Help!

Trying to decide on just the right domain name is holding up my progress.
Its a pretty important decision. Once you pick it, print it on business cards, calendars, door magnets, ect., and then start to get the name established in peoples memory, it would be a major hassle to rename it.


It seems that what I think is a good domain name isnt so hot in the minds of some of the people I have talked to.

My idea was to go with

(my towns name)homesearch.com

I am not naming my town because I do not want someone to be a jerk and take the name before I can register it.

So it would be something like

www.ChicagoHomeSearch.com

The idea is that it is easy to remember, and it says what it is. People hear the name and they know that they can search all the local listings in their town.
It seemed like a no brainer to me.


But I have been told that it sounds "cheesey" and "cheap" and very impersonal.

I have been told that it would be much more classy and thus effective if I just went with

(my name).com

I must point out that my last name is long and hard to spell.


In my opinion this doesnt even give a hint that it is a real estate website. But so many other agents go this route. So maybe it is a good idea. Or maybe because so many other agents go this route...maybe it's not a good idea?


Opinions???

I thought the (my town)HomeSearch.com idea was golden!

I don't think there is anything wrong with yourcityhomesearch.com, just as long as your city's name isn't unusually long. As a matter of fact, I registered myareahomesearch.com along with a bunch of other names but wound up not using it in favor of myareahomesales.com. I do think it's much better than your name if your name is long and difficult to spell.

I do agree that sometimes the domain names lack the "personal touch".

I wouldn't personally have the "search" in the domain name but definitely the area you're targeting, such as Chicago.

Good luck...

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Letting Agents Reading || Estate Agents Reading

Boy is this a tough one for me. I started out with my name dot com which is short and sweet. Had it in my mind that I needed a more descriptive name and went through a domain name change which lost my PR until recently.

Now my problem is that I created a little niche site for the town I worked and lived in, mentioning other towns on the site. However, I changed offices and the new office is located in a different large and popular town and I now feel the need to put my two little niche sites on the back burner and create a new site for the new town (and popular surrounding ones).

My "area of expertise" comprises the city of Chicago plus over 40 different suburbs. I feel that if I create a single town domain I'm "slighting" the neighboring towns. Which is why I created my Cook County site. Because that is a much larger area there are no good Cook County specific domain names available. So guess what? I'm going to do a permanent 301 redirect of my personal name from my first site to my new site. Sheesh!

But it is a very important decision to create a good name & stick with it.

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Southwest Chicago Suburbs Real Estate is an affordable area with close access to downtown Chicago. Money Magazine says that Orland Park real estate is one of the best places to live in the U.S.

Finding a good domain is hard and will get even harder. If you think you might use the homesearcher domain buy it now, don't be cheap it's only $9.

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I guess that is my basic question. Is it better to have a site name with a "personal touch" or is it better to have a name which is descriptive and tells people immediately what it is?


I would love to leave "search" off of my domain name. Unfortunately,

(my towns name)Homes.com, and (my towns name)RealEstate.com, are already taken. Both are registered, but both are not being used.

When picking domain names, make sure it's easy to remember.
I have two good ones as ex:
and I have about 10 others iam not using...

www.hercules-realestate.com
www.JohnHomesOnline.com

I am going through the same decision process. I have purchased several of the sitenames that I am considering.

Currenty, I deciding between Ocean30.com and Florida-Relocation.org. Ocean30.com (30th lat line) is easier to spell and remember. I also have the 8##-Ocean30 toll free number.

Of course Florida-Relocation.org has the benefit of having one of the search terms that I plan on targeting with this site.

I would appreciate any feedback as well!

Dave

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Dave Abernathy
Waterfront Properties & Club Communities
Technology Advisory Council for Who's Who in Luxury Real Estate

See the finest luxury communities in Palm Beach County. Visit our website pages for Palm Beach County Real Estate and Palm Beach County Oceanfront Condos . For local information about Palm Beach County real estate & Jupiter Florida real estate contact us at 561-628-0128

Dave,

That brings up a question I've been having for a long time. I love the Ocean30, esp. since it ties in with your 800#.

So here's my question that I hope someone with more knowledge than me will answer:

Can't Dave purchase both domains, use Florida-relocation.org for his primary domain and use a 301 permanent redirect for his Ocean30.com? Or vice versa?

Or should he stick with the .com name since .com seems to still hold more weight than .org? Or is that even true?

IOW, should he only choose one & stick with it? I know many people that have multiple domain names (I'm one), and I still don't know the advantage or disadvantage of it.

I chose a keyword specific name which is long and with hyphens. That is my primary domain. Then I used my name since it is very short & fits on my business cards & other print materials. That's pointing to my primary domain with a 301 redirect.

Did I even need that long keyword name? I actually started out with just my name & was #1 with several kw phrases on MSN & Yahoo. Since making the domain change I was completely gone in MSN for a couple of weeks (but ended back at #1 very quickly) & Yahoo still has my original domain on the first page but it has dropped from 1 to 6 the last time I checked.

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Southwest Chicago Suburbs Real Estate is an affordable area with close access to downtown Chicago. Money Magazine says that Orland Park real estate is one of the best places to live in the U.S.

It's too bad no one responded to Judyo's question, as it is a very good question. I have often wondered the same thing.

I too am having domain name frustration. I have taken Lead Generation classes and been told to be bold with my branding.

In response to Barry's post YourCityhomesearch could be difficult to remember. I'm sure there are lots of variations of this name in your town. That means there is quite a bit of competition for YourCity" ".com. I was going to use SearchmycityHomes.com and was advised against it. I think this was good advice. It's either the great city name or it gets lost with all the others that are close but no cigar.

In response to Dave's post I like Ocean30.com maybe because it seems to play off Oceans 11.

Do you guys like californiasellers.com or should I continue searching? Is littlemsrealestate.com obnoxious?

Hope this is helpful.
Angela