Free Marketing: 101 Low and No-Cost Ways to Grow Your Business, Online and Off

CHAPTER 19

A GOOD NAME IS GOOD MARKETING

I did some research and quickly found one of the longest possible English surnames on record. How would you like to have the last name Featherstonehaugh? Worse yet, how would you like to be the poor guy in charge of advertising and marketing the family pool installation business for that name?

Featherstonehaugh Pools and Patios—a family business since 1886. Find us online at:

Featherstonehaughpoolsandpatios.com (Don't bother registering that website—no one will see it.)

Do you ever hear a business name on a radio spot and feel sorry for the business owner because of the terrible name that was chosen? If you have to spell it three times for me, it's a bad domain name.

Businesses today are much more likely to choose intuitive business names or domain names because more of us are recognizing the importance of keywords and ease of spelling even as part of a business name.

The search engines will also reward you for choosing website names and business names that contain good searchable keywords.

What if it's too late? What if your name is already included as part of your business name, or your business name contains no good search engine keywords? What if your current website domain name is a long ugly tangle of letters that no one ever remembers?

There are simple solutions—and you don't have to redo your website!

There is strong evidence to suggest that owning the domain name associated with your city or region as well as a strong keyword or ...