Tag archive for "domain" | Blog.PropertiesOnline.com

.REALTOR Domain Coming Soon

NAR secures new top level domain with .REALTOR.

There are approximately 22 URL suffixes [ICANN generic top-level domains (gTLDs)], and you’re no doubt familiar with several, from the most popular .com to .gov, .edu, .net, and more. In early 2011, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers—which oversees policies dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable, and interoperable—approved an expansion of the number of top-level domains. What’s more, they decided to allow companies and organizations to create domains for their brands. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has done just that, and will be making the new .REALTOR domain available to NAR and CREA members from October 23rd, 2014.

“This is truly an exciting time for NAR members to be on the cutting edge of Internet technology. When consumers visit a .REALTOR website they will know that they have reached a source of comprehensive and accurate real estate information, NAR President Steve Brown told media.

ICANN is currently in the process of reviewing hundreds, if not thousands, of potential new gTLDs. As part of this process, NAR applied for and secured the .REALTOR domain to showcase its real estate professionals in a “crowded online space”.

The first 500,000 NAR members and 10,000 CREA members to sign up will receive their .REALTOR domain address free for the first year.

SEO Tips: Choosing The Right Domain Name

Having your own agent website is incredibly important. It’s a great way to build credibility, to demonstrate your expertise to prospects, and to help people find you online. A good agent website that is filled with content and photos and gets updated frequently will help set you apart from the crowd.

But before you start building your agent website, you will need to pick a good domain name for your site. A domain name is your website’s unique address on the Internet. Here are a few tips for picking a good domain name.

Keep it Short!

A good domain name is a name that would be friendly to both human visitors and search engines. When it comes to humans, you definitely want a short, memorable domain name – something that would be easy for people to remember and to type. You also want a name that you’ll be able to print on business cards – so a long domain name, again, is not a good idea.

Keywords Are Important

When it comes to search engines, you should include – if possible – your main keywords in your domain name. This would enable search engines to properly index your agent site. This often means that you want to include your location in your domain name. For example, if you’re a realtor in Austin, Texas, your ideal doman name would be:

AustinHomes.com or AustinRealEstate.com

While the inclusion of keywords often creates a slightly longer domain name, the SEO benefits are generally worth it, as long as the domain name isn’t too long. As a general rule, don’t include more than 2-3 keywords in your domain name.

Dot Com Is Still The Gold Standard

Of course, most good domain names are already taken – especially the .com names! So you’ll need to be creative and search for the best domain name still available to you.

If you absolutely can’t get a good .com domain name, .net and .info are acceptable alternatives.

Should You Use Your Own Name?

Probably not. Although using your name would help establish your personal brand and help clients find your site, it won’t do much in terms of search engine optimization. After all, buyers who are starting their search for a home on the Internet will type keywords, not your name, into the search engine search box.

Finding A Name

The website NameBoy.com is a great tool for finding domain names based on keywords. Going back to our previous example, a quick search for the keywords “Austin Realty” shows that AustinRealty.info is available (at least at the time of writing this article).

Once you decide on a domain for your site, you will need to register it with a provider such as godaddy.com, and then renew your registration every year.

Single Property Websites: The Importance of a Custom Domain Name

When you create a Listing Domains single property website, your website will have its very own property address domain name.

For example, if the listing’s address is 425 Maple Avenue, the domain name will be www.425MapleAve.com

Having a custom domain name for your single property website has several important benefits. First of all, it is important in terms of search engine optimization, because you want people who look for details on this particular property to find your website.

Ideally you want your website to be the first search engine result for the listing’s address – and a property website with a custom domain name increases the likelihood that this will be the case.

In addition, having an entire website dedicated to their listings, including a custom domain name, makes clients VERY happy. It shows dedication, professionalism and knowledge about the latest tools in real estate marketing.

Buyers too are impressed by property websites with custom domains, for similar reasons – it gives them all the info they need in one place, and it demonstrates professionalism and attention to detail.

A property website with a custom domain name will make your listing stand out in the crowd. Make sure you take advantage of this valuable feature.