Not every buyer needs your domain for improving the likelihood that the domain will rank in the search engines. They may be buying the domain to:

• Create a brand
• Protect their brand or presence in search. For example Burger King buying Burger.com even if they never plan to develop.
• As an investment

However you may need to show an end user why they need to buy your domain for SEO reasons or just get an idea of the domains SEO benefits for valuing the domain. Here are some benefits of exact match keyword domains that might be useful for selling your domains:

• The big one! An “algorithmic relevancy boost in Google” or greater likelihood of ranking for the keywords in the domain
• Find out how much the keyword/s are searched for with google keyword tool. If the your client uses adwords you might be able to pursuade them that it will save them serious money if they get a #1 position. A formula I use is: (estimated monthly search for keyword term x 0.5 for 50% clickthrough rate) x Cost per click = traffic value in adwords terms per month of a #1 position.
• Anchor text – More likely to get you keywords as the anchor text in the links to your site. Big SEO benefits.
• Decreased adwords costs – Costs to advertise on Google adwords are reduced because your site is more relevant to the keywords you are bidding on.
• Increased clickthrough rate on adwords – Users are more likely to click on your ads as they are more relevant. For example when looking for a kayak are you more likely to click on Kayak.com or FeelFree.com/Kayak?
• Increased click through rate – More bold writing on the search engine results page means more people will choose your listing in the search results.
• Sitelinks – Increased likelihood of getting sitelinks below your description further pushing your competitors down the search listings.

So here’s a cracking video highlighting some of the advantages of exact match keyword domains. I will try to list as many reasons as possible to use/buy exact match domains for your company or web venture that I can.

Brandability – Strengthen or create a brand using a domain e.g. Hotels.com

SEO benefits – You will rank higher for those keywords, I don’t think anyone will deny that. To put it another way you will get an “algorithmic relevancy boost in Google”

Sitelinks – Increased likelihood of getting sitelinks below your description further pushing your competitors down the search listings.

Type in traffic – |Some people type the domian into the address bar, especially if your domain is a .com or .co.uk.

Anchor text – More likely to get you keywords as the anchor text in the links to your site. Big SEO benefits.

Decreased adwords costs – Costs to advertise on Google adwords are reduced because your site is more relevant to the keywords you are bidding on.

Increased clickthrough rate on adwords – Users are more likely to click on your ads as they are more relevant. For example when looking for a kayak are you more likely to click on Kayak.com or FeelFree.com/Kayak?

It’s an investment -  Unlike spending money on adwords! Historically domains have increased in value over time as more and more domains get taken, and the internet grows. As the knowledge of the value domains have for SEO and SEM  increases, so will values.

Shut out competition -  Stop your competitors having the advantage that you have.

Increased creditability – A great domain has more  credibility. For example CreditCards.com has more credability than MonsterCreditCards.com

Increased click through rate – More bold writing on the search engine results page means more people will choose your listing in the search results.

Email – You can use your domain i.e. leo@mydomain.com (more professional)

Shorter domains – easier to say, easier to remember, looks better in print and easier to type on your mobile(a fast growing area).

Some Link building basics by Wiley Reynolds:

-Go for more links rather than fewer. You never know what may happen to those few links.

-How many outward links are on the page you are getting a link from? The fewer the better!

-Don’t get duped. Make sure the link you’ve got is followed and the page is indexed.

-Try to get the link anchor changed to your keywords.

-Find out the Page Rank of sites linking to competitors using a firefox add-on(I use SEO Link analysis) so you know who to target a link from.

Part 2 of Wiley Reynolds’ video on keyword research for SEO. In this video Wiley Reynolds highlights the difference in terms people might be searching for to find a product or service. Think about who might be typing that term into google. Is it a term that would be typed by someone who is looking to buy or just research, someone who knows about the area of interest or a newbie.

Keyword research for  SEO. Some key points:

-Start looking for what others are searching for not what you think people are searching for.

-Overture doesn’t discern between singular and plural.

-Start research broad.

-Use google trends to work out if the singular or plural is searched more.

Part 2 of 2. Wiley Reynolds continues to talk about optimizing search architecture.

Video from Wil Reynolds introducing how site architecture effects search engine optimization. A little dated but covers the basics well, so that mistakes aren’t made.

A short video by Wil Reynolds at the Affiliate summit about SEO basics. He quickly summerizes some basics do’s and don’ts, particularly highlighting:

Do’s

-Keyword Research(large scale)

-Use press releases to get links on authoratative sites

Don’ts

-Try to rank for single keywords

-Submit your site to every directory going

-Image alt tags have little SEO benefit

-Keyword meta tag has no SEO benefit. It also gives away to your competitors what keywords you are bidding on!

-Keyword density analysis

Today I noticed an article on searchengineland.com which shows featured google adsense ads. They are experimental, who knows if they will ever be introduced. These ads have gold stars next to them and are probably because the ad is contextually more relevant to the keywords entered into google.

So if exact match domains are helping your ad to be more contextually more relevant, then they are getting you one step closer to that gold star. A cracking selling point for potential endusers of your domains for sure.

We are nearing completion on our new social business directory for Bournemouth. The domain iBournemouth.com was chosen to build a business directory aimed at user interaction. Reviews of businesses and a social network component are at the core of the site, bringing value to the user rather than the usual stale lists of businesses. The design focus has been for the younger user 18-35 therefore many of the business catagories have been aimed towards them i.e. pubs, bars, restaurants and attractions.

We hope to have 50% of Bournemouth’s businesses on the site within the next few months so that the user base can be increased. The aim is to be comprehensive in the number of listings as this will be the content of the site and therefore the value.

Please check it out here – Bournemouth