html" end tags.

Would that affect Google indexing the site?

No

You have probably been indexed and dropped out again (as always happens for a week or so). Perfectly normal, you just missed it, that's all.

[Andrew Starr]

I think I've sorted the "body" and "html" end tags.

Would that affect Google indexing the site?

Yes it could.

googlebot could still read the page, but would it make it into the index?

edit: what I mean is, it may still be indexed (or may not), but even if it was indexed it could take longer to appear in the serps and as nobody knows the G thing exactly, why not make your html as close to perfect as you can?