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Matt Fisher
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Creating my domain name? Personal or "We Buy Houses"

Matt Fisher
  • Investor
  • Des Moines, IA
Posted Mar 4 2015, 09:19

I am planning to start a website soon and want people's advice regarding my marketing strategy as it relates to SEO.


I have recently had an eye-catching logo designed that I hope to use on signage and draw customers by brand recognition from my memorable company name.  I also have been considering placing post its on homes that say 'Google "my biz name"' to drive people there and create brand recognition-even if they aren't sellers, they might be and they might be bird-dogs for cash finders fees...  

I believe there are lots of "We Buy Houses" people out there and that that approach is recognizable but stale.  If a seller googles it, they will take the first one that pops up.  They have no brand recognition and little loyalty.  I hope to dominate the "We Buy Houses" in my market with SEO, but I also want my website to be easily found via name recognition.


So...  Here's my question.  Is it better to have a WeBuyHousesLocalMarket.com or is it better to have UniqueBusinessName.com?  

I also welcome any suggestions that will help me dominate SEO for we buy houses and via my business name with only one website.  Or is that not reasonable to expect.

Thanks in advance for helping a relative SEO/Website newb!


Matt

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Jerred Morris
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Jerred Morris
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  • Austin, TX
Replied Mar 4 2015, 09:43

@Matt Fisher Use a domain that you can brand and try to incorporate keywords in the URL (buy, house, home, property...)  

The shorter the better

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Matt Fisher
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Matt Fisher
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Replied Mar 4 2015, 09:50

Thanks @Jerred Morris ,


My biz name is kind of long already.  (I'm being coy because I don't want anyone to highjack it and try to sell it to me!).  I'm afraid if I add strong keywords, it may make it too long??

How important is the domain name vs. content I generate on the site?

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Robert Laird
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Robert Laird
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  • Portland, OR
Replied Mar 4 2015, 09:54

Matt,

I would recommend having a UniqueBusinessName.com address for some of the reasons you already stated. "We Buy Houses" is very over used and is not very good for brand recognition. When I googled, "Des Moines Iowa We Buy Houses", these are the first sites that came up:

 desmoineshomebuyers.net

www.homebuyergroup.com

cash4yourhomedesmoines.com

All three of these blend together. However, the second one is a little better because he could use that address even if he expanded into other geographical areas. Which is another reason why you may want to just stick to a UniqueBusinessName address. Good luck and I look forward to seeing what your website looks like!

Rob

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Jerred Morris
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Jerred Morris
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Replied Mar 4 2015, 09:56

@Matt Fisher It really depends on your SEO knowledge.  Either way you can achieve rankings.  If you believe that regular content on your site equals huge rankings then you're going to be disappointed.

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Bill P.
  • Investor | Syndicator | Instructor
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Bill P.
  • Investor | Syndicator | Instructor
  • Cincinnati, OH
Replied Mar 4 2015, 09:58

@Matt Fisher 

Domain name is important for people to remember if branding is important to you. Content is what dictates better search engine placement AND entices people to keep coming back. I think you need both. Don't out-think this process to much. Without knowing our direction it is hard to give a better opinion. For example, we have used rent2own4.us and rei4usa.com for our R2O and wholesale parts of our business but are now trying to move into a different direction. The R2O domain name worked very good because it was easy to remember but I feel that we had mixed results on the wholesaling name.

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Jeremy T.
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Jeremy T.
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  • Pittsburgh, PA
Replied Mar 4 2015, 10:02

Do you want people to think of you as someone who works for "We Buy Houses" or do you want people to recognize YOUR business?  Are you in this to make a couple wholesale fees or to start and grow a business?  There is already a company by the name of "We Buy Houses".  Do you plan on growing a business with a name that is already in use by another (very successful) company?  What happens if/when you become successful and do not wish to have your domain name affiliated with We Buy Houses, yet this is all people know you by?  "Rebranding" the name/domain name of your business can be a pretty big headache I would imagine.

Naming copyright infringement aside, if you were starting a hamburger shop, would you entitle your domain "mcdonaldshamburgersdesmoines.com"?  After all, McDonald's is a successful hamburger restaurant, so that would probably help boost your SEO in your local market.

Yes, these are all rhetorical questions.  I believe that you build your business so that people come to recognize YOUR business, not some other business.  Yes, this takes a minimum of months, if not years of work...but I presume you weren't getting into real estate to "get rich quick"...because no one has ever been sold on that premise before, right?

