When it comes to search engine keywords, there are some that are potential gold mines that are being ignored.  These are ones in which a word or phrase is accidentally misspelled.  Usually, the search engine will link to results that contain the correct spelling, but it will still show any websites associated with the misspelled keyword.  If one of these websites catches the eye of a surfer, they may visit it.  This is why many webmasters will not only create websites around misspelled keywords but also pay money to bid on them in pay-per-click search engine advertisements.

But misspelled keywords can help in another venue of Internet marketing… one’s domain name.  When a popular misspelled keyword is included in a domain name, the search engine bots will be more likely to notice the website.  Granted, it won’t get listed with the properly spelled keyword, but even traffic from a misspelled keyword is better than nothing.  A person will just have to decide whether they want their website to be branded with a domain name that has an improper spelling.

So, how exactly can a webmaster make such a determination when they are deciding on their domain name?  Well, first they need to look at what their website is for.  If they are just doing affiliate marketing or Adsense promotion, it doesn’t matter as much if their domain name is branded properly.  This is because they are not promoting their own business.  However, if they are using a website to promote a company, they will want to try to keep their domain name as professional as possible.

Secondly, a webmaster needs to see if there is profitability in a misspelled keyword.  Even though a misspelled domain isn’t as harmful to a webmaster promoting affiliate sites, they don’t necessarily want to make it a first option, especially if the misspelled keyword in the domain name doesn’t get much traffic.  To determine a misspelled keyword’s profitability, a person can look it up in a keyword analyzer.  In fact, some paid keyword analyzers, (such as Word Tracker), even have features where a person can see which specific types of misspelled keywords are worth taking advantage of.

If a misspelled keyword fits both of these criteria, a webmaster may want to consider putting it in their domain name.  From there they will need to decide if they want that keyword to be included in the content.  If it is then there’s an even greater likelihood search engine bots will index the website according to the misspelled keyword.  However, if it’s not there’s still a chance that the website could be indexed according to the correct keyword, though if this ranking is low, it may not be a preferable option.

The webmaster will ultimately have to decide whether their content still looks ‘professional’ with the misspelled keyword.  Some words, (such as mesothelioma), are so hard to spell, that a person may not even notice improper versions of it.  If this happens they won’t have any issues seeing it so many times in the content, since they didn’t really know how to spell it right themselves.

In conclusion, including a misspelled keyword in one’s domain name could be an excellent way to covertly get website traffic, at least if a webmaster knows what he or she is doing.  If they don’t a misspelled domain name could cause a person to think negatively about a website.

For this reason webmasters must take caution in which misspelled keywords they choose for their domain names along with whether or not they continue to use it in their content.

When it comes to domain name extensions, most people are familiar with .com. Because of this the average webmaster is scrambling to get the perfect .com domain name. Some may even forego registering a potential goldmine of a domain name in favor of getting a less popular .com. Yet, there are dozens of other domain names available, some of which have gained popularity despite not being a .com. How can a webmaster determine if their site is going to be in such a league without the traditional .com? This article will explain how.

First, a webmaster needs to evaluate the purpose of their website. If their website is designed to simply direct people to an affiliate page, then it won’t really matter what extension it has, since they are only going to visit it once anyway. However, if a website is designed for repeat visits, people may not care about the site not having a .com. Sites that contain updated information, games and message boards tend to be the type of sites that get repeat visitors.

Secondly, webmasters need to consider the memorable nature of their domain name. If a webmaster is able to create a witty domain name hack, such as del.icio.us, and their content is good, it may not matter that they don’t have a .com. A good site that can allow a webmaster to register unconventional domain name extensions is New.net. This site offers extensions such as .love and .free. By looking at these extensions, webmasters can start pondering ideas for their own domain name hacks. If they need help, they can always type the word or letters used in the extension in a keyword analyzer or search engine.

Thirdly, webmasters need to determine whether or not a domain name with an unconventional extension will rank higher in search engines than a domain name with a traditional one. In fact, consider the above-mentioned example of del.icio.us. Honestly, how many people are typing such a domain name in their browser? While it is certainly memorable, all of the periods associated with it are annoying. Yet, the site still has a high search engine ranking, which is probably how it’s getting its traffic.

Surfers visit it from the search engine, bookmark it and never again have to be associated with its unique URL. This is the type of success a webmaster wants to emulate. Indeed, if a domain name is keyword-rich and memorable, webmasters need to definitely go for whatever extension is available for it.

Of course, this is not to say that a person must be limited to just domain name. If they want to still use .coms after using other extensions they can. In fact, the more domain names that point to a site, the more likely a search engine bot will index it higher. So, ultimately, with this strategy, webmasters will have two domain names they can work with. They can use the one with the unconventional domain name in search engine marketing in hopes of getting indexed high, while the other one can be used in printed media, where people are more likely to be concerned with the type of URL they are entering in their browser.

A good domain name not only makes people more likely to visit a website, but it can also increase search engine rankings. This is because search engine bots index websites based on keywords found both in its content and domain name. Yet, how does a webmaster know if their domain name is going to be profitable? Usually most don’t until they put it into practice. Hence, there is the practice of domain name tasting.

What is domain name tasting? Domain name tasting is the process of registering a domain name and seeing how much traffic it brings to a website during whatever grace period the domain name registrar offers, (which is normally five days). If the domain name brings in a lot of visitors, the webmaster will keep it. Otherwise, they will cancel their registration and get a refund.

Does this sound interesting to you? Well, before you decide to do domain name tasting for your site, first consider the ethics of the practice. Domain name companies lose millions of dollars every year due to domain name tasting. While some may not feel sympathy for them, if domain name tasting continues without any legal restrictions, DNS enterprises may strike back by making their prices higher. Such a consequence would also hurt customers who intended on buying the domain name outright.

Another ethical dilemma involved with domain name tasting is the issue of good domain names not being eligible for more serious customers. Some may feel that in a system of free capitalistic enterprise, domain name testers have every right to access however many domain names they can. Yet, if they aren’t really going to buy them, why shouldn’t these domain names be available to individuals who may need them more? Many would argue it is better to sell a domain name to a company that is serious about using it as their brand than selling it to a person thinking they can use it to get quick traffic.

It is also important to keep in mind that a good domain name is not a sole indicator of whether or not a site is going to be successful. Domain name tasters are fooling themselves if they think their practice of domain tasting is what has brought about their success with website traffic. Granted, an expired domain name might have a little bit of traffic associated with it, but to get one that is of value, a person would have to pay hundreds maybe even thousands of dollars. Many domain name tasters wouldn’t have the funds for such a domain name, so they may instead deal with cheaper ones. And most of these cheaper ones probably do not have their own traffic stream.

Indeed, the type of website that gets a lot of traffic is one that has: a decent domain name, keyword-enriched content and lots of inbound links. Even if one doesn’t see anything ethically wrong with domain name tasting, doing it may not accurately reflect whether or not a domain name is valid. In fact, if a person does domain name tasting and their website did not have the other elements that make for proper traffic-building, they could potentially be throwing away a domain name that could be a gold mine in the future.