"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet."

--From Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

Shakespeare's poetic thinking may work for Romeo and Juliet - but does the same hold true in today's highly competititve internet marketing frenzy - I think not, sayeth I.

As far as domain names go - what's in a name is very important indeed - particularly if you are looking for the sweet smell of success.

One of the best uses of a great keyword is as a domain name. Search engines just love keyword domain names and give ranking preference. For instance, if you were a health care professional specializing in gallbladder problems, having a domain name of www.gallbladderattack.com would make a lot of sense. As it turns out, it made alot of "cents" because gallbladder attack was a good keyword phrase that wasn't densely saturated, and had a lot more people searching on it than the client's first domain name choice of "gallbladderproducts.com."

In fact, www.gallbladderattack.com is a wonderful example of a site that incorporates many of the elements search engines are looking for - a keyword domain name that relates directly to the site, quality word content, simple page layout, well-written meta tags, and targeted keywords. It is a site that is constantly changing, evolving, adding new content, links, and generating increasingly more and more sales.

Is a Great Domain Name Enough?
Not quite. You may get the ranking and traffic on that single keyword, but you would miss out on all the other traffic and potential sales if you don't continue on and fully optimize your site.

Without title and description meta tags, the words potential customers see are from the search engines - instead of the compelling copy you could have supplied. Just because your site is listed in the top 10, does not mean everyone who sees your listing will click on it. Remember, a well-written, enticing title and description that draws the reader in is the difference between a visitor clicking on the link to your website - and ultimately buying your product or service - or not.

Furthermore, when you rely solely on your domain name to bring in traffic to your website, you also miss out on letting the world know about your other products and services not covered under that single domain name keyword or phrase. For instance, if you sold mandalas and were fortunate enough to own www.mandalas.com (a great keyword), you would naturally receive high rankings and traffic from people searching specifically for mandalas. However, what about all the other beautiful paintings, prints and workshops available on a site such as this, that people would never know about, unless they searched on mandalas? Would you rather rely on one keyword - mandalas - to bring a certain group of people to your site, or tap into the enormous possibilities when people search specifically for spiritual art, fine giclee print art, giclee print art, mystical art, artist workshop, buddha art, buddha painting, buddhist art, canvas giclee print, christian art, christian art work, christian framed art, dalai lama picture, dolphin painting, dolphins print, dream art, dream art work, dream shamans, ganesh picture, giclee print, hindu art, kauai painting, krishna art, krishna painting, sacred art, spiritual art, spiritual art work, spiritual painting, tibetan art, tibetan buddhist art, yoga art . . . . and so on . . . you get the "picture."

Utilizing and incorporating keyword domain names as a part of your overall SEO optimizing efforts will pay back huge dividends - allowing you to reach all the people who are looking for all your products and services. Now that smells sweet!