Come up with your own domain.

Just my $0.02

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Matt Fisher
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Matt Fisher
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Replied Mar 4 2015, 10:05

thanks @Robert Laird that is kind of what I was thinking too.  Good to hear positive reinforcement.

@Jerred Morris I'm surprised to hear you say that content doesn't increase rank... I have only heard the opposite.  If that was the case, why do the gurus and RE website templates say that it does and focus on it?

@Bill Pohl thanks for your first-hand experience.  It is helpful.

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Matt Fisher
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Matt Fisher
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Replied Mar 4 2015, 10:10

@Robert Laird and @Jerred Morris and

@Bill P. 

Sorry-that name recognition popup acts goofy a lot...  Didn't work last post.

Thanks @Jeremy T. I think it's good advice and what I'm aiming for.  I hope to come across as more personal/personable.  It's my nature and I think it sets me apart from seemingly shady (other) "we buy houses" guys.  I don't even want to get rich, I just want to be able to go fishing without asking my boss :)

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Gideon Sylvan
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  • Seattle, WA
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Gideon Sylvan
  • Real Estate Broker
  • Seattle, WA
Replied Mar 4 2015, 10:35

The future of SEO is not keyword-centric.  Google is already reading the internet for meaning and suggesting articles with different, similar words.  My opinion is that the best long term SEO is authentic value rather than specific keywords.  The main way Google currently determines value (in theory, since no outsider really knows for sure) is through back links.  That is, people sharing links to your site.  The more links, and the more popular the sources of those links, the better.

As far as "dominating SEO for we buy houses" you'll likely find more success with keywords that resemble "selling a house in __(insert micro area name)__," because that is more likely what people will search for. Going with this strategy, you could publish valuable data/insight/trends about selling in the micro area that is your niche. Or if you want to go the extra authentic mile, suggest people sell their home with an agent on the MLS, since that usually leads to the best sales price and only takes a few months; but if they want to sell in two weeks without listing commissions, then investors, such as yourself, are available for a discussion. You could even list your competitors' phone numbers, because even if they can offer a little more money, you will be the one the owner trusts, if they even call the competition.

In summary, I would go with UniqueBusinessName.com since the alternative SEO benefit is essentially non existent.  A unique brand is also more flexible in case you want to change your strategy/location or if the "We Buy Houses" line stops being effective in your area.  No matter which direction you go, focus on providing authentic value to your audience.  

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Matt Fisher
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Matt Fisher
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Replied Mar 4 2015, 10:41

Thanks @Gideon Sylvan That is good advice and probably supports what Jerred suggested regarding content.  I've heard the importance of backlinks from other sources, now I've got to figure out how to get people to link to it...  Requires some creative thinking!

Thanks again,
Matt

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NA Jones
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NA Jones
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Replied Mar 4 2015, 10:43

For less than $15 a year, why not do both with a 301 redirect?

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Gideon Sylvan
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Gideon Sylvan
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Replied Mar 4 2015, 10:50

Yes, but I wouldn't think of it in terms of getting people to link to it.  If you think first in terms of value, the rest should follow.  For instance, if your information is truly valuable, it may be worth citing it on a Wikipedia page about your area.  Once the value is established, your options will open up.  Maybe you could reach out to local reporters and offer your advice if they're ever looking for an expert opinion (in the mean time, they should feel free to check out your mega valuable site). 

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Matt Fisher
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Matt Fisher
  • Investor
  • Des Moines, IA
Replied Mar 4 2015, 10:50

I went with my biz name, and will probably do as 

@NA Jones suggested too!  

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Brian Gibbons#4 Guru, Book, & Course Reviews Contributor
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Brian Gibbons#4 Guru, Book, & Course Reviews Contributor
  • Investor
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Replied Mar 4 2015, 13:23

@Matt Fisher 

I train people to buy cash or terms so I want the word "solutions" in the name because it suggests there is a problem. At least for the sellers site. So Des Moines home seller solutions.com

Terms buyers are generally rent to own or owner financing buyers. So I'll call it  rent2ownsolutions and then something else in front of it.

Private lenders generally don't understand private lending and self-directed IRAs So I would have self-directed IRA educational site strictly for your area. Like Des Moines private lending education something like that

For Cash Buyers especially out-of-state Cash Buyers you don't want to say just  Demoines so I would say something like Midwest real estate bargains.com

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Ericka Parrott
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Ericka Parrott
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Replied Mar 4 2015, 15:52

Use the keywords that you want your business to focus on in your domain name.

