My website

[RabbittsKaraoke]

I'm currently in the early stages of having a website designed only I have a question regarding the domain name....

....i want to use my surname "Rabbitts" and have something like "Rabbitts-Events.com/co.uk" (I can hear you giggling!!)

My question is this....
....do you folks get most of your hits from (search engine or other) links or via direct navigation?
I ask because of the spelling of my surname and it being "typo'd" if anyone was to directly navigate to it.

You may now let your belly-laugh flow freely :o

[Vectis]

I think you have two choices:

1. Register all the various common mis-spellings and have multiple domains pointing at the one codebase.

(rabbits.com, rabbitts.com, rabitts.com, rabbets.com etc.)

2. Use a domain totally unrelated to your business name but perhaps keyed to your location or service offering.

(mytowndiscos.com, massivediscos.com)


In your situation I'd probably go with #2 because in my experience only a minority of people will be searching for you by name - ie those who already know you. In this game the vast majority of sales tend to be one-offs and so people are more likely to be searching for "discos in mytown" or "massive discos near someplace". Use other SEO techniques to ram home the business name.

[RabbittsKaraoke]

I think you have two choices:

1. Register all the various common mis-spellings and have multiple domains pointing at the one codebase.

(rabbits.com, rabbitts.com, rabitts.com, rabbets.com etc.)

2. Use a domain totally unrelated to your business name but perhaps keyed to your location or service offering.

(mytowndiscos.com, massivediscos.com)


In your situation I'd probably go with #2 because in my experience only a minority of people will be searching for you by name - ie those who already know you. In this game the vast majority of sales tend to be one-offs and so people are more likely to be searching for "discos in mytown" or "massive discos near someplace". Use other SEO techniques to ram home the business name.

Thanks Vectis

I wanted to use my name as it's a bit "quirky" but can see what you mean and will give it some thought.
Other thing I wanted to do is try and set it up alongside my catering business which doesnt have a website at the moment and, although we are busy, there are areas I would like to expand it, so thought this could be a perfect opportunity to set up an "events" website and have seperate sections for buffets etc and the disco?? May well be investing in a hog roast spit also.

What you think? Or should I go completely seperate??

[Vectis]

Thanks Vectis

I wanted to use my name as it's a bit "quirky" but can see what you mean and will give it some thought.
Other thing I wanted to do is try and set it up alongside my catering business which doesnt have a website at the moment and, although we are busy, there are areas I would like to expand it, so thought this could be a perfect opportunity to set up an "events" website and have seperate sections for buffets etc and the disco?? May well be investing in a hog roast spit also.

What you think? Or should I go completely seperate??


You can still plaster the name all over the site and folks will still find you by your name if your designer is good with SEO - it just doesn't have to be in the domain name itself.

How much of your current business comes from double-headed bookings? Disco and catering are not the most obvious bed-partners. Disco and Bands, yes. Disco and Caricaturist, maybe. Disco and Catering, probably not!

Unless I'm mistaken about the above question (I have no knowledge of the catering industry whatsover) then I think I'd be tempted to have two standalone sites sharing a common "theme" - ie. fonts, visual styling, general layout and copy style. Then use every sensible opportunity to cross-link them.

Obviously this will increase costs somewhat but I'm personally not a fan of "split" websites where the service offerings aren't terribly well related. It makes me think "Jack of all trades" and "cheapskate" but that's just my opinion. Anyone else?

[Ecstatic Events]

Vectis Vibe is spot on, I originally set up a web domain using my trading as company name (ecstatic events) with relatively small amounts of enquiries via the Web. Then I purchased a domain that could be searchable i.e *your home town* Discos.co.uk/com. Web enquiries increased dramatically within weeks.

My advice, purchase the domain Rabbitts in whichever form. And then buy sub-domains like cannockdiscos etc to increase site traffic and enquiries :)

[RabbittsKaraoke]

Vectis Vibe is spot on, I originally set up a web domain using my trading as company name (ecstatic events) with relatively small amounts of enquiries via the Web. Then I purchased a domain that could be searchable i.e *your home town* Discos.co.uk/com. Web enquiries increased dramatically within weeks.

My advice, purchase the domain Rabbitts in whichever form. And then buy sub-domains like cannockdiscos etc to increase site traffic and enquiries :)

Cheers lads :beer1: :beer1: