How Do Domain names Work?

[whodunit]

Sometimes when I am curious about something I'll just type in www.______.com and see what comes up. I wonder if others do the same.

It seems domain names are pretty cheap, so do businesses sometimes just buy as many of them as they can and direct them to their main website? Kind of like as part of a marketing stategy?

Also, speaking of website marketing, how does that work? I briefly spoke to someone who I know who specializes in getting your website to come up in the top three spots on a search. It seems a bit pricey (anywhere from $100-$500 a month) depending on yur particular competition. How do they accomplish this and can it be done by the average person?

[MoonRiver]

Originally Posted by whodunit

Sometimes when I am curious about something I'll just type in www.______.com and see what comes up. I wonder if others do the same.

It seems domain names are pretty cheap, so do businesses sometimes just buy as many of them as they can and direct them to their main website? Kind of like as part of a marketing stategy?

Also, speaking of website marketing, how does that work? I briefly spoke to someone who I know who specializes in getting your website to come up in the top three spots on a search. It seems a bit pricey (anywhere from $100-$500 a month) depending on yur particular competition. How do they accomplish this and can it be done by the average person?

Yes, companies often buy domain names that are misspellings of the actual company name or words that someone might search on.

What you are referring to is known as SEO - Search Engine Optimization. Just do a search on it and you will find more than you want to know.

[fishhead]

Google "ATV damage" and you'll see my webpage. It's been #1 or #2 for 6 years now.

My website www.mndnrdocuments.org was named to snag people looking for the MN DNR.

[whodunit]

Originally Posted by fishhead

Google "ATV damage" and you'll see my webpage. It's been #1 or #2 for 6 years now.

My website www.mndnrdocuments.org was named to snag people looking for the MN DNR.

So, is this something you've done or had someone do? Not asking for any secrets, but please sahre if you can.

I'm just looking into starting a business that will mostly rely on the internet, so interested in learning all I can.

I'll check it out now.

[HOTW]

I would never pay soemone to do something I cna do myself. Domain names are not too expensive and usually if you buy in bulk the rate goes down. My salon name is top of most search engines and that is because of cross links thru other sites. Netowrking is a good thing!

[fishhead]

I lucked out on the ATV damage webpage but I also spread it around. Everytime it gets a hit it gets compared to all the other similar sites and the one with the most hits moves to the top.

I checked the website visits to see who is visiting and found that besides the DNR checking it regularly the site gets hits from other people posting it on forums.

One time I saw that 5 different DNR computers opened the site at the same time. Later I found out the DNR had some kind of group hug on that day. Likely they talked about the site at sometime during that meeting and opened it up to see what was on it.

[whodunit]

Originally Posted by HOTW

I would never pay soemone to do something I cna do myself. Domain names are not too expensive and usually if you buy in bulk the rate goes down. My salon name is top of most search engines and that is because of cross links thru other sites. Netowrking is a good thing!

Yeah, I just briefly read something that many "referrals" to your website may come from links on other websites. It seems someone could spend alittle time just getting their webiste out there on other related forums, websites, etc.

[EasyDay]

Originally Posted by whodunit

It seems domain names are pretty cheap, so do businesses sometimes just buy as many of them as they can and direct them to their main website? Kind of like as part of a marketing stategy?

Yes, if you buy an available domain name, they are inexpensive.
You can also make a nice profit if you own a/some domain name(s) that would be "obvious" for a particular business. Many companies will pay you big bucks to get that "obvious" name. Just a thought...

[RebelCowboySnB]

Yea, search rankings is mostly about inbound links. More is better. That has a lot to do with why you see signatures like mine.