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Trevor Mauch
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Trevor Mauch
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  • Roseburg, OR
Replied Mar 6 2015, 13:43

@Matt Fisher Great convo you created here man! 

Some solid advice in here as well... and some that according to what we've found in our research and results... is a bit off from what's working. 

Our members at generating a bit over 13k leads per month and rank on page 1 and in the top 3 results of more motivated seller search phrases than any other website platform. So we have lots of great data on what's working right now for SEO (and what we feel will work now and into the future). 

But, you made the right decision for sure to buy the company branded domain. Like @Jeremy T. said, "we buy houses" is a trademarked term (which doesn't mean you can't use it in your content) so you'll want to stay away from having that exact phrase (those 3 words together) in your domain. But you can still use those words in your content in many places to try to capture the traffic to those types of phrases in your local market. 

In our research...

...the "we buy houses" type phrase is the most searched highly motivated seller phrase in most markets (behind that are the "sell my house fast [location]" or "sell house fast [location]" type phrases. The "sell my house [location]" ones tend to be more people who are less motivated and will likely go the agent or FSBO route first.... but def could down the line when they can't sell end up working w/ you (but now you're competing against a billion agents for that phrase which is a bit more difficult).

As far as the domain helping w/ SEO... Google made an update a good while back where they don't give preference to a direct match domain name for SEO reasons anymore... but sometimes having some of the keywords in the domain can be a benefit... but not enough benefit we've found to make that a huge decision on your domain. 

Content is still the #1 correlation to ranking well... links are #2 and crazy important...

No matter what people say, the content on your site is still the #1 factor for SEO... closely followed by the backlink profile (which this topic by itself could be a whole thread)... social signals are having an increased correlation to websites ranking in the top 5 results... and other factors. 

But, we get to see the behind the scenes data on our InvestorCarrot members info and we're seeing what moves the needle the most on getting to the top of Google. The content on the page has to be relevant, solid, and engaging #1... the backlink profile social signals... and tons of other offpage signals (time on page, clickthrough, page load speed a tad bit, domain factors, etc. etc.) are also part of it... but less so. 

Backlink stuff

We've been able to get plenty of websites ranked in the top couple results for motivated sellers and cash buyers with as few as 2 or 3 solid links... but w/ the content that is optimized well on their site (of course this is for markets that aren't the large ones). Just really depends on the competitive nature of the keywords you're going after. 

If you have a ton of great backlinks on the page... but the content on the site isn't directly related to that specific keyword phrase... how can Google tell where to rank you and what your website is about? So content is still #1... and you do still need the page to be content relavant to the searches you're looking to rank for (don't stuff the page w/ that keyword... but use variations of the phrase that show the same searcher intent... i.e. - that theyr'e looking to sell their house quickly). 

So ya man, focus on great content that engages people.

What I'd Focus On

I'd focus your content on the search phrases sellers are typing in in your local market first... then make sure your company name is on the site in places that makes sense (of course). 

From there if your company name is unique enough like you mentioned... you shouldn't have a problem ranking well for your company name at the same time your site is optimized for the phrases sellers are typing in. 

Feel free to reach out. Our clients / members control more page 1 rankings for motivated sellers than any other platform and we publish weekly free content on how we do it for anyone to read and implement (link is in my signature). 

Good luck!!!!! 

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Todd Heitner
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Todd Heitner
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Replied Jun 12 2015, 11:56

This is an excellent thread and Trevor's advice is great.  He covered most of my thoughts.  I just wanted to comment on one thing about the questions about keywords in the domain name.  As was mentioned, that's of lesser importance than it used to be.  You can still get the benefit of having keywords in the URL by having them in the URL of the individual pages.

Each page on your site can focus on a particular phrase that people may be searching for, and then those words can be part of the URL of the page.  For example, if you have a page that you want to target the phrase "sell my Des Moines house fast", you could have a page where the heading on the page is "How Can I Sell My Des Moines House Fast?" and the page URL could be yourdomain.com/sell-my-des-moines-house-fast.

Just be careful not to create awkwardly-worded pages just for the sake of SEO.  Even if your pages rank, people will view it as spammy and either not click it or not contact you.  It's best when the keywords are inserted naturally.