Branding vs SEO keyword domains?

[chuawenching]

Hi everyone,

I know in general seo keyword domain e.g. http://www.internetmarketing.com is easier to rank in google top 10 (assuming is less competitive) unlike http://www.happyman.com that focus on internet marketing niche.

Assume HappyMan is a good brand name and memorable. Shorter to type too. Good logo and branding theme.

The next question is, how does Vita's community approach this?

I am thinking more on Authority's point of view. I am not looking to create mini sites, set and forget thing. Looking for more consistent and sustainable income.

If I do go for http://www.happyman.com, I know it is quite hard to rank in google. More efforts from my site. I tested 1 before, phew .. seo keyword domain is way easier and outrank my earlier one. But that is based on my limited experiences and domain knowledge, forgive me on this if I say it wrongly

However I am not sure how Vita's way ... maybe to Vita's approach, it has no difference between the 2 domains and branding matters?

any help? Thanks.

[Jack]

A keyword domain definitely ranks easier than a non keyword domain. The benefit of doing a non keyword domain in a niche is that you can make that domain relevant to the niche by associating it with many different keywords. You can make your site an authority site by over time steadily building backlinks and gaining Google's trust.

[chuawenching]

i see, so normally do you approach keyword or non keyword domain for potential authority sites?

[Jack]

you can use a keyword domain to build an authority site. But for branding it could best to build a "name" domain. For product lauches, you will be targeting more than one product name. So if you get a keyword domain with the name of the product, that domain is only good to be used as a keyword domain once. And a lot of people do that. I've done it.

But I've also built a powerful site that can rank very easily for pretty much any product I want without too much effort. I've done this by continually building backlinks and trust with Google. Yes, I could have done it with a keyword domain for one product but why? I'm going to be targeting a whole lot of products. May as well use a pen name or my own name to create a brand.

[chuawenching]

"So if you get a keyword domain with the name of the product, that domain is only good to be used as a keyword domain once. And a lot of people do that. I've done it. "

so if the product is finished selling (say after 1 year), do you sell your domain or just forget about it? I have seen other using the same product name e.g. http://www.commissionblueprint2.org and sell maybe CB Cash Grenade or Authority Pro .. does that work well?

some even register the vendor name as a domain e.g. ebenpagan.org or something

[Jack]

I said that the product can only be used as a keyword domain once. You can build an authority type site with it to target other products, yes. I'm just saying that you could use a pen name or even your own name an build a brand. That can be very beneficial in the long run.

[chuawenching]

understood thanks again

[SEOArbiter]

When establishing your domain name, be sure to include your keywords.

[usaimarketing]

yap man keywords matter a lot some time a small keyword act as your brand and it becomes on every mouth. but all this could happened just because you have a trust worthy reputation in every eye of every one.

[bloggerdeen]

I suggest you to got with branding name as it will be more helpful if in future you want to make it a trusted brand. Having keyword optimized domain do help but it really not gonna do any miracle.
Let me give an exact example of it, hope you have heard about johnchow.com. His blog alone make six figure income. If that's not enough then for a long time his blog was sandboxed by google but still he was still making a lot of money. Rest is up to you.