I hope you don't think I'm attacking you, that's not the case. A good debate can set people off on a new line of thought that leads to something interesting.
I'd normally let this pass, but since my last post was very long I think some people might get the wrong idea. I'm not questioning your past or your business acumen; I attached the deluded comment to a very specific comment (you would be deluded if you thought that all exact match .co.uk domains should be top of UK searches), I doubt you actually think that hence I'm not saying you are deluded.
I actually do think there are benefits to owning a good exact match bit I'm absolutely convinced the "domain only" benefit will be lower in 5 years than it is now. There are SEO benefits that are likely to remain (and even cross over from an old site to a new one on the same domain).
If we take HGV as an example, there are many links out there that link as HGV - it's much easier to get phrase-specific links if your website is called that phrase; that's not likely to go away (the value of links always changes but good quality links will always count in some way). A good exact match (I suppose I'm entering "generic" territory here) also brings a sense of authority, that's a huge benefit too.
It should be noted that less benefit is enjoyed the "poorer" the search phrase becomes. "Mobile Car Valeting Edinburgh" may be good for that phrase, but it's not going to turn heads and get links in the same way that HGV will.
If you spent the money on others like the one being discussed I'd say you'll do very well. Remember that a lot of my stuff was aimed at cautioning against spending lots on reg fees and letting things sit. A domain that's worth investing in now is not likely to lose value quickly, it's a depressed market.
I suppose the message is to buy quality rather than quantity, and if new regs are your thing then consider developing them (let's face it, if you don't think you can make the reg fee, hosting and content costs back yourself the name is pants).
Yes, I agree that quality increases, but I'd guess that the number of really good 3+ word "generic exact matches" that are free to reg is really low. I can absolutely see the way in which some 3+ word domains could be very valuable but I've done a lot of research into UK keywords and I have to say that there are limited numbers of excellent phrases (regardless of length) that exist for any vertical. If you have good names that's great, but people buying now (unless in a new product or service area) are going to have a pretty poor set of domains to choose from (because of the good job already done by investors).
As a test I did research on Photography phrases (as in weddings, portraits, commercial stuff and aerial) earlier and found 84 that were useful as exact matches (500+ exact local searches, and they included the obvious ones).
I chose photography as I'm aware of the propensity of those businesses to have websites and the fact there are some large regional or national companies/networks. I understand this is a service and has very different dynamics to a product domain, but I think it's valid (and hopefully useful).
This tells us that people are not taking advantage of their domains.
Additionally, I know there are thousands of photographers in the UK that have websites (I know because we are about to launch a directory and we have been collecting data for a long time) - so out of over 3000 businesses/sole traders there are only 21 who either bought one of the domains straight up or off a domain investor. This suggests to me a lack of interest from photographers or people being priced out of the aftermarket.
If you'd like to register one of the 3 FTR hyphenated domains then they are here:
wedding-photographer-prices.co.uk
professional-portrait-photographers.co.uk
wedding-and-portrait-photographers.co.uk
Agreed, it is a great achievement - a shed load of links seems to have helped.
I'd normally let this pass, but since my last post was very long I think some people might get the wrong idea. I'm not questioning your past or your business acumen; I attached the deluded comment to a very specific comment (you would be deluded if you thought that all exact match .co.uk domains should be top of UK searches), I doubt you actually think that hence I'm not saying you are deluded.
I actually do think there are benefits to owning a good exact match bit I'm absolutely convinced the "domain only" benefit will be lower in 5 years than it is now. There are SEO benefits that are likely to remain (and even cross over from an old site to a new one on the same domain).
If we take HGV as an example, there are many links out there that link as HGV - it's much easier to get phrase-specific links if your website is called that phrase; that's not likely to go away (the value of links always changes but good quality links will always count in some way). A good exact match (I suppose I'm entering "generic" territory here) also brings a sense of authority, that's a huge benefit too.
It should be noted that less benefit is enjoyed the "poorer" the search phrase becomes. "Mobile Car Valeting Edinburgh" may be good for that phrase, but it's not going to turn heads and get links in the same way that HGV will.
If you spent the money on others like the one being discussed I'd say you'll do very well. Remember that a lot of my stuff was aimed at cautioning against spending lots on reg fees and letting things sit. A domain that's worth investing in now is not likely to lose value quickly, it's a depressed market.
I suppose the message is to buy quality rather than quantity, and if new regs are your thing then consider developing them (let's face it, if you don't think you can make the reg fee, hosting and content costs back yourself the name is pants).
Yes, I agree that quality increases, but I'd guess that the number of really good 3+ word "generic exact matches" that are free to reg is really low. I can absolutely see the way in which some 3+ word domains could be very valuable but I've done a lot of research into UK keywords and I have to say that there are limited numbers of excellent phrases (regardless of length) that exist for any vertical. If you have good names that's great, but people buying now (unless in a new product or service area) are going to have a pretty poor set of domains to choose from (because of the good job already done by investors).
As a test I did research on Photography phrases (as in weddings, portraits, commercial stuff and aerial) earlier and found 84 that were useful as exact matches (500+ exact local searches, and they included the obvious ones).
I chose photography as I'm aware of the propensity of those businesses to have websites and the fact there are some large regional or national companies/networks. I understand this is a service and has very different dynamics to a product domain, but I think it's valid (and hopefully useful).
- Every non-hyphenated one was registered.
- 25 were for sale (or were parked with ads)
- 1 was a directory
- 2 were magazines
- 2 had sites that are off topic
- 2 were trade associations
- 21 were photographers' websites
- 28 had nothing at all (42,130 exact searches per month total)
This tells us that people are not taking advantage of their domains.
Additionally, I know there are thousands of photographers in the UK that have websites (I know because we are about to launch a directory and we have been collecting data for a long time) - so out of over 3000 businesses/sole traders there are only 21 who either bought one of the domains straight up or off a domain investor. This suggests to me a lack of interest from photographers or people being priced out of the aftermarket.
If you'd like to register one of the 3 FTR hyphenated domains then they are here:
wedding-photographer-prices.co.uk
professional-portrait-photographers.co.uk
wedding-and-portrait-photographers.co.uk
Agreed, it is a great achievement - a shed load of links seems to have helped.
)
