By Alvina Lopez

One of the easiest ways to increase web traffic and boost sales is to properly utilize search engine optimization (SEO) to the best of your ability. Techniques such as using heavy keywords in all content, including titles, body paragraphs and Meta data descriptions can ensure that your Web site or business blog appears higher in search engines’ result pages. And since search engines like Google and Yahoo are a consumer’s go-to choice when looking for a product or service, you’ll want to make sure that you are highly ranked. To highlight it’s importance, American experts say that consumers typically don’t even go past the third results page. While there are other ways to maximize SEO, one of the features that get’s neglected but plays a huge role in rankings is your domain name. That’s right, there should be a strategy would it comes to selecting a domain name too. That said, to learn three quick ways to implement SEO when selecting a domain name during the preliminary stages of developing your site or blog, take these do’s and don’ts tips into account.

Do Make Domain Name Cohesive to Site
If you’re lucky enough, you may just be able to snag the name of your site as your domain name. But since so many sites exist and depending on the complexity/originality of your Web site name, chances are the domain you want will already be taken. If this is the case, do not fret. You could always just purchase the domain name from the owner— but this is typically expensive. A better alternative is to simply come up with another domain name. The trick here however is that you want the domain name and the Web site to easily be identifiable with one another. They have to “match” almost like when a fashion designer creates a new line collection—nothing is exactly the same but you know it was made from the same material, pattern etc. That’s how you should construct a domain name.  Consumers need to be able to identify the domain with the your site—choosing a domain name that is way off and completely different than the original site can confuse consumers and you can ultimately end up losing money. The trick however is that you want to aim to include a key word in the domain name so that it will increase your site’s chances of popping up in a search. It doesn’t have to be something common, but you definitely want a key word that correlates with your niche. You also want to aim to get your key words in the correct order. Remember, it’s all about strategy.

Don’t get Too Inventive
That said, there are a variety of ways that you can create a “variant” domain name. The first is to slightly change the spelling of a few words or add characters, something simple like a hyphen. While these are lucrative ways to get around existing ownership of your desired domain, if you choose to use these techniques know that there are some concerns you should pay close attention to. The first is that consumers who are using search engines to locate products and services may not even think about refining their search using a different spelling. So you may lose out on a heavy influx of potential customers. The second concern is that spammers are notorious for using misspelled domains and added punctuation—this is because they prey on users who accidently misspell words while typing in a rush. Search engines however are highly aware of this spammer technique and may take you off of their search engines indefinitely if they feel as though you are a spammer site.

Do Aim for a Higher Quality Domain
Most importantly, you want to make sure that you try your absolute best to get a great domain—we’re talking the .coms, co.uks and .org.uks. These domains carry the most weight and are typically considered the most “trustworthy” sites to consumers, which means they will feel more comfortable knowing that your content is accurate and your products/services reliable. If your desired domain name is already taken, try to shoot for an alternate spelling before turning to a . net, .info or .biz.—you make think that you’re getting the upper hand because you get the name you want, but the truth is that the other owner who has your name in a .com or a co.uks domain will probably get all of your traffic/customers.

Alvina Lopez is a freelance writer and blog junkie, who blogs about accredited online colleges. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: alvina.lopez @gmail.com.