What's In a Name?

I know I saw a thread a while back that touched on this but I can't find it right now.

A search on one of my main keywords "tsp" brings back over 2 million hits. The top site in that search, or anything to with the subject I am involved in, is tsp.gov (my site is tsptalk.com). Before I started my site I attempted to buy tsp.com and tsp.net from the owners. Neither were being used and I eventually got the owner of tsp.net to sell me the name. By that time I had already developed and established tsptalk.

I do point tsp.net to my site but would I do better in search engines if I were to change the site name to tsp.net and drop the tsptalk.com?

Thanks!

 

Not In my opinion. There is little if any evidence that the domain name is a major driver of SERPs placment.

That's why I'm arguing in another thread that I don't understand why people are buying and selling domains. Unless you are trying to establish a brand around your domain name -- and in this case I would argue that TSPTalk was a better brand name than simply TSP -- then domain names are of little value or importance.

Also in your particular case the general feeling is that a ".com" has more clout or validity with the buying public. So I definitely would not move your site to TSP.net.

 

Thanks Bob. That is good to know - I guess.

I buy and sell names just like stocks. A stock is pretty worthless itself until someone wants to buy it from you. I have sold names for up to $2000 each. tsp.net recently appraised at $2500/$11,000 by afterNIC.com mainly because it is a solid 3 letter name. (the spread is based on market condition, how motivated the buyer might be, no trademark infringements, etc.) I've also had names appraise for < $100.

True. I agree as long as it's an easy name to remember. My friends at work agree too, they like tsptalk. Maybe I will sell tsp.net. I got lucky and only paid $280 for it. The guy I bought it from was going to develop a site for a Tampa St. Pete newspaper and never got around to it.

The name tsp.net is valued more than tsptalk.com for many reasons but the .com (tsp.com) could probably sell for up to $50,000. Just type in "tsp" on google and see how many companies have that acronym. So the .com is more valuable. As you may know, the .COM name was intended to be used for commercial and personal sites, .NET was recommended for companies involved in Internet infrastructure, and .ORG was for not-for-profit organizations.

OK, that's more info than you wanted and probably nothing you didn't already know. I get your point and I will most likely stick with TSP Talk. Thanks!

So why compar.com?

 

It might help ever so marginally. Your current name does still have tsp in it though... Chances are there's more to loose in inbound links and branding than any ever-so-slight benefit might pay out.

 

Just out of interest if I had been registering this site in the first place I probably registered TSP-Talk.com.

Regardless of the fact that Google's toolbar is highlighting parts of contiguous expressions as discussed in another thread on this forum, I don't believe they use parts of these phrases for relevancy. I think that the only way they will use the individual words is if they are separated by "-"s.

 

Will - or _ affect them seperating the words?

 

Interesting. Those "-" names don't sell as well but that is very interesting. There is a minor league baseball team in my area called the Ogden Raptors. I noticed the name ogdenraptors.com com was available (so I registered it ) but I found out later they have always used ogden-raptors.com. I thought "how dumb" but now that you mention it, I think I heard what you are saying before. Hmmm.

Thanks.

 

You better grab white-perfect.com while it's still available

 

hehe but my main keywords that I am targeting arn't white perfect so its ok with me ;p

Thanks. Building up my site now but .. its a LONG way to completion .. very tiring linking all the webpages together

 

Just tossing this in the air but you could 301 redirect but will lose some linking power from it. It matter more for Yahoo than Google for the keyword TSP.

 

Your advice is six years too late...

By the way, exact match domain names give you a fantastic advantage in the SERPs - not sure how long this will last but at present it's the way to go if you can get one.