Hello all,

I am in the process of selecting a domain name and getting my website up and running.

My brother in law, who does web design and development, had suggested to me that having what you do in your url is sooooo important when it comes to SEO.

The name I had selected for my business is Regency Executive Support. Executivesupport.com is already taken. I am worried that Regencyexecutivesupport.com might be too long for some to type in.

I definitely want to keep "Regency" in my business name, the word has special meaning to me. But I am open to changing up the remainder if it helps. I am a paralegal with 18 years experience and I am looking to target sole practitioners and small legal offices as well as authors/writers who are looking for assistance with editing/proofing and general writing tasks. I have thought of using Executive Services, Business Services and Business Consulting. I'm not certain if I want to use any type of legal reference in the name as I don't want to be limited to only the legal arena.

I would appreciate your thoughts on this subject and any suggestions you have.


Many thanks!!
~Lori

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Lori Hedgpeth
Author One Source

Hi Lori,
The value of a domain name in terms of SEO cannot be exaggerated BUT it has to be a keyword or keyphrase people are actually searching for - and then you have other sites vying for the same keywords to contend with as well - domain name aside. If you go to the Google Webmaster Toolbox and use the keyword tools available to do a little research you can get more actual data on how many searches are performed on 'executive support'. You could try adding the word 'virtual' to your phrase to see how that changes the data....

It can be very difficult anymore to purchase a domain name that contains the keywords you want exactly. I'd say that if you can't get the domain just right then buy a domain that either matches or works well with your business name.

Once you're ready to work on your site you can use on-site SEO techniques (especially well-written, keyword rich content) to boost your site's search rank for the keywords you decide on.

Good luck!

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Thank you so much, Tess. Very useful information and I am definitely working away at finding that perfect domain name for me.

~Lori

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Lori Hedgpeth
Author One Source

Great advice Tess and right on the money. Let me add that a good URL will not put you to the top of the search engines. This takes times, research and fresh content, relevant content.

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Lee Drozak
My Office Assistant

You could try changing your domain name just a little, but make sure that when it is listed in the search results it is obvious which one is your virtual assistant business.

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Wendy Harrison, www.wendy-works.com
Go virtual and you'll never go back.

I'm deciding on my domain name as well, and I really appreciate the great advice, Tess!